One of them days, i took a bus from ijanikin to mile2. i was rushing to the island quite excited to be going alone... So waiting for the cms bus to load, i wandered off a lil distance cos i dint wanna climb all the way to the back of the bus...dere was a very fat woman at the end and someone had paid for a seat for a basket of tomatoes...*how inconvenient*...'no blady ventilation!'
As i wandered, a gala hawker tapped me signalling to me that i was being called...so i turned in the direction he pointed, i saw a man... poorly dressed and looking quite haggard, his breath smelled of stale ale and he wore some funny shoes...grey and pointed. He told me his name was kingsley and that he was in trouble that i should help him...he said he'd been at sea for a long while... he apparently had been chatting wiv a lady here in naija over d internet and they'd fallen in love.she wanted him to ship her stuff for sale. She was gonna get a shop and she was gonna showcase the stuff and whenever he decided he wanted to settle down, she'd marry him...hmmm.
It all seemed true...his vessel passed thru our shores and the captain said the crew could see the town as they would be docked for 3 days... Problem now is...the cargo he shipped for her was smuggled on board. so his captain cant know its there. he has to clear it in the night... he said that he was however able to sneak somethings off the vessel tho and that he had laptops, hand driers, cell phones etc...he'd show me. He was trying to convince me to go with him to see the things...he said he heard naija peeps could rob him so i should pls keep it to myself. He seemed really upset that he couldnt reach his wife to be...said he came into naija nd couldnt reach her...he even showed me her pic... not so pretty but the kind 2 ask 4 stuff over d net...rme. a guy walked up 2 us and asked if i was ok and if d kingsley guy was bothering me. I said no and he went further to ask kingsley what he wanted that he'd been watching and he seemed lost.so kingsley downloaded the gist. This guy took the matter P...as in he was convinced beyond reasonable doubt! he turned to me and said we should follow kingsley...i said ok. The new dude was yoruba...he made me feel secure by telling the man we'd call police if things dint tally. so we left mile 2.
We went to some place called 'ogege ogege', apparently in ajegunle... oh my, twas a hood like venue. i hugged my bag and pleaded d BOJ... BOJ- Blood Of Jesus! we got to a locked shop and he made us sit. he said he had a confession and went on to say that the truth is he ran... he ran off the boat. yes he came with cargo for his gf but yes he was tired of sailing and being a ship hand. he wanted to settle in naija. He also stole from his captain and said naija was gonna be sold to the whites and that his captain was an accomplice to our president... he said he saw all sorts of things in the captains private cargo...the yoruba dude was almost falling outta his seat...he stole some crates. He excused himself for some mins and when he returned he had a black nylon with him, 5brown envelopes, a wrap of blue omo and some powdery substance. he said the envelopes where in some crates and the powder in some others. he said his captain was a bad man, while i asked myself if i was ready to be 'THE YOUNG GIRL THAT SAVED NAIJA", kingsley went ahead to put water in the nylon...
He added the detergeant and mixed wiv his hands...he added the powder and then threw the envelopes into the solution. he mixed d contents and this guy put his hand in and pulled out 5 20 naira notes...clean! i thought my eyes were seeing things...i touched the money...it was real!!!..5 new notes!!! the other guy shouted YE!!! i held up the notes and they had the engraved emblemn...couldnt have been fake! cold hit me...
The guy started trying to shush the yoruba guy who had started dancing around and singing.'therez more', kingsley said. Thousands of the same crates on the vessel. so i asked about the other stuff he mentioned...he said the room where he hid them was locked. He said he was staying with a good Samaritan and he'd given them a lot of things to earn their trust...they went out with the key 2 the room. Kingsley went ahead to tell me he needed assurance that we wouldnt blab outside so he asked for something in return for the chemical... the yoruba man brought up the issue of swearing...he said we should each bring out money from our bag or pockets and swear never to betray... This was where i knew i'd had enough. The Yoruba man was already chanting something when i realised i just had to pee...so pressed so i took a short walk to find some privacy...as soon as i was a few feet from them, a question shot thru my mind 'what are u doing here?'
'who are these people?'...i looked back and they both had their eyes on me..creepy. i started walking fast..dint know when i started running. I ran and didnt look back...dint know where i was or where i was running 2...strange houses...shops. 'this is a ghetto, how did i get here?' my lungs throbbed painfully for lack of air and i thought i couldnt put anoda foot in front of the other. A bike zoomed past and i screamed.
That bike took me back to mile2. guess wot? a year later, i stood at that same spot, not waiting for the bus this time...waiting 2 be picked, i heard a voice calling me sister and saying please can u help me...i looked up and saw the yoruba guy...i laughed and looked around yours truely, not too far away was kingsley...loitering but trickily watching us...i stopped him mid sentence nd said 'so u dont rmember me'. He looked confused as i stared him straight and hard in the eyes. from the corner of my eye, i saw my friend drive up...i felt safe.
He saw he was loosing nd quickly tried to save the situation but i was having none of it...'i am not going to ogege ogege with you', i said. He was taken aback...he started to look at me strangely as he took some steps back. before i could blink, he turned and ran and his friend 2. Stepping into the coolness of the car, i knew i had overcome...i noticed i was burning up. these peeps are everywhere...bustops, alleyways..
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