WOMAN WRAPPER [I]

 

 

Okezie sat on the bench in front of his house as he wondered what he would do about the situation he had found himself in.

  “They will find out.” He said to himself and sighed.

It happened that few months before, he had gotten a new job as a cleaner in a government office and was excited. Even though the pay was small, it was enough to cater for his little needs. He lived in a one-room apartment in a relative’s house and so he didn’t pay rent. Feeding was not a challenge also because his village was 30 minutes drive away so he went to get food stuff from time to time from his grandma who was still an active farmer. There was nothing much he needed money for at that time so he worked with all his heart, hoping for something better.

                With time, he won the affection of his employer and the workers there because of his diligence to work, his cheerful disposition and his integrity. On few occasions when he had seen money or documents left carelessly, he kept them safe till the owners claimed them. They loved and trusted him. Things were going smoothly until he met Nkechi, a tall chocolate-colored girl with dimples which made her smile endearing. At first sight, he fell in love with her.

                Nkechi was a lovely girl, fine and elegant. She was a third year student of Microbiology in the university in town. She had come to the office where Okezie worked, to see her uncle. Okezie made a move on her when she came the second time. She didn’t like him but Okezie persisted and kept trying to woo her. He got her phone number and kept calling her. He even traced her to her hostel. She kept putting him away but he kept making advances. After weeks of trial, Nkechi was not falling for him; Okezie was frustrated. He expressed his frustration to Ebuka, his friend, when the later came visiting one day.

  “I don’t know what else to do,” he told Ebuka.

  “Leave her if she is not responding,” Ebuka told him. “There are many fish in the sea.”

  “Not this one o. I don’t know why I feel this way about her.”

                Ebuka thought for a while and then asked, “Have you bought anything for her?”

  “No o,” Okezie responded. “Where did I see money?”

  “That is the problem. Girls are moved by gifts.”

  “But I don’t have the money.”

  “If you really want her, then find money somewhere. Borrow if you have to.”

  “Do you have?”

  “I don’t have o. Even if I did, since I know what it is for, I won’t give you because it will turn bad debt.”

  “I don’t have anybody else to borrow money from.”

Ebuka looked around to be sure they were alone and then whispered into his ears, “Then take it.”

                Okezie shuddered.

  “God forbid,” he said.

  “Reduce your voice my friend. God forbid ko, forbid ni. Then forget about the girl.”

                Okezie clicked his fingers.

  “Where will I take it from?” he asked in hushed tone.

  “From your office of course,” Ebuka said.

  “I will never do such a thing.”

  “Then forget about Nkechi. You will never get her.”

  “What if I get caught?”

  “Are you a learner? How will they catch you?”

  “They trust me o.”

  “Exactly why they will not suspect you.”

  “Chai, steal because of woman. Something wey I never do before.”

  “Nothing is too much for a woman you love.”

  “Think about it. It is either you want the girl or you don’t. Let me be going.”

                Ebuka got up to leave.

  “You are not seeing me off?” he asked Okezie.

  “Guy be going,” Okezie said still in his confused state. “We will see later.”

  “Water don pass garri,” Ebuka said laughing as he left. “Life na choice.”

 

                That night, as Okezie lay on his bed, he couldn’t sleep. He kept seeing images of Nkechi and picturing how wonderful they would be together. He thought of other ways he could win her affection but came up with nothing concrete. After long thinking, he made up his mind to try what Ebuka had suggested.

  “Just this once,” he said to himself, rolled over on his bed and went to sleep.

                The following day, Okezie was in the office early as usual to clean up the place before anybody came. There was no one in the office so as he cleaned, he carefully checked the drawers whether someone had left money there. He did not have peace of mind as he did it but the thought of Nkechi spurred him on. This made him spend more time than usual in the cleaning. Soon, staff started coming. The first to enter was the office secretary.

  “Good morning ma,” he greeted her in an uneasy manner.

  “Morning Okezie,” she answered. “You are still cleaning?”

  “I..i..” Okezie didn’t know which excuse to give. He had lost track of time as he was more focused on the search than on the cleaning.

