Peter knew that he was going to end up with Kosi. He had known that since his senior year in secondary school. It was not love-at-first-sight, not for either of them, but it was love nonetheless. While they were busy preparing for their final exams, love snuck up on them, and there was nothing they could do to rid themselves of it. Peter graduated from secondary school but could not continue his education afterwards due to financial constraints caused by the early demise of his parents. By that time, however, Peter was already accustomed to providing for himself.
He found a job working at a car wash where he was earning barely enough to feed himself. Two years passed and things were going well with Kosi even though she had been admitted to study laboratory technology at a nearby university. However, Peter's finances did not improve. He had just started an apprenticeship program with a vehicle repairer when Kosi returned home in the middle of the week. Looking at her, he could sense there was something very wrong. He wiped his greasy hands on his dungarees and excused himself from the mechanic shop. He took her to a shed under the mango tree.
"What's wrong, baby?" he asked and sensing her hesitation, he added, "Talk to me, please."
She opened her mouth to speak but what came out was a wail of frustration. Peter could hardly bear to see her cry but he did his best to console her, then she finally managed to speak.
"I'm pregnant," she said, barely audible.
Peter had a thousand questions he wanted to ask but seeing her in that condition, he could not voice out any of those questions. He always felt they were careful to avoid a pregnancy.
"Are you certain about that?" he asked.
"Yes, I have confirmed it three times. I did not want to believe it either. Oh, Pee, what am I going to do?"
"You mean, what are we going to do? Truth is, I don't know, but it is going to be alright," he said.
Kosi returned to school the next day. Peter decided that the only thing he could do was to marry her since it was a thing of shame for a single lady to bear a child in their community. He called one of his uncles and told him his condition and what he felt he needed to do, and his uncle supported him. Uncle Alloy took it upon himself to arrange visits to Kosi's family, informing them of Peter's intention to marry their daughter. He met with a firm opposition mostly because Kosi was still in school, but when they learned of their daughter's pregnancy, even though they were angry at first, they had no choice but to cave to Uncle Alloy's proposal.
The marriage ceremony between Kosi and Peter was not conclusive, because Peter could not afford most of the requirements. But everyone was in support of making things as easy for the couple as possible, so they accepted to receive the bride price without the man meeting the prerequisites. Peter and Kosi became man and wife. She was able to complete her current session in school before she deferred her admission and returned home to prepare for her baby.
It was not long after his baby girl, Princess, was born that Peter made a decision that would change his life forever. It was lunchtime and Peter was under the mango tree eating bread and pushing it down with a bottle of coke when someone drove into the garage with a white SUV the size of a bus, which type he had never seen before. He quickly finished his lunch and headed back to the garage to see what such a vehicle could possibly need to be fixed. The closer he got, the more he realised that he had underestimated the size of that car. It was a GMC Yukon, and it looked like it had not been more than a day on the road.
As he reached the driver's side, the driver opened the door, and the air-conditioning oozing out of the car hit him in the face like a punch. He was so in awe of the car that he did not notice the driver. He looked through the windows, and it seemed to him that the room in the car was even more significant than the size outside would suggest. The driver tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. He turned and looked at the driver. He was not expecting someone so young to be driving such an obviously expensive vehicle. The driver could not have been more than a year older than himself.
"Good afternoon, sir," he greeted.
The man laughed. That was not the response he was expecting, so he took a better look at him to see why he was laughing only to realise that it was Bone, his classmate from secondary school. It was not possible: Bone was much slimmer than the person standing before him, and that was why they called him Bone back in school. But he had Bone's face. The last time he heard of Bone was the year they graduated from secondary school; he had gone to live with his uncle in Lagos.
"Bone?" he asked, still doubting his eyes.
"People's Peter!"
