The street drama that unfolds – the people who watch

“Please…” She begged as she ran, but he was way faster than her. The pursuit went on and on till her legs failed her and she fell. He grabbed her and held her tightly with both legs and snatched what she was holding, pushed her away and started walking back. She stood up from the ground and stopped on his track
“Please…please…its not mine” she said breathing heavily.
“I don’t care” he said as he kept walking
“Please it doesn’t belong to me. Its not my phone”
“Its non of my business if its not yours”.
“Its my sisters phone and she’ll kill me if i don’t return home with it” She kept pleading.
“That’s your cup of yea, you caused this”, he said finally, turning to the guy on the motorbike “guy lets go”…he nodded and climbed on top of the bike.
“I’m begging you please…please…” She kept begging in folded hands till they drove past her. She just stood there looking frustrated.

I finally walked past them relieved. At first i thought the guy wanted to hurt her and that was when i stood still, ready to come to her aid. And when he only grabbed the phone from her hand and left her i thought his intention was to steal from her, but when she kept apologizing to him i knew maybe she was probably at fault and that something else was going on there unbeknownst to me and others who saw the drama.
In this recession anything is possible, maybe she owed him a great sum of money and took her phone as leverage, to force her to pay up.
I looked up and saw a group of girls watching the drama unfold and laughing at the girl. Their job is to just stand there and laugh it off, comment on whatever is worth commenting on, try to pick out who’s at fault and who’s not, judge them, and when the drama is over they dust their foot and leave.

I smiled slowly and shook my head. My simple quiet evening stroll had turned into a drama short film. It made me remember something that happened opposite my work place few months ago (gosh, i cant stop laughing. *winks*).

I was at my desk when i heard voices shouting at each other
“Give me my money. Oh…you’re trying to run away right? But i won’t let you…”
“You’re mad, you’re crazy”
“Oh you think I’m mad…you’ll see madness when you don’t complete my money. You think I’m one of those girls you can F*CK for free…you better pay me the money we agreed”
_ _ _ _ _ _

“Jeez!! Really? Did i just hear correctly? Oh my God! I quickly ran downstairs laughing hoping my ears weren’t deceiving me. This was going to be the most hilarious , awkward drama i would ever experience i thought to myself.

The scene had obviously attracted a huge crowd and i couldn’t stop laughing “are these people crazy? Couldn’t they have kept this inside their room”. I crossed the road and moved closer , in fact i was facing the two people. The girl was holding his shorts tightly with her left hand, while stretching the other hand to receive the money and shit…she was hot. I mean dark skinned, five feet tall, sexy looking in a black off shoulder jumpsuit that was pressed to her obviously shaped body. She had no make up on but had a pretty-not-so-beautiful face. And hell, she was big. Big with muscles that could grab whatever she wants and a body that could make a man fall flat and lick her feet. The guy was a dark guy, dressed in a short sleeve shirt and a check combat short. He seemed like a cool simple guy who is single, comfortable and works hard too.

“If you don’t pay me my money you’ll see the worst of me”. She continued still grabbing him by the short.
“What Money? Did i ever agree on a particular amount or even agree to give you any money? I had nothing to do with you so why will i give you anything”. He said harshly.
“We agreed that you’ll pay me fifteen thousand naira for a night and you only gave me five thousand. I need my balance because you can’t escape…do you think i came to this city to play. No. This is business so you must pay up” she glared at him.

Jesus!! I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cringe my teeth. Are the both of them really keen on doing this outside. Aren’t they embarrassed by the commotion they are causing in public. I was completely shocked by the absurdity of everything happening. It was crazy.
Older men and women tried to stop the quarrel, all to no avail. People pleaded with them to take it somewhere closed and sort it out but they still continued the drama. It was obvious they had no shame. It seemed normal to the girl since like she claims, sex is her business, while the guy seemed irritated, he simply wanted to get rid of her.

I stood there watching while the drama continued; the screaming and shouting at each other, the pointing of fingers, the accusations been thrown at each other, the sweat rolling from each others face. It went on and on till i couldn’t take it any longer.

“Stop it both of you”. I screamed. It was like i came back from a trance.
“Enough, now you”, pointing at the guy “tell me exactly what happened”.

Guys story – He went out with some friends and hung out at the bar, and between drinks and Merry and music they found her sitting behind their table so naturally they all engaged in a discussion, talked, laughed and took a few drinks together. When they asked about her she said, she has a daughter back home and she just came into town to stay with a friend but her friend is not picking up her call so she found this bar, and sat down to relax a bit. He also told her he him to chill out here and that he has a girlfriend he loves and respects. The conversation went on till they became cool friends. He offered to let her sleep in his house after they left the bar and she agreed. When they reached home, she slept in the guest room while he slept in his.
In the morning he prepared noodles for her to eat. He had pity on her which made him give her the sum of five thousand naira for her transport back home. He wanted to go to the mechanic and pick up his car because its been there for repairs. They left the house, he bid her farewell and left. On his way to the mechanic he stopped briefly at the superstore to purchase something when she suddenly blocked him. He realized then that all this while she hadn’t gone, instead she was following him. That was when she started holding him and requesting for some money he couldn’t understand.

