The warning call-out "THEY'RE HERE'' has always brought back sad memories to me. It reminds me of the ill-treatment I passed through in the hands of these heartless guards. Life itself is full of ups and downs but the burden gets heavier when people who are on top are insatiable with the much they have, but desires to take from the peasants, the little they earn. Part of what scares me whenever I hear the call-out is the fact that the people who agreed to form the wall with me on that day abandoned the wall when the enemy came closer and I was left to the mercy of these heartless men.
Who could believe that the man who promised us heaven on earth upon his election as the Mayor will make the land uninhabitable for the people?. Had it been that we pay these outrageous taxes in monthly intervals, we might have had enough time to gather the money. He sends his guards every day to collect what is equivalent to our daily profit from us. Those who weren't able to make enough sales for the day will either borrow from others or give out the equivalent of the amount in the form of goods. Our market soon became accustomed to the demands of the greedy Mayor.
We sometimes go home without something to show for our day's work. On my part, I wanted to change this ugly situation but how will I dare to try again when the people around me are cowards. I had the thought of leaving the city as there seems to be no reason to live in a city where you work not for yourself but for a leader who cares not about the welfare of the people, but I wouldn't want to give up the fight easily. Reality started dawning on the other traders when they watched their capitals decline with each passing month. I wasn't surprised to see a group of them at my shop on a certain day. They were the same group of traders that abandoned me during our earlier counter-strike. After explaining that they gave in to fear seeing the weapons the guards came with and apologizing for the act of betrayal, we agreed on a new plan, though this time, I was careful not to be at the frontline.
As usual, the guards marched to the market with their chariots, but they were surprised not to see us run helter-skelter as usual. They had to create panic by flogging some of us and scattering our goods. It was as if heaven was on our side as what they did was exactly what we wanted. We had earlier planned to have video evidence of their brutality, and they just offered it to us on a platter of gold. The next day, our market leader went to the government house with the evidence. The mayor was arrested and sentenced to life in imprisonment and his properties confiscated because he neither returned the tax percentage due to the government nor used the money collected from tax to develop the city.
The city celebrated his arrest and the traders weren't perturbed again by the need to meet up with the daily tax. However, we still crack jokes with the call-out, " THEY'RE HERE". It was indeed a sad experience to joke about, but we use that to keep the market lively and to celebrate our victory over the evil ruler.