THE TENTH EXPERIENCE- EPISODE 3

The impatient taps of the hooves of the horses mounted by the officers at the gate jogged me to reality and I snaked my body in unison to the moving crowd passing through the worn out high walls of the square by many entrances until I got to the other main entrance where we all had to do a lot of hand raising and endure a lot of rough handling from the military officers at the gate but eventually I got through and was faced by one of the largest crowd ever.

I don’t think there can be any fitting metaphor to categorize the extent of the crowd but one thing was sure and that was the fact that they had a loud and infectious roar. They had the kind of infectious roar that sends you into instant frenzy and clogs your senses with a heightened cloud of excitement.

Once again I had the task of navigating through the dramatic crowd piled up in different clusters each having their own definition of fun.

I NEEDED TO FIND A SECLUDED VANTAGE FOR OPTIMUM VIEW AND FEEL…

After spending some excruciating minutes strutting languidly while enjoying looks of admiration and at the same time envying those at the galleria, taking a cup of coffee from a nice looking gal and buying a book, I finally found a not too quiet spot just behind a vendor where I had a good glimpse of the stage and a near perfect view of the projector.

The midnight crew was performing and once again for the umpteenth time, the crowd went into a wild roar.

“THIS WILL DO” I told myself

There was too much to take in: too many pretty ladies strutting around all smiles, too many loud guys begging for attention, too many celebrities being called out by an invisible anchor, too much vendors selling wares ranging from pure water to electronics.

For moiety seconds, I locked gaze with a dark and pretty girl with an intense gaze. She was dressed in a customized shirt that had IYKE THE DON’s marketing logo.

I knew IYKE THE DON, everyone knows him. I particularly loved one of his rock pieces “I NEED YOU LORD”; it was one of my favorite songs throughout service year.

She was standing in a secluded vantage with some guys who seemed to be co marketers because they all had the same shirt on.

I took a glimpse at the CDs in her stands and saw variety of artists and genres ranging from Asa to Mike Abdul, Sonnie Badu, Frank Edwards and others. I quickly took my attention away from her, the last thing I needed was distraction and I knew it.

Time passed in the flurry of excitement with moments punctuated by some exceptional occurrence like when Frank Edwards was called on stage.

Before the invisible anchor finished pronouncing the name, the crowd went wild. It was deafening.

For the umpteenth time that night, I envied those on the galleria who had a close to perfect view of the acts and wished by some miracle a friend would just call me up with tidings of a seat reserved specially for me.

NAÏVE HUHH? BUT WHAT ELSE COULD I DO BUT HOPE…