“Hmmmm…okay” You, whats your story?” I asked her.

Girls story – After the drinks and partying he took her to his house and they both agreed that he’d pay her fifteen thousand for the night. They spent the night together and in the money he gave her the money. She counted it and it was five thousand, she asked him to complete it but he refused saying that was all he had. And when they left, instead of going home, she followed him to publicly force him to provide the remaining money.

“Eh…so now you don’t have a child…and when did me and you ever talk about fifteen thousand naira? You are a liar” the guy shouted in shock.
“No. You’re the one that is a liar, you think you can sleep with me and come here and give a different story. God punish you” she blurted out angrily.

“Okay” i finally said “so bros you’re telling me you took this babe to your house and nothing happened between you too” i asked.
“Yes. Absolutely nothing” he replied.
“And you babe. when did the price of one night increase to fifteen thousand and are you sure he agreed to pay you such an amount?”
“Yes. That was what we agreed and that is what will happen”
“Look that would never happen. How can i just give you then thousand naira like that, not to mention the five thousand i gave you earlier out of my good heart. You’re joking.” He said.

The next thing i knew she grabbed him by the collar and i for one feared his life because this girl was not joking. She was big and strong and I’m sure she can beat the guy to a pulp. I chucked, as much as i hated this it was so funny that i couldn’t hold my laughter.
In my opinion the only truth on that guys mouth is the fact they didn’t discuss the money. If he knew the amount was going to be ridiculous he would have probably not picked her up at all. And the only truth in that girls mouth is the fact that they both had sex that night. I mean no guy would pick up a sexy girl by that hour to your house and not sleep with her especially after partying with her all night (my personal thought though).

I knew that as long as their story wasn’t straight they would probably not leave there so i called the guy aside and asked him
“How much do you have now with you?”
“Five thousand for my mechanic and one thousand for my transport”. He answered.
“Good. please give her the five thousand and let all this end. The truth is she wont leave here unless you give her something extra. The mistake you made was not finalizing the price first. So now you’ll have to fix this mess. Please just hand it over to her” i pleaded with him.
He nodded, silently dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out the money, counted five notes and stretched it towards her.
“Its five thousand naira and that’s all he has so please take it” i said to her.
“I’m not taking it. You must complete my money” she said bluntly with those huge eyes shocking everyone (did i just here correctly).
“You’re wicked. Your generation is cursed. In fact don’t take it I’m calling the police, we’ll finish it there”. He shouted in disgust.
“Call. You think I’m scared”. She replied.
They kept cursing at each other till i tapped her on the shoulder. She turned her back and faced me “See babe, there’s no need throwing words at him, whoever is wrong God would judge but just take the money, that man just gave you every cash he has on him” i said sternly.
“And you bros”, i faced the guy “give her everything including the one thousand for your transport, just give her every damn cash on you. You can take a drop back home and pay the driver from there” i spoke calmly.

Someone else in the middle of all the chaos collected the money from him, counted it making sure it was six thousand and tossed it into the girls hand. She collected the money stared hardly at the guy, turned around shaking her bad ass and left. I guess business was done for her as usual. The deal was sealed with her leaving with eleven thousand naira cash. Wow!
The guy just found a chair and sat down in exasperation.

Just as she left the crowd disappeared as well. The fun was over. I just stood there replaying it over my head. I silently prayers for the lady that something might just redirect her to the right path and wishing she had made a different choice at the kind of life she wanted to live.

I was about to leave when i glanced at the man still sitting there quietly. I walked up to him and said what i shouldn’t stop my self from saying. I looked right into his eyes
“Oga next time you want to sleep with a stranger or a hooker and cheat on that girlfriend of yours you claim to love and respect, remember today. Let what happened today stick to your brain or else you’ll find your self in a more dangerous situation in the future”. I walked past him and left him there gawking at me.

With my hands in my short pocket, still strolling, i couldn’t help but laugh at that past experience. That experience with the one i just had now is what makes the streets full of drama. There’s no community without streets filled with the rich, poor, strong, weak, kind, evil, pastors, hookers, drug addicts, gossips, weirdos, troublemakers, drama king and queens and so on. And the drama this people create is on another level. Sometimes those drama brings joy and fun but sometimes it brings chaos and fights. When that happens what do you do. Do you sit down and watch the drama unfold? Do you pass by and pretend its non of your business? Or do you step in and find a way to end the chaos and quarrels?

I for one never run from anything that’s a threat to my peace and the tranquility surrounding me.

So what do you do when the drama unfold? And did you enjoy this post? Leave your thoughts with me by dropping a comment. Happy reading