Bolanle, a 23 years old girl, who lived in a public compound, came back from selling for mama Bisi at the street store where they sell second hand clothes to customers. The street store is always open from 7:30am till 8:00pm at night. Bolanle had a friend, who was also her neighbor, called Yemisi, a girl in her early 20s. Yemisi was a roadside trader who sold anything that came in season.
It was the season of corn and pear and Yemisi had switched from selling bananas and avocado into selling corn and pear, being that it will be in high demand. Yemisi’s kiosk was located at a farther distance from where Bolanle worked as a sales girl.
At every close of work, Bolanle will always trek to meet Yemisi at her kiosk where she sold. She will sit down at Yemisi's kiosk and they will discuss their day's activities and attitudes of different customers. They will also talk about the profits and losses, their plans for the next day, their meals and most times their private lives.
The street of Maitama was always a very busy one, to the extent that even at 12:00am it seemed people were waking up from sleep and going about their normal businesses. Yemisi and Bolanle will always forget that they were outside and will enjoy the night at the kiosk until Yemisi finishes making sales at about 11:00pm and they both go back home.
One day, Yemisi woke up from sleep to a bang on her wooden door and when she opened it, it was the police. Yemisi tried to ask what was going on and the police did not even let Yemisi finish, they handcuffed her. By this time, Bolanle had already left for work and did not know what was going on.
When the police officers arrived with Yemisi at the station, Yemisi was shocked to see her boyfriend there. She called out to him, Fahad, what are you doing here and why I'm I here? The police asked her to shut up.
Later on, Yemisi learnt that her boyfriend stole plasma TV from a rich man’s house in their neighborhood and kept the TV at her house. She remembered asking him about the ownership of the TV when he brought it to her house around 4:00am one morning and he told her it was her birthday gift. Whereas she never knew it was stolen. Because she wondered how a plasma tv would fit in her kind of house that was poorly structured.
Yemisi got so angry at her boyfriend and begged the police that she knew nothing about the theft. Fahad on the other hand was pleading that they let his girlfriend go as she had nothing to do with the theft.
It was 8:00pm and Bolanle happily locked their shop and bade her neighbors goodnight as she hurried to Yemisi's kiosk. On getting there, she could not find Yemisi, she asked people around and they told her they could not find Yemisi as she did not come for sales that evening. Bolanle began to panic and wonder what could happen, she missed her friend and the company they always get.
She found a half block and sat by the side of a woman frying yam. She thought quietly that it was supposed to be a night for two as usual but what could happen. Some people who had always seen the both of them together began to ask after Yemisi and when she got bored, she stood up and went home.
She knocked on Yemisi's door and nobody answered, the neighbors told her that Yemisi had been arrested by the police. She cried and felt so heartbroken for poor Yemisi.
Later in the morning, she and other neighbors prepared to go to the Police station so they could find a way of bailing Yemisi. Yemisi was already approaching the yard entrance. Bolanle was the first to sight her, they both ran and gave each other a tight hug. Yemisi burst into tears, some Policemen who accompanied Yemisi came into the compound and took the plasma TV out of Yemisi's house and left.
Yemisi later narrated what happened to her neighbors who were patiently waiting for some explanations. She also narrated how Fahad’s uncle came to their rescue and how he had promised to take Fahad away from the locality and ensure Fahad changes for the better. Yemisi narrated that Fahad's uncle spent a lot of money but she was grateful for freedom.
She urged everyone to be careful of the unverified things people bring into their houses to keep. Bolanle concluded that she missed her night for two the previous night and urged everyone especially Yemisi to stay out of trouble.
None fiction
Writing is mine. Photo is mine and was taken with my Infinix smart 5 phone camera