Sheep

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"....we have a girl here for you. Very beautiful yoruba girl, very intelligent, God fearing. You will like her. Her name is Tolu.."

I had stopped listening. This was the day I realised that my mother doesn't know me. If she did, she would know she had just disqualified the girl. The fact that she came "highly" recommended by my parents meant I wanted nothing to do with her. But let me start at the beginning.



I've always had an independent spirit. Always wanted to make my own way in the world. So when, at Ann Arbor State, my dad would constantly say things like:
"You better get good grades. I'm not wasting my money on you"
"Do you know how much it costs to send you to school in America?"
I found it irksome to say the least. So one summer I made a decision, I was going to work and save up enough to pay my own tuition. By the start of fall semester, I didn't have enough saved, so I decided,(of course without informing my parents) to take the semester off.



Inevitably, they found out and freaked. Thought I'd dropped out of college. No son of theirs was going to be a college dropout, so plans were put in motion to move me to a place where they could keep a closer eye on me. Good ol' UK.

Then they start asking me what my plans are on getting here. I'm thinking "I don't know. It was your lousy idea". My mom asks me if I have a girlfriend there that's making me want to stay. I said yes.

I was dating this lovely little Italian girl called Mary. She's still to date the best girlfriend I've ever had.

"Italo? Italian what? Last time it was kokoye(Spanish), now its Italian. You won't go and find yourself a nice Yoruba girl. Anyway, don't worry...we have a girl here for you...."

I thought she was playing. She wasn't. When I arrived here it quickly became obvious that my mother and, even more enthusiastically, my father had decided that this was the girl they wanted me to be with. They had hatched this scheme together with my auntie, who was co-pastor with her husband at the church that we (and Tolu) attended.

My auntie had also took it upon herself to announce at church, repeatedly I was told, that her "first son", a "handsome man of God" was arriving soon. And then when the female population of the church started showing me undue attention, she thot it was a spirit she needed to bind. I'll come to the ladies in a minute.

So I met Tolu, and she was actually a really great girl. I could kick it with her easily and might even have considered dating her if my parents hadn't ruined her chances. A shame really. My dad still asks from time to time if I stay in touch with her. He's cute like that.

On to the ladies. Now, (un)fortunately, it turned out that my uncle pastored a church comprised mostly of students. This meant that about 50% of the congregation was eyeing me most sundays. The flirt in me flourished under all the attention.

You see, I love hugging a woman, sneaking my hand into the small of her back and pulling her close. Smelling her perfume. Its a beautiful thing that became my sunday morning ritual (Except I had to stop wearing light colored shirts cause make up aint always easy to wash out. ) And I've been told I give the best hugs. So I guess I might have given these women more reason to swoon. Not my intention. I was just being me.

This said though, I would never have dated any of them. The scandal of pastor finding out that his nephew was in bed with the choir mistress. Mehn, I still fear God small o! Before I become the topic of sunday sermon.

Funnily enough, Tolu was about the only girl who didn't get caught up in the craze. We would laugh together at all the ridiculous attention I was receiving.

Her: What the hell do these girls see in you? I mean, you're not bad on the eyes and all but there are finer boys out there

Me: I dunno o! But free dem. I'm not complaining

I did sit back and think about it once. "Sheep" was the word that came to mind. These women weren't attracted to me. They were attracted to the possibility of having something that everyone else wanted. For them, it was the thrill of the chase. And for me, it was a tremendous ego boost.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

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