Extract 2  From   A Woman in Need   by Lateef Adeola Sanusi

Each time I was leaving for my station, Linda

would hug and cling to me, and kiss me several times. I

would feel her heartbeats like the hammer of a

blacksmith doing justice to stubborn steel.

‘Darling, how I wish you were never posted to

that construction firm for your primary assignment.

Without you, life is too boring in Kano,’ she murmured.

After reassuring her, I would tell her that there

was no sacrifice that was too much for one’s nation. I

would grope for words to explain that this would only be

for one year, after which we would be able to stay

together as before till death did us part.

Watching me as I packed a few things into my

bag, she started playing with my beards and planted a

kiss on my right cheek. Whenever she did this to me, I

always felt on top of the Himalayas.

Linda was gorgeous and very beautiful. She was

the type of woman every man would like to introduce as

his wife. I admired her long legs, good set of teeth that

glittered like diamonds. Her silky hair reminded me of

Amina who was my secondary school mate.

Amina was the first girl with whom I had fallen in

love. Those were my secondary school days when

every one admired my spirit of sportsmanship. She was

the daughter of one of the most efficacious political cum

intellectual elites in the country who was then a

commissioner and who had many a time represented

Nigeria and led Nigerian delegations to

international deliberations. He was unreserved in his

faithfulness and service to the nation, and would never

condone any act that violated the entrusted

commitment to the society from any of his comrades or

political associates. And it is an effulgent aristocratic

brilliance indeed!

It was during the inter-house sports, which was a

yearly event in our school. I represented my

schoolhouse in four events: relay race, hundred-meter

dash, high-jump and slow- cycle race. I came second in

the first three events but came first in the cycle race. It

was only when I finished the cycle race that I realized

that Amina and I have been silent lovers.

The slow cycle race was the toughest of all the

events that I had participated in. It lasted for thirty

minutes and the fellow who came second lost his

balance a few minutes before the race ended.

Excellence in the sport required concentration, energy,

and a good bicycle. Each participant was confined to a

track about two feet wide. The winner could be the last

participant to reach the tape if he is the only one that

never went beyond the two-foot wide sidelines of the

track and never touched the earth with either of his feet

until the end of the race. Going by the rules, the

contestant who kept all the rules, even if he arrived the

tape last, would be declared winner. I actually beat my

former record which stood at twenty two minutes, forty

seconds.