(Continued from Mama’s Hubby II)
Just when Rita starts imagining that he will kill her, the professor stops beating her, hops into his Peugeot 504 and drives away without taking breakfast. The professor is furious as he drives to the University. But he is more angry at himself than the girl. He knows exactly what happened last night. He remembers touching the girl’s breasts, getting aroused and then…nothing.
He knows he blacked out. Which is the reason he is furious. How could his body fail him at such a critical time? She is so beautiful, just like the mother. In fact she is a younger, fresher version of her mother. He has time to deflower her because she is living in his house. He certainly must feel her tender body again. But next time he will go slow on the alcohol.
He would have loved to have another go it tonight but he has another engagement. Today there is another girl to deflower. A young, shy first year student. He is almost sure that she is a virgin, and that is making his anticipation even greater. She is a Christian and he had to use threats to make sure she agrees to sleep with him. Threaten a girl from a poor family with expulsion, and she will do anything for you. Including breaking her chastity vow.
The joy of being a lecturer.
The professor married Diana for two reasons. First, she is stunningly beautiful. Second, she worships the ground he walks on, so she wouldn’t cause trouble even if she caught him red-handed in bed with another woman. So he gets a trophy wife, and at the same time he gets to sleep with any woman he likes without losing the trophy.
*
Joy is a devout Christian. She was brought in a Christian home by two very strict but loving Christians. Her parents are however very poor. Her father is a rural carpenter while her mother is a housewife. They own half an acre of inherited land where they do subsistence farming that is barely enough to feed their family. Joy is the first of six children, and is generally expected to help out with the education of her siblings once she graduates and gets a job.
Her own education was a constant struggle. She was always in and out of school due to lack of school fees. But because she is a bright girl, she passed and got admission to Precious Blood Girls High School Kilungu, arguably the finest school in Eastern Province. Her parents could not afford the fee though, and she ended up Kathegere Mixed Day Secondary School. Even the school fees for a day school was a problem. Fortunately, the principal of Kathegere Secondary agreed to hire Joy’s mother as a cook to offset her fees. The school offers lunch to both students and teachers.
Two of Joy’s brothers are at Kathegere Secondary, so her mother is still working there for no pay. Meanwhile, her father is struggling to feed all of them while keeping the last three in school. Two of those last three are in upper primary, and one is in lower primary. Joy hopes that by the time they get to secondary school, she will have graduated and gotten a job so that she can pay their school fees to ease the financial pressure on her parent’s shoulders.
She came to Kenyatta University with high expectations. This is the land of educated and civilized people. She is the first student is her village, boy or girl, to make it to University. She is a legend at Kathegere Secondary. She came with the singular mind of getting a first class honors degree.
Then Professor Kuria happened.
It took only two weeks to learn about his reputation as a predator from her new friends in the Christian Union. She made a decision to lie low so as not to attract his attention. She dresses very conservatively, and she hopes that that will help in deflecting attention from herself, especially because some of her colleagues dress very provocatively. She is always early for class and avoids anything that might draw attention to herself.
But now she is on his radar. When the results of the first semester were released, she realized that she did not have results for Professor Kuria’s unit. That means she would have to do follow up, which translated to going to Professor Kuria’s office. That filled her with dread, but she did not have any alternative.
Professor Kuria also happens to be the dean of her faculty, so he has a spacious office and an arrogant secretary with heavy duty attitude. Rumor around campus has it that the secretary is the professor’s steady mistress and hates all the girls on campus because she considers them a threat. She needn’t have bothered. None of the campus girls would be willing to take her job as a secretary. And as long as she remains his secretary, he will sleep with her irrespective of who else he is sleeping with. Of course she hopes that she will be elevated to wife status one day, but at the back of her mind she knows that that is a long shot.
*
It is this secretary who, while dripping with jealousy and insecurity, ushered a trembling Joy to Professor Kuria’s office yesterday. Joy was so scared that she did not notice the sarcasm in the secretary’s voice or the wicked eye she was casting at her.
“I would like to see the dean,” Joy told the secretary.
The woman did not even look up from her typewriter, on which she was typing a memo of some sort.
“What about?”
“I was not graded in his unit,”
The secretary continued punching the keys of the typewriter as though she had not heard. Joy did not have the courage to repeat what she had just said because she knew that she would only get snapped at. Finally the secretary pointed to the door and told her to go in.
The professor was reading a newspaper when Joy got in.
