THE NAIJA HUSTLE

THREE

CHIDI

Things were not going well for my family and l . All our property had been sold, we were practically paupers, we ate hand to mouth.

We often had nothing to eat and I knew it was the same for Chinedu and Chidi because they often came to my house to eat.

When there was no food in my house, we either went to the next person's house or go to Mama Gloria's provision store down the road to beg her for gala and pure water, sometimes with bread just to quench our hunger promising to pay when we had the money.

Week after week our debt kept increasing, to top it up we could no longer find jobs even when we reduced the price of our services because we knew people liked cheap labour.

Then everyone started avoiding us because people were adherent of King's law which obviously was influenced by Emenike. The law strictly prohibited people from selling to us and hiring us for jobs.

Life in the village became unbearable for my friends and I  but that was not as bad as watching our fathers going around to look for jobs. When they eventually found work  at a construction site in the neighboring village, they told us about it and encouraged us to join.

The next day my father woke me up as early as five o'clock and told me to get ready so we can join my friends and their fathers to go to work. I quckily had my bath with the cold water I found in the basin my sisters usually filled up with water from the stream. When I was done bathing I tied my towel around my waist and I opened the door and was hit with the cold harmattan morning breeze which made remember that we were still in early January. I quckily ran into my room and wore the first clothes I saw without applying my body lotion which was a yellow shirt with horizontal stripes and a black pair of jeans.

Immediately I was done dressing I went to papa's room to call him, only to discover he was already outside waiting for me. I went and I greeted him because I couldn't remember greeting him before. He answered "Morning Nna, we have to be fast so we can meet the rest at the junction" Then he stared at me, to me this was awkward so I found courage to ask what the matter was and his response was "Did you use cream". Then I replied telling him no. He shouted on top of his voice telling me to go back inside to apply lotion. As I was going, I wondered why parents liked shouting especially at unnecessary things like applying lotion but I hurried because I knew if I wasted time another round of shout was my portion

As soon as I came out of the house we were on our way. When we finally got to junction we met my friends and their fathers, I greeted their fathers, and shook my friends then we went with our fathers to join the construction work at the site.

On getting there I saw men carrying blocks and pans filled with cement but one man stood out in particular to me. This particular man was carrying the bags and throwing them into the wheel barrow like it was nothing.  Justice which I later found out was his name was very tall, dark in complexion and  had very bushy beards.

He was very muscular, the only person I had seen with such muscles was John Cena the wrestler, the way carried the blocks effortlessly like it was a pillow was just astonishing. I was still looking at this specimen of a human being, imaging what will happen if I get into a fight with this guy, if I'll survive or go straight to meet my ancestors, when my father told me to come to the back of the uncompleted building to change into clothes that were more suitable for the job at hand.

When I was done changing, I went to the front of the building were all the workers conveyed to be allocated their jobs for the day. People stood shoulder to shoulder in a straight line, the way we stood in football training when we were about to be picked to play for one side or the other.I looked around to see if I could find Chinedu and Chidi but I couldn't see them any where, so I whispered to my father to ask where they are and he told me that they were transported to another site to work because this site was already full with workers.

Then we were paired with another worker and to my amusement I was paired with Justice the hulk like human specimen. He looked like someone who didn't talk much so I decided to initiate the talk. It was hard at first but I found out this Greek god like guy first of had a very soft voice almost lady like and was very emotional especially when he was talking about the past. He told me about his childhood, how his fathe died and left them with nothing. I quickly discovered that I was wrong when I thought that he didn't talk much.

After that, the day went on pretty fast, before I knew it evening had arrived and it was time to go home. I went around in search of my dad so we could go home, when I finally saw him he was with the architect in charge of the work arguing then I decided to move closer, hide and listen to their conversation then I heard the architect telling my that " Sorry sir but you just have to do it" then I heard my father shouting with a tearful voice,"I can't do it, I just can't but why me". At this point I was confused, what was this thing papa didn't want to do that he was forced to.

As I was thinking to myself I stepped on a piece of wood broke, then I ran away on hearing the architects voice shouting "Who is there, better come out oo". I stopped running when I saw Justice who was sitting down on a bench in front of the building. He asked why I was running and I told him nothing.

After I had waited for a while Papa came and told me to stand up so we could go home with a smile on his face like nothing happened, then I asked about my friends and their fathers and he told me that they called and said they will be back late so we just go home with them but the strange thing was that Papa didn't have a phone. All this sounded strange infact and papa also was acting strange but I decided not to over think it.

On our way home I looked at Papa alot  but he still had that smile on his face like nothing happened at work but I decided not to ask because I knew he wouldn't tell me.

***

The next morning Chinedu and Chidi were the ones who woke me up and before I could ask how they got into my room, they asked why my father and I left without them. I just looked at that and told them what my father has said but they said he didn't call. Now I knew something was wrong, why did papa lie, why all this sudden strange behavior??.

Another chapter done I'm so happy thank you all for your contribution.

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