Click HERE to read Episode 1 of the story
“Bami mo wo joor! (Give me money).” An agbero shouted at a taxi driver who hesitated to pay for the day’s ticket, as he stood in front of his car, obstructing, not only the taxi, but other cars behind the taxi. Different cars blared their horns in protest to the obstruction.
“Mo ti fun Chukudi
lowo! (I have given Chukwudi the money)” The taxi driver shouted back, peeping
from the window at the driver side. His strong Yoruba accent provided little
help in pronouncing the Igbo name.
“Chukudi! Chukudi!”
The agbero called, maltreating the Igbo name the more.
“How far? Wetin?” A
voice shouted from the other side of the road.
“This man he so pe he
give you moni (This man said he has given you money).” The agbero struggled to
communicate in Pidgin, a clear indication of his English ‘proficiency’.
“He neva give me moni
oooooo. (He has not given me money).” Chukwudi shouted from the other side of the
road.
The lines behind the
taxi gathered momentum, and the deafening horns made matters worse. The agbero
maintained his stance, unshaken, as the driver kept arguing he has paid for the
day. The argument went on, just as the fleet of cars increased. Different
drivers rained curses on the driver and the agbero, but that didn’t help the
issue in any way.
“Driver, abeg give am
money make we dey go. (Driver, please pay him and let us get going).” A solemn
voice pleaded with the driver, alongside other passengers in the taxi.
Marv could not afford
to be late for work again, not after what his boss, Mr. Ajayi, said about the
Board’s resolution about him.
“Marv, for the past 4
months, you have not met even half of your target.” Marv’s mind remembered his conversation with
Mr. Ajayi the previous week.
“I know sir. The thing
is that I…”
“Marv, what is happening?
You used to be one of the best Marketers here.”
“I know sir. It’s just
that I am…”
“Marv! Marv! When did
you become like this?”
“Sir, I have a problem.”
“A problem?” He
chuckled.
“Who doesn’t have a
problem? Do you think I don’t have a problem too?” He added.
“Sir, my problem is…”
“Is what Marv?”
“Sir, my problem is
delicate and…”
“Marv, you don’t need
to tell me your problem, because if I decide to tell you my own problem too,
you would weep for me. We all try to put our problems aside, and work
professionally.”
“And not everybody can
put their problem aside just like that.” Marv muttered between his teeth.
“You said what?”
“Nothing sir.”
“Marv, you are young,
and you shouldn’t do this to yourself. If not for your past achievements, the
company would have retrenched you two months after you failed to meet your
target.”
“Thank you so much
sir.”
“You don’t need to
thank me because there is little to what I can do. I’m telling you this as a
secret, the Board has decided to let you go if you don’t meet your target this
month.”
“This month? How is
that possible?”
“Well, that’s left for
you to figure out.”
=========================================================
“Ejo, e san wo le’yin
(Pay at the back please)” The driver’s voice jarred Marv back to reality.
“Egba (Take).” A woman
said, as she stretched out a thousand Naira note to the driver. The driver lamented
and argued on how he warned all passengers to hold their “change” before
entering. In no time, the duo started an argument and the driver had to stop to
look for change.
Marv could not help
but wonder why his life suddenly became miserable, and he himself, unfortunate.
The driver and the woman continued with their argument, after the driver
returned in a futile effort to get change for the woman. Marv looked at his
wristwatch, and it communicated 7:43am to him. As the drama between the driver
and the woman continued, he wondered if he won’t lose his job for lateness.
“Everyday is a good
day to die.” He said to himself, as he blamed God and his gun for not making
today his day to die.
There is something a
lot of us don’t know. We don’t know that people have different levels and
abilities to handle situations. Some people would pass through hell, and still
handle it well enough, while some people would pass through just a glow of
light, and become battered and shattered. Simply put, we all have different
“shock-absorbers”. Join me again tomorrow as we continue the story. Remain
blessed.
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ENJOY !!!
----------
OFMAT AUSTUS OFMAT
Inspirational Speaker/Editor/Author,
+2348072970850
#OfmatWrites #ShortStory
#SwiftBooks #DailyDiet #SwiftPublishers
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