Nineteen: Death

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Nineteen

There is a certain temper very nice to hit in our carriage to persons above us, so as to allow ourselves all the freedom that is necessary to divert and entertain them; and yet to take none that may be anyway offensive, or break in upon the honor and respect due to their quality.
Pg 146
Moral Reflections

Death is a spirit. It can be heard, it can be felt and it can also be smelt.

I was stepping out of the cafeteria after the lunch break when I heard a deafening child-like scream. I paused and took rapid long breaths as I looked around for where the noise had come from.

"Guy, are you alright?" A colleague of mine asked with concern in her eyes.

"Where did that noise come from?" I looked back into her eyes, searching for some kind of confirmation—I mean, she had to have heard the noise.

"Are you okay, Ray? What noise are you talking about? Me, I didn't hear anything oo," her concerned expression was already replaced with a worried one.

"You didn't hear that scream?"

"You've been watching too many horror movies," she laughed, shook her head, and started to call one of her close friends. I knew she was going to make a joke out of it, but I was too bothered about the noise I had just heard to care about two unattractive people.

I was walking to my editor's office when I felt a sudden cold sensation at the back of my neck and it ran down my spine in a manner that unavoidably caused a shuddering of my shoulders. 'Something is wrong,' I said to myself and shuddered once again, but this time at how pathetic I sounded like one of those superstitious people.

"Raymond? Is everything okay?" The question came from the same girl—she had an A4 paper in her hands and I could tell that she was headed to the faulty one and off office photocopier.

"Yes. I think I'm coming down with malaria." I lied and watched her nod away after sympathizing with me. I wasn't about to let her have a filled day on my account.

I was stepping out of the office when this foul odor filled the air and I started cussing at the waste company vehicle and their constant air pollution when I looked around with a scrunched-up nose to discover that there was no PSP vehicle in sight—and no one else seemed to be smelling whatever had my nose all cooked up.

"Raymond, what happened?" I looked up to find the same girl standing right in front of my car. "Why is your nose like that? You this boy hope it's not that you've entered another universe—I'm sure you'll end up becoming a Woli because this one that you're hearing voices and you're feeling the spirit in the name of malaria-like this, boya you should answer the higher calling and leave work for sinners like us."

"What do you want, Asabi?"

"Who is Asabi? My name is Tejiri." She responded with a frown on her fish-like face and to be honest, I knew her name perfectly well, but she looked like an Asabi.

"What do you want, Tejiri?" I asked one more time when I realized that she didn't have any plans of moving away from my car.

"My boyfriend got stuck in traffic and I know you're going towards Ikorodu—abeg, help a sister out." She exposed her big bite and I almost groaned out in disgust. I was dying to make up a lie like, "I'm sorry, I'm picking up a couple of friends for dinner," but I knew she'd find a way to squeeze herself into whatever lie or plan I came up with, besides I was beginning to feel a certain kind of way and I could use her distraction—or use the radio if she got too loud.

"Is your boyfriend find anyway?" I gestured towards the passengers seat and as she walked to get her door, she paused and looked at me.

"You sound sarcastic—like you don't believe that I have a boyfriend."

"Haba! I didn't say that oo, you're the one that said it yourself." I threw her a weak smile and once again she displayed her set of godawful teeth.

My little sarcasm had earned me a quiet ride and I was grateful for it.

"Where did you say you live exactly?" I cleared my throat and she looked up at me like she hadn't heard my question but I wasn't going to repeat it because I knew that she had heard me loud and clear.

"Majidu Ogolonto," she said dryly and I began to feel bad about how I'd treated her earlier. Maybe she actually cared about me and was only trying to cheer me up.

"Oh, that's just down from my street. I'll have to drop you off and head back to my house then," I said in an attempt to lighten up the mood and it did.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome—and I think any man will be lucky to call you his girlfriend," I smiled at her but she gathered her nose in a sneer for a while before she burst into a fit of laughter.

"Don't kill me abeg, Raymond or whatever they call you—please don't kill me," she slammed her hands together Yoruba style and I knew I'd gone too far. Maybe she actually had a boyfriend.

The mood in the car was better as we started gossiping about some colleagues until we got to the beginning of my street and I saw people gathered around the frontage of my father's house.

"What's happening there?" The woman beside me aired my exact thought.

"I have no...idea," I faltered as I stepped on the accelerator until I began to see something that scared the hell out of me: the stainless tray. There were also oranges flying around.

"I think that hawker was run over by a careless driver—I hope the poor girl isn't dead."

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⏰ Last updated: Jul 02, 2022 ⏰

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