The Missing File – Chapter 1 Part 4
***Later, that afternoon***
“Na wa o, your sister no try at all o,” Charly said to Nazaretha, he, Nazaretha, Sunday and Chinko were seated under a tree, the environment was quiet but they were sober as if something very terrible had happened to them.
Nazaretha gave a prolonged hiss, “and the girl don dey give me free hand sef”.
“If I hear?” Chinko cut in. “I dey sure say your sister only come save you from embarrassment wey the girl for give you.”
“Wetin she con even talk?” Charly cut in before Nazaretha could reply Chinko.
“She say my papa dey find one bag wey I collect from am yesterday, say them no see where I put am.”Nazaretha replied.
“You con see am when you reach house?” Charly asked with a note of concern.
“Yes, I see am. Na my papa no know where him keep am.” Nazaretha replied.
“So when you go continue?” Charly asked.
“Continue wetin?” Nazaretha asked. Sunday and Chinko got up laughing, they had been whispering to themselves while Nazaretha and Charly conversed.
Nazaretha and Charly stared at them like they had just seen people who dropped from the sky. Sunday and Chinko kept laughing till they walked out of sight.
“Wetin dey do this people na?”
“Abeg, leave them jare,” Charly said. “I talk say when you go go meet the girl again?”
“Shey everything never spoil so?” Nazaretha asked, his face was full of doubts.
“Why na? Nothing don spoil na.”
“But una talk say make I no allow the girl know my real status and house before, as she con see my sister wey dress like poor village woman nko?”
“No worry, as she don know your sister and real ‘Ajepako’ status now, you no go hide am for her again. She still fit like you like that,” Charly encouraged.
“You dey sure?”
“Yes, you just go meet am again. Shey you get money to browse na?”
“Yes, I hold hundred naira with me.”
“Good, as you dey browse, you go dey follow am talk sef. You go ask for her Facebook name, make you add me but before you comot for there, collect her number o.” Charly continued giving tips.
“How I wan take collect her number na when I no go phone?” Nazaretha questioned with an awful look.
“Oh! I don forget,” Charly exclaimed, remembering that his friend’s phone was at the repairer’s. “Just collect her Facebook name, tell her say you go con see am tomorrow.”
“Okay na,” Nazaretha replied, getting up to his feet. He straightened up his cloth in readiness.
“And when you even wan go collect your phone na?” Charly asked, standing up with him.
“If we don collect our money from the new site on Mon…” Nazaretha was saying when Sunday’s voice interrupted.
“Yes, na him be that; him and Charly,” they could see Sunday pointing Patience, Nazaretha’s elder sister to them.
“Thank you,” Patience said to Sunday and walked closer to Nazaretha. “Nazaretha, na here you dey since?”
“No, I dey Zimbabwe.” Nazaretha answered his sister disrespectfully, disgusted that she was coming to disturb his peace again.
Patience got visibly angry by Nazaretha’s reply and attempted to slap him but he dodged and she hit her hand on a branch of the tree. Charly stepped back from them, uncomfortable with the way Nazaretha was addressing his sister.
“Na me you dey follow talk like that abi?” She said angrily.
“Why you sef dey disturb me na?” Nazaretha replied stubbornly.
“Okay we go see,” she shrugged and gave up on hitting him. “Papa don come house again, him dey find you.”
“Ooh!” Nazaretha exclaimed hesitatingly. “Wetin happen again na?”
“Him say something dey miss for him bag o, make you come house now now.” Patience said and turned to walk away.
“I no dey come jor, he get one work wey we wan do now.” Nazaretha replied.
Patience paused and turned again, “if you like no come, na you and Papa get talk. I don tell you my own,” she said and walked away with that.
“Why you no wan go na?” Charly stepped back under the tree after the sister was out of sight.
“I no take anything for inside Papa bag, na hin no where him keep the thing, hin go see when hin search well.”
“You sure say your Papa no go vex so?”
“Hin go see am jare, na me open hin bag?” Nazaretha asked nonchalantly and began to walk away.
Charly followed after him, “do well this time o,” he urged him.
They met Chinko and Sunday walking towards them as they turned from behind the building.
“Where una dey go?” Chinko asked, his mouth full of popcorn and groundnut, there was a big nylon in his hands where he and Sunday were eating from.
“You no fit tell my sister say you no know where I dey abi?” Nazaretha accused Sunday.
“If you see how you sister take disturb ehn, walahi! You no go talk like this,” Sunday replied, trying to proof not guilty.
“Na true o, your sister trouble us well.” Chinko supported him.
“E don do jor,” Nazaretha said and kept moving, Charly followed him.
“Una dey vex? This popcorn go soon finish o,” Chinko struggled to say as he munched another mouthful of popcorn.
“Remain for me o, I dey come now.” Charly shouted at them before they turned out from behind the building.
Charly and Nazaretha got close to the Cyber Cafe and took a look from where they were, they could see Ibukun attending to clients inside. Charly tapped Nazaretha on the shoulder. In an encouraging manner, he said “it’s time to go.”
“Okay na,” Nazaretha said before crossing to the other side while Charly turned to rush back to the tree and catch up with his friends before they finished devouring the popcorn.
He met the nylon of popcorn almost empty in Chinko’s hand, he snatched the remnant and began to fill himself with it.
“But Chinko,” he called, after pouring into his mouth the second and last round. “How you get money to take buy hundred naira popcorn?”
Chinko hissed, “see this guy o, you think say I broke like you?”
“Make una wait o, where Naz go?” He asked, calling Nazaretha “Naz” for short. “Hin don go meet the girl abi?”
“Wetin concern you ? Why una dey beef the guy sef?” Charly answered him.
“We no dey beef the guy, we just dey try boost hin morale.” Chinko answered.
“Na lie jor, una dey ki*ll hin morale,” Charly argued.
“See the guy dey form born again pikin and hin dey hungry to toast babe.” Sunday said in an accusing tone.
“No be we dey teach am all these things? No be we say make hin find babe?” Charly retorted.
“Abeg, make una forget that matter jare. We force hin eye look the girl? Abi na we dey carry am go dey torch woman back for school sef?” Chinko said and looked away.
… to be continued
