Acrimonious Penetration

The odor wafted towards their table where they had taken position at the back corner of the shop. Almost all the noses on the table reacted naturally to it. It certainly had that power over their noses, their willpower, and what they were discussing. It made almost all the heads there turn towards the direction it came.

The girls at the counter who have gotten used to their occasional presence and seem to know when they are coming for their meetings and set the table for them at the tail end of the shop smiled at their reaction, gazing and nodding her understanding towards them while busy serving the customers before her.

The young musicians: John their leader, Charles, instrumentalist, Grace and Sunday the two vocalists at times pay their due for using the coffee shop as their meeting hall by playing once a month for free in the shop to entertainn night customers. They sometimes have the goodwill of the shop owner who when impressed with their effort those playing weekends never failed to compensate with big cups of coffee. Today seems not to be one of those days. The boss isn't around.

John seems to be having problems regaining the attention he had full time before the coffee invaded their concentrations. The longing on their faces is not lost on him. He is having problems controlling his appetite too but having gone through the same ordeal many times, he has trained his nose to behave and his will to concentrate on what is before him, what needs to be done not the one step away from him. “hey, guys, we are here not there. There will be time for that, it’s still early for that. The earlier we are through with the issue here the faster we will be concentrating on that part” he seems to be talking to himself. All eyes were back on him alright, yet he felt that all attention was on the counter. They not only gather in the coffee shop, they use the town library, town hall, liquor store at the center of the town, and even the secondary school hall at times. What is before them is more serious than the aroma agenda of some of them. Today isn't their normal meeting day. That is the reason he had varied the meeting venue from a liquor store to coffee to avoid any alcohol-induced altercations. But he can see that his calculation is the wrong one. The hold coffee has on them equals the same reaction he was escaping from alcohol. He is losing the hold on the meeting as he can see. They had gathered to discuss the way forward after a little misunderstanding on the allegations Charles had brought against Sunday, their lead vocalist. Sunday seems to be complaining about the game plans of their leader and how the regulations of the group is working against the interest of the group and wanting the rules and regulations to be made flexible to meet up with the reality of the changing world they are in.

 Others believed that he was being tempted by the wooing he is receiving from their rivals and started seeing holes in things that he had not been complaining of before. It’s always the way of newly created bands even business like the shop they sat in is not free from this kind of toothing problem. When the established groups believe there is potential for any of the members of the upcoming groups, they move in with money temptation to lure the talent away from the group. He suspected all the complaints about regulations were rooted in the psychological war going on with Sunday and his conscience. He is not an apostle of one that pleads for understanding from anyone or tries to tie anyone down. He believes that things are rooted in destiny. What will be will always be. No need to stress oneself beyond normal common sense.

“Like I was saying, we voted to bring the constitution into being and we laid out in it how we must rest it or cut and join in it when an occasion like this arrives. Why would we be going against the agreed procedure?”

“ I am not trying to disrespect anyone here, I think that I have been studying our rivals and know why they are poaching our customers and succeeding. That is what I had been trying to bring to the attention of the group and some that felt they had eyes at the back of their heads started insinuating nonsense”

“This is the type of language I hate as a person. I can't understand why someone who is still passing through the school system couldn’t just allow the system to also pass through him. We must start implementing the sections and all the subsections on the discipline part of our constitution if we have the hope of remaining respectful in one piece as a group. We must have respect for each other”

“Respect is given to those that respect themselves and not those hell-bent on back-biting their colleagues with unsubstantiated allegations rinsed in jealousy and wickedness. Respect must start from acknowledging certain gifts and coming to terms with what is, and what is not. Okay?”

He pouted some part of his check turned red. John was surprised to see that for the first time. He only read about it in novels and newspapers, he had thought that it was what you see in white man movies due to their winter weather. So turning red on the check also happens to black men in Africa? He smiled at that while using his eyes to pass a message across to the members to lower their voices for they were attracting unnecessary negative attention. The notoriety of this sort does group in more than poor talents do. He decided it should be time to use the group money to buy that coffee, maybe, it would help in settling some frayed nerves and sapped emotions. He raised his hands towards the counter and a girl who had been observing them from afar on issues that transcend music appeared within record time with an unusual smile on her face. John scrutinizes the face concentrating On the cheeks but there is nothing red he sees there. Meaning read on the Sundays cheeks has nothing to do with coffee too. The girls working at the coffee shop must be drinking a lot of coffee or inhaling them. If it’s affecting anyone, it should be them. So, where did Sunday's red came from then? 

When their order arrived he decided to give them three minutes before continuing. Nothing like coffee break seating in a coffee shop. The problem with trying to inculcate another race culture is that at times you would not know the subtle nuances of the dos and don'ts of the culture. In movies, the Westerners don’t even drink coffee per se but sip. Over here, people pour them down and ask for round two. He wasn't disappointed by his observations. Those in front of him lived up to his expectations. The coffee as hot as it is in his mouthyhad been cut down by sixty percent within a minute and smacking as if it's the main course for those dining in banquet hotels. There are many ways of settling issues and if it is in his power to judge, he would have passed his sentence by merely observing all before him discreetly tackle their coffee. Culture has a part to play in using A to Settle issues of B. Coffee won't do the work well.

He shakes his head and smiles to himself as he weighs how to confront the issues again. He had observed the two accusing and counter-accusing themselves and knew that there was an undertone to what was going on between the two. Whatever the main issue is, it’s far from loyalty to the group or respect and disrespect to the regulations. He’s not all that sure anymore if it has something to do with group poaching he suspected earlier or something personal between the two and they lumped the group into it and used it as a launching pad to fire themselves. He sighed a little bit louder than intended which attracted the attention of others. The group has lost three contracts this past month since this noise started and the gig they have this Easter is not yet solid. Whether someone is sponsoring what’s going on in the group to drill it has also entered his mind. He decided that the best way to handle this issue is not to put it out of the way for things don’t always go away in that manner. He decided that the best approach would be to tackle it from the other end. He hit himself for not having thought of theat before. 

  For a good measure, he ordered for second round of the percolating coffee  that was still assaulting their noses, and the same overdose-smiling girl he must admit is new and beautiful appeared in record time once more with the mug and he noticed that as he was studying her over-dosed smiles, the rest is following her with their eyes for various reasons also. When he believes that they have returned in body and spirit, he clears his throat noisily to attract their attention.

  “ We have a concert, two infact coming up this Easter and there's promise of more if we did that well.

You see what we will do?” he paused eyeing all of the them one after the other. " We are going to up our efforts towards those two concerts by going the extra miles like the saying goes. We seem to be not putting in that extra effort like the other groups and still hope that manna will fall on our laps just like that. We will continue with this issue between you two after the concerts and I am going to draft another practice schedule that will intensify our practice these remaining two weeks and then see how our extra effort pans over afterward. So, we will call it a day for now and please, check your emails for the new schedules and try to stick to it like glue for only two weeks afterward we will try to settle these personal issues of yours” he got up expecting excuses from any camp and none came. He rated that as a success as he went towards the counter.