Bedtime Story-Episode Six

                                                           

Adamu stared curiously at Christiana from the rear-view mirror as he moved the vehicle to the road Christiana had vowed never to pass again. He wanted to be sure she was in her right mind. He had doubted her, taking her words lightly the first time she ordered him to drive her to Oshodi. Having emphasized how serious she was, he started to doubt if she was alright. He reminded her several times how she had sworn that she would never pass through Oshodi again, but she reminded him that she was his boss so he had no right to question her decision. From that moment he kept quiet as he drove but he knew within himself that he would never be her superman or hero anymore. Should they encounter any trouble, he would take to his heels. At the same corner of the street from where the ‘area boys’ rushed out from a week ago, she told Adamu to put the car to a halt. “Hope no problem, madam?” he asked, although he had promised to be quiet. Christiana nodded after she got out of her car, but Adamu didn’t understand her body language, she nodded like all was fine but her face wore anxiety. “Just sit in the car and in case of any problem, call me,” Christiana said before she walked away crossing the road to the street filled with shanties making Adamu sighed again.

Christiana looked observantly as she walked through the slum. She stood confused when she didn’t see anyone that looked like Bayo. Then she caught a quick glance of a street urchin sitting on a long bench, she walked fearfully to him. The rugged looking guy stared continuously at her as she asked after Bayo. She described how Bayo looked as the man kept gazing into her eyes, speechless. Christiana swiftly moved away from him when he blew the smoke from his cigarette in her eyes. 

“Wetin you want?” A food seller who had been watching her shouted from her shop and Christiana turned to her. “You see that man, he don mad.”

“Mad?” Christiana shouted before she rushed quickly into the woman’s shop.

“Him head no correct at all. He dey good mood, if not, he for don commot your head from your body. Wetin you want from am?” 

“I thought he was ‘an area boy’” Christiana said and the woman looked at her like she was out of her mind.

“’Area boy’?” the woman looked confused.

"I am looking for a friend. His name is Bayo."

“Bayo?” the woman asked. “No Bayo dey for this place,” she said before she moved away from her, turning to her maid who was attending to her noisy customers. It was such a scene as she shouted at the customers in an overreaction. “No Bayo dey here,” the woman shouted suddenly, Christiana casting her gaze away from her pot of jollof rice to her unsmiling face. “No Bayo dey here,” she said again as their gaze met. 

“Please madam,” Christiana said and the woman moved her eyes to her bag. When Christiana realised what she meant, she quickly opened her bag and handed the woman a one thousand Naira note. All of a sudden, the woman smiled and Christiana could then heave a sigh of ease. Finally, Abraham’s knife had met the ram!!!

“I will help you find your friend,” the woman said after she had put the money into her brown brassier. “Look to your side!” she yelled at her maid who was staring at her. “So my rich and fine madam,” the woman said after she faced Christiana making her wish she had given her the money earlier than that. After she had described how Bayo looked the last time they met, she said, “You see that lady sitting in front of that blue shop,” the woman pointed to a shop in front of her shop.

“Lady?” Christiana asked, wondering why such a fat and old woman would be referred to as a lady.

“Yes,” the woman replied smiling. “She no look like one abi?” the woman asked and when Christiana nodded, she burst into a hearty laughter. When she stopped laughing, she said in a quiet voice, “because she no marry even though she don old, na why we dey call am lady and she no vex.”

“Will I find him there?”  

                                     

 “Many men for this area go to Lady for nice pepper soup.  Lady will know am for sure. Her shop is where they spend moni they collect from people. Lady will know am. Just make sure you are nice. Don’t act like big madam.”

The woman who was called "lady" welcomed Christiana warmly into her cramped and poorly ventilated shop. She quickly ordered for a chair to be cleaned, meticulously using her hand to wipe it again just to be doubly sure. Christiana felt very uncomfortable with the unnecessary attention the woman showed her. Before walking in, she had made up her mind to quickly bribe her if she refused to show her attention, but realising the woman was very accommodating, there was no need.

“Which one do you want first?” the woman asked and Christiana was thrown into confusion. “Is it fresh fish pepper soup or goat meat pepper soup or ...”

“I don’t want pepper soup,” Christiana interrupted her quickly.

“Okay, madam,” the woman said. ‘Is it beer or stout that you want to drink? I have very cold beer.”

“No,” Christiana answered quickly, the response made the woman look irritated.

“So wetin you want from my shop?” 

“I am-’’ Christiana was cut short as the older woman interrupted.

“You see rich looking people like you drive from Island to come and buy my pepper soup.” Pointing to a man seated in one corner of her shop, she continued; “That man on suit, he is a rich man yet he does not buy pepper soup from any other person in Lagos but me. Nobody in this Lagos would say they don’t know Lady’s pepper soup. You can’t come here and find my pepper soup to be very cold and tasteless. My beer and stout are never hot, but very cold. I use thermocool freezer, you can ask from anybody in Lagos.”

Christiana couldn't have been happier that "lady" stopped talking. She had painfully endured listening to her, wishing that she could stop her from blabbing by locking up her mouth with the blue padlock in the woman’s hand. “I have not come for pepper soup or beer. I am looking for someone called Bayo,” Christiana said softly.

