Chapter 4

Jenny began to notice the increase in vehicle traffic, more houses and buildings, and the dirt road turned to pavement.

“Scott, Scott.” Jenny nudged him. He was jolted awake.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” He wondered, groggily reaching for the gun.

“Nothing is wrong; we’re getting close to Harper. The sign says a population of about 18,000.”

“Already? It felt like I just fell asleep,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“That was over an hour ago.”

“Did you see any police?” He inquired, looking out the rear window.

“Two of them, going the other way.”

“Thanks, Jenny, you did great,” he praised, rubbing her right arm.

“That’s what partners are for, protecting each other,” she smiled, stopping at the side of the road to change drivers. They couldn’t resist hugging and kissing, and he didn’t need any prompting to fondle her tits.

“I sure could use a shower,” Jenny commented, feeling the dust and sweat on her body.

“I wonder if it would be safe for us to find a hotel room for the rest of the day and night?” He wondered.

“With just one bed?” She was enticed, flashing that smile again.

“Yes, just one bed,” he grinned. “I hope the bed springs aren’t too squeaky,” he kidded.

“Who said anything about us having sex?” She looked at him stone-faced, then her smile melted his heart again. “And we need to eat a good meal too.”

As Jenny added gas to the Mercedes, a police car drove past. She took the clothes from the back seat and put them in the trunk. Scott took them further into Harper and quickly donned Oscar’s wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses as a police car passed by them.

“That was too close,” he said, raising his head from hiding out of sight.

“We had better be careful,” she warned. “Let’s walk and see if we can find a restaurant, we’re both hungry.”

“One thing that comes to mind is that I hope those planning to assassinate your president do not change their strategy, or else our journey will be futile. I mean, you’d expect them to have a backup plan, an alternative, should the first scheme be discovered.”

“We can pray that they are ignorant enough to stay on their planned course.”

Driving along several side streets, they weren’t far from the palm-tree-lined beach. Scott parked the car, locking it. He wore the hat and sunglasses as a disguise and used a walking cane from the trunk. He pretended to be feeble, with Jenny helping him to walk.

“I hope this works,” he commented. His gaze was fixed on the front windows for any sign of a restaurant, while Jenny kept a watchful eye behind them. They were both hesitant to speak with anyone for fear of being discovered.

Turning right onto the next street, they continued. A car engine was heard further behind them.

“Shit, it’s the police!” She murmured, glancing over her left shoulder.

Jenny spotted a doorway and pinned Scott against the entrance. She put his arms around her neck, under her long hair, to conceal his white hands. She used her body to hide his and began to kiss him. He kissed Jenny and watched cautiously as the car slowly passed. The policeman enjoyed the view of her long legs under her short skirt as he continued on his patrol.

Suddenly, the door opened, and they tumbled in with a thump on the floor, Jenny landing on top of him. Scott looked up to see legs on either side of his head and the darkened entrance above the long legs of a short skirt. A dog came running from another room, barking, and skidded on the wooden floor, its claws stopping at his head. It growled at Scott, then took several cautious sniffs. The dog was wagging its tail and licking Scott’s face.

“Back, Heinz,” the girl demanded. The dog backed off, sitting beside her.

“Papa, we have customers!” The girl yelled, looking down at her unexpected guests.

A moment later, “This is our lucky day. We thought we’d go the whole week without any clients. Now there’s an anxious couple, already falling for each other,” the man joked.

“We were kissing and didn’t know we pushed the doorbell,” Jenny apologized, still lying on the floor.

“A couple falling for each other, you found the perfect place,” he smiled again.

The girl took a step back as Scott helped Jenny to her feet, the man’s gaze catching a brief glimpse of her left nipple. They stood to see a tall, thin man in his mid-forties. Jenny tried to close her jacket to hide her breasts, but it was useless. She let it hang naturally, showing the inner halves of her bare breasts.

The girl stood by her father’s side, smiling shyly at Scott. The girl wore a very short pleated blue and white checked skirt, low on her thin hips, with a blue top undone low enough to show the inner half of her right breast. Scott noticed her skin colour was several shades lighter than Jenny’s, and her mounds indicated she wore no bra.

