First Love Phobia - Chapter one

Chapter one

The Crazy courage

Fred had been walking for some time when he met a group of young ladies. From the whole group, he only noticed one of them. Susan! When he looked at her, their eyes met. He was greeted with her celebrity-white teeth and her ever-stunning snow-white eyes. For some fraction of a second, he stood still, like a monument ready to be commissioned prematurely. In that simple act, the message he got was, ‘we belong together, honey!’

As he continued looking, he heard her attempting to speak to him using his mother’s voice.

“Fred, wake up!”

The whole group, curiously, turned to look at him.

“Fred, Fred, wake up! Come and help me rearrange the dining. Our visitors will be here any moment!”

His mother shouted at his door as she awakened him from his usual afternoon siesta.

He remembered that he had met Susan in the morning somewhere. The dream was just a rough flashback. As he sat on his bed to analyze what he had just dreamt about, the pictures of Susan’s light brown skin, medium slim structure and cute face started playing back in his mind. He had never thought about her in that way. A review of those pictures motivated him to attempt his first move on her. At that moment, this source of crazy courage and rude passion engulfed him instantly. He dashed out of the house, with his mind fixed on hearing her voice and, especially, seeing her again.

Trudging along the street, like an offended dictator confronting his prime suspects, he headed for the same spot where he was sure he had met her in the morning. Having lived in Ndola almost his entire life, it was easy for him to find his way even with his eyes closed.

“Are you okay, Fred?” A feminine voice shouted from the other side of the street. Could this be the miracle he had been hurrying for? It had to be Susan. No! It was Peggy, her aunty who had once lived with Susan’s family when she was a little girl. Without minding oncoming cars, he swiftly crossed over to the other side of the road, and greeted the lady before going straight into business.

“Please, I need one important thing from you. Mmmm!” He trembled so heavily that he even became aware that she was observing his vibrating pair of trousers. He deliberately paused out of embarrassment.

“Are you okay? Just say it and let me be the judge of whether I can be of help or not.” She assured him.

“Susan’s cell number, Aaaanty Peggy.” He stuttered childishly with his left arm extended toward her in a gesture of begging.

“Hahahaha. Here comes the man! I get the message, Fred. I think you need the number.” She joked lightly and gave him the number. After they parted, she laughed at his embarrassing gesture meant to express his thanks.

Except for a few people walking from where he finally came to position himself and some garden boys executing their landscaping activities around the yards, the street was almost lifeless. But when it came to noise levels, Kansenshi was one of the places in Ndola city with very low noise levels. Perhaps, that is why it was considered to be a prime residential area.

Fred took advantage of the temporary privacy. He nervously pulled out his cell phone and attempted to dial Susan’s number. The moment he held his phone, and pressed the menu key, a strange fever cropped up his spine. Looking at his left arm, he noticed some goose pimples immediately lined up around his arm. He started sweating and trembling. The heart started pounding so heavily that he could feel it between his teeth. It was like Susan was coming from behind to witness him make that call. That thought, was enough to cause his stomach to churn like he had just come out of a heavy hunger strike. Without giving it another thought, he put his phone back in his pocket, looked around, and headed for the nearest mobile pay phone.

It only took a few minutes of jogging and brisk walking before he reached the nearest pay phone along the next street’s T-junction. He was welcomed by the vendor who was even kind enough to help him enter Susan’s number. As the vendor started dialing the number, the sound of the keys immediately started causing him uncontrolled heart palpitations. He checked his hands and saw a few of the earlier goose pimples forming around his left arm. Again! Instinctively, he almost ran away out of embarrassment. But he noticed that there were other clients waiting to be attended to. So he braved on. The phone rang several times without being answered. As he walked away from the payphone, he let out a sigh of relief as if he had been compelled to come this far.