Sengan was the most popular youth in the village. He organized most of the social and sport activities. He was not athlectic but had very good looks. The young girls in the village found him very attractive. They all competed for his attention and at one point he had up to three girl friends. The funniest thing, though, was that all the girls knew each other and were friends. Sengan saw the girls only when they met in the dusty and sandy streets of the village, or at the social and sport events organized by the youths. Sengan had no intimate relations with the girls. The love escapades and amorous encounters, the touching and groping, the hugging and kissing took place only in the dark and in shadowy street corners; and in the outskirts of the village behind trees and tall grasses. Sengan was enthused when he found out that Musukuta was secretly in love with him. Musukuta was the most beautiful girl in the village. She was indifferent to the attention she generated and sometimes stood aloof. While most of the girls were eager to court friendship with the boys, Musukuta was deliberate in her choices. She went after the most popular youth in the village. At the village stream all the girls would gather around her, and they seek her approval to either respond or ignore an expressed interest from a boy. The boys directed their favors to her if they wanted to court any girl. Many a time as Sengan trudged in and out of Musukuta's compound to meet Ma Binta, her mother, who was the president of women's garden project that he founded, Musukuta always exchanged curious but exciting looks with him. They developed a mutual interest for each other. They became close friends. When Musukuta passed that neatly folded piece of paper to him at the village stream, Sengan became more bold and assertive in expressing his love to her. Musukuta seldom visited Sengan at his house. They always met outside her compound in the evening, and sometimes they took a long walk to the village stream. One evening, as the clouds gathered and the thunder roared, Sengan lured Musukuta to his bedroom. As first she was scared and appeared fidgety. She would not sit on his bed. Sengan stood with her at a corner in the room; he kissed and fondled her passionately. Musukuta repeatedly pleaded with him to stop, and with a very strong resolved she gently pushed him away. "I have to leave. Take me home now," she said. Without saying a word, Sengan led her outside the room and into the dark and cloudy night. They kept quiet on the short walk to her house, and at the verandah of the house he lightly kissed her on the cheek. Musukuta slowly turned her head around and mischievously looked at him. With a long grin on her face, she smiled. "You know Satan almost overcome you tonight. What would have happened if you..." She didn't complete the question. Without thinking hard, Sengan said: "I will marry you." "I know that is what you will say." Musukuta planted a big kiss on his lips and dissappeared into the house. * Sengan was so excited with the proposed night dance at the Mangoro house. This was another opportunity to meet and cuddle with Musukuta the whole night long. The night dances had become quite frequent, and most of the time were organized at the spur of the moment. When Lang Kinteh, the prominent taxi driver at Kinteh Kunda bought a record turntable, the youths turned to him whenever they wanted to organize a dance. Sometimes it took a lot of coaxing before Lang would part with his record turntable. Besides displacing the small group who gathered at Lang's sparse living room each and every night, and soulfully listened to the Mbembia Jazz band records, Lang's turntable was very, very close to his heart. The Mangoro house, the decrepit mud building in that compound clustered with mango trees at the outskirts of the village, became the rendezvous for the night dance. "Make sure that when you bring back the turntable that nothing is wrong with it," Lang said. "It is under my responsibility, Lang," Sengan said. "Be rest assured that I will bring it back in the same condition that you are giving it to us." "All right! all right! get out of my sight you naughty boys," Lang said. He dismissed the sweet-talking group who came to borrow his turntable. Sengan clutched the record turntable under his armpit and headed to the Mangoro house. At the Mangoro house all inhibitions were let loose. The house was illuminated with candles and hurricane lamps. The dancing room was lit with candles. When a soul record was played, the candles were easily snuffed out and the room set in complete darkness. This was the highlight of the night. Sengan and Musukuta were at a corner in the room, tightly locked in each other's arms, as the soothing voice of Marvin Gaye lulled them to sleep. Their eyes were closed. At the first crow of the cock, Sengan sneaked Musukuta back into her house before her father woke up and realized that she was not at home. The night dances at the Mangoro house were the monotonous routine to which the youths engaged their boring love relationships. This was all they had. Everything changed when Maimuna moved to the village from Banjul. * With her short mini skirts, her snake-like sexy eyes and bleached light skin, Maimuna was an instant attraction to the spellbound eyes of the youths. With her carefree attitude and flare for the outrageous, Maimuna entered the village scene with a storm. She dazzled the youths with her beauty and she provocated the attention of the elder folks in her sleazy dresses as she walked past them at the Bantaba. Everybody was talking about her. She brought to the village a level of sophistication that was previously unknown. One after the other, she wide opened the eyes of the young virtuous village girls. Maimuna introduced them to their first serious love relations. She also brought with her a coterie of flamboyant young men from the city who invaded the sleepy village like locust on a corn field. Maimuna's compound was now the meeting place for all the young girls in the village. It was at her compound that the trendy young men from the city started to date with the village girls. Soon the girls started to explore life outside the village. They went with their new boyfriends to visit nightclubs and other night spots in the city. The village youths were very angry and treated the girls with utter contempt. The night dances at the Mangoro house became a thing of the past; the village girls shunned all invitations to grace such dances with their presence. The youths became spectators who watched helplessly, as the girls they wrestled and kissed and fondled at the village stream, engaged in steamy love affairs with strangers. It was at Maimuna's compound, and with her constant nudgings, that Musukuta became enamored with this handsome young man with the dreadlocks. His name was Babs. いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい