LIFE IMPRISONMENT 9
WRITTEN BY: GRACE OLAYEMI
Ranti could not get the incidence of the previous day out of his head. All through the classes he had before break, his head kept on calculating the possibility of money disappearing from his pocket.
“Maybe I was given juju money that took away all the money I had in my pocket. My pocket was not leaking, I had checked it over and over again. This is not making sense. Maybe my village people that don’t want me to prosper have located me.” Various thoughts continued to play on his mind and he sighed intermittently.
He left the class during break to hang out with his friends and when he could no longer bottle in his ordeal he fed them in.
He narrated how he made the money, counted it and kept it in the pocket of his trousers and how he had bought food and could not find the money when he wanted to pay. His friends listened to his gist and when he finished they all burst into laughter as though they had just heard a joke.
“It’s not funny, guys. You shouldn’t be laughing at something so sad like that. I searched everywhere and could not find that money. I had to trek back home with nothing after hours of toiling. Yesterday was the worst day of my life.”
“You didn’t see me at the Busy Street yesterday?” one of them asked him.
“No!”
“Well, I was the one that took your money.”
The words hit Ranti like a bomb and it took him few minutes to process what he just heard. His own friend, that knew how he had been suffering since his mother left and how his irresponsible father had not been caring for them. His friend, who gave him money sometimes to buy something eatable for his sibling during lunch break.
“I can’t believe this,” he said and pounced on him. He vented his frustration and anger on his friend and flashes of the pain he went through because of the money the previous day came to his mind and he intensified the blows. His other friends try to break up the brawl but they all seemed too powerless to salvage Ranti’s rage. By the time he had beaten him to his heart’s content, his friend had passed out. Fear gripped him and he ran out of the school for fear of what would happen to him if his friend should die.
The boy was rushed to the school’s clinic where he was taken care of and resuscitated. Ranti was suspended from the school and he was relieved that his friend was no longer in danger.
* * * * * *
Ranti decided to go back to the Busy Street and be more careful with his money so he won’t lose it again. He continued to help women carry their goods and they will pay him for his service. He was happy with the little money he was able to make daily and even his siblings were happy because they could have something to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He would even give them something to take to school sometimes.
Ranti returned to school after his suspension and he reconciled with his friends.
“Do you think it is our parents that are giving us all the money we spend in school?” One of his friends asked him during lunch break when they sat together discussing. He had been curious and wanted to know why his friend stole his money.
“I didn’t know it was you. I had taken the money and was far ahead before I noticed you were the one and I could not return the money because I had missed it with all I made on that day.” His friend had explained and he was still not satisfied with that explanation.
“So, you guys go around taking money from people?” Ranti asked.
“Yes!”
“That’s the fastest and easiest way of making money these days.”
“It is not only money we take. It can be phones, wristwatches, earrings or anything valuable that can be converted into money.”
“Stealing is bad,” Ranti said perplexed.
“Says who?”
“Says morality. When you steal someone’s money you make the person sad and angry like I felt the day you took my money. That money was the fruit of my labour and I even cried because I could not eat anything on that day and my siblings had to beg for garri.”
“Sorry about that. But, what we are doing is not called stealing. It is our own business just like yours is helping people to carry their things.”
They continued to make him see reasons why there was nothing bad in what they were doing and that it was just a line of business that they had chosen.
“How much do you make per day?” One of them asked him.
“Like three thousand or four thousand if I go there early and rent wheelbarrow. But if I have to use my head to carry the load, I make from one thousand to one thousand five hundred, because I won’t be able to carry much,” Ranti explained and his friends laughed.
“Do you want to know how much I make per day? I make from thirty thousand upward.”
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“Unbelievable!” Ranti screamed, his head quickly calculated how wonderfully there lives would change if he could be making that kind of money daily. “But it is not an honest money,” he said, cautioning himself.
He declined his friends’ offer to join them and said he was content with the little money he was making in a legal way.
He continued his business and was managing the proceeds to take care of his siblings until Comfort developed acute appendicitis and needed surgery urgently. He turned to his friends for help since his father was not paying attention to all he told him. When he told his father about Comfort’s condition he didn’t say anything or make any move to see that she got the surgery. Ranti had to join his friends’ business and he was able to raise money for the surgery. Comfort was discharged after a few days and he was relieved that she was fine.
Ranti became a pro in the business and was even making more money than his friends. His determination and drive to succeed pushed him to go the extra mile and he did. He dropped out of school and focused on pick-pocketing and petty stealing. He advanced and started breaking into shops at night with his friends and they will pack everything in the shop for sale.
His siblings noticed the turn of events and asked him but he only said he had gotten a better job. Comfort was not happy when he dropped out of school and she tried to encourage him to finish his last year in the Secondary School but he refused, stating that his job needed a lot of attention and that school was a distraction. Edward was happy because he could buy video games and wear designer shoes like his friends in class.
Mr Adel continued to drink himself to stupour everyday with the hope that his sorrows would go away. Since his wife left him, he had been shattered and didn’t know what to do to take care of three growing children. He had abandoned them with the hope that their mother would come back for them but she had refused to look back.
When Comfort got sick, he knew he needed to look for money but there was no one to borrow him money anymore. His friends were all deserting him because he had refused to pay back what he owed them. He was happy when she returned home healthy and strong but he was too ashamed to ask Ranti how he got the money for the surgery.
He knew his son was labouring tirelessly to give his siblings a good life and that further compounded his misery. He had become useless to his children and he could not forget the look in their eyes whenever they saw him in the house. That was why he avoided the house and would only go when he knew they had slept and he would not come out of the room until they had all gone to school.
To be continued…
