LIGHT A FIRE – Episode 3
The night was not the sort I had feared it would be. Camilla was only interested in my holding her while she slept off peacefully in my hands. I doubt I slept a wink. Each time there was some noise, I raised my head like a serpent, ready to protect itself from intruders. Before the rst light of dawn, I woke Camilla and told her it was time for her to leave. The smile on her face when she woke made me to almost regret telling her to leave. I handed her clothes to her and helped her out of bed. She was sleepy-eyed. I had to help her into her bum shot and cropped top as though she was a little girl being made ready for school. She was beautiful, pretty and pure to look upon. Though I was on the edge, yet I could not help noticing her sublime beauty. “When am I going to see you today,” Camilla asked. “I will be with you by noon. I did not sleep well last night,” I replied. “Why?!” she asked, looking stunned. “I had the best night of my life so far in your arms last night and you said you did not sleep well. What stopped you?” she added, nding it hard to understand why I did not sleep well in the night. I would have loved to tell her I was afraid my parents would find out. I figured it would make me look like a child, so I side-stepped the subject.
“Perhaps, holding a girl as pretty as you in my arms all night got in the way of my sleep. Look how pretty you are even at this time of the day.” She looked away, blushing. I drew a bit closer and left a peck on her face. She melted into my hands and whispered, “I wish, I wasn’t going home this early, baby.” The words had hardly left her lips when I heard my dad’s voice barking with a bang on the door, “Dennis! Who is in there with you?! I thought I had told your sisters not to sleep in your room!! Open this door!!!” My heart sunk into my stomach. How would my dad believe nothing had happened between Camilla and I all night? Camilla looked a bit concerned. I motioned at her to go under the bed. I had not yet replied my dad a word. Knowing him, I expected he would go hysterical any moment. Being lithe, Camilla had no problems at all sliding herself under the bed. Pretending I had just woken up, I made for the door and confidently unlocked and yanked it open. My phone was in my hand playing a tune. “Which of your sisters spent the night in your room?!” he barked. Mustering all my courage, I looked at him as though he had lost it upstairs. “Have you checked their rooms dad? They spent the night in their rooms.” My dad would have none of that; he shoved me aside and went straight for my bathroom. He was like a sniff dug. When he picked something up, he would never give up until he was satisfied he was wrong about it. Having seen no one in the bathroom, he began to check if anyone was hiding behind the curtains. I knew the next place he would check was under the bed, so I glided to the bed, dug my hand under it and pulled out one of my boxes under it. I sensed a telepathy between Camilla and I, she knew exactly what I was doing. I could feel my dad’s eyes, stabbing into me from behind. He was shocked by the ease with which I pulled out the box from under my bed. He had actually been counting that whoever was in my room was hiding there. I looked at him and saw disappointment in his eyes. To drive home my point, I pulled out another box, pretending I was looking for something. “I am sure I heard a voice in your room. A feminine voice. I wasn’t hallucinating, no I wasn’t,” he said to me, the look of anger in his face slowly thawing away. “Dad, I have been here all alone since last night. Perhaps you heard the song I was playing, it is my habit to mimic the voice of whoever I am listening to…” “I know that already! What I heard wasn’t you mimicking anybody,” he cut me short. As if an idea had occurred to him, he ran to the windows of my room and checked if someone was hanging on the air conditioner pavement outside. Before Camilla went under the bed, I had thought about asking her to go through the window and hang onto the air conditioner pavement. Thank God I did not ask her to do that. With his head hung low for thinking he accused me unfairly, he made for the door. At the door, he paused and observed, “Did you buy a new perfume?” I knew what he was suggesting and so I smartly knocked the bottom off it, “Last night at the beach, my friends came with all sorts of perfumes and we tried them out.” He looked around my room one more time and let himself out. I knew him. He wasn’t gone yet. I was certain he would crouch somewhere and listen to know if I had somehow fooled him. I went down on my knees and whispered to Camilla, “Stay where you are, he is not yet gone.” She nodded her head and remained still under the bed. I picked some of my clothes and went into the bathroom to wash them. On a second thought I came back, pushed my boxes back under the bed, using them to block Camilla. About five minutes later, I heard footsteps outside my door walking away. I could have bet all my savings it was my dad. There was no longer any way I could let Camilla leave. My dad would be watching every door. I even feared he might ship everybody into my room for morning devotion and a subsequent homily on how to be godly children. I had to crouch back under the bed and told Camilla to be prepared to spend the whole morning under my bed. She didn’t seem worried. She smiled giving me the impression she was loving the adventure. She was unruffled in a manner which left me awed. From my room I could hear my dad shouting at my sisters, “…he is a full grown man! Don’t go to his room and aunt your bodies carelessly because he is your brother! Which of you spent the night in his room?!” “Daddy, as far as I am concerned, we all slept here. We were watching Twist of Fate on Zee World television till we slept off,” Andre, the eldest of my sisters said. “Oh my God!!” that was my dad. The moment I heard him shout, I knew Kimi, our youngest sister was at it again. She loved to drive my dad from her room whenever he came shouting at them in her room. At first we didn’t know why she was doing that until she explained it to us. Whenever my dad would come into her room, which was considered the favourite room by my other sisters, she would begin to mill about her room completely naked. “Tell your daughters that my house is not a fashion runway! They should learn to cover their nakedness in this house and not harass their brother with their fully blossomed bodies!” That was my dad to my mother. With my dad going on and on about my sisters flaunting their nakedness in the house, I felt his attention had been drawn away from me. So, I crouched on all fours once more and went under the bed to ask Camilla to come out. Camilla was about to stir when my mother sauntered into my room and queried, “What are you doing under the bed, Dennis?!” “Looking for my socks! They have conspired again to abandon each other!” I lied. “I saw some in my room. By the way, how did they find their way to my room?” “Frankly, mommy I don’t have a clue. Are you sure they are not dad’s?” I asked and slowly crept out from under the bed. I stood before my mother and made sure I left no look on my face to give her the impression I was hiding something under the bed. “No, they are yours. Don’t forget I bought them.” “Thanks, mom, let me go take them.” “Not so fast. Your dad told me he thinks someone was in your room last night. He spoke of a perfume he had not perceived in this house before and he is right. I can perceive it too now that I am here.” “I explained to him my friends brought some perfumes…” “He mentioned you said that! However, I want to warn you. Your dad is hardly wrong about these things; I had lived with him a long time before any of you came out into this world. I know him. “He is convinced someone was in your room last night. The reason I let you go down to that beach every night is simply that I trust you. However, if you are going to be bringing your friends, I don’t care what gender they are, into this house, then I will send you packing. Of course you are dead if I find out that the person who slept in your room last night was a girl,” she interjected. “Oh God! Why is everyone thinking that I brought in a friend into my room last night? Why is nobody talking about our morning prayer? It is 5:30 am already.” “Shut up Dennis! I know you, whenever you bring up our morning devotion, you are trying to hide something. Is there something you don’t want me to see under that bed?” she asked moving closer to my bed. I stood frozen on my spot with fear.
STORY CONTINUES…