CORPER’S DILEMMA (A Short Story)

Whoever said village girls were suitable wife materials must not have served in ‘Oke-Pupa’. The things I’ve seen in this place are too heavy for my mouth to utter.

It’s been six months that I was posted here as a corp member, and I’ve never bought foodstuff or fish. The farmers bring

It’s been six months since I got here, and I’ve never had to buy foodstuff from my allowance. The king has even taken a great liking to me… and the mothers in this village? Oh my God.

One would think I was a deity the way the mothers of these maidens deliver freshly prepared delicacies to my lodge every other day. Since I got here, it’s like all the young ladies in the village have a problem with mathematics. Even the ones who are not my students run to me with their sibling’s assignment. Corper this; corper that.

Get this, two days ago; I punished an SS3 girl for unbuttoning her blouse in my office. After countless strokes of the cane, she later confessed that the senior girls had made a bet on who would ‘get me’. She even said the Aduke — the one who seems to be the most sensible of them — is a part of this mafia of juvenile maidens.

I had no idea I had become a walking target — a sitting duck — a coupon on which cheap feminine bets were made, and honestly, I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I feel insulted, but on the other, I always knew my good looks would be the end of me.

My issue now is threefold- no four.

Number one, I cannot apply for redeployment based on unsubstantiated allegations of potential harassment from a couple of village maidens. That doesn’t even make sense.

Secondly, there is no one to confide in. My fellow corpers hate me cos I get all the free food. And if I told my friends, they would not only hail me, but they would proceed to advise me to run wild with the girls and then run away to my house. Like who will hold me.

The third?

It turns out that Aduke, the same Aduke, is getting married to the king. There is to be a ceremony to confirm if she is a virgin, and any man she has been with will be dead within a week.

This brings me to my fourth issue.

See, I don’t believe in local charm or anything, but I might have slept with Aduke.