A Story Of Deceit

Episode 20

I woke up the next day, forgetting that I was no more in Boma but in Lagos till I looked around the room, I saw the windows, the well protected door and the cemented cold ground. I got up without the slightest idea of where to search for work but there was no way I would stay at home. I left the house the same time I left for work in Boma. ‘but what kind of work could they be possibly doing in Lagos? ‘, I asked myself. I wanted to lock the door but I remembered Mr. John, what if he came back and was stranded?, ‘Abeg, what’s my business, he didn’t tell me when he’d return anyway’, I said and locked the door.

I hesitated before leaving the compound, Lagos had so many people, not everyone was friendly, I didn’t want to be deceived and fall into the hands of sly people like Mr. John, who would want to give a village girl work?, ‘Hmmm, let me just go jahre, I will see work na, many people are here, surely there must be good people too that needs workers, I will get a job’, I encouraged myself.

I did not get any job that day, after walking the streets of Lagos tirelessly but I wasn’t ready to give up. All I could find were jobs that required SSCE or GCE results, obviously and unfortunately, I had none. The other jobs I found without the requirements of those results were frightening, I entered a restaurant in need of a sales girl, I didn’t know that sales girl also meant, I had to cook. [b]‘So can you cook this, that, what about that’, the plump lady asked mentioning several kinds of food. ‘Errrrm, no, no, ma’, I replied, ‘I’m sorry dear, we can’t take you, show yourself out’, she said. I still didn’t lose hope, I went into a supermarket with a sign board at the entrance with bold words written, ”Sales girl/guy needed”. I rushed in with excitement, ‘abi, it is to sell things?’, I told myself. I was disappointed when they said the qualifications for the job required identification of everything they sold to avoid ignorance with the customers demands but obviously and unfortunately for me again, I could only identity five or six goods which wasn’t enough. I also couldn’t meet the requirements of other shops, like a salon, the salon was the worst, I didn’t understand a single thing being done there, I even fled by myself.

I came back dejected. I entered my house, the only thing that gave me a very little amount of joy was that Nepa decided to show some love. I didn’t know getting a job was difficult for girls in Lagos, as it was in Boma. I recalled seeing many guys and guys around my age in fancy cars with their loved ones but I was a teenager who had to fend for herself, for the first time in my life, I cried, cursing life that it hadn’t been fair at all, why would a teenager like me who was supposed to be in a university or at least having an SSCE result battle with how to survive. I just had this pressure that I was the only hope my mum had to see the other world beyond Boma, I still hadn’t called as I promised I would, ‘where would the money for a new phone come from, when I was jobless?, I was beginning to regret why I took the reckless step of coming to Lagos without enough plans, with my first experience of trying to find a job in Lagos, I got scared that it would continue that way, I would go broke, beg for money from people and go back to Boma, that thought got me perturbed, knowing my mum, she’d have probably announced to everyone in Boma that her daughter had gone to the city, it would be a shame, if I returned without a raise in my standards, I made a pact not to fail, hence, I cleared my thoughts from such spiteful imaginations. Mr. John hadn’t come yet, I expected that he’d be back before I returned or probably after I returned, I waited more but he still didn’t come.

Waiting for him reminded me of waiting for my mum, I missed her, waiting for him, also reminded me of Dayo, I used to wait for him when I was little to come to my house after school but I wasn’t missing him at all. It also reminded me of Yemisi, I used to wait in her room for her to prepare meals, I missed her too, very much. I didn’t know what happened with her or the baby but I hoped for the best. Just because, waiting for Mr. John reminded me of my past, didn’t mean I cared about him, I waited because I wanted to go to bed, lock the door and think of areas I would go to in search of jobs, I also hoped, he would come back to his senses and change his mind about living together . Minutes later, I heard a knock on the door, [b]‘so this man came! ‘, I exclaimed. I didn’t hear any voice, hence, I wasn’t certain it was Mr. John. ‘Who is there? ‘, I asked, ‘it’s me Uwanah, David’, he replied, ‘eh, David?, what is he doing here na?, which kain thing be this sef?, someone cannot sleep again’, I grumbled, opened the door and gave the best smile I had. ‘Uwa, how are you? ‘, he asked, ‘I’m fine ooo, what of you? ‘, I asked back, ‘yes, I’m fine, I thank God’, he replied.

‘so, have you eaten tonight?’, he questioned, ‘yes, you nko? ‘, I questioned too, ‘not yet, I was wondering if we could go get something together but since, you are not hungry, let’s talk, so can I come in? ‘, he asked. ‘Where does he think he’s going to?, so that what Dayo did might happen again, this one might try to do something bad and besides, no property in my house. ‘Sorry, no’, I said in the nicest way possible, ‘okay, then come to my room, I promise nothing will happen’, he tried to convince me. ‘shey this guy don high so?, I sey I no wan go im house, e con sey make I enter im own, wetin we wan dey discuss?’, I pondered over this in my thoughts. ‘Uhmmm, no David’, I said, ‘okay, let’s outside then, meet you in ten minutes’, he said and left.

‘Nonsense, so he can’t wait for my response’, I complained and opened the door vouching to spend not more than eight or ten minutes.

We began talking and I spent over thirty minutes before I came inside, talking to him, wasn’t in vain, I got whimph of a new job. I got to find out that David had no parents, no relatives or guardian, he didn’t want to go into details of how hard life was, but he was going through alot, I didn’t know why he was telling me all that but I was glad, he confided in me, I also gave him a brief history about my life but I left out virtually all the bad parts. He also explained how terrible his day was, how awful his boss was at work because there was no maid to clean the house, how she vented all the anger on the gardeners, the gateman, the chef and her very lazy daughter. He said, she needed a maid desperately. ‘I will do it’, I told Dayo excitedly, ‘no oooo, it was her wickedness that chased the other maids, you won’t be able to cope’, he said, ‘I can cope ooo, don’t look down on me’, I said, he tried to talk me out of it but I was really dogged, therefore, he promised to take me to his place of work.

I knew it was another maid’s job but it was something, ‘everything would be alright’, I told myself and did my usual ritual but this time, I asked for a miracle. Mr. John didn’t return that night. I assumed, he had reasoned the issue of staying with a girl.
I was awoken the next morning by a loud bang on the door, ‘open this door, open this door, jahre, husband snatcher’, I laughed when I heard the words, ”husband snatcher”, it definitely wasn’t me, I hadn’t snatched anyone’s husband, I opened the door to make the woman understand that she was probably knocking at the wrong door but I saw Mr. John, a girl about my age, a skinny woman carrying a baby. Why was she there with Mr. John, yelling, ‘husband snatcher’, who was she? and who was the girl with big beady eyes staring at me like I was a prey at the mercy of a predator?.