News Bits: Gossip Magazine

Miss Casey Benson probably needs no introduction. You would recall that she came into prominence with her debut movie: 'The Most Beautiful Girl,' where she acted the part of a beauty queen. Since then the delectable beauty has dominated the movie industry like a queen bee in a bee colony. Having won numerous awards and starred in countless successful movies, she has been conferred, though informally, with the title, 'The Indisputable Goddess of the Screen.' There also has been talk of her metamorphosing into Hollywood.

It is regrettable that though Miss Benson's name has been linked with that
of some notable men, she is yet to tie the nuptial knot at thirty-seven. A
news reporter from the Amebo Magazine, yours faithfully, saw the
dazzling beauty at a ball given by ace industrialist and CEO of Beauty
Cosmetics Nigeria Ltd. to mark his fiftieth birthday smiling like she had
won a raffle draw. You need to see what she wore. The thing fine sha,
abeg, but the thing no cover her body at all. What would you say if your
wife accompanied you to a party, dressed in a strapless bust-hugging
dress that left little to the imagination? Kai! The full gist anyway is that
she stole the show as usual, stunningly clad in a dinner dress almost non-
existent at the back and the boobs. She dazzled in this dress which in no
small way accentuated her sexy, curvy figure; she was the cynosure of all
eyes.

Wait! You have not heard the real gist. All through the ball the dandified
Chief Ajayi Tokunbo never left her bosom. They kept smiling at each
other and chattering away, seemingly, like two adolescents who had just
experimented and discovered the joy of sex. Yours faithfully was not
close enough to hear what jokes the industrialist had cracked. The jokes
must have been quite successful for the screen goddess continually threw
her head back and laughed in that queenly manner which had aided her
ride into prominence.

The way they carried on it was obvious that the celebrant was much
enamoured by Miss Benson, who's also won for herself the 'Sugar-
Daughter of the Century' title. Casey, Abeg make you take am sofry. Abi
you don forget say Chief Tokunbo already don get two wives? Abi you
wan be the third wife?

***

Agatha Momah was a good actress. Hers was a story of hard work and
perseverance. She had left secondary school a year ahead of graduation
because there was no money to continue. Anyway, it had been
her sheer will and fighting spirit that had made her last at secondary
school for five years. Both her parents had died in a motor accident when
she was in class two, leaving her and her then nine years old brother,
Richard, orphaned in the village.

Their relatives in the village were so poor. They could not afford to feed
even themselves. Her father had been a primary school teacher in the
village and her mother a housewife. They had therefore been looked upon
as the rich couple of the village –a case of a one-eyed man being king in
the land of the blind.

When her parents both died there had not been any forthcoming help for
them. Those who could have helped were either too poor or plainly
selfish. The Teachers Union had helped give her parents a befitting
burial; the Church's contribution was to conduct a proper burial service
that would ensure their flying to heaven and that was the end. They had
done their duty.

Agatha, in her early teens, was determined that Richard and she would
survive. She, though a mere girl would climb their palm trees. After
harvesting the palm fruits she would process it into palm oil and later the
kernels she would shell. She would trek a long distance to the great Nkwo
market in a neighbouring town to sell her proceeds to the merchants from
the city. She and her brother would scratch on the dry patchy land
grudgingly released to them by their relatives –though only a fraction of
her father's land –in the name of cultivating the land –and miraculously
some crops would grow. That was how Richard and she managed to
survive and she up to class five.

It was at class five that the big problem stirred its monstrous head. How
was she to pay for the final exams and her school fees? Having tried all
she could and yet made no headway, she had finally dropped out. Being
an ambitious young girl she had dusted her testimonial and headed for
Lagos. Richard was now twelve years old. She had bought enough food
to last him for a long time, given him some money and an injunction to
approach their aunt, Anna, their mother's younger sister, whenever he was
in difficulty. She promised him she would make it big in Lagos and come
back for him.

In Lagos, Agatha knew no one. She only knew that the miserable life of
the village was not for her. An intelligent girl, she knew a little about city
life and how she could survive from her experiences in reading novels.
She had little money with her, what with her having shared all her savings
with Richard, and having to meet her transport expenses.

