The Transfer

Colleen worried about Dan travelling between Kano and Hadejia tries to get him a transfer.

The Transfer

On the evening of the second Friday in December Daniel failed to appear.  Colleen waited up until past midnight but he did not show.  When he did not come the next morning she went to ask Simon for advice.

“Could be a touch of malaria” thought Simon.  “It happens. No phone. No mail. He can’t let you know.”

Touching Colleen’s right shoulder he added “Tell you what.  I’ll drive up there and check on him.”

“Would you?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Better not. You should stay here if he does turn up.”

***

The next Monday had come. Still no Daniel.  Colleen was teaching prepositions when she was interrupted by three people; Mallama Fatima, the headmistress, Simon and a police officer in a green uniform.

Her voice soft and gentle Fatima told Colleen to step outside. “Go with these gentlemen to my office Colleen. I will take over your class.”  Colleen stammered “Why is there … is it Daniel?”

The officer closed the office door and removed his cap. “Madam. About six o’clock Friday night, a Hiace from Hadejia entered the roundabout coming into Kano. It failed to slow. We think perhaps the brakes failed. It struck a truck coming from the opposite direction and burst into flames.  There were no survivors.  The bodies were too badly burned to be identified. They were buried the next day.  I am most sorry.”

“I went to Hadejia yesterday,” said Simon, his voice slow and halting. “The last known sighting of Dan was on Friday, his boarding the van for Kano.  I am … I am so sorry Colleen.”

Colleen stared ahead seeing neither of them, only Daniel.  Then the screaming began.

***

The screaming and moaning woke Dan. Through the dark he could feel Colleen sitting up leaning forward, shaking with whatever visions were terrifying her.  He turned on the bedside lamp. 

“Love?" He touched her back.  Sitting up he wrapped his arms around her.  The moaning softened. 

“Just a bad dream,” he said, kissing her. “Just a bad dream.”

She cuddled against his chest, savouring his warmth. Then she looked up. “Don’t die on me, Dan. Please?”

He smiled. “I’ll try not to.” Raising an arm, she pressed his lips to hers.

***

Her terrors for the moment forgotten, Colleen straddled his waist, her reddened face glowing with pleasure. She could feel her pubic hair brushing against his.  The penis that filled her vagina with sperm and reassurance now lay at rest.  Gently she patted it. “Good boy.” Then she frowned.  “Oh dear.” swinging a leg over Dan she rose from the bed.  “Have to pee.” She trotted towards the bathroom.  Dan, eying her bare bottom, snuggled deeper under the sheet.

“Shower?” Colleen asked.

“Sounds good” Dan murmured.

Rubbing Dan’s back with a facecloth she asked the same question she had been asking since they had been engaged; “any news on your transfer?”

“Not a word.”

“You have to try harder Dan. You ask your headmaster, the local education office.”

Dan sighed. “Colleen, have you ever been north of Kano?”

“No but that has …”

“There’s not a single member of the Department of Education there that doesn’t want a transfer and that includes those in charge of transfers.”

“It can’t be that bad?”

“Yes it can. I haven’t told you because I don’t want to worry you. By the time I get a transfer we’ll have been in Canada for a year.”

That afternoon Colleen told Dan that she would see him off at the lorry park. When he began to say that it was not necessary, she quelled the protest with a smile. “On the way home I’ll do some shopping at Levantis.”

 “Hadejia! Hadejia! Hadejia!” The ticket seller a rotund man in a dirty gray cap, white robe and trousers waved Dan towards a van half-filled with passengers, four people and two rams. Finding a seat by a window he took it.  Colleen stood outside the window. Sliding it open he reached out for Colleen. They held on to each other as the van filled with customers.  Soon it was filled with bags, animals and people. Around it people sold peanuts, bananas and drinks to the waiting passengers.  Colleen, one hand holding on to Dan, the other to her shoulder bag, had a sudden idea.  “I’ll come up with you next week,” she shouted. The Van’s motor began revving.

“What” Dan asked.

“Next week!  I’ll come with you!”

“What about your classes?”

The van door closed. The vehicle began to move.  Dan waved at her.  She waved back still waving as it lumbered out of the lorry park.

