UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES BOOK 1:03

It has become very common in all Nigerian weddings to spray money as a show of social status and Felicia ; it has indeed become a ritual.

Like the majority, Mary's wedding was no different- spraying money is a life long tradition of the wealthy and affluent Nigerian, a way of showing they have arrived. It is almost a part of our culture.
With the wads of naira notes floating in the air and high life music playing in the background, the couple were on the road to a happy matrimony.
John sprayed for a few 'life long' minutes, having been able to convert about fifty thousand naira to new bundles of two hundred naira notes; although at a loss of five thousand naira, this however significantly increased the quantity of the initial fifty thousand naira and also the duration of spray. Its a lot of mathematics, but Nigerians have a way of making money from everything. 

By the time John was done Sally was by his side, and John offered her a ride to the after party.

In the car, they continued their discussion where they left off, with John finally bringing up the topic of sex, asking if she, Sally, had had sex.

''very likely, every interaction between a boy and a girl on a social platform has a way of playing towards sex''

Her answer which was that she hadn't had sex surprised John; considering that he saw her as a 'wild girl', but she went on to say ''I was raped when I was younger by a friend'; to John, her statement was outright and blatantly pity eliciting, while being contradicting. John had a mentality; maybe because he still cannot grasp the complications of living as a woman, that a woman cannot claim to be raped except when rape drugs or violence was used with an outright intent to rape, he also felt that the crime of rape was defined exclusively by how the woman feels about a sexual encounter whether violent or not; he briefly recalled in his mind an experience from medical school, but that experience has to wait.

John responded,  '' between a boy and a girl where emotions swirl, things can go wrong''; Sally thought it was a rather mature answer, but in her mind she knew deep down that there were more secretes contained therein than the mere fasad of the spoken words. Johns conclusion on the matter was that rape can never truly be defined within a relationship but should rather be classified as a tool for placing a man exclusively at the mercy of the woman; little wonder most men are players. In this case he felt that Sally had told him this as an excuse to get 'light' as to why she had lost her virginity, salvaging her decency and pitiful purchase of respect. He also felt women defined rape by choice, simply because its within their power to, in fact, it was a powerful weapon of choice, handed to women; basically because the issue of rape cannot be underflogged;  it happens and is true, to avoid women may be the sure thing,  or possibly to avoid every possible encounter. Rape has become to some women a weapon of warfare and a good man who doesn't know the intricacies becomes a victim; but its the 21st century, what consequences does that have even in our traditional Nigerian culture?, if not as a tool of love, revenge and for money.
For the rest of the drive they were lost in their own thought, feeling the tension rise between them. In thirty minutes, they had arrived at the hotel D' palm, the place where the mystery of the night was about to unravel.