Clutching her small bag tightly she walked round the streets, exploring
the city. She was terribly afraid, having read such horrible things about
the city in novels. Finally, she settled for a small hotel that had caught her
eyes. The hotel was very dirty from what she saw. She reasoned that it
would be cheaper than the others.

"I want a room," she said to the over-bleached and bejeweled receptionist
after having greeted her.

"You know the price?" the receptionist asked, watching her speculatively.
Perhaps she wondered why such a young girl should need a room in such
a notorious hotel and how she would be able to pay, seeing that she was
shabbily dressed and had her hair weaved in the village style.

Having been told the price for a room, Agatha instantly paid up. On
getting to her room she bathed and dressed in her best dress: a pink dress
that she had worn as a bridesmaid during her teacher's wedding. She then
hit the streets immediately, without having any rest, in search of a job.

She trudged on for hours but did not seem to have any luck. It was
always: "Sorry, Miss Momah. I'd have loved to help you but there is no
job opening at the moment," after she had told her story at all the offices
she visited.

When it was dark, she headed back to her shanty motel where the flies
and the mosquitoes hummed continuously; where she shared her bed
with vermin. Her spirit was broken. "Tomorrow is another day," she
thought. But fate had other plans for her.

She had fallen asleep immediately she returned to her room. The
surroundings seemed to come to life around 10 p.m. In the daytime,
everywhere had been quiet. The noise had woken her. She peered outside,
through the window. Lots of cars were parked in the surroundings and
half-naked ladies paraded themselves as if in pageantry, seeking the
attention of the car owners.

Agatha was certainly not naive. She was not averse to sex, but from what
she had read in novels, she knew that living the life of a prostitute was not
for her. "Is there much difference?" she thought. Her mother had taught
her that premarital sex was bad, and the pastor in her church had
corroborated its sinfulness in his sermons. Nevertheless, she was not
bothered. The few times she'd had sex was in view of earning some
money. She remembered her first experience. It was with Mr. Okiro, the
Math teacher, in his compact office. How she had yelled in pain with Mr.
Okiro muffling her screams with his kisses. He had given her some
money. She had used it to buy new sandals for Richard and herself. She
was very intelligent. With her knowledge of Biology she knew she could
not get pregnant, as she was not ovulating. She had never given the
incident a thought again until one day when she had approached Mr.
Okiro for some money. He had given her, but on one condition.... She
wondered why he was not satisfied with his beautiful wife.

Tired of lying in bed she dressed and went out, seeing that the area was
bubbling. "Maybe some generous man will take interest in me and help
me get a job?" she thought, in doubt. She did not feel half as pretty or as
well dressed as the prostitutes she'd seen. She passed through the hotel
bar. It was literally swarming with people. She wondered why such large
number of people should patronize such a decrepit hotel. To her
disappointment no one took notice of her. She went outside and was
nearly choked by what she saw. Some people were doing it right there,
leaning against the body of a car. Dismayed, she made to go back to her
room when she heard a man calling to her. She pretended not to notice.
Experience had taught her that if he were truly interested he would come
towards her. She won. In no time he was beside her.

"Hello, young lady. What's your name?" he asked.

"My name is Agatha," she replied her eyes down.

"How are you, Agatha?"

"Fine."

"What does it take to have you, Agatha?"

"I don't understand what you mean, Sir," she said, feigning ignorance and
looking down at her feet, while they conversed.

The man instantly surveyed her, taking cognizance of her unsophisticated
appearance. She had weaved her hair like the village girl she was. She
had worn no make up and was dressed in a plain cotton dress, her feet
shod in simple rubber slippers. What was it that had attracted him to her
in the first place? In the half-light he had caught sight of her sexy figure
and had been carried away. Now, looking at her, he realized she was very
beautiful. Then he realized another thing: he had struck bush meat. Yet
something else cropped up in his mind. What was this bush meat doing
here of all places? Most village girls were to be seen as housemaids and
not in brothels. Yet another question cropped up. How come she spoke
such good and brilliant English? She was indeed an enigma.