Throwing Off

He sat in the corner of the computer house typing away, totally lost in his work. He had been coming to the same cafe to browse and do other paper works for weeks now without any success with those he had been communicating with. The work he has done for them, they kept rejecting saying it's not up to their standard. The problem is that they don't know what they want. Their instructions are confusing. He has amended all they said, but, in a few hours time, he will know what fault they will see again. There is always one with those groups. The electricity in the city isn't something anyone can bet on its availability. It's one thing everyone in the city had agreed on its uselessness with one voice. There is a betting house a few minutes walk from the cafe where people go to charge their phones free. He planned to go there as usual after he finished what he came for in the cafe.

Twenty minutes later, he made his way towards the betting house, lost in thought of the work he just sent. Truly, he is tired of those clients but he can't shout or talk back. Not only that they will not pay him the pittance they had paid on two occasions, he will for sure lose them, once he shouts back. "Would it be okay with them this time around? '' he murmured to himself. Lost within himself, he had not noticed a woman of middle age following him from the cafe side to the betting house. Finding charging space has been something else there too. Almost everyone in that vicinity and beyond had been coming to the betting house to charge their electronics wares. "Thank God '' he murmured as he saw that some, with his line of "no space" thought, found it fit to bring their extension wires to provide extra space. 

He plugged his power bank, phone and torch in. The three most important things outside his laptop that he needed each day. He sat watching the final of the UEFA Cup played that morning. Lost in the game between Bayer Leverkusen and Atlanta FC, he barely glanced towards the direction of the woman waging a bet in one of the computer sets behind him. Even Though the number of women that he encountered in the betting house were in their five percent, they are into the games too and interest in betting is rising on that sex. Young and old trying their luck and making money for the owners of the company. Poor man escapism. They always believed in "one more time or this time no more" philosophy. Yet, each day after their deadline, you will see them there, hoping upon hope that whatever god will throw biscuit their way. One of the staff, a lady on the heavy side on her way out, seeing people juggling for space to charge their electronics, threatened to start charging commission for anything you want to charge there. People eyed her without commenting.

Sunny eyed his watch, he still had places to go before returning to his base. Time is not on his side. His electronics take at least three hours to fill. He decided that an hour and half is the best he can spend there or he will be choked with time in other things he lined up for the day. An hour and half later, he packed his things, and went south instead of north that led to his house. Within minutes, he was in his repairer's shop refusing his advice to go and come back around one hour later to collect his item. Almost a week with the man and each time, it had been to go and come back. His presence will make the man face his work. If he leaves there, it will be against next week. He has no plan of coming to that side next week. 

Not up to thirty minutes he was there, a truck carrying about six soldiers stopped at the opposite side of the road. None of the soldiers looked his way, the truck carrying them left, leaving them there and they loitered around for about twenty minutes doing nothing in particular. Just as fast as they had come, they marched up towards their truck not far from them and left. No one knew their mission or cared. People have economic problems to worry about, not men in uniform. 

The repairer, finally through with his work, he paid and went towards the market side to the barber shop he discovered not far from the one he had been using. The man was busy with a customer, so he decided to sit outside and wait. Within a few minutes of sitting there, the same woman he found at the betting house, passed heading towards protestant church not far from there with a scarf on her head and bible in hand, neck bent to angle 90 this time around. Sunny smirked as he eyed the lady. Betting without scarf and then, bible, scarf and angle 90 bended neck while heading to the church. only that the dress, the walk and face remained the same. Who knows whether her inside remained the same too. Human heart can be something else.

He finished barbering and went through the new motor parts market there to cut through the road that led to his house. He had just crossed the major road to the other side when he heard the voice of beggars, the Hausa kids in their usual flocking manner shouting aunty, aunty. Sunny turned to see who their net caught this time around. There was the same woman on her scarf and bible having a hard time extracting herself from the kids who were not letting go.Their eyes locked and Sunny stood for a few minutes observing the lady who seemed not to know that without dropping something to the kids, they would not let her go. He eyed the lady again as he went away with long strides, almost running. Two can be coincidences, but four?- some cosmic forces are talking. He passed the route that led to his base. "Better to do some throwing off than walking an unknown enemy into your den." He said while keeping eyes on the lady now using a force to pry the kid's hands from her dress. She seems to be succeeding this time around.