The Parade

Chapter 4 - Getting to know you

"You could get arrested for coming here without a mask you know" Millicent said half joking to Acho, through her corporate branded facemask.

They spoke for hours. First about the familiar, what they already knew about themselves – their mutual workaholic nature and then her obsession with the gym which had made her well-toned. Then the quirky issues – their mutual love for Schweppes, as it had the perfect taste for teetotalers like them, not too sweet not too sour but just right.

The weird issues – how Millicent vowed never to kiss again due to her fear of contracting Halitosis (her last kiss whilst in the UK left a fish and chips taste in her tongue which she struggled to shake off for weeks!).

Then the deeper issues – Acho's less privilege upbringing which forever etched a burning desire in his heart to fight injustice of any kind, and Millicent's desire to break out of her privileged bubble and experience real African life. It was her desire to break out that made her apply for a secondment programme in Nigeria, far from her parents eleven room mansion in Accra Ghana.

At this point, Acho decided to let her in on the big one.

"We need to nip this new and illegal class system in the bud, we need stop the increasing discrimination against Anti-Vaxers, it is my body, I should be able to do what I want" he said.

He did not spare Millicent the details. He and his colleague were planning a flash protest in front of the Governor's office in two weeks. The objective, the protest would bring the world's attention to the growing injustice Anti-vaxers face in Nigeria. They had already secured funding, and they knew how they will mobilise the crowd on that day. The protest had a codename "The Parade".

"Great idea, but I don't want to be part of it, not interested" Millicent politely declined Acho's invitation to take part. "Far too dangerous for my adrenaline level" she added, giggling, but she was serious.

But he persisted.

"What day is it again, just asking, not that I want to come."

"It's the 20th of October."