THE UNFORTUNATE FATE

Olu slept around 11 o’clock yesterday. He got forced to sleep after Folasade left his room for her house. Folasade studies English in the same school Olu studies. Unknown to Olu, Folasade left for a night party after she promised him not to act the same drama they acted last night with any other guy. After Olu fell asleep, he woke up around 3 o’clock the next morning to do his daily morning assignments.

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Immediately he woke up, he looked underneath his pillow to check through his bill of 9jabet, the popular sport betting business. As he checked his heavy predictions, he log on to one popular website to check update of the various football matches. He has used the last #500 on him to play the bet. Surprisingly, the match between Barcelona and one other football club spoilt the whole ticket. This, afterwards, brought about him singing songs of lamentation.

While he was unhappy with the loss that match has incurred on him, for if the match has turned out as predicted, he would be in money by now. Some few minutes later, his phone began to ring continuously. He had initially thrown his phone away when he saw that the prediction was unfavorable. The phone started ringing like an alarm set to wake a dead man. He started wondering who could be calling in the delicate hour of that day while the gods are moving about in spirit. “Who could this be, is the person mad ni?” he queried. He was even scared at first to pick the call but he had no option than to pick the call when the noise became disturbing. At last, he summoned courage and went to the spot where the phone was crying.
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“What is wrong with this Asake sef! Why is she disturbing my peace? What is her problem? This village girl?…”. Even with all his grumbling, he picked up Asake’s call and all his swollen muscle fell like that of Goliath in his encounter with David. Asake started weeping bitterly on phone and she didn’t utter a single meaningful word. Olu politely asked her repeatedly to speak up what was wrong with her. While that fell on her deaf ears, Olu implored her to express herself through SMS since if she can’t speak up on phone.
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He hanged up the call and later became very worried and equally sad. He started regretting the day he met Asake and the unremembered days he cropped her. Afterwards, thoughts started running through his mind like Usain Bolt running in his athletic lane. He thought maybe she was with no money on her as the economy is very unfriendly and as such, she’s too shy to request from him. “What is wrong with this girl na? Bush girl! She’s just shedding crocodile tears! Or has her stepmother started her own again? What is wrong with her! O ti su mi o“
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Olu was not himself till the next day. He didn’t close his eyes for once. He was disturbed. He was not happy. He went to his to his friend around 6 o’clock that morning to narrate the whole story to him. He trekked to John’s house which is somehow far away from his place. When he got to John’s house gate, he saw John and one slim, beautiful lady whose hair was looking very much scattered. Olu knew something has happened overnight as usual. However, unknown to both of them, they had a test that morning.
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When John was back, they quickly exchanged pleasantries. John was about explaining how he hanged the lady’s leg and how he went five rounds before dawn when Olu cut short his narrative by sharing his own story. He started with the 9jabet story and later the Asake tale. While he was narrating the Asake’s story, his phone beeped; which signal the delivery of a message on his phone. He was scared again. Asake has sent her message. He couldn’t read the message. He handed over his phone to John, who quickly opened the text message.
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“Ayam pristnanted in firage o. Ayaf vfomit plenty, plenty” reads the message. John, a born-breed Ibo guy couldn’t get the drift of the message. He complained about the grammatical and spelling mistakes in the text message. He made it known to his friend that he couldn’t decode the essence and meaning of the text. He then handed over the phone to Olu who read it and immediately responded with a loud cry. Olu started weeping. The girl has swallowed the coackroach, says our elders!