Head out on Refinery Road, turn left before The Petroleum Training Institute along a dirt track and instead of turning right towards the King Wilkinson compound carry on and at the second pair of steel gates press sharply on the horn. Behind the gates and immediately on your right stands the Multinational Expertise Limited (MEL) guest-house. It is a standard three-bedroom bungalow and between it and the wall there is a neatly housed standby generator.
It was at this property that Professor Daniel Mortimor and his colleague Dr William (Bill) Higgins arrived, fresh from their Redbrick University in the West Midlands sometime early in 1996, before the rains started. Daniel was a pipe smoker, who enjoyed long, rambling discussions and a few whiskies before bedtime. Bill was more of a social animal. He liked to get out and meet people, new people, immerse himself in any new environment, absorb the local culture, understand local politics and see the way local people lived.
Their favourite watering hole of an evening became the OTS bar, just down the track and across to the other side of the Refinery Road behind green steel doors. A converted bungalow, the bar had the atmosphere of an English pub. There was a small satellite TV high up in the wall, a pool table and a dart-board. And on Sunday evenings they had a live band.
And it was on one such Sunday evening that Bill first met Julie.
She was tall, as tall as he was and generously proportioned. Her hair was short, her lips carmine and her eyes held him spellbound. He stood at the bar staring as she gyrated on the little dance floor, seemingly moving for him alone, her hips swaying with a lovely, graceful sense of rhythm that escaped the awkward, angular movements of the women he had known at home. Daniel was talking intently to him but he did not hear the words. His whole attention was hers and she knew it. Every few moments she flashed a tight little smile at him and his pulse raced. His blood surged, he had to have her, HAD TO have her, a fever swept through him and for a giddy minute there were only two of them in the bar.
The music stopped with a long sigh and she swept off the floor and perched on the stool next to him. Her leg gently touched against his thigh then she pulled it back and smiled. Her hand, slender fingers, rested on his arm, her black skin a sharp contrast to his. He could smell a heavy, musky perfume from her, something natural and primitive, dark and bewitching.
“I am Julie,” She said simply, her voice soft, “What is your name?”
“Bill”
“Are you from America, Bill?”
“England actually, Birmingham..”
“Birming-Ham? Is it to do with pigs?”
“Hah,” A short, nervous laugh escaped him, “That’s a good one. I should jolly well say so!”
“Excuse me a moment Bill, I go to pee.”
“OK” And he watched as she moved with a natural grace across the room and through the door at the back.
“I’d be a little careful there old chum” Daniel was saying, “AIDS and all that, better have a stiff drink than a stiffy.. that’s what I say.”
Bill wasn’t listening. He was waiting for her to return.
“Look old chum, I know you like get close to the locals, very meritorious, but be warned. I’ve heard some pretty rum stories around here, I’ll tell you.”
The barman, Jerry was leaning forward to Bill in a conspiratorial way. “She a good girl sah. A good girl, not like these night flights, no, she a regular good girl. You don’ need worry about her sah.” He repeated.
They were the words Bill wanted to hear, not that anything, ANYTHING was going to stop him. He watched her as she returned, looking at him, smiling, sitting gracefully down, close to him.
“Do you like me?” She asked “I like you” he replied
“What do you like?”
“Your eyes”
“My eyes?” She said quizzically, “Just my eyes? That all? My eyes?”
“Your eyes bewitch me” he said
“I like your eyes,” She replied gazing directly at him, “Kind eyes. Not like black men. Back men beat, black men cruel.”
A wave of sympathy swept over him, “Such a hard life for people here,” he said
“Yes,” she said, “We all just try to survive. That’s all this place is, survival”
“Would you like to try to survive, ... with me?” He asked
“I would”
“I’m not very reliable,” he said
“Not reliable? Come , let us dance together..” She held out an inviting hand and he slipped awkwardly off the barstool and followed her onto the small dance floor, which was occupied by several couples, expatriates and their Nigerian ‘wives’.
She folded into him soft and warm, her eyes lingering on his face. One hand slid up behind his neck and he lost himself to the music and her embrace.
Later in the evening, after several bottles of Star beers, he was seriously in love. Daniel had returned to the guest-house and had sent the car and driver back to collect him when he was ready.
The evening slowly wound down and Bill was unsure what he should do.
“Come on” Julie said softly, “Let us go”
“OK” he replied reluctantly, “Where?”
“To your guest-house of course,” she said
“But Daniel”
“He will not mind,” she replied, “It is quite normal here, many expat have Nigerian girlfriend.. don’t you want me be to be your girl-friend?”
“I want, yes I want” he said
She smiled and linked arms with him. They left the bar and said farewells to the remaining revellers. They sat in the back seat of the car together holding hands, linking fingers tightly. Then he kissed her for the first time and it was a long, warm and soft kiss, full of passion, like the first kisses he remembered from his teenage years. The excitement was unbearable.
