AM I A PROSTITUTE (2)

 If you did not read the first part, check out the previous post. This is the concluding part and am sorry it took so long. It wasn't my intention to keep you in suspense (maybe a little), many things just came up. Enjoy it!

I walk back indoors, pull the zipper of my knee-length gown, remove my slippers and step onto the bed before I have the chance to change my mind. Chief flashes me a smile and tells me he actually prefers that I undress him but he is willing to let this pass. However, consequent times must be different. Now, I feel tears descending my face. Who assured him there will be a next time?

I sit next to mama’s bed with the 30,000 chief Olowo gave me in my bag. I smile at her sleeping form as I try to restrain myself from waking her up to share the good news. With this money, I can pay her hospital bill and Jaiye’s WAEC fee. Flashes of my subordination keep floating into my head. I remember waiting to feel that piercing pain have heard about. The pain of initiation into the occultic world of sex. How I wanted to feel that pain, to remember and never forget. I wanted it to fuel my passion for success but the heavens were against me. All I felt was a tiny prick and my shield was gone without the pain they profess. I did feel though, I felt the sweaty palms all over me, the weight crushed my heart and body with each bang. Again my phone saves me from the agony of my lost innocence. This time it’s Jaiye’s friend calling to say my sister is in the hospital. 

Here I am holding Jaiye’s unconscious hands in a hospital. How did I not know that my sister will be desperate enough to sleep with a boy to raise money for her exam. She is an excellent student who wishes to become a lecturer sometime in the future. The boy did not give her the promised money but he gave her pregnancy which she tried to abort and landed us here. She stirs and opens her eyes, tears already trickling down and my own tear stained eyes meet hers. I hurriedly tell her she has undergone a 20,000 operation and will be well soon. Her brows quirk up and I tell her a man gave me the money. She looks at me inquiringly but there is no denial in my eyes. She understands and holds my gaze in gratitude as we both hold hands tightly. In this moment we have transcended the bond of sisterhood, we are soulmates, naked hearts in accord with ourselves for we have both passed through the same ritual of necessity.

My situation is like that of a square peg in a round hole. I am only left with 5000 after buying drugs for Jaiye. Mama’s bill and her fees still need to be paid. I pick my phone and call Chief Ade, another one of those men. I am in a cab now, heading to his guest house and have a pretty good idea of what will happen. It is almost 8o’clock and when I glance out I can see those shameless prostitutes already parading the streets. I cannot fathom how they sleep with men for those paltry sums but that is their business. Perhaps Captain Bello would have given me more money if I had called him instead. Anyway, there is always tomorrow. With that thought in my mind I doze off to be woken by the cab man on arrival at the rendezvous.