  “It is okay. I guess you came a bit later than usual today. Just hurry up before our oga comes.”

  “Okay ma. Please don’t tell him.”

  “Don’t worry. I will not do that.”

  “Thank you ma.”

                Okezie heaved a sigh of relief and rushed his cleaning before others came. His plan did not work that day. As the nature of his job was, he hung around the office till they closed, doing cleaning from time to time as and at when required and the final cleaning at the close of work. All through that work day, he still battled with his mind on whether to do what Ebuka suggested or not to do. When he saw how well they treated him, he decided to forget about the idea.

 

The following day, Nkechi was among the first people to come to the office. She came to see her uncle as usual.

  “Hi” Okezie said, grinning at her.

She responded absent mindedly and walked past him before he could try making conversation. He was angry and the desire to ‘take something to impress her’ rose up again. Nkechi did not waste time that day unlike before when she would hang around the office for a while before leaving. She barely answered him as she left.

  “She comes to collect money from her mother’s brother.” He said to himself after she left. “So if I give her something, I will get her attention.” He hoped an opportunity would come out that day and he would ‘take something’ to impress her. He was alert but throughout that day, no opportunity came up. He hissed and went home.

                Days passed by and no opportunity came up. Nobody committed lose-guarding. From time to time, Nkechi came around and stirred up his passion to ‘take something’. Then one day, an opportunity presented itself.

                Okezie was cleaning as usual when he noticed a brown envelope in a drawer. He looked around but no one was there. He touched the envelope and it felt like money. He went and locked the main entrance door so no one would come in suddenly. Then he went back and picked up the envelope. It was not sealed so he opened it and was shocked by what he saw inside it; bundle of five hundred naira notes. He thought of what to do, whether to take or not.

  “This is the opportunity you have been waiting for,” a voice told him. He remembered what Ebuka had suggested. Thoughts of Nkechi falling for him flashed through his mind. These made his resolve stronger. Immediately, he removed some notes from the money and put in his pocket. Then he kept back the envelope properly and finished the cleaning in a hurry.

                Moments later, office staff started coming. Okezie thought of how he could avoid being caught.

  “If they start looking for the money,” he said to himself, “they will ask me first because I was the first to enter the office.”

                He decided to feign sickness so they would let him go home. He sat at a corner and shook his body as though he had fever. He barely responded to greetings.

  “What is the matter with you?” they asked him.

                He managed to say he was not feeling well.

  “Oga is not here yet,” Damian, the second cleaner told him. “Maybe you will wait till he comes then he may let you go.”

  “But who will clean for me in the afternoon?” Okezie asked him.

  “Don’t worry. I will do that for you.”

  “Thank you so much.”

                Okezie turned his face away and smiled to himself. He just hoped the missing money would not be discovered till he was gone.

                Soon the oga’s assistant came and he permited Okezie to go. Okezie shivered mechanically and left. When he was far away from the office, he walked fast and kept looking back to see if someone was running after him to call him back. At the major road, he entered taxi drop back to his house. In his house, he locked the door, brought out the money and counted it. It was Nine Thousand Five Hundred naira. He thought about what to do with it, whether to give it to Nkechi like that or to buy something with it. After a while, he picked his ‘torch’ phone and called Ebuka who told him to hold on till he comes.

                After Okezie left the office, office work continued as usual. No one noticed any wrong doing. The office accountant came later in the afternoon and that was when the missing money became an issue. She needed to take it to a bank and brought out the envelope. The envelope was not exactly how she left it the previous day. She was surprised. She hurriedly opened the envelope and counted the, and noticed that some money was missing. It was then that she raised an alarm.

  “Some money is missing from here,” she announced.

                All the staff around were shocked.

  “Where did you keep it?” One staff asked her.

  “Inside this envelope in this drawer,” the accountant replied, pointing.

  “But there is money in the envelope,” another staff pointed out.

  “Yes but it is not complete.”

They wondered what had happened to the money. Their Oga heard the shout and came out of his office.

  “What is happening here?” he asked.

