30 Days And 30 Nights – Episode 5

30 Days And 30 Nights Episode 5

Most bars in his neighborhood play loud music at night, and that was something he had grown to hate over the years. The only place he could go to that didn’t play loud Nigerian afro pop music out their speakers was a lounge on the other side of town that sold a bottle of beer for a thousand five hundred Naira. Even though that was five times the price he normally paid for beer, he drove down there anyway. At this point, he needed someplace relaxing. Even though his doctor had told him he couldn’t die from a panic attack, he feared the next one he had might actually ki*ll him.

Efe was at a table all by himself, at the outside bar of the Deer Lounge, thinking of all that had happened that day. After rushing down to his poultry farm, and meeting his staff burying about 74 birds, he was a wreck. His vet doctor said it was definitely exotic Newcastle disease, which usually doesn’t show much warning signs in affected birds till they start dropping dead one by one. He was glad it was the 100 birds he kept in deep litter housing that were affected, and not the 2,900 in battery cages in the main pen.

They worked all day; all hands on deck giving the birds antibiotics, and properly disinfecting the whole farm house. He left the farm around 5pm, and drove down to the church to see the man who he felt might have some answers to his latest predicament.

After describing everything to the man, he reassured Efe that it was a coincidence, and that he was still on track. Efe found that had to believe with what had just happened, but the man had a smile on his face all the while, like he knew something Efe didn’t. He had left the place a bit elated.

He lost almost hundreds birds in one day, and although that was a bad thing, he had heard about poultry farmers losing two thousands birds in a space of 48 hours, so he was glad it didn’t get that worse in his case. Now, he just had to wait 3 more days to complete the thirty day task and see what life had in store for him. Although it had seemed like it would be easy when he first heard the old man say it, the task had turned out really harder than he thought. It was like that story in the Bible about Lot’s wife turning to a pillar of salt after looking back when asked not to do so. When you are asked not to do something, the temptation to do that thing grows.

His mind went to Taiwo, and he couldn’t imagine what would be running through her mind right now. Females don’t take rejection likely, and he hated that he had to put her through that weird ordeal at his home earlier in the day. “Hello, is this seat taken?” a female voice said. He looked up at her, and his heart immediately started racing.

_____

She didn’t wait for him to answer before sitting opposite him. Although they were very identical, when he took a closer look, he could tell it was Kehinde, and not Taiwo. He had seen them together a lot the last couple of days, and there was just something about Kehinde’s face that screamed fun. “Fancy meeting you here; I was just talking about you.” She said with a smile on her face. She had on a black leather mini skirt and a low plunging white blouse.

“Wait, what?” he said and sat up. “You were just talking about me; with whom?”

“Well, not talk as in physical talk, but chatting.”

“Okay, who were you talking about me with?”

“Oh shiit! I shouldn’t have told you that. Forget I told you that,” she said. When she saw the frown on his face, she added, “Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you; and that’s only because I am curious to know something about you too.”

“Who are you here with?” he asked when he saw her turn to the side and wave at someone inside the air conditioned lounge.

“A couple of guys.” She answered in a faint voice before shifting her focus back on him.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

She laughed a little before saying, “You are so weird.”

“Who were you talking about me with?”

“Taiwo,” she said, and he slumped back in his seat. “Taiwo never tells me anything about guys she likes, but she told me about your little awkward moment at your house.”

“Oh!”

“She felt there was something wrong with her, but then I remembered the first time you came to our joint.”

“What happened?”

“You can’t remember nearly jumping out your skin because I was touching you.”

“Oh! That.”

“Yes, that.” She said and leaned in before adding, “Are you…are you gay?”

“No.” Efe answered with a confused look on his face.

“Are you like asexual or something?”

“No.” He responded in a low voice. She leaned in closer with each question she asked and now he couldn’t even concentrate with what was all up in his face.

“Oops! Okay. You’re definitely not gay or asexual.” She said and adjusted the low plunging blouse she had on.

He laughed for the first time that day. “Sorry about that,” he said between laughs. “Let me buy you a drink.”

“Hmm! If you promise to tell me what is going on, I will accept your offer.”

The beer had loosened him up, and the Olusho never said anything about him not telling anyone about the thirty days of abstinence, so he said, “Okay. Deal.”

……….

After telling her about the thirty days celibacy task, she let him know she had suspected it had to do with celibacy but thought it was some sort of juju he had done. They laughed about it, ordered drinks. She gave him some advice on how to handle the situation with Taiwo, and went on to discuss the strong connection between twins before she had to go back and join her friends. He left shortly afterwards.

As he lay in bed to sleep that night, he had a strong feeling something out of the ordinary was going to happen the next day, but he couldn’t tell if it would be a good event, or another disaster.

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