They reached the guest-house. Daniel had gone to bed and they stumbled into the front room, arms locked around each other...
.......
...it was early the next morning as she lay with her head on his shoulder that she first whispered to him of money..
“Bill,.. Bill,” she called softly
“Yes my dear,” he replied, his head full of rich memory, the touch of skin that was like velvet, black velvet, racing passions and long, pleasurable moments.
“Bill,.. can you help me, please honey, just a little?”
“Help you? Why sure.. anything, just say it, anything”
“Bill, I need a little money..”
“OK , my dear,” said Bill, the request did not surprise him and he had a generous allowance, he could easily lose a few thousand Naira.
“Thank-you honey,” she said, “It is God that has done this for me, it is God that has found you. I thank God for this pleasure.” And she snuggled in closer to him.
When he arose she dressed with him and sat at the breakfast table with him and Daniel. Bill felt faintly embarrassed by her presence, Daniel was polite, a little cool, she was demure and charming.
They finished their breakfast, tropical fruits, toast and coffee and gathered their things to go to the car before being driven to the offices at Chevron, an Oil company some three miles away, out on the by-pass.
“Please, drop me at the end of the road” Julie asked
“Not a problem,” Bill replied.
Then as they were leaving the house and waiting for the car, standing beside the generator Julie sidled up to Bill and whispered “Remember, honey, you promised me some money..”
Bill quickly reached into his pocket and removed a bundle of Naira, it was at least two thousand. He handed it to her and it vanished rapidly into her purse. She squeezed his arm and smiled. He glanced around, Daniel had not noticed the transaction.
They climbed into the car and dropped Julie off at the main road. The remainder of the journey was silent.
That evening Julie appeared at the guest-house at about seven o’clock. Daniel was polite, but chilly. Bill was pleased to see her. The memory of the previous evening had been with him all day and he had looked forward with anticipation to seeing her again.
She went with him to a little bar in town, inside a converted container, crowded with Expatriates, Nigerians and girls.
The atmosphere was electric, the band lively and the beer cool and inexpensive.
If possible Bill and Julie became closer. He felt he was in love with her, something had completely intoxicated him, he would live with her, he would do anything for her...
“Honey,” she whispered to him as they sat at the bar, “Remember, it is God that has brought us together, it is God”
“It is something” Bill replied
“It is God, and remember honey, what God has brought together, no man may put asunder..”
Bill smiled, the look of complete devotion in her eyes disarmed him, he felt as though he had a slave at his feet, one that he could love and live with..
“Honey,” she said, “Will you take me to Europe with you?”
“Have you ever been abroad?” he countered
“Never, I would love to go, please take me, say you will, please take me”
Bill smiled and tried to imagine himself abroad with her, what his friends would say, or think...
He looked into her eyes again, and then they danced some more, chatted, drank, and returned back to his guest house.
The next morning he slipped her some more Naira, she smiled her thanks, but he missed the little chill in her eyes.
************
The days went by and Bill and Julie were seeing each other regularly. Even Daniel had become friendly as he accepted that Bill was happy in his relationship with Julie. It seemed they could not take their hands off each other. Whenever they were together they would touch or kiss or whisper. And Julie was useful in the house, she would prepare breakfast, cook sometimes and clear the kitchen.
Each day Julie would ask for money and Bill would hand over Naira, until one morning she asked him for dollars.
“Please honey, give me dollars, you know these Nairas is rubbish.”
“But Julie, I’ve given you a lot of money, .. I must have given you more than two hundred dollars of Nairas in the last ten days alone”
“Are you counting honey, really, why are you counting? There is no need to count the money” “I have to, it is my habit, and if I don’t count it I lose it”
“But it is so little, honey really, please honey, please, give me dollars” and she looked at him with large eyes and he felt his resistance crumbling.
“Alright then, how much”
“Just fifty, honey, I can pay my rent and, honey, there is only you in my life, I cannot jig-a-jig with anyone else, there is only you, so please honey, please..”
Bill smiled and handed over a crisp new fifty dollar bill. Her response was so warm that he was angry with himself..
‘After all,’ he thought to himself, ‘it is nothing compared to what I am earning whilst out here.’
But a few days later she wanted a hundred, then a hundred and fifty dollars and Bill became alarmed.
“No, No Julie, I cannot give you that much money,” he said urgently to her late that night, “I’ve given you plenty, much more than most people here earn in a month, No, I really cannot”
“But honey, I need clothe-ez, do you want me to look like a bush girl? I need money for clothe-ez”
“Look, I’ll give a you a regular amount, say fifty dollars per week, but that will be it.”
“Huh” she looked at him, a coldness entering her eyes for the first time. She managed to sneer. “You want to jig-a-jig but you don’t want to give any money? Honeey..” she said with a cooing in her voice, “Come on honeey , be a honey.. “ and then she pouted but Bill’s resolve held.
The next morning Bill said to Julie, “Look Julie, I think we need some time apart, for a few days, OK?”
