Met a young man from Dortmund who was enjoying his last free day before his deployment to the German army. He began talking to me when I walked into an establishment because he wanted to know what perfume I was wearing. Bro, no homo, he said, but you smell so so good. I am smoking but I can still smell you. He was getting totally hammered and told me he was joining because of Russia. I don't wish anyone dead, he told me, but I will have no problem killing too. I just cannot sit in fear while we wonder if Russia is going to attack us he said. He seemed in awe of Berlin and was impressed by how cosmopolitan and different it was from where he lived, which he described as homogenous. He tried to get into KitKat club for a sex party and was rejected at the door, a decision he blames on being there with three of his stiffest looking friends who were dressed too conservatively and thus spooked the bouncers. I asked him if he was joining the army for a limited period and he said it was a long term career and had no plans of leaving the army any time soon. He pointed at a slight man in the corner and said: that is my boss in the army. He told me if anyone in Berlin asks what your job is, just tell them you are a carpenter. Or anything else. Just don't mention you are a soldier. For what they are paying me, yes, I will say I am a carpenter, he said. And we had a good laugh.

You can now read my short story in the @Equatormag (link in the next tweet) titled Brother K. It is the opening chapter of a novel I have been working on that is dear to my heart, about a young ex-Jehovah's Witness contemplating his life in Nigeria.