Her half-inch-long hair framed her round head and beautiful features. Two-inch round hoop earrings dangled from pretty-shaped ears. Scott turned and quickly peered out the corner of a curtained window, then opened the door to see if both ways on the road were clear of the police car. The man drank in the naked, long-legged beauty who held the white man’s hand.

The dog strolled over to Scott, sniffed his left leg, then Jenny’s ankle, and sat beside him.

“Heinz!” The man warned.

Scott felt the dog leaning against his leg and looked down at him. Its bright eyes, with a tongue hanging out to one side, looked up at him. He gave Scott an attention-getting bark.

“Hi boy,” Scott expressed, smiling and leaning slightly, patting its head.

The dog accepted Scott’s attention, licking his hand and barking again. Heinz then went to Jenny, sniffing her left leg and approving her with a lick and bark. He turned and sat obediently at Scott’s side.

“Now why can’t I have that effect on women?” He joked.

“You do have that effect on me,” Jenny praised. The young girl and man exchanged whispers as they observed Heinz’s interaction with the strangers.

The man offered his right hand to Scott. The man took his grasp, covering Scott’s with his left hand as well. “My name is Kosey Dakuly, and this is my eldest daughter, Sula,” he introduced.

“I’m David,” Scott said, using his dad’s first name. “And I’m Efia,” Jenny realized, using her mother’s name. Kosey offered his hand, and her right nipple showed as she shook his hand.

“Go get Mama and tell her we have customers,” he instructed Sula, viewing the inner halves of Jenny’s bare breasts.

“And of course you’ve already met Heinz,” Kosey said. “I must say that I’m quite amazed by his actions. He does not like men and should be ripping you to shreds by now.” The young girl eyed Scott as her father spoke.

“I’ve always been a dog lover, and I guess he senses it in me.” Scott knelt to Heinz, who barked and placed his right paw on Scott’s left knee. He took his paw in his hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you too, Heinz,” he smiled, filling the room with laughter.

He could see Heinz was about two feet tall at the shoulders, but after that, it was anyone’s guess what breed he was. One ear up, one down, one blue eye, one brown, several muted, merle, and merging colours, long and short. His muzzle appeared friendly enough, but he had fangs ready for action.

“Why do you call him Heinz?” Jenny asked.

“He is such a mixed breed, we don’t know what kind of dog he is. So we named him after the ketchup, Heinz 57, like he’s fifty-seven varieties of dogs in one,” Kosey explained, causing a laugh from all.

“I would also call him unique. I bet there is no other dog like him,” Scott added.

“That name would also honour him,” Kosey agreed.

“I must say, I’m very surprised that Heinz has taken to him so quickly. He must be the one, Papa,” Sula whispered to Kosey, and he agreed.

Sula disappeared and returned shortly with a thin, medium-tall woman wearing blue jean shorts and a tank top. The low scoop neckline and thin material revealed she wore no bra over her medium breasts. Scott could see the woman was Sula’s mother, for the resemblance was remarkable. A second adult woman followed, wearing a long multicoloured robe.

“This is my wife, Ariana,” Kosey offered of the first woman. “And this is my second wife, Miata.”

Ariana admired the short skirt and exposing breast jacket Jenny wore. Sula moved and stood next to Scott, taking in his features. She took his left hand in her right, examining it. She felt his bicep and shoulder through his shirt, inspecting him closely.

“Please excuse my daughter, for she has never stood this close to a man with white skin before,” Kosey apologized. Sula fingered his hair and touched his face. She raised Scott’s hand and kissed the back of it.

“Am I permitted to touch his lips?” She inquired, her gaze fixed on Jenny.

She nodded, and Sula unexpectedly leaned up and kissed him, her right breast pressing flat against his arm. He could taste the flavour of freshly applied cherry lip gloss on her soft lips.

“Is this what western women wear for their men?” She asked, turning around.

“Yes, some do,” Scott answered, admiring her young, slim body, as did Jenny.

“Do you like my clothes and like me?” She asked.

“Ariana and Sula wear their clothes like western women from watching movies, TV, and music videos. I see you like your African woman to wear her clothing the same way,” Kosey stated, eyeing Jenny’s tall physique from head to toe.