Neither of them considered Peter's soiled dungarees, and they held each other in a hug. It turned out that Bone had been out of the country for a little more than one year. He had travelled to a few nations, but it was a Dubai that he spent the longest time. Peter knew instantly that he had to do whatever it was that Bones did to make so much money and he told Bone as much. He laughed and promised to help in any way he could. That day, Peter's boss, Neche had no choice but to let him have the rest of the day off: it was not every day that someone tipped him what he earned in one week for doing absolutely nothing like Bone did. From there, Bone drove Peter to the hotel where he was staying, and it was a party all day and all night. Bone was in town for about a month and for that period, Peter lived and partied like a Saudi King.
Bone was true to his word. Before he was ready to leave town, he helped Peter to get a passport and a visa to the United Arab Emirates. He helped him obtain a ticket and provided him with a stipend and contacts for when he arrived at Dubai. Those contacts would also introduce him to the job that would make him as wealthy as his friend. It never occurred to Peter to ask what the job entailed because he suspected that it was not going to be pleasant, and he was determined to see it through. Peter divided the money Bones had given him in half and gave to Kosi, his wife and left her with a promise to return in six months latest. It was difficult leaving his family, but he knew that the move would be good for him and his family in the long run.
It was Peter's first time flying in an aeroplane. As Bone dropped him off the Departure section of the International Airport, he was terrified of being in a vehicle that would be suspended in the air for the whole of his journey. The fact that the flight was going to take hours did not help him. When it was time for checking in, he walked like an animal to slaughter to the check-in point. The worst experience he had was when the plane took off. He could have sworn that he had fallen through the metal body and was let loose in the air. But he looked around and saw his fellow passengers all calm, so he tried to calm down.
Bone had organised everything so that it would be easy for Peter. By the time the Emirates flight touched down at Dubai International in Al Garhoud, Ogeh was already there to drive him to his new home. The only thing that Bone did not take care of was Peter's accommodation, but he guessed that was the reason for which he gave him the money he shared with his family. Ogeh took Peter to room 205; a place that already housed three people: Martin, Uzo and Chuks. He soon learned that the cost of the accommodation was AED 4000 which he later understood was equivalent to about NGN 400,000. All the cash he had with him was NGN 112,000 which he had exchanged for dollars in Nigeria before leaving. His new roommates did not waste time to demand his portion of the rent, so within a day of arriving Dubai, Peter was broke.
At the first crack of dawn the second day, Ogeh knocked on the door of the room and asked Peter to hurry up for his job. Until Peter drove with Ogeh into an abandoned warehouse to meet with a vicious-looking guy named Actor, he did not realise that job he had signed up for was dealing drugs. The assignment did not seem dangerous at first until he understood that men from the Criminal Investigations Department interfered with their business at a particular point. The very first day he worked, he was shot at, but he managed to escape. Martin, his roommate, it was that died. He survived by the skin of the teeth.
He had expected that he would organise his remaining roommates to go and claim Martin's body for burial. Where Peter came from, you could point out the grave of everyone that had ever died in a family because they never buried their people outside of their hometown. He was shocked when they informed him that any person who went to claim the body would be subject to criminal investigations and possibly arrested. He had no choice but to leave Martin's body in the hands of strangers, foreigners. He was terrified that what had befallen Martins was soon to be his case and was sick for three days. He had never seen days go by as slowly as those days.
When he felt better, he considered his options. With Martin dead, their rent had to be split three ways, and he had not saved enough to be able to make rent. Since he arrived Dubai, he had sustained two stun gun injuries when the law enforcement officers raided their drug retail operations, he had witnessed two of his colleagues go to jail. But returning to Nigeria empty-handed was not an option. The way he saw it, if he was careful, the only real risks he faced was going to jail for about four months on a possession with intent to distribute charge. He decided to weather the storm.
Peter counted it as luck that after he resumed his work, the raids stopped for almost two weeks, and he was able to save enough money to pay rent and send money home. He decided that he could not continue doing illegal business in the city, so he decided to look for some other means of livelihood. He went around his district looking for a venture that would require the amount of money he had, but he could not find any.
It was on one of these trips that he met Agbor. Agbor was running as fast as his legs could carry him. Peter had seen him and the people chasing him from far away, but he pretended that was not looking. It was always best to avoid the law when your business was illegal, he figured. Agbor ran towards Peter as if he had seen a Messiah.
