THE REPROBATE

By Omoseye Bolaji

It seems I have been spending my whole life in diverse hotels for the last two weeks ago. Hotels in Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Kempton Park, Ethiopia - and (we ll come to that a bit later on(

One of the hotels in Gauteng (we need not mention it( is etched in my mind because I met a certain Gentleman there that in my mind I dubbed a reprobate. Around 5 - 6 in the evening he would sit with me in front of the Guest House and start spewing out obscenities and embarrassing stuff, beers in tow

Terrible hotel we are in here, he would start. I always pity the female staff here. This place is Sodom and Gomorrah as it were; no wonder there is so much aids around , men and women just drive in everytime and do their thing; i like peeping inside the waste basket that side; full of used condoms, dirt pads and so many disgusting things. How do you sleep at nights? Aren t you disturbed with all the sounds of love-making going on?

No, I lied. So many good time girls around, the reprobate went on. Dozens of useless girls, though many of them are quite pretty. They frequent the rooms here lookingt for men to sleep with them. Black, coloured, white girls....if you are interested...

I winced....even in my hotel *Top Ten* later on in Addis Abba, Ethiopia I shuddered at some of these memories, the tang of the Ethiopian soap on my skin. I hoped I had had enough of hotels. Now for Lagos, Nigeria where I would bask amidst people at grassroots level. Eniyan laso mi as they say.

Then I got a message from my host in Lagos. He seemed to be excited. You know I know you have been stressed the last few weeks or so hence I have a treat for you, the message said. Once you get to Lagos I am putting you up in a hotel...

Oh no! Not a hotel again....