The girls were all in support of Manteur and they wondered why on earth their friend(Melima) could, be so stupid to the point of disclosing his name to her parents and now because of the claimed stupidity of Melima, Manteur was now in trouble with the administration. As the investigation was driving toward it end, during school breaks, students clubbed themselves in various groups at strategic points of the school yard. Their conversations were no longer about their forthcoming exams nor was it even concerning Football. Their conversation was about the fate of Manteur.
While some male students just as some section of their male teachers were jubilant, female students, especially those Manteur had promised to get married to and take them to France at the end of his contract, were not happy. For they feared that, the indictment of Manteur will ruin their dream of going to France. What they did not know was that, Manteur had made the same promises to them all. In a group of girls who had all gone to bed with Manteur, but ignoring each other, one asked: why Melima did not accused her formal boy. He continued: “especially that, he is fair skin and logically, their child will have the skin complexion of the father”. Then another one retorted: “there is no guaranty that, the child that, Melima will give birth to will have the complexion of his father, if he were Tuna, (name of the formal boy friend of Melima).” There was an instant retaliation from another girl: “why are you sounding as though, you are putting in doubt the innocence of Manteur?”
Then another one asked: “whether Zambo has doubt on the innocence of Manteur or not, it is not a great deal, but, the question is this: if Melima had accused Tuna of being the father of the child she is carrying and when she gives birth, the hair of the child will deliver the truth”. She continued: “this is so, because, even though there are Negroes who have the same skin pigmentation as those of some White Europeans, there are three things that makes them Negroes: a) their thick lips, b) flat or round nose and c) their curly log of hairs. So think about those elements before advancing your speculative conclusions”. These reasoning which had some logic, sparked mutual suspicions, for one of the girls wondered load why her friends are going onto such petty details. She said: “one of my younger brothers has the curly hairs of Negroes born of out interracial marriage, yet none of us have ever gotten married to a non black”.
Then Mvele, whose final expose irritated and forced Bakala to accuse her friends of getting involved into petty details said: “Bakala, I now understand that, all your time spend in the biology class of Manteur was a simple waste of time”. She added: “How far you are so sure that, in your families, that is, that of your mother and your father, there wasn’t some one at a point, who was married to a White person? So, I think your connections or claims about your younger brother’s hair are baseless and unfounded. In addiction, there are many blacks or Negroes, who have the sort of hair you are talking about and know that, black is black. It doesn’t matter how light or fair skin he/she may be”. The girls at Lycee du General Leclerc truly loved Manteur, whereas a section of male students and even some male colleagues of Manteur in the teaching Corp were jealous of him. As for the girls, even though they were showing concern for Manteur publicly and collectively, but individually and secretly, they were competing against each other.
But as they were competing individually and secretly, their lover boy was being transferred to another French-speaking black African country, because the case of Melima was becoming a diplomatic problem between Cameroon and France. Then one day, one girl in the group made up of Zambo, Bakala and Mvele, brought out the address of Manteur in France and showed it with pride to her friends. “I have won the jackpot!” she cried. For she thought that, she was the chosen one. But the claimed chosen one was shocked, when Bakala, also thrust her hand into the pocket of her skirt and came out with another address, also given to her by Manteur. They now understood that, none of them was the chosen one of Manteur and also that, Manteur has abused of their ignorance and naivety.