  “I left some money in the drawer yesterday,” the accountant said. “Now it is not complete”

  “Why didn’t you pay it in yesterday?”

  “By the time we were true, it was late and I didn’t want to go home with it. So I left it in the drawer”

  “And you locked the drawer?”

  “I think I did.”

  “Are you sure of what you are saying?”

  “Very sure sir.”

                The Oga asked every staff one by one but they all denied knowing anything about the money.

  “Who was the last to leave the office yesterday?” he asked.

                The accountant accepted being the last. “I wanted to be sure no one else was left here because of the money I left behind,” she said.

  “Then who was the first to enter here today?”

  “It is either Okezie or Damian, the cleaners,” the secretary told him.

  “Call them here immediately,” he roared.

                The junior staffs scampered out in search of the duo. Damian was found in mama Janet’s kiosk sipping dry gin ‘on code’. He was taken aback by the way he was told that oga was calling him. He threw away the remaining gin and rushed with them to answer the oga.

  “Sir..oga..good afternoon sir..” he stuttered, when he came before the oga.

  “Where is the other cleaner?” their oga asked, ignoring his greeting.

  “He went home early in the morning sir,” Damian answered.

  “Why?”

  “He was sick so he left. I worked for him today. I cleaned everywhere for him today,” he added, trying to curry favour.

  “Who permited him?” He looked around at the staff.

  “I did,” his assistant said. “He was so sick, I let him go.”

                The oga turned back to Damian and asked him, “You said you cleaned all the offices?”

                Damian answered in the affirmative, grinning and expecting a pat on the back.

  “Then you should know what happened to the money that was left in the drawer this morning.”

                The grin on Damian’s face disappeared.

  “Money?” He said confused.

  “Yes, money.”

  “From where sir?”

  “What kind of stupid question is that?” The oga was getting angry.  “Where did you keep the money you took from the accountant’s drawer?”

  “Sir..i did not clean the office sir?” Damian was shaking at this point.

  “But you said you cleaned everywhere?”

  “Sir…no sir…I…”

  “Rubbish. Security!”

  “No sir. I swear I didn’t clean this side. Okezie cleaned this office before he left.”

                Two of the security men in the compound came to the office and stood waiting for the next instruction.

  “What are you looking at?” the oga shouted. “Arrest this man.” He pointed at Damian

                Damian went on his knees begging.

  “Sir I think we should also ask Okezie,” the assistant said. “

  “I thought you said he was sick and had to leave?” Oga asked him.

  “It may have been a plan to escape.”

  “So how do we get him? Who knows where he lives?”

  “His address is in his file,” the secretary said.

  “Go get him immediately. Try calling him first”

  “No sir,” Damian said.  “If you call him, he may know that something is wrong and may run.”

  “You call him since he is your friend.”

  “Sir…”

  “yes. Don’t let him know we are after him. One of you must go in for this.”

                Damian brought out his phone and dialed Okezie’s number. It rang but Okezie did not pick. He dialed five more times but did not get any reply.

  “Maybe he is too sick to pick,” Damian said.

  “Sick my foot,” the oga thundered. “Guilty conscience will not let him.” He turned to his assistant and said, “I don’t care what it takes, make sure Okezie or whatever his name is, is brought here and the money recovered.”

  “Yes sir.”

                He went back into his office and banged the door.

  “How much is missing?” the assistant asked the accountant.

  “Nine Thousand five hundred naira,” the accountant replied.

  “Only?” Damian blurted out.

  “Shut up,” one of the security men said and hit him on the head. “Thief.”

  “It is not about how much was taken,” the assistant said. “We do not condone stealing here.”

He turned to the security men and said, “keep him in holding, then you come let us go and pick up Okezie.”

  “Yes sir,” they replied and dragged Damian out.

  “Tell the drivers to get their vehicles ready,” he told one of the staff.”

  “Yes sir,” she answered and left.

                In less than five minutes, they were on their way to apprehend Okezie who was busy planning the best way to impress Nkechi.

{to be continued}

 

(c) 2021. Nedu Isaac

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