Murphy And Life Hacks

He was a third division football player when I first met him. He was not actually performing well financially judging from the manner he corners some supermarket managers some evenings he left camp into town. He was indirectly figuring out how to start supplying goods to some supermarkets to supplement his meagre salary I figured.

      Football clubs don’t have enough money, most are barely managing to stay afloat. Even those in first division were being subsidy by the various state governments which owns about 85 percent of the clubs. They don’t have independent sponsors let alone those in third divisions. 

On one of his forays into town, I met him talking to my manager who seems to be somewhere else in spirit while listening to Murphy. That was about five years ago. 

He came with his two friends who probably were also trying to supplement their pitiable salaries by engaging in supply business most don’t have basic knowledge of how it is done. 

     I was passing my IT year with the same supermarket and that was how we came to know each other. It happened that his parents house in the city weren't far from my parents.

I succeeded in convincing the manager to look his way. The poor guy was trying to raise capital. Supply business is in ‘try your luck' phase in Nigeria then. Capable supermarkets has over suppliers and to be paid in two weeks which is unwritten agreement in that sector is war. A kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul system of buying and selling.

      To collect even your capital is not easy. The manager would use your money to pay those before you, if you don’t like it and try to make a scene, you would be paid and your name cancelled from the suppliers list. So, you are at the mercy of the managers. Well, I was able to put in good words on Murphy’s behalf, I made sure he was paid within eight days of supplying us with any goods. 

The problem was that he was never steady in the city, he usually travels out of the city with his club and not always in the three cities that most suppliers buys their goods from to reduce the overhead cost. He equally don’t have enough cash to compete with other suppliers.

    Three years ago, disaster struck. Murphy got serious injury that made his club to lay him off, he had no insurance coverage. Not able to get another club after treatment, he became a conductor to a lorry driver that plies Lagos to Port Harcourt city route. He would often buy goods he would supply to supermarkets and try to fix them in with their customers goods.

    Belgium mouse as murphy's boss is known is a man of about 5’6 feet, a little fat. He had been driving for the past 29 years and would have been due for retirement had it been he continued working at their company’s garage where he started as a company store keeper. But thought it intelligent to become a driver after five years there. The decision turned out to be an intelligent one indeed. He had started building an upstairs house in the village last years, he was even planning after completing the building to purchase his own lorry. He supplement murphy's purchasing money at times to fasting his capital raising. Sometimes, Murphy would repay the money without interest after using it for more than a year.

       Belgium mouse seems to have knowledge of humans. He noticed that Murphy don’t really like the transportation business he found himself in. It seems to be stop over work for him.

“This our line is not work salary workers jump into out of necessity. I can see you don’t really like it. You still tuck in like white man most of the time”

“Tuck in?, of course I can do it”

“we have been together now for more than two years, you still tuck in like white man, still shower two times a day”

“ You mean those in this profession don’t tuck in and shower twice every day?”

“ you are now two years in the line, how many people have you seen that even shower once a day?”

“But water is available wherever we packed”

“ Not the issue of water not being available but problem of medulla oblongata”

“ what concerns medulla Oblongata with taking shower?”

“ You mean that they no longer teach in schools that when something enters inside there, it is almost impossible to come out”

“I don’t understand, please explain?”

“ No problem, no need for theory, when you have driven for years like I have, you would be taught by experience, no theory needed. You will be thinking about money always and not remember to pack toothpaste, soap and brush even buying beautiful bags to haul them along will not be your priority.”

“ But one needs to still keep his hygiene every day despite money”

“ Yeah, in Nigeria, you worry about chewing stick not packing beauty bags like sisy and worry too much if you miss one showering time?”

“ Belgium, I think you’re a funny man”

“ Yeah, funny. Until you enter bathroom one day and your pants and money got missing then you will know that in this our line, there’s no paddy in jungle ”

That was last talk Belgium mouse and Murphy had as living being. 

He was crossing main road from where they packed waiting for their turn to load when a drunk running traffic light knocked him down. He died two hours later in hospital.

 Minutes away from the hospital:

“Give murphy the money for me, he is at Ido park. He needs the money urgently to settle expenses.”

“How much do you say it is?”

“ 270k. He needs the money urgently. I am going to Ibadan. Please go now”

“ Okay, but….”

Jerry had turned his back just a split seconds and Belgium mouse he had just talk to was no where to be found. His search around there proved futile. It’s 30 minutes later at Ido park that he realised that he had been talking to ghost.