‘LOLLI’
Dekan didn’t know Kinshasa street. Abuja was too big for him to know every street and he didn’t understand why this Lolli girl couldn’t see that. “You’re supposed to carry me around as I make my deliveries, but you don’t even know anywhere?” she asked, irritated. “How do you think your boss is going to react to this incompetence?”
“Boss Ma…”, Dekan began. He didn’t know what to call her exactly. Truly, he’d been assigned to be her driver for the week and he also knew that the boss was fond of her. But he didn’t know her name; she didn’t care to tell. All he knew was that the boss called her ‘Lolli’ or ‘Lollipop’. To him, she was just another of the Boss’s special girls but in his speech, he knew he had to show some reverence, if he wanted to keep his job.
“… It’s not long since I started this work, I’m sorry I don’t know these places we’ve been going to. I suggest we use the map again. Don’t be angry please.” He looked at her pleadingly. She was pretty. She had beautiful black skin that perfectly matched her red sundress. She had ‘lazy eyes’, the kind that look like they are tired of the world but yet they trap you after just a glance and make you keep staring. Her nose and lips looked like they belonged in the face of a child, but they fit hers so perfectly. It was as if God himself made her for the purpose of enchanting others. Dekan caught himself ogling from time to time. But the more impatient she became with his ignorance of Abuja streets, the more vexed he became by her presence.
After 30 minutes, they finally located the street and the specific house they had been looking for. “I’ll be out in a few”, Lolli said, almost in a whisper. Dekan couldn’t even hear what she’d said. He’d heard, “I’ll buy you a juice”, but he knew better than to ask her to repeat what she’d said again. She stepped out of the black Corolla hatchback and walked stylishly towards the huge black gate. It was a hotel.
Lolli didn’t care much for Dekan. She didn’t mind that everyone working for Joe a.k.a The Boss knew her as Lolli. All she wanted was to finish her delivery for the week, gather all the money she’d been saving for a while, and finally make that trip to Cyprus. She was tired of the country. Everyone at home assumed that she enjoyed some sort of ‘pretty privilege’ and that life was always easy for her. They all thought she was a ‘runs girl ‘ who slept around for money. They weren’t that far from the truth.
The ding! of the elevator brought her back to earth. She realized that she had a task at hand. She found the room she was looking for–room 234, and knocked.
Dekan sat in the car across the road and waited. He glimpsed a police van filled with a few armed MOPOL officers drive slowly and park by the hotel’s entrance. There was a restaurant nearby—evidently, a part of the hotel—and that’s where they headed. They probably wanted to eat. He began to theorise and try to figure out what Lolli could be ‘delivering’. It could be sex. But they’d been to two places already—where he’d waited outside just like this—but she didn’t look tired still. What if it’s attachments or wigs? No. She goes in with her purse and it’s too small to put a wig inside. What if the person has a really small head?…What kind of thought is that, Dekan?
At that point he stopped trying because he could see Lolli come out of the hotel, with her head down, focused on putting something into her bag. He started the car. At that same time, the police officers began to come out of the gate too, talking and laughing. Dekan was about to say “watch out!” when one of the officers bumped into Lolli and her bag and everything in it went flying to the ground
Her eyes stared wide in horror at the police officers who began circling her and the contents of her bag. They all looked intently at the floor and back at her. One poked at the tiny packages lying on the ground. Dekan tried so hard to see what was happening from where he was parked. He couldn’t see much but from what he could see on the looks of the policemen, he knew that miss Lolli was in big trouble.
ANGEL
The kettle hissed as Angel placed a mug on the kitchen counter. It was time to make her evening ginger tea and she did it with so much care that the entire process looked like a voodoo ritual. She switched off the cooker and lifted the kettle, adjusting the teabag inside the mug before piously pouring hot water into it. A pale gold coloured liquid began to rise as she poured; the entire house became filled with a fresh vegetal aroma. Angel loved that smell. She always described it as the ‘appetizer before the tea’, calling it the real magic behind the magical ginger tea. She took a sip from the mug and wobbled to the living room, her blue flowy dress sweeping the floor behind her.
Angel really needed her ginger tea. It was the only thing that took away the nausea and tiredness she felt every day, carrying a 7 month-old human in her womb. A deaconess in her church had recommended it some months ago. The woman had six children and had delivered twins once, so obviously she knew what she was talking about. After all, you can’t give birth to more than half of a football team and not be an expert in pregnancy and children-related matters. If the woman had told her to eat grass and drink two buckets of goat milk every day, Angel would’ve done it.
She sat at the edge of the the sofa closest to the window. She wanted to see the children playing outside, while being capable of turning and picking her mug from the side table when she needed to. She looked at the children and smiled. Very soon she’d have a boy who’d run around the entire three-storey block, disturbing other children’s parents. Angel was glad that she lived on the ground floor. Of course, it would’ve been hell to be pregnant and climbing those damn stairs every day. But right now she was thinking about the fact that those stairs won’t restrict her boy from freedom and it won’t stop her from coming out the house to drag him inside if he played a bit too much.