“What can I do for you?” he asked, barely looking up.
“Sir, I did not receive a grade in your unit.”
“Did you do the exam?”
“Yes sir.”
“What is your name?”
“Joy Nduku.”
He considered her for a minute then smiled.
“That is a small problem that can be sorted in a day or two.”
Joy relaxed and even managed to return his smile.
“Thank you sir.”
“But you need to do something for me.”
Joy’s muscles suddenly tensed again.
“What would that be sir?”
He rose from his chair and walked up to her.
“You are such a beautiful girl,” he murmured while stroking her cheek. He circled her lips with his thumb, but when he tried to kiss her she pushed him away and took a step back.
“I am sorry sir. I am a Christian and I cannot do what I think you are asking. I cannot sin against my Lord,” she said, feeling like Joseph in the Potiphar Bible story.
“Very well, Joy. I will let the University Senate know that the reason you did not get a grade is because you cheated in my exam. Now get out of my office.”
Joy felt her knees grow weak. According to the handbook she was given when she reported at the University, the punishment for cheating in an exam is expulsion. What will she tell her parents if she is expelled? What will happen to her siblings? They will probably drop out of school. She will become an embarrassment to the whole village. Nobody will believe that she was framed by a lecturer who wanted to sleep with her.
“Please sir, do not do that to me. You and I know that I did not cheat in that exam.”
“Tell that to the Senate and see if they will believe you.”
“Please sir…”
“Like I said, this is a very small problem to solve, if only you cooperate,”
Joy did not think she had a choice.
“Okay sir, I will do whatever you want.”
Professor Kuria looked up and smiled.
“I will pick you up tomorrow outside the school gate. Be there at 5pm.”
He smiled again and dismissed her. Her exam papers were probably misplaced by his secretary, but he doesn’t need to see her papers to give her a straight A if she satisfies his lust. After she left, the professor pulled her records and was satisfied to note that she is a bursary student. Students from wealthy and connected families can cause him problems, so he tends to avoid them. If he had noted that she came from a wealthy and connected family, he would have graded her immediately. By the time she told daddy about the randy professor, she would have a grade and both she and her powerful daddy would be forced to apologize to him.
But this one is a poor student, and therefore his for the taking.
*
Joy was not able to concentrate in class for the rest of the day yesterday. She was not even able to eat. And the situation is the same today. Instead of going to class, she is holed up in the Christian Union prayer room. She has been there since morning praying and crying. She does not want to sleep with Professor Kuria. But neither is she willing to be expelled from school. The Joseph test is too steep. But is it? Joseph was willing to go to prison for his faith. Daniel was thrown into the den of lions. Why is she so afraid of being expelled from the University? God will take care of her.
She rises from the floor and goes to her room to freshen up. Then she goes to the dean’s office to tell him that she would not sleep with him, whatever the cost. Just as she is approaching the secretary’s station, the dean’s door opens and three men emerge. She knows all the three: the Vice Chancellor, Dean Kuria and the newly elected National Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Right Reverend Joab Gathitu.
“Joy! It is so nice to see you,” Reverend Gathitu says. He was the parish minister at her parish back at home a few years ago. She was the parish youth secretary then so he knew her well. He looks genuinely pleased to see her at the University and goes ahead to extol her virtues to the VC and the Dean.
“She has struggled so much to get here, Phillip,” the Reverend tells the VC who is obviously his friend. “But she is brilliant and very resilient. I am grateful that she came to your institution. Please take care of her. She is like a daughter to me.”
“I will keep an eye on her, Joab. Do not worry. Joy, you were coming to see the Dean, is there a problem?” the VC asks.
“Yes sir. I was not graded in the dean’s unit,”
“And why is that?”
Joy sighs and gathers courage. This is her chance.
“I have no idea sir. But the dean told me that it is a small problem to solve if I sleep with him. But if I don’t, then he will tell the University Senate that I cheated. I was coming to tell him that I would not sleep with him, and he could get me expelled if he so wished.”
“Give the lady a grade by the end of the day, Derrick. And I want to see the papers and assignments that she handed in. Have them placed in my office by close of business tomorrow,” the VC tells the dean. “And be ready for a disciplinary meeting.”
“Yes sir,” Prof. Kuria replies meekly.
The three men go their way, and Joy floats back to the prayer room to give thanks to Jehovah.
(Continued Here.)
Image Credits: Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/man-paris-traffic-france-people-2379025/
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