“I think Sula likes you,” Jenny whispered in Scott’s ear.

Sula continued to hold Scott’s left hand, letting her right breast lightly touch his arm. She went and whispered in Kasey’s ear, who nodded again, then returned to Scott’s side. Her breasts, once more, found a home against his arm.

“It appears my daughter is quite engaged with you,” he stated. “You are a very fortunate man to have her interested in you.”

Several younger children ran about the house. “A very busy household,” Scott said with a smile.

“Enough talk; come with us,” he said, ushering them into the next room. “Welcome to Liberia’s African Little Los Vegas!” He boasted, spreading out his arms.

Scott and Jenny viewed a room walled with multi-coloured tapestries, multiple portraits, statues of Elvis Presley, and a floral-decorated archway.

“What is this place?” Scott asked.

“Why, it is the Little Los Vegas Wedding Chapel. Didn’t you see the sign above the doorway?” Kosey asked.

“Sorry, I guess we must have overlooked it,” Jenny said.

“But are you not here to get married?” Sula asked.

Before Scott or Jenny could answer, “Eee ... err ... eee ... err,” announced an approaching police car.

Scott hurried to the window, barely brushing the corner of the curtain aside. The National Police car continued to his right, the siren fading. Jenny came up behind Scott, putting her arms around him and pressing her tits against his back.

“We’ll be okay,” she reassured him.

“We shouldn’t have parked the car so far away. We don’t know if the police have connected the car to us or not.” She hugged him, her hand touching the butt of the gun hidden in the waistband of his pants.

“Is that a gun, or are you happy to see me?” She kidded, having heard the hard-on joke before.

“It’s my gun, and I’m delighted to see you,” he said as he kissed her.

“That is the second time you’ve looked out the window, my friend. It appears that the sound of a police siren has you on edge. Ahh ... I am led to believe that you are not in good favour with the National Police, am I right?” Kosey inquired.

Scott turned from the window. “No, we are not in good favour with the National Police,” Scott repeated back then, rechecking the street.

“I’m sure that the majority of the National Police are excellent law enforcement officers, though there are certain National Policemen who would be smiling should we be found dead very soon,” Jenny confirmed.

“Did he ask us if we were here to get married?” He whispered.

“Yes, he did. Maybe being here is supposed to happen to us. After all, we do make a very good team together, especially with the fact that we were born on the same day. What if this is our destiny, that we are to be together and marry? I don’t give my heart very easily, except to my Afia,” she justified.

“But we aren’t even in love yet,” he countered.

“Maybe we are and won’t admit it. I must confess that I am falling in love with you, Scott.” She cupped his cheek in her hand, her eyes scanning his face.

“And I thought it was just me falling in love with you,” he confessed.

“You saved my life. We should both be dead by now. The least I can do is offer my life to you in return as your wife,” she revealed. Scott gazed into her sparkling eyes, cupping her soft face in his hands.

“You would do this for me, for us?”

“Yes, yes, I would, Scott.”

“I’m not doing this for the fun of it. Marriage is a serious matter to me,” Scott stated.

“And to me also. When I love my man, I will love him for a lifetime.”

“Jenny, this is for real and not just because of our situation. Will you marry me?” He asked softly.

“Yes, Scott, I will marry you. I will be honoured to be your wife. I look forward to my name becoming Jennifer Richardson,” she replied with sparkling eyes and a soft kiss.

Sula approached and took Scott by the hand, leading him and Jenny back to the wedding room. “We will offer you a Liberian traditional wedding that I’m sure you’ll both reap the benefits of,” Kosey explained, smiling at them.

“There has been quite an increase in National Police activity since earlier today. We heard on the radio that a Canadian man and a Ghanaian woman were responsible for the deaths of a Belgian tourist and a National Policeman named Uatu Iambi,” Kosey said.

“Yes, we heard the same thing on the news; that’s too bad,” Jenny said.

“I would shake the hand, a thousand times, of the man who killed Uatu Iambi. I’d spit and dance on the dead man’s grave if I could!” Kosey cursed dejectedly, pretending to spit. “He murdered my brother three years ago. I would forever be indebted to the man who killed Iambi, and he’d be my lifelong friend.”

“Was he that ruthless?” Jenny asked.