***

Simon, the store director, sat in his well-padded leather chair going through the accounts payable. A buzzing on the intercom interrupted him. He pressed the receiving button. “Yes?”

Fatima, his secretary, always suspicious of the strange machine, spoke in a hesitant voice. “ There’s a madam McTeer to see you sir. She does not have an appointment.”

Colleen?

“Show her in.”

Wearing a green hat, white t-shirt, brown shorts and flip flops, a grey knapsack on her back, Colleen stepped into the office.  She waved at Simon.

Simon stepped out from behind his desk, shook her hand and showed her to a chair.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“No’ It’s about Dan.”

“Dan?  Something wrong between you?”

“No.  I left him at the lorry park. He’s going back to Hadejia to work.”

“He does that every Sunday, doesn’t he?”

“I know.  That’s the problem.”

“I’m sorry?”

“How bad is that road?”

“To Hadejia?”

“Yes?  What is it like?”

“Well, it’s better than what it was.  They hired an Italian crew a couple of years back to …”

“How bad?”

 “Like most Nigerian roads. “Crowded. Poorly maintained.”

“So it is dangerous.”

“All roads here are dangerous.  Anyway, why ask me? I’m not in Education.”

“I don’t want him to be hurt Simon.”

“No. Of course not.”

“In some ways he’s so much younger than I.  Like a little boy sometimes, wise, simple and kind.”

She dabbed at a tear trickling down her left cheek.

Simon smiled; a soft, wistful smile. “I never knew you to cry when you were with me.”

“Too busy having fun.”

 He nodded. “We had some good times.  So what can I do for you?”

“I want him transferred to Kano, preferably to my school, as soon as possible.  I’ll pay whatever they want.”

“Look, the school year will be over soon. You two can go on holiday. Another year after that you’ll be back in Canada.”

“ If he’s still alive? I don’t want him to die in Nigeria. You know people who are important. I meant something to you once, didn’t I?”

Simon saw himself turning his white Peugeot onto the roundabout that marked the highway to Hadejia.  Along the side he had noticed the burnt out shell of a van. A common sight along Nigerian roads, so common the hulks were not worth the expense of removing.  Sometimes he amused himself with counting the number of wrecks.  With every trip the number kept increasing.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

***

A relic of colonial times the George V Building stood in the old city of Kano.  Since the 1930’s It had housed administrative offices. Among them were those of the Kano State Ministry of Education, the office of Al Haji Fagge, dressed in the long white robe, the babariga and black Hausa cap. Deputy Minister of education for Kano State Fagge knew many of the influential foreigners (baturis) in Kano, including  Simon Waleeb. Wealthy, director and part owner of  Levantis Department store. An important baturi; he was someone to be treated with respect. 

“Sannu” (Hello) said Simon. “Salaam Aleichem.”

“Sannu” (Hello). Aleichem salaam.”

“Yaya da aiki?” (How is work)

“Aiki da godiya.”  (Work is fine.)

“Yauwa” {That’s good.”}

The two shook hands. Fagge invited Simon to sit.  Simon spent a few polite minutes chatting, complimenting Al Haji on his office and personal reputation.  Fagge had a messenger bring two cold bottles of coca cola.

“What can I do for you, my friend” Al Haji Fagge asked cokes having been tasted.

“There’s a friend of mine teaching in Hadejia.  I want him transferred to Kano.”

“Why?”

“He and his wife have just married.  He travels back and forth every weekend between their place and Hadejia. His wife’s afraid that something will happen to him on the road.  Considering the state of that road, it’s a reasonable worry. Besides a young couple, well it’s hard for them to be separated like that.  You understand?”

Al Haji Fagge nodded. “Seems like a simple request.  Anything else.”

“No.”  Simon took out an envelope and placed it on Al Haji Fagge’s desk. “For your trouble.”

The director looked at the envelope.  Then he did something that Simon had never seen before. He waved it away. “Maybe when I’m in Levantis, I’ll mention your name.”

“Of course.”

Taking out a transfer form from his desk, Fagge began filling it out. “Name of person?”

When finished with two extra carbon copies he placed the original in an envelope and handed it to Simon. “My gift to the newly-weds.”

Two weeks later Dan moved to Kano.

  

Kicking Up Dust  Amazon Press

 

 

Author's Note

Some use of Hausa.