UNDER SIEGE (A Story Of Hope)

by Ciuri Di Badia

  He seeped from his glass before he continued.

  “By telling you how I feel; I am not breaking the deference that I have for you. To the contrary, I am just being honest by expressing what lies deep in my heart. It’s the truth Angie, and it had to get off my chest someday”

  Suddenly, Angie begun a lecture “Tommy; there are things in life that are two-way traffic and requires two people to tangle. Love and relationships are examples of those things. It is not about how much one loves the other; it’s about whether they both love each other. Neither is it about how much one is interested in the other but rather, if both are interested in one other. Love is not only a matter of compatibility, but also, of the common interests that both parties share……”

  “You are very right Angie” Tommy said as he nodded his head up and down, wondering what she was driving at.

  It’s funny how women respond to male advances. A woman might tell you No when she want it to be a Yes. It’s a mixed signal that confuses many men. When she says No and she means a Yes and you take it as a No, she’ll hate you forever. On the other hand, if you take a No as a Yes, just as she intended it to be, she will forever be grateful to you as a man. And I am sure that if she is happy, you’ll be happy too. The same applies to the issue of sex. At first, they all say no, but after you are done with the act, they don’t sue you for rape or any of its synonyms. To the contrary, they are contented that you did them justice. But awe onto you if you don’t give it to her when she told you No meaning Yes. You’ll be her most unspeakable idea of a man. See, she will naturally detest you!

  It was the case with Tommy, and as such cases normally end, Angie ended up saying

  “You have just said and done what I have been dreaming of all along. Tommy, I understand where you are coming from. You know, I like you too”

  * * * * * * *

  The above should tell you something. When you have a crash on somebody, it’s only best that you tell them. Most of them just require a small provocation and in time, you will be surprised that they also felt attracted to you.

  What primarily bars them from telling you or admitting that they like you is that, they are afraid of rejection. Fear may sometime seal your mouth and prevent you from saying something simple as ‘I like you and if you like me too, we can we have something going between us’. If you become ‘naïve’ and apprehensive to tell them how you feel, and they also happen to be no different, then nothing will ever come-up between you two. It will just remain as that - two people who admire each another and are both afraid of admitting. So, take the initiative and be the brave one; tell him that you like him, tell her that you like her. It will set you free and probably them too.

  When he chose to follow the wishes of his heart, Tommy was again susceptible to trouble. He knew it very well but he didn’t mind. To him, Angie was worth any risk. He also found comfort in telling himself that it was better for him to subject himself to a possible heartbreak than to keep guessing how it would have turned out if he pursued Angie. He knew that he could not avoid love and he hated it. He also knew that he was no different from the rest and so, he couldn’t live differently; a fact that he hated even more.

  It had been a long time coming, and still, it seemed that he had a long way to go. Nevertheless, he did not stop believing that a better day lay ahead. He longed for such a day, a day when he would love, get married, start a family and generally move on with life without those troubles that never seemed to part from him. Something somewhere was telling him that he would get there and so, he did what anyone in his position would do; he did what he could and left the rest to the unpredictable hands of destiny.

  Only time will reveal to us if Tommy's heart will be sated or broken again following his new lovecapades with Angie. His love story has been that of bad providence that keeps on repeating itself. It’s as if he was destined for solitude but that thought could not break his spirit; a spirit that was so unyielding that it made him strong, a spirit that saw him through tribulations and won him victories.

  * * * * * * *

  We all live through hope. In whatever we are looking forward to, in whatever expectations we have and in whatever we want to do; there is an element of hope. Nobody does something without some hope of succeeding, save for those who are desperate, mentally inadequate or something of the sort.

  Hope is food to our soul whereas hopelessness its poison. Be hopeful and you’ll live beamier and longer. Be hopeless and live grimaced and possibly, with a shorter life. There’s a catch though. Hope goes along with being realistic. Be hopeful in realistic things…I mean; be fair to yourself by hoping in reachable goals….

  For those who have big dreams and believe that they will make it, for those who never relent in striving for excellence, for those who spend lots of time putting together ingredients of success and those who selflessly do whatever they can to better the lives of the people around them and consequently the world: You got what it takes to be a success. I salute you. I love you.

  * * * * * * *

  Angie and Tommy started having light dinner dates every other day through the following weeks. As they spent more time together, their relationship started coming out of itself. They found themselves growing as a couple and so they became tighter. Together, they visited nearly all the hot-spots in New York, clubbing and pubbing to their hearts content. They were so happy and their future seemed so bright and promising. Tommy's idea of a blissful relationship was paying off and thus, he hoped that it would remain as such, for as long as forever.

