Attai Episode 3

9 years ago

Attai Episode 3

TITLE: Attai
EPISODE: 3

“Wanne irin iskanci ne wanna, yanzu ne safe ya zo a
gidan ka” (What kind of behaviour is this, is it now
that the day broke in your house) My boss queried me. “Haba mai gida na, ka san wai gida na da nisa” (Its
not that oga, you know my house is far) I replied him before walking to the changing room.
Not exactly a changing room, but a shack where
clothes are kept. I quickly pulled my fineboy
clothings and replaced it with the usual clothes I
wear, put a face cap on my head and used a big
black shade to cover my eyes. I also used a black artificial beard to cover below my nose with a goatie
on my chin. I came out looking different and like
every other tout under the bridge in mararaba and
orange market. “Ka shiria kenan ko, kai, amma kai dan iska ne, idan
mutum bai san ka zai gan Kaman kai dan Arrabiya
ne” (You are now ready, but you are truly a jackass,
if someone doesn’t know you, he might mistake you
for an arab)

I laughed.

“Haba oga, a yan lemo kuma, mai zai kawo dan
turawa nan” (That’s mischievous, not in orange
market, what’s going to bringan Arab man here) I replied him. “Manta da lamarin nan, nemo mun customomi, za
mu je Kaduna yau kuma zaka raka ni, Adamu bashi
da lafiya” (forget that talk, just get me customers
because we are headed for Kaduna and you will
accompany me, Adamu (his conductor) is sick). I just twirled round and using a voice more baritone
than mine, started screaming: “Kadunaaaaa buuuuussssssss, Kaduna busssssss” Soon the whole car became full and the journey to
Kaduna progressed with me entertaining both the
Hausa men and other tribes going to Kaduna with
jokes. We made it to Tudun Wada, reloaded and
came back to Abuja that same day. I was really tired
at the end of the whole journey that I mechanically went to the “gidan wanka” located at orange
market, paid N50, collected soap and jumped into
the toilet to offload my system, after which I
switched to the bathroom to take my bath. My mind
replaying the incidence of that day and musing over
the fact that I still hadn’t close for the day. I changed into my normal clothes and boarded a bus
this time going to my destination instead of the
normal bike which is by the way costlier than the
bus. Getting to the bus-stop, instead of walking
straight home, I took the same dusty path that led to
the uncompleted building, got to a door which I opened and entered into it. Inside the room is a table
which I shifted to the extreme end of the room,
climbed on and took a brown envelope which was
tucked in between a broken block on the ceiling. I
came down, made my way to the door, peeped left
and right and then came out locking the door behind me.

I got to the gate of the house sooner than expected,
went into the compound and matched straight to
Ekaite’s room, knocked on her door and retrieve my
keys from her. I opened my door and was
welcomed by an inviting aroma. Ekaite had cooked
and kept it in the room awaiting my return. Without thinking twice, I pounced on the food, divulged it
and la!d back to sleep. The alarm on my phone rang at exactly 8:30pm
waking me up. The time has come to complete my
business for the day. then walked to the far end of the room where a
plastic bucket that contains water for drinking is
kept. I scooped a little from inside using a cup,
walked outside and washed the remaining sleep
from my eyes. Drying my face with the towel, I
applied a little powder to make it smooth. I quickly changed from the old clothes into a new one which I
Ekaite had washed earlier, then applied lots of body
spray, put my leg into a palm slippers and stepped
out of the house. I was accosted on the way by Ekaite who seemed to
have been coming from where she went to buy
something as she was holding a black leather bag in
her hand.

''Attai, na where you dey go now, abi night never do
for you to sleep . You know say we go late gate by
ten abi'' I smiled to myself. No point telling me as this wasn't
the first time I'm scaling the fence of opening the
gate from the outside. ''No worry, na me go come wake you up personally
with the chicken wey I go buy for you in the
mornin'' I replied her. She screamed playfully and grabbed me by the shirt
to which I gently pushed her hands off to prevent
the shirt from squeezing. I bidded her goodbye
immediately and walked off not glancing behind me
for once. Soon I was in a busy part of my area, I
paused under the cover of darkness and looked ahead of me, truly, the recharge card girl was in her
kiosk all alone by herself. I smiled, just what I had
prayed for. I crossed to the other side, walked boldly
to her kiosk and greeted. ''Na now I know why moon no gree comot, men see
as you dey shine like sun sotey moon just hide inside
sky'' To which she raised her head up and mumbled a
silent... ''Good evening'' I looked her over once again. Her fair face which
carried a little make-up radiated under the light of
her battery powered lamp, her small lips placed
gently on it. Her eyes, yes that eyes that haunts my
thoughts and a nose that looked like it was the last to
be created on her therefore a lot of time was taken to make it fit properly to her face. She truly is an
epitome of beauty in its unrefined form.

She was putting on a pink top with a black pencil
trousers and a pink rubber slippers to match. All
these I took within the few seconds of standing by
her side. Forget about my description, I had only seen her the
previous day when I had come to that part of the
area in search of recharge card. Was surprised to
find her there as it is usually a man that sits in the
shop. ''So, sister, dem dey call me Attai'' I said expecting her to pick clue but instead she
made a pop sound with her mouth and turned her
face. ''Aiye yarinya (babe), thats how you treat strangers
with popping music without knowing whom they
are first?'' I queried in a nice british accented english. ''No, it is not like that, I just come here to sell cards
not tell my name to strangers'' I took note of what she had said and the manner at
which she said it. I smiled. This one is going to be
easy I told myself. I immediately switched back to
pidgin English: ''No be so na, na who go see you waka pass. That
person go reach house begin regret. You for know
how I feel yesterday when I forget ask you your
name na'' This brought a smile to her face. I was making
progress. ''Forget say you dey here o, if by mistake you attend
beauty contest just to watch, na for your seat them
go crown you queen because you na real queen'' She brought her head down shyly for a few seconds
while I threw sumersaults in my mind, danced alingo
remixed version, my etigi better than the Calabars. ''If you think say I be one of those girls, then make
you think again because I know wetin I want for this
life and no be to hear yeye talk from person like you.
See if no be card you wan buy, better waka leave
here before I embarass you.'' Her voice came out loaded with deadly threats. I
was taken aback because I had not expected the
reaction. Just the slight raising of her voice had
raised my hairs and drawn a few attention, no
imagine her carrying out her threat. Her tongue is
really coated with fire. I admired the fire that flew from her eyes while she spoke and the dead
seriousness in her eyes. Surely my kind of woman. ''Say person dey talk to you as friend na im make
you wan wound am with your mouth, abeg give me
zain 50 naira make I dey go. Meanwhile no vex say I
make you uncomfortable with my talk'' I apologised as she reached into her purse to give
me the card I had demanded for. ''I'm sorry'' I mumbled again before turning to leave. ''I'm sorry too'' I acted like I did not hear her as I held my shoulder
high above her head whilst dialing a number. ''O boy, na where una dey'' I spoke into my Nokia torch. ''See me dey come'' I cut the call and quickly rushed to the house to get
the brown envelope. I was in for an adventure that
night. Watchout for episode 4