She looked at him with wide eyes, tears beginning to glisten at the corners. “I’m sorry honey, I’m sorry, It is the DEVIL who make me say dose tings, it is de DEVIL. I cast out De DEVIL!” she cried.
Bill was momentarily disarmed, but he replied, “OK dear, It was the Devil, old Lucifer himself. But let us cool it off, just for a few days?”
Julie nodded. And that evening and for a few more after that Bill and Daniel went out together and Julie was not around.
In fact it was eight days later that the Police came, in the evening, at about six p.m. They came in two vehicles, the leading one a pick-up with an extended cab and following a grey Peugeot saloon with several officers inside. The leading vehicle carried four in the cab plus two heavily armed constables in the back. These two had been beating a path through the traffic with heavy sticks, their semi-automatic weapons slung casually over their shoulders whilst the blue flashing lights rotated and the siren wailed up and down.
They roared through the gates of the MEL compound and skidded to a halt in front of the guest-house where Bill and Daniel were staying.
They jumped out of the vehicles and strode, a large phalanx, up to the door and banged on it. Bill opened the door and faced a red-eyed, angry Police sergeant.
“Are you Mr Bill Higgins?” He asked in a loud voice
“I am..” Bill replied, nervously
“We are told you been having drugs in dis place and we are here to search the premises and arrest you for possession of drugs and dealing in drugs.”
And with that he strode into the house, his fellow officers behind him.
Bill was struck dumb. The blood drained from his face and he felt an urgent need to relieve his bowels.
He was grasped roughly by the arms and dragged towards the Police car. He was flung into the back seat and two Policemen sat either side of him. One fiddled with handcuffs, but before he could be bound the car had driven off, away towards the Police station.
The Police station was a soot stained concrete building on the outskirts of town. It was noisy, dark, crowded and stank of urine. Bill was thrown into an unlit cell, scrabbling sounds greeted him from the shadows and he landed on the greasy, wet floor with a heavy thump.
“What is going on?” He cried, “You cannot do this. I have nothing to do with drugs. You must let me go!!”
“Magistrate see yo in mornin’ Oyebo” someone said from outside the bars.
And then he was left, with strange companions crawling forward to inspect him, with nowhere to sit but on the damp floor, nothing to breathe but the fetid air and nothing to drink or eat.
The next morning he was exhausted. He had fouled his clothes and he stank. His beard was beginning to show and he felt as though a thousand lice had inhabited his body. His skin itched and his nose ran. He was gasping for water and his stomach churned with hunger.
At about eleven o clock he could hear the sounds of someone calling for him. It was Daniel. ‘Thank God’ he thought to himself, then footsteps and suddenly the cell bars were opened and there was Daniel and Julie standing. Looking at him with expressions of great concern on their faces.
“Honey, honey,” Julie cried, “Oh my honey.. are you alright?”
Bill looked at her blankly for a moment. The he turned to Daniel “Can I get out of here? What happened last night.. What is going on?”
“It is alright Bill,” Daniel said, “they found no drugs.”
“They’ll drop the charges?”
“Not as easy as that” He replied
“Julie, Julie, can’t you do something?” Bill was begging.
“I speak to them,” Julie said and she turned to the officers who were standing round and gabbled rapidly and unintelligibly in pidgin English.
“They will let you go.. but first you must pay some money”
“Anything, anything, only get me out of here..”
Julie nodded and turned back to the police
“Fourteen hundred dollars,” she said, “That will keep you out of here, like bail”
“OK, OK, I’ll pay it” Bill gasped.
“Are you sure old chap?” Daniel asked, “They don’t have a case against you, don’t see why you should pay the blighters”
“I’ll cover it from my own funds” Bill replied
“OK, old chum” Daniel said and he produced fourteen hundred dollars from his money belt and peeled it off to the rapt attention of the surrounding policemen. Then he turned to Bill, “Fourteen hundred you owe me old chap,” he said, as though Bill was going to vanish before his very eyes without repaying him.
At last they were out of the station.
Julie clung to his arm. “Honey, honey oh Honey. I am so sorry-o. So sorry-o. I hope you are alright honey.. I hope you are alright.”
“I feel better now, thanks Julie” Bill said to her.
“Good honey, honey, look, I get you into the shower when we get to the house, I get you into the shower.”
“Thank you for coming to rescue me Julie,” Bill said. “Thank you. I would still be in there if not for you” and he flashed a poisonous glance at Daniel who was busy with his pipe.
“It is God who helped you Honey.” She replied, “It is God. God sent me to see you this morning, God who sent me to your house, God who led me to rescue you. Thanks to God, honey, thanks to God.”
“Thanks to God indeed,” said Bill and he gripped her arm tightly as they walked toward the car and release.
*************
But then when he had stumbled out of the Police building into the fresh air Bill had not seen Julie take five hundred dollars from the hands of the Police officer and with a tight little smile, slip it into her handbag.