Love Quest

A Sojourner's Return

Love Quest

Obad, the cerebral intellectual was almost 40 years old but had never found true love with a lady.  In all his years of sojourn in England none of the bevies of beauty took his fancy, none met his high demands in terms of stature, poise, taste or elegance. His preference had always been to be immersed in research, attend conferences and play political punditry on the small screen. It is these passions he cherished and loved and cast a cloud over his ability to develop a future partnership with a lass. He saw mutual exclusivity in most things and dividing his passions with a lass had not been on his menu.  But now he was situate in a University environment, away from the land of his birth, the rules were different. 

In England there were unspoken and unwritten rules and the relative wealth meant no one threw themselves at blokes, it simply was not necessary except you were deeply smitten or ravaged in craven lusts. But in this new environment, his country of origin, the land of his fathers, the rules of the game were different and sometimes confusing. In the close knitted community of the University campus, a code of conduct existed on paper, which indicated no fraternization was permitted between staff and student and these limited his options. He had up to this point seen himself as a father of all and a lover of none but the pressure had become intense.

Obad’s father, Oye, the renowned emeritus Professor of law at the London School of Economics now advancing in his 70s, and was on his case. He was a man of distinguished gait, standing at over 6 feet inches with ripples of slenderness, greying on the temples, clean-shaven and now slightly stooped by the ravages of age.  He always had his brown coloured wooden pipe placed firmly on his lips as he smoked away his tobacco effortlessly and intermittently between conversations. In his regular conversations with Obad through the WhatsApp he had began to place pressure on the need for him to be blessed with grandchildren before his days reached expiry. He had even begun to wonder whether the young man was gay.  In the last telephone conversation he had asked: “Obad are of a difference sexual persuasion?”  Obad responded tersely: “Dad why are you being so obtuse, why don’t you simply ask whether I am gay instead using the native round about style of asking?” The Professor then replied: “So are you? He continued with slight exaggeration: “I have never seen you with a lady you have never introduced any to me or to your mother. We are entitled to be worried and to seek answers!” In exasperation Obad shot back: “I prefer not to discuss my private life with you and I assure you there is nothing to worry about.”

The conversation weight heavily on his mind and had sown a seed, struck a cord and had began to needle at him.  He began to surreptitiously survey the terrain and did not quite find any suitable prospects, he was now restricted to the field of teaching and non-teaching staff but he had a principle, do not mess where you work.  It is this conundrum that began to consume Obad, one that he knew he had to resolve soon.