I sell akara in front of my house every morning. My best customer is a hyena.
Yes, a real hyena. He comes by 6am, buys 5 akara, pays with bottle caps. He doesn't talk, he just laughs "hehehe" and goes. I call him Customer.
We have understanding.
Yesterday, Customer came early. 5:30am. I was frying akara and I saw hyena shadow.
I said "Customer, you early today oh."
He did not laugh.
He brought out POS machine.
I said "Ah! Customer you don upgrade?"
He said "Madam, put your card."
That's when I knew — that isn't my hyena.
My hyena doesn't know POS. My hyena pays with bottle cap. My hyena doesn't speak English. My hyena doesn't wear face cap with "EFCC" written on it.
I looked well, it was not hyena at all. It was Agbero from junction wearing hyena mask to collect my morning money.
I carried hot oil and poured small on ground near his leg.
He shouted "Ahhh!" and ran. The mask fell. It was actually Sani, the boy who sells recharge card.
Sani said "Aunty sorry, I just wanted to borrow akara."
I gave him 2 akara free and told him "Next time, come as Sani, not as my hyena. My hyena pays, you borrow."
This morning, my real Customer came back. Same bottle caps, same "hehehe" laugh. I gave him 6 akara, one extra for yesterday's trouble.
Because that isn't my hyena yesterday was a thief. But todaaay, my hyena is bacck.
IMAGE SOURCE AI