As the children played, the clouds began to darken. Angel watched drops of rain descend on their unwavering heads as they still kept on running around, screaming and laughing, very unbothered. It was only when the rain began to come down a lot faster and their parents began to call their names a lot louder, that they retreated. Angel kept smiling, realizing that the rain and cool breeze meant that she was going to have the best sleep that night. Her pleasant thoughts were interrupted by bright lightning and the loud thunder that followed. That’s when she realized something. Where was Dami? Why wasn’t she back by now?
Before her husband travelled, he’d insisted that his niece, Dami, should come take care of her. Angel had objected because she believed she was fine on her own. Now, the girl—who was coming to Abuja for the first time—arrived just yesterday, only for her to go out today, saying she wanted to see some friends she knew in town. Of course, Angel didn’t oppose, but she told Dami to share the contact of her Uber driver and also to come back home on time. Now she wasn’t home yet and it looked like there would be a heavy downpour. Angel had to call her.
As she got up to go find her phone, that’s when she felt it. A sharp pain so raw, so harrowing that it caused her to shriek and tumble unto the floor. Her stomach felt like it was being squeezed from the inside. She tried to get up again, but couldn’t. It felt like she was carrying 100kg dumbbells inside of her. The pain was petrifying. Angel let out another loud scream, but her voice was drowned out by the thunder and rain.
MIKE
Mike came out of the bathroom butt-naked and without a towel. He loved how he could be this free with Sylvie. He knew she wouldn’t mind. “Babe who was that? Who did you meet at the door?” He asked, standing close to the Air conditioning to get himself dried. He preferred this method. It was childish but he knew she wouldn’t mind.
Sylvie, with nothing on except a big “UNESCO” shirt”—Mike’s shirt—walked across the hotel room and dropped a pizza box on the table. She giggled after seeing him naked. “It’s Pizza, baby….and some more”. She winked.
“Oh… What’s that ‘some more’?”, he asked, coyly. “It’s some more of what’s under that shirt that I want”
Sylvie giggled and hopped on the bed. “You could come and take it off and see for yourself, or….you could be patient and I’d show you these” She put her hands under the shirt and grabbed her breasts “…and then some more”
Mike laughed, he left the AC and sauntered towards the bed. When he got there, they kissed.
“Wait..”, Mike said, holding Sylvie’s hands that began to move all over his naked body. “I need to eat, is Pizza all you ordered? Me I want to eat eba”
“Ah, babe. What kind of energy do you need that pizza isn’t enough. Should I be worried?” ASylvie started laughing. “It’s raining outside and I just want us to lay back and relax. I also got us some drinks but if you’re not okay, we could still get more food when the rain subsides.” Her voice had a bit more seriousness to it.
“That’s why I love you”, Mike said, his eyes staring into hers and his hands still gripping hers. He kissed her and quickly let go. He stood up to get the pizza but she dragged him back.
“No, my lord. Let me serve you”, Sylvie said jokingly. They laughed.
After they finished eating, Mike couldn’t wait. His hands were already up her shirt and fondling her perky breasts. The other hand was grabbing her buttocks tightly and moving slowly to the middle of her legs. She stopped him.
“Wait! Wait, I didn’t show you what I had for you”, Sylvie slinked away from his grasp and brought a little bag close to where the pizza had been.
“What’s that, babe?” , Mike asked. He became extremely curious.
“Oh…just something for us to take and have a good time. You’d like it trust me”
“What?…”, Mike stared at the bag and his heart began to race a bit faster.
“It’s H and C, baby”, Sylvie said with an excited shriek. “Heroin and Cocaine”
THE STORM
Angel tried her best to crawl to her room. All she needed was her phone. No one could hear her screams in this kind of weather. The rain wouldn’t stop pouring; thunderclaps became louder with each lightning bolt flashing the sky. This was not the kind of night she imagined. She kept crawling, getting closer to her room despite the pain. It had reduced for a minute but she felt it just retreated and was preparing for another round. She was right. Immediately she got to her room door, it returned, more painful than ever. She couldn’t stop screaming and crying. She also didn’t stop crawling towards her bed. Luckily the phone was at the edge. She mustered the last ounce of strength she had and picked it up. She slumped to the floor. “Siri, call hubby”. As the phone rang, Angel could feel herself getting weaker and weaker. There was no answer. “Siri call Damilola”, she said crying. It rang repeatedly. No answer. Blood was pulling out of her legs now. As it flowed it mixed with her teal dress and formed an awful purple colour.
Dekan was pulled out by the police officers. “I’m innocent. I’m innocent,” he kept shouting. Lolli was crying and begging the officers at this point, after she realized that her bribe attempt wouldn’t work. “Please I need to go home to my uncle’s wife, she’s pregnant. She needs me.” The policeman holding them was unmoved.
“Oluwadamilola Jimoh and Dekan Eyo, you are under arrest for sale of heroin and cocaine”
Mike refused to do the heroin or cocaine. But he didn’t stop Sylvie. All he cared about was the sex. As soon as she was done, she hopped on him, more invigorated than ever. A few minutes later, she began to moan loudly and her legs were shaking uncontrollably. Mike was ecstatic. He thought he’d made her orgasm. She kept shaking until she fell off him foaming. That’s when he realized she was dying. He quickly picked his phone to call for help. He saw four missed calls, all from My Angel. He didn’t care to call his wife back. His lover was dying.
About the Writer
Collins Undelikwo
