A DATE WITH THE DEVIL: An Encounter with Our Khaki In-Law
8 min readBy Akuot Aquila Apiu Garang , Juba, South Sudan
February 26, 2017 (SSB) — NOTE: This piece is not a child of fiction or a gift from the land of imagination. It is a true life story that happened to a dear friend @ University of Juba Atlabara campus some years back. I derive so much interest in it that I sought his permission to write about it and tell it to friends. He granted that permission today with two conditions: that nobody should laugh about it and that his identity should not be revealed. Enjoy.
It was one of those lovely nights at the love lane in the University of Juba, Atlabara campus; the milieu was blessed by a mishmash of cool gentle wind and the creaking of insects. It was a romance with nature for the single gentlemen and ladies to sit quietly and savour the indescribable beauty of the ever-green lawn, jumbled with the sound of their favorite tracks that would leave one with an expression that the much talked about paradise could not be better than the moment.
As for those at the lane with their potential partners, night was obviously better than day as no amount of eye dilation could tell who was holding who so tight. Also, the third category comprised of the searchers. The actor in this story went for a search on that lovely night; I went with him all in the spirit of comradeship.
After few minutes of survey, I was fast to recommend a beautiful lady sitting under one of the trees near clock tower opposite to C2. She was different, at least considering the circumstance, she did not look like someone waiting for her Romeo or searching for one. If she was, what was she doing with such a big textbook on her thighs? We walked towards her direction and sat beside her.
After we said the usual “Hi” which was reciprocated by n indistinct reply, I knew she was one of those girls mummy warned against campus boys with tiny trousers. My friend then took over his business, “I am MAJOK” he said with a smile, the young lady looked up with a better and receptive smile as she replied “Did I ask you?”
Then I knew her initial smile was not near receptive, it was the type a typical Juba street guy would call “kabasa”. The moment I noticed the god of “toasting” was not on our side that day, I stood from my friend’s side and sat at the left side of the girl. Now, she was in the middle. I made an obvious giraffe neck into the book she was reading but I had no idea of the formulas negotiating with few English words like “force”, “space”, “energy”. It was a huge Physics text book!
Till date, I still do not know where the inspiration came from but I started nodding my head as I fixed my gaze at the text book. I would look at the book she was reading for few seconds and then nod. I noticed she observed me doing that but she acted ignorant but I did not stop it.
In less than 10 minutes, she looked up and asked “you know Physics?” I looked at her with a face filled with pride and refused to reply. That made her grow more inquisitive, she then faced her potential Romeo she initially shunned and asked “what course do you people study?” He was fast to say “Pol Sci and my Friend FAYO Accounting” and then it was like our chance of surviving the heat of the moment increased just because of that Pol and Accounting thing.
Then she asked my friend how I got to know Physics and he was fast to tell the big lie “he knows everything”. Here is the problem; obviously, she would want to associate with the guy that knows “everything” and that is a plus to my friend’s interest but if she gets to realize the only thing I know about the book she was reading was that it was a textbook, my friend’s chance would be dead and buried.
My heart was beating for the likelihood of her asking me to say something about the topic I was nodding about, but she did not. Rather, she seemed to be interested in knowing about pol science and we utilized the opportunity to show-off with that. To appear like the “all knowing” I was called by my friend, I was talking about the complex aspect of law no lay man would understand and introducing some Latin and Spanish truisms while my friend was explaining.
We became friends that night and exchanged contacts. After then, my friend started meeting her in school but I was never willing to see her. You know why? My friend needed her, he got her and the main reason was the fear of being called to solve a Physics question one day. Let me just disappear from the scene as the man that knew all instead of looking lost at the sight of a common formula in Physics.
On a sunny afternoon, I saw my friend coming from the Science block {school 3} looking happy. My guess was right; he succeeded in becoming the person to be studied at the love lane by the girl instead of a Physics textbook. However, the success story came with a warning, the girl was having serious issues with some of the topics and the more she lamented about them, the more my friend boasted about how it would take me just few minutes to solve them all. Now, I must never allow any meeting with the girl. If I was caught unaware, I should vacate the place and pretend I have an important meeting.
The plan worked well! In fact, the two times I met her was at the western gate, she once suggested coming to my Department but I told her I have an assignment in town, on the second occasion, after asking her the course she had that day and she told me it was Mathematics, I knowingly suggested that we get a place to solve the problem in Physics but she told me she was not with the textbook. What else could I say than to thank God? God forbid a day she would come with the textbook.
On a Saturday morning, the lover boy came to my place looking extra elegant; he saved me the stress of questioning him because he was fast to tell me he was going to visit his newly found love in her place. I walked him down the street and reminded him to tell his girl that I regret my inability to teach her Physics due to time constraint. We both laughed at the prank, and then he took a boda for his destination.
That night, I received a message that reads “shuja, the day was bad! You can’t imagine what her dad made of me. I was ridiculed”. How come? Her dad was not a party in this case. I started thinking sorts but I could neither call nor visit him on campus because “It was around the end of the week”. The third day was a Monday; I got to school and went straight to my friend’s hostel for the gist which was unpleasant as envisaged,
Here is it: He got to the girl’s house at HAI JALABA and sat in the sitting room. From his observation of the pictures on the wall, he realized his to be father-in-law was a military man. He was fast to ask about the dad and the lady told him the man left the house some minutes back and would not return until night.
My dear friend felt at home. However, few minutes after, there was an aggressive bang on the gate. He was scared but his host told him to relax as it was probably one of their neighbors, she then went to the gate and demanded to know the person but the shout came “YA BENIYA, would you open this gate now!”
It was that aggressive khaki man. She had no choice than to open the gate instantly as any further delay would be an aggravation of the potential looming conflagration. Then, the man entered and headed for the cage where he unleashed their two fierce dogs to roam freely in the compound, he dashed into the living room and saw my friend who already knew danger loomed. The man then asked in an aggressive manner “Are you the one distracting my daughter in school?” “So, you still have the gut to come to my house?” “I saw you entering my gate as I was leaving the street”
“How dare you, a bloody civilian trespass?” “You must be a bloody bastard”. He did not give my friend a chance to answer a question before asking another. After that, he locked the main door and rushed inside, he returned with a gun and a bucket of water, he dropped the bucket and headed for the kitchen, he returned with a big bowl of fried meat. Now, the girl was in the compound running up and down.
Here are the options he gave my friend, I would pour the entire fried meat into this bucket of water and you must finish it or I would shoot you right here or you should just leave my house peacefully.
Ignorantly, he chose the last and the man opened the door, the moment my friend stepped out of the house, two ferocious dogs came charging towards him. He rushed back in and knelt before the man, he patiently opted for the big bowl of fried meat in a bucket of water…
Whether he finished it or not, I did not ask. He planned a date with his girlfriend, there was a date but not with her, it was with the devil.
You can reach the author via his email: Akuot Aquila <akuotaquila@yahoo.com>
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