The Soft Issue
August 2017
Stories From Outside
Did you see the black jeep parked near the side of the
door?” She was beating her chest by now.
“It is mine. Small girl like me. All you have to do is
believe. See ehn, this life ehn! If you meet the right
people and take hold of opportunities you will make
it.” She brought out what looked like a crumpled teller
from her purse. “This is how much is in my account
now, Let me show to just the man sitting here”
She walked towards a diminutive man in a checkered
pink shirt in the front row. Arching my neck forward, I
tried my best to observe him as he stared blankly at
the piece of paper she shoved in his face. He either
was not impressed by what she showed him or he did
not see anything at all.
“Anyway, let me call my oga to talk to you.” The
nervous ‘Ko ko’ of her high heeled shoes faded
into the silence that had engulfed the room as she
stepped out.
Some disgruntled mumblings swept through the
room as a shuffling of feet quickly culminated in a
slim, rather well dressed lady storming out of the
room as a man walked in. I reckoned he must have
been the great Mr. Dayo. He was dark skinned and
well-toned. He had a rather broad nose that wiggled
slightly to show the disgust on his face. He looked
down at us.
“Anyone else?” He had a crisp voice. I noticed a shiny
briefcase in his left hand.
“Is there anyone else who would like to leave? We
cannot force people to be successful”. When he
noticed the mutters wane like tired waves he let his
lips form into a gentle smile.
“The next set of millionaires in Nigeria” He started, his
cocky walk carrying his 6 foot frame from one side of
the room to another. He placed the briefcase he was
holding gently on a desk in the front left row.
“Young millionaires” He added.
“Welcome to the turning points of your life”
Oluwaseyi Adebola is a practicing medical
doctor in the UAE. He is the author of the short
story, Malam Musa’s Missing Murano. Adebola
also curates content for creativenaija.com
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