As i sat in the lonely cell, wondering what had become of my life, i wept uncontrollably. I so wanted to make something out of my miserable life that i never for once asked Abdul what he did for a living. All we ever did when he came to calabar was have fun, drink at Atekong, club at Jasper and then drove round the town of calabar making serious noise..
Deep in my thoughts, it took the banging of the burglary proof by one of the ill mannered police officers to bring me back to reality.
I looked at him in his dirty uniform, reeking of alcohol and i stopped wondering why they fled when the mob pursued me, he didn't look like the type of man who could arrest a five year old.
"comot come write your statement, see eye like thief, i no know why dem no burn u so dat una go reduce, bastard".
In as much as i would have loved to reply his harsh words, i just had to ignore, he could barely stand as he spoke, he staggered like 2face at the recent "30 billion concert".
He handed a pen to me and landed heavily on a chair as i wrote down my statement, he grabbed it, looked at it and smiled "so as you be thief like
this, your handwriting fine, see as you de like mistake "He added..
He took the statement to the IPO who read through and asked me to come into his office.
I narrated my ordeal to him from the beginning up until now and clearly from the reaction on his face, he felt pity for me..
"so you are saying this very Abdul invited you over to Lagos "the inspector asked.
I was irritated by this question because i just finished narrating everything to him, it irked me but i grudgingly answered "Yes sir"..
As he was still firing me with useless questions, i noticed a figure walked into the station, and when she did, everyone rose up and saluted her, i looked at her closely and our eyes met, she recognized me almost instantly and walked up to where i was..
"You are the young Man i gave transport to go see his friend at Egbeda right "i nodded in the affirmative, "then what are you doing here"? She asked.
I had to narrate my ordeal to her again and she asked for my immediate release which was done without delay.
she beckoned on me to come into her office, it was when i enetered her office that i realized she was a chief supretendent of police..
"So what do you want to do now Young man"? she asked.
Without hesitation, i quickly answered that i want to go back to Calabar,i couldn't bear the hardship no more, Lagos had brought me more Pain than Joy. I never envisaged it. The way Abdul talked about it, i didn't think it was going to be like this..
The Lady asked me thrice if i really wanted to go back to calabar and my answer didn't change.. She opened her purse and counted 30k into my hand. she looked at her wristwatch, "its after 3pm, you can still use the night bus" she said..
I was so short of words, i knelt down and thanked her and she smiled back at me...
I got on a bus and headed for Ojuelegba, i held the money so tight and suspected everyone that breathed close to me, even with the traffic i arrived before 5 and in time as the bus to calabar was still loading..
As i reached for my pocket to remove the money, so many things ran through my mind, what was i going to tell my family? Will they really believe the Abdul story? My cousins would just conclude that I'm a total failure. Is Lagos really a place where dreams die?
Still in these thoughts, i watched the last bus zoom off. I counted 2k from my pocket, went to a nice restaurant and ate a good plate of Melon soup with 5 wraps of fufu.
The waiter stared at me as i sent the huge lumps down my throat, at this Point,she's the least of my worries..
with no where in mind to sleep and no place to go, I remembered Baba, He smiled when he saw me.
"Omo Calabar, i carry you put for house you go de touch woman breast, them tell me your tori" Baba said as he laughed when he saw me.
I offered BAba 2k and he was kind enough to return my wristwatch, which, surprisingly he kept in good condition..
Baba took me to his place which was far better than where he took me before, he pointed at a couch and asked me to sleep there.
"U fit stay as much as
you want, my only Son die yesterday so i need the company, e follow that him Mumu Friend Abdul go thief", Baba said as tears rolled down his cheeks.
At this Point, I almost fainted
.