The conversation was stilted at first until Eno let it drop that she had an engagement at the Port Harcourt branch of the motel she ran. “He instantly became interested in what I had to say and was chatting away as if he’d just discovered his tongue,” Eno recalled.
“When we eventually boarded the plane, it was inevitable that we sat together. He was quite helpful really, with my suitcase and making sure I was comfortable. When we arrived Port Harcourt, he asked tentatively if he could be put up in any of the rooms in my motel as it was too late to secure any decent accommodation. I would be a fool to pretend I didn’t know where all this was leading to. I was a single woman, twice divorced, and men like Ebere (an Igbo guy) swarmed around me all the time. Not that I look stunning at over 50, but because they could get compensated for services well rendered in the bedroom…
“At my age, you have to take what is thrown at you and men like Ebere are fit and strong and quite better looking than men my age – and they appreciate you. Like, a friend aptly put it, getting involved with younger men is like walking down a well-stocked supermarket with an empty trolley. The goods on display are just begging to be snapped up.
Would she call it prostitution? I asked her, she replied:
“Call it whatever you like, but there is a clear exchange of cash or gifts for s*xual services. The agreement may last an hour, a night or a week. In some cases, it is a more informal long-term investment. The toyboy’s aim being to acquire benefits over a period he finds an older woman, get involved and build up a nest-egg for when he gets married.
“One thing is for sure, as long as you are loaded, you can be plain or fat or a pensioner you will still be made to feel young and beautiful, and there are more than enough of these men to go round with their taut well exercised bodies. They don’t need all those Viagra stuff unlike a lot of men my age.”
“It is sad that dating younger men which used to be a rarity now operates on an industrial scale,” observes a social commentator who says she feels disgusted by some older women’s get-laid wherever-you-can-get-it attitude.
“What was exciting has turned exploitative. Passion has been replaced by the predatory and caring has become a con to the opportunistic gigolos.”
And they have stupid well-worn lines they use on their victims that never fail. You are my destiny, without you, I would never have made it in life!’ Sloppy words that send their victims reaching for their cheque books.