  They continued seeing each other for some months before Angie made a proposition that it was time they ran through a night together as a delight to themselves and the pure love they shared. Tommy gladly accepted. They set it to be in three days time at the imperial hotel.

  Waiting for those three days to elapse felt like a century to those two lovers. Each one of them wished they would fall asleep and wake up right on the date but that never happened. The only option that they were left with was to wait, wait and wait while they wished that that waiting time would go by.

  To their inclination, the day finally came and they both started bracing themselves for the defining moment. By the break of that cold evening, they both started gearing themselves up for the occasion. On her side, Angie applied make-up on her face and tresses much that, her facial appearance turned to pale kaolin that glimmered in aspect just like the cuticles of hibiscus flower.

  Dissatisfied with her loose fitting denim jeans, she changed into a more close fitting slack. However, she felt like a humpty-dumpty when she squeezed her trunk in and decided to drop it for some knee-high pleated sarong. His choice worked. Kilts have always worked for Angie, especially when everything else in her wardrobe seemed not to suit the occasion.

  As she reached for her spare lipstick from her purse, she saw a red serrated card that was similar to the one that Birma found. It was imprinted with a set of mysterious numbers that appeared to be in minutes. Those writings appeared like this.

  ‘You know your alphabet, then 21 23’9’12’12 4’9’5’’. She wondered who could have put that ominous card inside there, but her scatter brain sidelined those thoughts and she continued with her endeavors.

  On the other hand; Tommy had his share in changing his array. He had to remove his wardrobe Chrysler for the reason that he had over-sprayed cologne on it. His mishaps did not end there; he had difficulties in choosing shoes that would fit the occasion. He then took a bath before dressing up.

  At exactly 7pm, Tommy’s red impala was halting at Angie’s parking lot. He ‘gentlemanly’ walked to her door and hit the bell’s toggle. To his surprise, nobody responded. He pressed the knob again and again but still, he was met with silence. As if his patience was wearing thin, he decided to knock the door nebulously. He did once and again before suddenly hearing a mellifluous shrill from inside. It was saying

  “Tommy, I changed my mind….just go back to where you’ve come from….we are going nowhere�
��

  “Please….what do you mean? I changed mine too…that’s what I’ve come to speak to you about”

  “That’s it. I’ve also told you that I changed my mind and decided not to go anywhere with you”

  “Please open the door; let us talk dear”

  “What else do you want? You are pestering us” Angie bellowed out

  “What do you mean us? You and who?” Tommy asked while chuckling

  “My man and I, we’ve got stuff to do”

  “I have a visitor for you. A girl that, I know you’ll mind meeting” Tommy fired back.

  “Tell her to speak to me instead. Then I’ll nail down that you are not being economical with the truth. However, If that’s the case, tell me what you are doing here you nosy parker”

  “I have brought my miss-perfect so that you can die with spite when you see her”

  “Why on earth would I die with envy? We have nothing between us Tommy. I had an infatuation on you, but by now, it’s all gone. Am now with somebody else, with whom I share true feelings” Angie divulged out.

  “Well, you would be frustrated because you think that you are my all and I know that you cannot stomach anybody else being better than you”

  “So, what will you gain by getting me jealous of your ice-queen?”

  “I would be assured that you love me Angie, you see, you would be jealous of yourself. You are the beautiful girl with [‘me out here. You are on my mind”

  “My darl, you are that handsome man with me inside here. You are in my heart. Tommy, you are apart of me”

  They cackled.

  Together, they drove in silence along the streets of New York, negotiating intersections, circuses before passing through the cities down town precinct. They both liked it as they were feeling secure and comfortable near each other, feeling their love flow silently between them. Also, they were enjoying the view of the city and the people who were walking down the street. It was not only relaxing but also exhilarating.

  So far, none of them had bothered with the other. Tommy focused on the road and Angie with the buildings, the streets and the pedestrians. They enjoyed the near-empty streets as they had lesser people compared to daytime. Levelers were locked up in the pulsating night clubs while night-time shoppers were recessed in the round-the-clock shopping malls.

  I can almost feel their experience as I remember my first time in New York. Finding my way was a hell of a task. However it provided me with the opportunity to explore some impromptu places as I got lost severally. Luckily, with the help of taxi drivers, I was able to get from place to place.

  The super sized shopping malls along the fifth avenue were mind-blowing and somewhat stupefying; I found myself staring at them ceaselessly as I admired their flamboyance and ostentations. Inside, they were very big, glitzy and well stocked. I enjoyed taking some juice in the ample coffee shops as I observed people of different races and colors passing along the corridor. As I looked at the well groomed gentlemen who were striding with pride along the access strip, I couldn’t help but admire the elegant ladies who passed by while partially displaying their wares.

