
HOT AKARA
It was a cold night, one of those nights ikenna wished he had a woman to call his own. "Mechanic apprentice " wasn't an attractive job description. No woman would want to be with a man whose work clothes were constantly covered in grease.
Mama nkechi always made his evenings better with her hot delicious Akara, he could perceive its oily sweetness a street before hers.
"Nkechi kechie akara Oga anyi" she was more beautiful than they said she was. Ikenna just moved into the neighborhood and didn't get to meet her before she went back to school.
It was the way she smiled at him, taking his order and putting an extra akara in his nylon bag. Ikenna knew she was going to be "the one" and every night to prove this resolve he came to mama nkechi's shop. He patiently waited till it was nkechi serving and made it a point that she laughed before he walked home.
This new routine thrilled ikenna, he had something to look forward to. The picture of nkechi's face with a smile waa the biggest escort he could have on his walk home every night since he set eyes on her.
The heavens wore a smile on this night.
"Nkechi go home and get some more bean paste, we have more customers than I expected. Ikenna offered to walk her home. That was the night he would tell her how she made him feel, how he had already pictured her without her clothes. He knew their first kiss would be tastier than mama nkechi's akara. Ikenna knew nkechi liked him , her eyes told him, her laughter too. She laughed at his jokes, he didn't even find them funny. The jara she put in his nylon bag increased from 1 to 3. He also noticed the brown powder that the heat from the firewood made patchy, it was all to impress him.
That night he was going to take the chance he got, make love to her and stamp his name on her heart. Ikenna didn't have a house of his own, but that didn't stop him. He knew a place, a field that was deserted at night. They would be under the star's lying on the not so greasy part of his work cloth.
"I want to show you a place not too far from here...
But my mother is waiting for me
We wont be gone too long.
She let him take the lead, she wanted him as much as he did her. Nkechi let him put his hand on her waist while they walked, she touched his face, cleaning the oil on his mouth from the Akara he greedily ate.
There was urgency in their steps, ikenna grabbed her butt as they approached the field to make sure she knew what he was bringing her there for. She giggled, she was ready.
There was no ritual involved, he quickly got out of his work cloth and laid it on the grass. She took off her floral patterned gown, ikenna took her in his arms laid her on the grass. He kissed her while his hands made to unhook her bra, revealing her fullness to the glare of the moon.
Ikenna heard footsteps, he tried to gather their clothes but was too slow, Emma was unto them. A night of bliss turned more sour than grapes.
His Oga and nkechi's mother would hear. There was no pleading, Emma was the pastor on the street.
He should have known Emma would play detective, the way he complained when an extra akara got into ikennas' nylon bag.
Thoughts of nkechi made ikenna flush as he drove past his old ogas' house.