"Nwanne, help, please," he said with desperation in his eyes.
In Peter's language, nwanne meant 'brother' or 'sister' or 'cousin'. Peter did not have time to think, but he was surprised by his own quick thinking.
"This street, house number 102, room 205. Unlock with 3421," he quickly told him, then as soon as Agbor passed him, he turned around and raised both hands in a stance of surrender, thereby hindering the passage of the two policemen coming after Agbor. They both had to run around him, and by the time they turned the corner, they could not see Agbor.
Peter's roommates were surprised to find a stranger open their door. They watched him run into their room but they dared not open the door and ask him to leave. If they did that, they may all be arrested just for being there and being black.
Minutes after his encounter with the police, Peter walked into his room to find his roommates and Agbor looking at each other with unease. He explained what had happened before they could talk to each other. Introductions were made, and it turned out that Agbor hailed from the town next to Peter's even though they had never met before that day on the street. Unlike Peter, Agbor knew from the start that his reason for travelling to Dubai was to deal on illegal narcotics.
"Nwanne, something must kill a man," he told his new friends. "But everything that is happening now tells me that I have to get out of this city or else, this work would be the death of me. *Instead of losing a whole cow, let me go home with the tail."
By this time, Peter could not send any more money back home through the regular channels because he had almost reach anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism limits and he did not want to raise any red flags. Agbor could not return to his apartment for fear that the authorities would be waiting for him. Peter had to go in his stead to retrieve some of his personal effects and travel documents.
When Agbor was ready to travel, Peter decided to take the risk of sending his money home through Agbor even though he had heard stories of people duping others. He gave Agbor the equivalent of six million Naira. His instincts told him that Agbor could be trusted. Besides, he knew where to find him in Nigeria if things went sideways. Peter's instincts would prove to have been very accurate based on the events that later took place.
Three months after Agbor left Dubai, Peter was arrested with eight other drug dealers. It was a sting operation. Sergeant Al Mansouri had contacted Peter's distro through a known associate of his requesting to buy ten kilos of cocaine. By that time, Peter had gained the trust of the Distro especially with Bone's recommendation, so he was one of the lieutenants that the Distro trusted to carry out the deal. As with most of these things, the men were all had their guns and were ready for a shoot out.In the eyes of the law, this made their crimes greater.
Authored by: @churchboy
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Beautiful story, it started well as usual with education and then peter was hit with the economical situation in Nigeria he couldn't continue his education but that didnt affect his love life. Getting himself a mini job in other to feed was also a wonderful thing to do, it showed he was not a lazy Nigerian youth as described by President Mohammed Buhari. Carelessness got him and his love unwanted pregnancy at an early stage but being a matured young man he made a decision that was the best and that was getting married to the lady without thinking about abortion which a lot of young people would have opted for at the slightest chance.
Not every shining thing life throws at you is gold, and that was when Bone came into his calm life and disorganized it.. But wait the reason it was disorganized was because he failed to ask questions, we must ask questions on everything so we don't make costly mistakes such his own.
This story is a typical everyday Nigerian story it has happened countless of times i hope a lot will read this and learn their lesson.
Say no to drugs!!
Say no to drugs!!
@churchboy nice one there and @adsactly thanks for providing an avenue for such enlightenment. I enjoyed it and i will say more of the same please.
Yes @bosscharlze these things are rampant in our society. In my opinion, it takes a high level of poverty and frustration for someone to come to the point where they would be willing to sacrifice everything they hold dear just for money.
This story was inspired by a story someone told me in a bar concerning how he intended to "Travel out" and make money like his mates. It did not make sense to me because I am aware that the only way to make money is through work and you can do that wherever you are on the globe.
I always enjoy reading your thoughts on these things. We are all grateful to @adsactly.
