REUBEN Episode 3 – Blessing-Enejo Abrahams Elleywrites
…”Sir please, I found the wallet on the floor, I swear I didn’t steal it” I begged as tears welled up my eyes.
“Everybody come o! ” He screamed again looking outside at the top of his voice, then the woman who owned the restaurant rushed in on us.
“Oga what is it? What’s going on?” She quizzed with her hands stretched forth before her.
“Madam, I left here a few minutes ago after eating the food I ordered. I was going to take a taxi home when I noticed that my wallet was nowhere to be found. I hurried back here cos this was the last place I came before going to take a taxi and on reaching here, I saw this little boy trying to sneak the wallet into his back pocket.”
“Where’s the wallet?” The woman questioned running her eyes through my body.
I stretched it forth, and sobbing at the same time.
“He… Here… it is ma” I said already in shivers.
By Blessing-Enejo Abrahams Elleywrites
She grabbed it from me and turned her back immediately, brought out the money in the wallet, and started to count it. The man then held the top of my trousers in a very tight grip.
“You this… this small boy. Your mates are already in 100 level and all you do is to pick people’s pockets abi?” He said poking my forehead.
I grabbed the tip of my shirt and cleaned my tears with it.
“Sir, I’m not a th!ef. I found the wallet on the floor right there” I said pointing toward the direction.
He smacked the back of my head all of a sudden.
“Will you shut your mouth?” He yelled again and this time, with a slap directly on my face. I could count up to a million stars I saw before me immediately after I received the slap.
“Yeee!!!” I cried out so aloud with a hand placed on my face and for a few seconds, everywhere became so dark, and the woman turned swiftly holding the Naira notes in one hand, and the empty wallet in the other hand.
“Please o, don’t k!ll anybody in this small restaurant I’m managing o. If you want to do anything with him, wait till you’re out of this place first” She said and then put the notes back into the wallet right before us.
“Meanwhile, sir, if you’re sure that this is your wallet, can you tell me how much money is in there?” She asked raising the wallet.
“I had 55k in there. I don’t know if he has already taken money out of it” The man replied.
“And you, how did you get this wallet? And have you already taken any amount of money from it?” She queried staring at me.
“Ma, help me beg him to please forgive me. I didn’t steal it, I found it on the floor over there” I repeated pointing toward the direction where I had found the wallet.
“I only took 1k I used in paying for the food that I just ate ma” I said dragging up the helm of my shirt and wiping my tears again with it.
“Shut up, you’re a th!ef! You took the wallet from my pocket. Look at this l!ar” He blew hot raising his hand and was going to land me another slap.
“En! En!!” The woman yelled at the man who then dropped his hand immediately.
“Oga, you’re right. That’s 54k in there. Please take your wallet, and you can take the boy out of here too to do whatever you want with him. I don’t know him from anywhere” She said handing over the wallet.
“Aah, Ma please don’t let him take me away” I cried out rubbing my palms together before her but my plea fell on de@f ears.
“Move! My friend move!!” The man yelled giving me two slaps on my back and dragging me out by my trousers.
“You must be dealt with. If we don’t do it this way you will grow up and start terroris!ng us here” He said still dragging me with all his might.
I pleaded severally with him but he didn’t even listen to me. I didn’t even know where he was dragging me to at first. Some onlookers paused to watch us while some followed from behind after asking the man what I did wrong just to see the outcome.
“God don catch you today. Carry am go T. Junction make dem deal with am ( God has caught you today. Take him to the T. Junction so he’ll be properly dealt with )” A man said aloud from the crowd.
At that point, I still didn’t know what I had gotten myself into. We finally arrived at the T. Junction and the man started to scream again at the top of his voice.
“Everybody come oo, th!ef! Th!ef!!”
That was when my eyes opened to what was coming to me. I had seen it severally in movies despite my age where th!eves got bur-nt alive by putting tires around their necks. I fell on my knees immediately, still pleading with the man but he ignored. And before I knew what was happening, people had already gathered and a tire flew from nowhere and landed around my neck.
“Bring fuel! Bring that fuel!!” A middle aged man with a missing front tooth screamed looking back like one who already kept fuel aside for such purpose.
A man then rushed into the gathered crowd with a keg of fuel and handed it over to the awaiting man.
“This is how we do here so that this market can be free from small small th!eves like you. Cos if you’re not properly dealt with and you grow up in our midst like this, none of us will be safe transacting business here later” He said opening the keg of fuel.
“Sir, please” I pleaded with a cracked voice in tears as the weight of the tire was already weighing down my shoulders.
“Bring the matches, fast fast!” The man said looking back and snapping his fingers, and the same man who brought the keg of fuel rushed back again with a match box.
He picked a match stick and tried to light it but it didn’t respond, and then he flung it aside and picked another.
“In your next world, you will never choose this path again” He said lighting the other match stick, and it finally responded after several attempts, and then he threw it at me.
To be continued!
