“Thief oh! Jesus! Thief inside my house!” A sharp cry was heard from Mama Okey's flat.
Emeka shot up from bed, heart racing. He checked the time, it was exactly 2:13am. Without thinking, Emeka grabbed his cutlass, which he usually kept by his bedside every night, and ran outside. He only had on his boxers but he didn't care. His only intention was to catch the thief.
Outside the street was quiet, the air cold.
Just at Mama Okey's door, he met Aunty Ngozi, the pepper seller, holding a frying pan with Mama Okey with her little son Okey standing beside her in just her wrapper and a few written all over her face.
“Did you hear that too?” she asked.
Emeka nodded “I did!"
Soon another neighbour, Tunde joined with a mop stick. They all gathered at Mama Okey's house.
Even with all the neighbours gathered, Mama Okey wouldn't stop shouting, “Somebody help me, oh! Thief dey my parlour!”
“Has anyone called security?” Tunde asked.
“I have!” Aunty Ngozi replied. “But if there was a thief inside. Don't you think he might have escaped by now?”
“Let’s surround the house!” Emeka suggested, tightening his grip on his cutlass.
While they were still trying to strategize and surround the house. Mama Okey's door creaked open.
Everyone froze, ready to attack whoever the intruder was that would come out from Mama Okey's flat.
But to their greatest surprise, it was Mama Edem, the oldest woman in their street. In her nightgown. Barefoot. Eyes closed. Muttering softly.
"Mama Eden!" They all called out in surprise.
Emeka shook his head. “She’s sleepwalking again!”
Just then, they heard a loud voice from behind. "Martha! Have you guys seen my wife? I think she's sleepwalking again." They turned to see Papa Edem in his pyjamas tensed and walking towards them, asking for his wife. They were the oldest couple in the neighborhood.
“Someone grab her before she hurts herself!” Tunde shouted.
Emeka dropped his cutlass and held her. He could hear her mutter inaudible words. Gently, with the help of other neighbours, they walked her and her husband back to their flat. They made sure to put her back to sleep in her bed.
Then they left the old couple's house.
On their walk home, they made jokes about Mama Okey and her screams of "Thief! Theif! Theif!"
"You needed to see me run out of my apartment. I was already thinking of using my cutlass to catch the thief." Emeka joked.
"Yours was even better." Tunde chuckled. "I'm still trying to understand Aunty Ngọzi's intention with that frying pan."
They all burst into laughter.
"That was the closest thing I could get my hands on." Aunty Ngozi replied, still laughing. "Anyways, I'd better go call the security and tell them it was a false alarm. Goodnight everyone. " She added and made for her flat.
"Goodnight." They all answered, dispersing to their various flats.
