ON A KEROSENE NIGHT (IV)

 

And fear grew wings at the sight of a dark guy with a bodybuilder’s frame. Your right hand got gummed to the Bagco bag in your hands. He was in all black and you could not see his face. As you watched him with your side-eye, a faint but glowing red light moved, with his right hand to the mouth and back.

“Cigarette!” An alarm finally sounded in your head, and you walked nearer the road. By the time you both walked shoulder to shoulder, you recited every verse someone in danger would. He moved past you with some alpha male swagger, and you thought you had discovered a mini-world where people were allowed to do prohibited things in public. He left, and a faint burden got lifted off your shoulders. You became wary of other people showing up at the unnecessarily long 'bush line' and made the most effort to ignore the cutting pain from your Indian-style sandals.

You lost ten pounds before you reached the real Richbams. And you were glad to see a scanty set of people still walking around. It was still a long road till UI, but you walked on tiredly with relief. You had probably escaped stuff that got some people found dead the next day. And your pride of being someone who had once walked that infamous road of Agbowo for TDB’s around 11:45 pm left you.

The sight of the Mobil filling station had your memories started coming back. You remembered every circumstance behind every step you had taken around that place and cherished them.

You got to your room and dumped the precious bagco bag on the floor, sighed as you jumped on the bed and checked your newly repaired phone; it was just 7: 21 pm. And you had gone through all these in three hours!

When you finally got the chance to unpack your stuff, you cradled the kerosene keg in your hands. It was a prized possession, bought with a mix of blood and fear. You poured the precious liquid into your kerosene stove, ready to cook yourself a decent meal since you resumed.  

After a while, you returned to the kitchen to a whistling kettle of water, and a pool of kerosene at the base of your stove. The kerosene tank was leaking in torrents.

You can't cry, you're a rich kid.