The city of Lagos is such a hard place to live, especially when you do not have money. And Jide was about to learn this the hard way.
It was a summer afternoon, Jide lay on his bed puzzled. He stared at the rotating ceiling fan which seemed to be the only property he had besides his bed.
He lived In a rented apartment which is a three-story building that had thirty tenants, each living in a single-room apartment.
He stared at the fan lost in thought, with his hands tucked behind his head. The room was quiet, so quiet that the drop of a pin could be heard from a mile away.
He closed his eyes and slowly began to drift deep into sleep when he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone.
He opened his eyes and quickly grabbed his phone, "oh my God!", He said with his mouth slightly opened and his heart beating with fear.
"It's today.." before he could finish his words or check his phone, there was a knock on his door.
His mind boggled itself trying to unravel the identity of his sudden visitor but it failed every time as the knock continued without relent. Until, a voice followed it, 'Jide, open this door I know you are inside. If you think locking yourself up in your room will stop me from collecting my rent then you are clearly mistaken".
Of course, it was the landlord,
Jide then stood up from his bed and went to answer his visitor. He opened the door to greet a restless oga landlord who was vibrating intensely with anger.
"Good afternoon oga landlord, why the disturbance this early afternoon?"
"Jide...Jide..Jide .... How many times did I call your name?"
"See oga landlord, I don't have time for guessing games, you either say your mind or you get out".
"Jide! are you talking to me in such a manner ?!....okay, no problem. Where is my house rent ?"
"I told you, I will get it to you by the end of the day, it's just noon, and you are already disturbing...I don't like it ooo.."
"Okay, don't worry when it's 7 pm and you don't have my money, I will show you what it's like to really disturb."
Jide watched as his landlord walked away while still thinking of how he was going to get thirty thousand naira for his house rent before the sunset.
He returned to his phone and read the message that came in earlier. Which was from Naija bet platform, informing him that he had won the sum of fifty thousand naira. He screamed out loud with a joyful voice and quickly ran off to claim his reward.
After claiming his reward, he decided to branch into a local restaurant for a quick celebratory meal. He walked into a bar, which had plastic tables and plastic chairs placed orderly under the shades of a very tall cashew tree.
He entered and ordered a plate of pepper soup with two bottles of Guinness and a bottle of small stout before taking a sit on one of the plastic chairs.
After finishing the first round, he ordered for the second and the third until he was completely intoxicated and began to order for others apart from himself. Everyone in the restaurant hailed him and praised him so that his head was swollen with praises and he continued making more orders until he was tired.
He returned home that night late and drunk only to discover that his landlord had locked him out of his home. He reached into his left jean pocket to get the money for his rent only to realize that it was empty. He then reached into his right jean pocket and pulled out two thousand naira which was nothing compared to what he was owing.
Realizing his mistake, he made a move to beg the landlord, but it was already too late as he was immediately thrown out of the compound and locked outside its gate.
He then sat down by the side of the tiled road outside the compound's gate, under the bright light of the moon, reminiscing on how his brilliant idea, ended up making him homeless.