  At the time, I had no car of my own, so, I took a MIA bus out of Manhattan to long island city where a friend of mine was waiting for me. On the way, I saw gigantic and more gigantic buildings…there were people and more people on the streets…we passed over overpasses and more overpasses as we got out of downtown…the traffic was filled with cars and more cars of different shapes and sizes. I’ve never seen so many cars in one place in my life as I did in NYC.

  My experiences in that mega city revealed to me that it is one city where everybody is always on a rush, yet everything else moves so slowly. From the pompous subway stations to the streets, people were too busy to even aid me in directions, taxis were moving too fast to notice me waving by the wide streets and the buses too fast for me to identify where to alight. Needless to talk about the underground trains!

  Coming from a third world country, maybe I was a little dazed, bewildered, panicky or something of the sort because I couldn’t understand a lot about what was happening around me.

  I remember entering some hotel and reading the menu and thinking to myself if I am buying some meal or making an investment. It had occurred to me that I was about to spend some fortune. I remember talking to a stranger in Swahili, not because I did not understand English but because I was so co confused to even remember that I was in America!

  I also noticed that New York was a place where the wealthy live side by side with the not so wealthy, where a flashy car will be passing by your right hand while a beggar is busy begging for a dime from your left hand side, perhaps a sleek presentation of the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. The odds aside, the city has it all; state of the art infrastructure, gleaming sky crappers that left me inspired and a people who are so hardworking and enterprising. At the end of my visit, I got to learn that New York is a great city; Big, populated and lurid. I loved my stay there and most importantly, I loved the city and its convivial people.

  Going by the almanac, it was during that spell when full moon patrols the sky with a bright radiance. It made it possible for them to see a shadowy image of how New York looked like at night.

  When the silence became irritating, Tommy murmured

  “I have never seen such a beautiful night-sky. Behold those twinkling stars and the shimmering moon. The stars are bopping around it in the fine tunes of night-stillness”

  He paused as he pulled-up to a side-drive and then continued.

  “Before today, I didn’t know that there exists such a fulfillment; a beautiful girl on my side, the sky and its contiguous above and the gleaming skyscrapers standing beside us.”

  “You are right Tommy; it feels so good to be here together”

  “Even there are no traffic gridlocks! What a night! When one is in love, he sees everything as beautiful”

  Angie nodded before intervening in Tommy’s thoughts with a question

  “I have always been in awe of what the murky strip on the moon is. Could that be a canyon?”

  “As explained by scientists, the moon does not have an atmosphere. And when meteors and asteroids crush into it, they dent its surfaces making lunar craters. Those craters appear shadowy as compared to the rest of the surface Perhaps what you are referring to is the Tycho crater. It is the biggest crater on the surface of the moon.” Tommy gesticulated

  “Wow, I see you are informed on that subject”

  “Yeah dear…..and the circle of light around it is called a halo.” Tommy added.

  “Sounds just like a hello, you know, saying hi.”

  “No! No, it is its homophone with an ‘a’ and a single ‘l’ …..H-a-l-o” Tommy explained to Angie.

  “Cool” Angie responded.

  Silence crept in again and they found themselves hushed. They continued to navigate the city’s streets for sometime before finally driving into the Imperial hotel. Their table was already set as they walked in and so, they proceeded to have their candle-light dinner in the lobby. Salubrious flowers formed both edges of the table as candles illuminated from the middle.

  The dish was sumptuous and exquisitely served in two courses. First, they were served with caviar and foie gras as an appetizer as they waited for the main course to be prepared. They enjoyed it as they continued talking and smiling with each other. The main course was brought and they dug in with desire. When they got full, they continued talking for sometime before they were ushered to their executive room.

  The suite was situated on the ground floor in isolation from the rest of the rooms. Just one existed in that hotel so as to raise the esteem of being in the executive suite. It was fitted up to the expectation of what people regarded it to be, matching the description of a mini furnished apartment.

  The main living area was illuminated by a savanna-christened lamp. It shone in a green burst through its crystal squares. It whirled slowly, round and round. A white chandelier h
ung from the décor on the ceiling. The walls had been festooned by a lathed graffiti that followed a line along the frieze. A cream, swag and tails curtain swathed the casements. Two Balinese sofas faced the wall-erected plasma screen television. A velvet carpet covered the parquet floor as the glistening table rested on it.

  The sleeping area was a passion booster with a double bed that induced its occupants into wanting to do it. A miniature sauna and a bathtub occupied the ample cloak room. Five prisms hung from the pelmet of the bathroom’s transom to separate colors of the spectrum as light entered the bathroom. To sum it all up, it is a cuisine that is so inviting that it leaves one spinning like a roulette wheel.