STORY TITLE: Trap
AUTHOR: Kelvin Jasi
CHAPTER 1
I met Charmaine in the Harare Showgrounds, where I was taking an aptitude exam for a Higher Life Foundation scholarship. During the tests, we were in the same row. 342 was my seat number, and 343 was hers.
I was from Mashonaland East Province, whereas she was from Manicaland. She was a stunning woman. After the exam, we exchanged phone numbers to stay in touch until the results were out. I didn’t spend my airtime calling her because I knew she was in a class above mine. Oh, how I pity myself! It was not my doing that I collected her phone number at the test facility; nonetheless, she was the one who requested my mobile number. So we exchanged.
She was too classic, had that angelic beauty and very glowing skin. A type of girl who walks in between a perfumed air. ‘So what would I tell her if I called?’ I asked myself with some fear in me. I decided to respect myself and maintained my limit
After all, there was no way on earth I could see her again. About three weeks later, I came back from the farm to see her missed two call notifications. She then left a message:
“Hello dear. Long time. What’s going on? Not even a call, please don’t do that for me. I hope you’re okay. I’ve checked my results and I have 99%, what about yours? Please call me as soon as you get this.”
My heart skipped as I read her message.
I did not even know the results were released since I was at the farm and out of touch.
‘She scored 99%?’ I asked myself
I became ashamed to even check my result. I thought of calling her back, but I had no credit. It was not was too easy airtime those days at the farm.
That evening, I went to our community grocery store and requested the shopkeeper to look up the results on the internet for me. My brothers and sisters, when my results were checked, I scored 51 percent. I’m still not sure how I scored 51 percent because I didn’t even know what I wrote.
At around 8 PM that evening, I sent Charmaine a ‘please call me’ SMS. She didn’t call. I sent the second one and waited, but she didn’t call again. I exhausted all my five please call me that day.
At around 10 PM, my phone rang. It was Charmaine. I picked.
“Good evening Charmaine. I’m sorry, missed your calls and I didn’t have credit to call back.”
“Good evening Jeffrey. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine”
Her English was well polished and her voice could awaken a dead man. On hearing her voice, I leaped for joy like the Biblical fetus John, who leaped in Elizabeth’s womb on hearing the voice of Mary, the would-be mother of Jesus.
We spoke for about 10 minutes. 10 whole minutes! I felt guilty for finishing her airtime. That was the first time I was on phone for that long in my life with someone using an Econet line. I was used to my ‘Mahala’ calls, NetOne free night calls back then.
The conversation was going smooth until Charmaine decided to humiliate me by asking about my Harare Showgrounds aptitude test result.
“Before I forget, what have you scored?”, she asked.
Just then, a cold breeze blew me as if I was standing near an air conditioner in a banking hall.
“Me?” I asked as if there was a third party in our conversation.
“Yes, you. What did you score?”
Shame did not allow me to tell her the truth, so I lied.
“Okay. I scored 93%”
She was very excited to hear that I scored 93%.
“Congratulations. I wish you good luck sourcing for admission”, she concluded.
I accepted the congratulation; after all, I was qualified to take part in the aptitude test that would be conducted at my school.”
We ended the conversation and bid each other goodbye.
Months later, I went to write aptitude tests at one of the universities in the central part of the country. To my greatest surprise, I saw Charmaine.
“Hey! You. What are you doing here?”, I asked
“Hey! I’m so happy to see you again. I didn’t expect to see you. How are you doing?”, she responded without answering my question
“I’m fine. But you never told me this was your most preferred choice”, I asked.
“Yeah. I changed. I changed my most preferred choice from my former one to Midland States University (MSU). I would have called but I lost your number. Please give me a beep and let me save your number.” She asked, pulling out her iPhone from a glittering handbag.
I felt she did not want to talk about that, so I stopped asking further. I gave her a beep and she saved my number. We sat for the examination and by the grace of God, we both gained admission.
Charmaine was my coursemate at the university. We were in the same department. She was very brilliant and her beauty was second to none.
Everybody wanted to associate with her, but she had only one friend, me. She confided in me so much to the extent that I knew everything about her, including when she had her period. We were so close that people thought we were dating.
She stayed in a flat while I managed my life in a one-bedroom apartment. She was from a rich family.
One day as we were returning home from school, she said, “I am not very comfortable with you using my phones to do assignments. You should get an android phone.”
That statement would have meant nothing if Charmaine was a talkative type. We could spend up to three hours together and Charmaine would even not utter a word. So for her to make that statement that day had so much meaning to her. She had two iPhones and a laptop, while I was still managing an old Nokia phone that was given to me by my Uncle.
Was she trying to mock me?
I was ashamed, but I managed to respond.
“I will get a new phone as soon as possible. My uncle will be coming home next month and he promised to buy me a phone”, I lied.
She knew I was not saying the truth, but she did not respond.
We both went to her place and she prepared something for us to eat. After the meal, I left for my house.
At around 7 pm my phone rang. I checked and it was Charmaine.
“Hello Charmaine. How far?”
“Come over to the house”. She did not respond to my greetings and hung up.
That call was a very strange call to me.
I had only $1 left with me. It was enough to take me to and fro.
I got to her house and knocked on the door.
“Who’s there?” she asked
“Charmaine”, I called.
She recognized my voice and hurried to open the door. I went inside. She was watching television.
“Go to the bedroom, there’s something on the bed for you”.
Without asking anything, I went to the bedroom and I saw a small bag with something inside. I quickly opened it. Behold! It was an android phone. That was my first android phone.
I rushed back to the sitting room to thank her.
“Thank you so much, Charmaine. I really appreciate it. May God bless you”.
She smiled and said, “You’re welcome dear”.
I left for my place that night, full of joy.
END OF CHAPTER 1. Read the next episode, Chapter 2 here, now!
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