Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Be Your Man...

He stood nervously beneath the shade of the large udara tree, fidgeting and twirling a twig in his hands absent-mindedly. Around the base of the tree, you could make out the matrix of footprints in the ground, tell-tale of his frequent pacing as he rehearsed his love notes. Up above, the skies were clear and the clouds resplendent in white and shades of tainted light blue, while the birds chirped merrily oblivious to the rapid heartbeat of the love-struck young man beneath them. The cool breeze was soothing against his skin, almost whispering soft encouragement to him, but he barely noticed it, his mind was far away, floating on stormy tides as he sought to gather his composure...

The previous night he had stayed up by the warm glow of the lantern, crafting the words together. And he had felt so composed and confident as he poured his heart out on paper, his feelings and love magically transformed into ink as the words he wrote painted the inner beatings of his heart. Then it had seemed like a very good idea and the excitement had kept him up, his spirits floating joyously like Cupid. He had carefully brought out his best clothes; a pair of khaki shorts and a china-white shirt that he saved only for special occasions...

His arms still hurt from the energy he expended in ironing the shirt, the gators stood out so sharply on the shirt, for a moment he wondered if it would cut her skin when they hugged. "Chineke, what was I thinking?" he muttered in panic as he tried to feel the edge of the shirt. Too late for that, he thought to himself, she would be here in a few minutes. He still remembered the first time he saw her by the stream, it was many years ago but the memory still caused his heart to skip a few beats. He had been so tongue-tied by her beauty that all he could manage was a grunt which passed for a hello...

His mind drifted into daydreams, a wistful smile on his face. He was an interesting sight to behold, a young man with his hands in his pockets beneath a large tree in the middle of the clearing, his bicycle resting against the base of the tree, with a bunch of flowers tied to the bicycle. In his mind all he could see was the mischiveous sparkle in her eyes when she smiled,  the fullness of her lips, the v-cleft where her graceful neck met her collar bones, the bronze chocolate lustre of her skin, the smooth and fluid curves of her body...just then he was snapped out of his reverie by the bleating of a goat. He jerked himself out of his daydream, alarmed that he had lost track of time. He noticed the goat looking at him with a funny expression as it chewed on something, he picked up a stone and flung it near the goat to drive it away, 'can't let a goat spoil this romantic setting', he thought to himself.

A few minutes later he could hear her footsteps approaching, he could always tell because she had an elegant way of walking pretty fast, almost like an angel floating on land. He took a deep breath, braced himself and got on one knee, his heartbeat was as loud as the towncrier's gong on Nkwo market day. He wanted her to see him on his knees with the flowers in his hands as she came into view. That was how he read that men were supposed to propose in the English books, so even though they were in the village, he was determined to be romantic. He reached for the flowers he had tied to the bicycle and discovered they were gone, panic shot up his mind like the sour taste of the udara fruit above his head. "I kept it right here", he screamed in his mind, the sweat had begun to break out on his forehead, she was almost there.

He had written his proposal on a note he attached to the flowers and he had planned to read it to her so she could understand how much he loved her, now the flowers and the note was gone. He looked around in despair and got on one knee neverthless, his thots in disarray, trying to figure out what happened to the flowers, and struggling to recall the words he had written in the note. Just then she walked into view, stunningly beautiful in the bright afternoon sunshine, a warm smile lighting up her face and radiating around her. He could feel his heart melt with love, though he didn't know how to express it into words. As he waited on one knee for her to approach, his mind searched in frustration for the words he had written on the note...then he remembered the goat...

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