“Bayo?” the woman shouted. “For here?” she shouted again, leaving Christian bewildered. “Did someone tell you that he is here? Are you a police woman?” Christiana shook her head in response, implying a "NO".“So this is the only shop that is on this street, abi?” Her voice had become livid. The Lady walked away to attend to her customers. Christiana tried to call for her attention, but she ignored her. However, when she requested for a bowl of pepper soup, the woman turned to smile at her. She asked if she wanted either fresh fish pepper soup or goat meat. Christiana said goat meat because that was what she mentioned last.

The aroma of goat meat pepper soup wafted through the air when the woman dropped a bowl of steaming hot pepper soup on a table in front of her. In her presence, Christiana started to drink the soup in order to strike a conversation with her. When Christiana told her it tasted good, the woman smiled. Then Christiana brought up the discussion about Bayo. She told her how she was told that she might have an idea of where he was because her shop was the most popular pepper soup shop. In an humorous voice, the Lady said, “Yes, they are right. This is the best pepper soup joint for this area.” Seeing that the Lady had become nice, Christiana wasted no time in conversing with her; she brought the issue of Bayo and described how Bayo looked to her. “Nobody living in this area has that kind of good name. You see, young men in this area don’t like to be called the name their Mama named them so he could have changed his name. The one that his Mama named Segun will call himself Sege and the one that his Mama named Esupofo will call himself Esu.  Also Ebun will change his name to Ekun.”

“I don’t know the name he bears now.” Christiana said sorrowfully. As she racked her brain thinking of how best to describe Bayo to the woman, an idea popped in her mind. She told the Lady that it seemed to her that Bayo might be a leader of a gang because during the fight with Adamu, other ‘area boys’  praised him by raising their hands above their head and one leg each suspended in the air. 

“His name is now Tiger!” the woman shouted unexpectedly. “He is very tall and he has a small mark on his forehead.”

“Tiger!” Christiana exclaimed, and the woman nodded her head. “Scar on his forehead?” Christiana doubted her words. The last time their eyes met, he was wearing a red face cap.

“Yes, a small scar. Although some people don’t see it, I see it on his forehead because I have good eyes,” she said, smiling. “I know how he got the scar. It was during a big fight between the boys’ conductors and Tiger’s boys. Those boys’ conductors thought they could handle Tiger’s boys, but Tiger’s boys beat them till they didn’t know their names. It is here they drink pepper soup and big stout, so how will they not have good strength? He –”

“Please, where can I find Bayo?” Christiana interrupted her when she refused to stop blabbing about what was causing her heart to ache. “Please where can I find Tiger?”

“That would be a big problem,” the woman said and Christiana sighed. “He had stopped coming here to drink and when I asked from his boys, they said he had not been himself ever since he saw one rich woman with a big car. But he has a girlfriend that should know where he is.”

“Girlfriend!” Christiana suddenly exclaimed, and the woman stared skeptically at her. After a while, she wondered why she had exclaimed, but she couldn’t just think of any reason behind her weird action.

“Her shop is not far from here. It is just the last shop on this line,” the woman said. “She also drinks pepper soup here,” the woman added and Christiana felt it wasn’t necessary. “Her name is Oyinbo,” she said before Christiana left her shop.

Christiana looked confused as she stared at the last shop on that line because the shop was locked. When she moved closer to the shop, then she saw a very fair lady standing in front of a big table near the shop. The table was jam packed with different small bottles filled with local alcohol and different brand of cigarettes. Instead of exchanging greeting with her, she waited patiently for her to attend to her customers so she would have her full attention. But she got carried away as she stared at the way the young lady poured some liquid from different bottles into stainless cups for her poor looking customers to buy and drink. Right in front of her, they gulped down the liquid with a lot of satisfaction written on their face after they must have paid her.

“Yes!” the lady shouted. “What do you want?” she asked in an insolent tone of voice.     

“I am looking for a lady called Oyinbo,” Christiana smiled so that the lady would smile, but the lady still frowned. “But her shop is locked, so I am confused,” Christiana pointed to the shop.

“I am Oyinbo,” the lady said. “This is my shop,” she added. Christiana nodded despite she didn’t agree that just a large table filled with different small bottles and cigarettes should be called a shop.  “Kini? What?” she asked and Christiana quickly moved her eyes from the wooden table to her face. Unconsciously, she gazed incessantly at her till Oyinbo called for her attention again. “I am looking for Bayo, I mean Tiger.”

                                                       

“Why?” Oyinbo asked with a strong face and Christiana felt irritated.  She hated the way she questioned her like she owned him. She didn’t like the evil glint in her face and she was displeased that this was the lady referred to as Bayo’s girlfriend. “Are you a police woman?”

“No!” She exclaimed. “I am his old friend,” Christiana said after thinking for so long about what to say. “I was told you know where he is. Where can I find him? Please I need to see him urgently.”

“Did he take money from you?”

“No! He is my good friend.”

“I don’t know where he had gone to,” Oyinbo said and Christiana became thwarted. “He left this street ever since he came across one rich lady that caused wahala with his boys a week ago,’’ she said after a short lived silence. “ Or are you Christiana, the rich woman?” Christiana was taken aback that it took her a while before she nodded. There was an awkward silence before she said, “Is there anyone that knows where he has gone to?”

"I don't know o."

"Please."

“Okay, I just hope he is not into any wahala o. You see, after you walk down this road, turn left, walk down down down till you come see a blue house.”

..................To be continued