Reading another story of yours, @churchboy, very well told. It has a well-achieved realistic style, which characterizes your stories, from what I've read before. It reaches an intrigue and tension from the beginning (the relationship with Kosi and his pregnancy), remains in Peter's new reality (journey and start in the work of drug trafficker), and increases with the mishaps and dangers in his "work" until the end (although I felt it is a story that could continue). Peter's character is well characterized, and the action that takes place around him or that he stars in give great plausibility to your story.
You pick up with great narrative aptitude a reality that permeates and hits contemporary life anywhere in the world. Our young people, immersed in problems produced by their disorientation or lack of precaution, allow themselves to be dragged to limit situations, and among them is the atrocious world of the drug trade, which, in most cases, leads to regrettable outcomes: debasement, prison and/or death.
I thank you for sharing your exciting story, @churchboy, and @adsactly for spreading it.
It is not difficult to see that you are an awesome writer yourself. The way you saw the story and the way you captured its essence is beautiful and yes, the story is not complete. The second part is on the way and I hope you will enjoy it as well.
I appreciate your comment and there is no me without wonderful people like you that would take time, not only to read but also leave kind comments. You are appreciated beyond the measure of works. We are grateful to @adsactly for giving us a voice.
Thanks a real lot.
A well told story, from the beginning manages to capture the reader's attention to follow through to the end. It combines several interesting elements: love, action, suspense. It is a story that can be happening anywhere in the world unfortunately. The desperation for a serious economic situation can lead people to commit illicit acts without thinking about the consequences, but Peter was led to this innocently, although when he found out he wanted to leave and this is impossible, in those businesses there is no turning back and it is always a debt that is only paid with death. This is terrible. Even though it left me with a discomfort, this story seems to me to be very good. I like your stories @churchboy because they are very interesting. Thanks to @adsactly for this kind of content. Greetings.
Oh, @aurodivys, your comments leave me with such pleasure. You get how those things go. It is unfortunate that they happen at all. Unlike Peter, most youth enter this line of business with both eyes wide open. There is nothing comforting about it but I just felt compelled to paint a correct picture.
All the best @aurodivys
From the outset we see how Peter suffers the consequences of having little economic solvency. The fact that he has taken the easiest way to acquire money, tells us that Peter was not a very intelligent boy, but he was ambitious. In this story I am struck by how the other characters help Peter make the worst decisions: marriage, drug trafficking and at no time do we find remorse or repentance in him. This story brings together all the elements to captivate the reader: suspense, action, even love. On the one hand it tells how Peter had to marry because of an unexpected pregnancy, then how he finds this friend who leads him into illicit business. In general, an accumulation of bad decisions. Again, you managed to keep me interested in reading. Thank you for creating these stories, @churchboy and @adsactly for sharing them.
Thanks @nancybriti. Hard times can make an intelligent person behave stupidly but yes, anyone who took time to consider their actions and the likely consequences would not go through with the plan Peter made for himself. In fact, in my opinion, that goes for every other criminal activity: the result is always negative, if not for us or our loved ones then it would be so for the victims. In the end someone is punished. But it is just like suicide; the point where the pain of the person who committed it ends, if it ends at all, is the point where the pain of their loved ones begin and it may not end. Once a criminal activity is committed, someone suffers and anyone who would be willing to think it through to its logical conclusion, would not do it.
So, yes, I agree with you, crime is a stupid thing to do but then so is suicide. Their common denominator is pain and a total disregard to what happens to oneself.
You leave the most insightful comments and I am glad to have you here. The second part of the story is en route. All the best dear.
This post has received a 20.00% upvote from @jmiller05!
very useful and extraordinary article,i really admire your works,i have to learn a lot from you @adsactly
Awesome. I have read the whole story 5 times. So simple and heart touching. Really nice. Real life expression through simple words. keep doing good work.
Thanks
Your stories are always interesting and fanscinating @adsactly and i must you always do a great job composing this story. It is fun always reading your stories @adsactly
Great and interesting story. It is reall fun reading it
Realy awesome story.I love it very much and I am always loving your post
what a story, whoa!
Thanks @donnadavisart
Great story