Set on Nailing Me

A Story by Harry Will

Throwback! Borne out of experiences (atavism) gathered during the weekend on campus

...that was not the first time I saw her,of course, ever memorable in my mind was the day I saw her in the cafeteria.I walked in in my usual characteristic manner of -I-know-you-care when I saw that paragon of beauty par excellence having the figure 8 for a shape standing before the counter. I approached and feigned indifferent yet fully conscious of every word those succulent lips uttered.

"package it in a take-away nylon" she said,addressing the guy over the counter who was yet busy scouring the two bulging creatures either side of her *cleavage...u must forgive me for that.Those words startled my mind and jolted me out of the reverie. Though a sonorous voice but the interpretation of what I least wanted to hear. The big hopes of sitting with this epitome of what-beauty-is- all-about vanished in a sec. I scarcely restrained my straying wild and wide eyes from watching this lady as she elegantly went out of the cafeteria with the fried rice and chicken neatly packaged in a nylon. Obviously the guy over the counter didn't just package it. He was as well confused and probably must have forgotten collecting the money or willfully telling her "don't bother"...gosh! Seeing her walk was like sitting in the front pew in the French Beauty pageantry.

Seeing her a second time, of course, connotes one thing,a divine intervention for a second opportunity. I was determined to call her attention right now... my nerves sent sensations and I was visibly nervous. I could hear my heart bang on the walls of my chest as if it wanted to jump out and do the talking itself. I did an impromptu rehearsal of what to say.
I would say

" hey girl, you are pretty and gorgeous" I thought aloud.What if she frowned ? What if she says "and so what ?" what am I gonna say next. My brain couldn't improvise a plausible answer. My brain went blank in a sec.Almost empty headed (tabula rasa), she cast an elegant look at me as she passed which could mean "I know what you are thinking" , and as if by a reflex action I looked away spontaneously .
Another unfulfilled mission,I guessed. My dreams unmet, I felt disillusioned and the most haunting of them all ...not man enough as the peer usually teased. ''Lily - livered'' they called it.

More of a tragedy in quick successions than a miracle, I saw her again. This time with a guy. The girl had iPhone 7 plus and the guy had a phone I didn't know the name because av never seen it. Needless to tell you that I hid my Nokia .. eem.. eem Nokia eeeh? Forget the Nokia version... Ibecause it's unutterable but it has a torch at the tip and could as well be used as a weapon and yet remained nscathed.