THE DEAL – FINAL EPISODE

Alighting from the bus, Kolade took out his wallet to pay the driver. He’d headed to the Ugo’s address immediately after his interview and was now at the junction that would lead him to the destination. There was no time to spare. As the bus zoomed off, he realized that he still had to either take a cab or walk to the house. He chose the latter and started his trek.

The street was quiet but for the occasional jogger or car that passed by. After about 5 minutes of walking, he arrived at the street, as shown on the signage by the side of the road.

He started counting the house numbers and soon arrived at no 4, a wide-gated and fenced compound. He walked up to the gate, cleared his throat and knocked. He paused to listen but didn’t get a response. He repeated this thrice, but nothing moved. He stepped back wondering if he was at the right house. It was then he spotted the white box on the wall. Of course! There had to be a bell.

He pressed the button, and heard an almost silent ding, but still no response. He continued pressing the bell until he heard a click. The gate opened and a security guard stepped out to meet him.

‘Yes, who are you? And what do you want?’ he asked.

‘My name is Kolade, and I have a delivery to make.’ He said with a confidence that surprised him.

The guard scoffed. ‘You have the wrong house, so get going and be on your way.’

‘No, I’m sure this is the right house.’

The guard moved close to him, then moved his hand to his hip. Kolade moved back but was still insistent.

‘Just call your oga on the phone and tell the person that someone wants to see her. I can say whatever I want to say on the phone, but I’m not leaving until I talk to your oga.’

‘There’s no one who would see you here, you have the wrong house. I said, you should get going.’

The guard was lying, he had to be, Kolade thought. But he couldn’t force himself into the house now, could he?

‘Go!’ the guard said for the last time before turning away from him.

‘Wait!’ Kolade shouted, but the guard ignored him and went back into the house. He whipped out his phone and dialed Ugo’s line hoping for a response.  Ugo picked up on the first ring.

‘Ugo!’ he shouted, ‘please don’t hang up! I’m at the address you gave me!’

‘What?’

‘Yes, and I have the bag! But they didn’t let me enter. What should I do?’

Ugo was silent, as if deciding if this was real or a prank.

He spoke finally.

‘Hold on.’ The phone started beeping but he waited. Soon after, Ugo reconnected on the call.

‘Better not be playing. Someone is coming for you now.’

The line beeped and disconnected, then shortly after, the gate opened.

A tall, slim, light-skinned woman stepped out and sized him up.

‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

‘Kolade, ma.’

She looked at her palm then nodded.

‘Where is it?’

‘What?’ The question left his lips before he remembered the bag he held. He handed the nylon to her, and he thought he saw her lips tremble. Right there, she opened it, pulled out the bag, and dragged the zip.

Kolade found himself looking around anxiously while she went through their motions. ‘Why was she doing this outside?’ He thought. ‘Couldn’t they go inside?’

She eventually brought out a small bottle, the length of which was about half a finger.

‘Ooohhh,’ he exclaimed, and she looked up suddenly, as if realizing that he was still standing there. She shoved the bottle back into the bag and turned abruptly to leave. She’d stepped into the compound but turned back, looked him over and walked up to him.

‘Thank You,’ she whispered, putting her arms around him in a grateful hug. Then she turned and went into the house.

He felt good. That was the only word he had to describe how he felt. Not excited, not heroic, just happy that he’d done something right. After a long look at the gate, he left for home.

On arrival three hours later, he turned the doorknob, before he inserted the key, his new habit of checking that no one had paid a visit in his absence. The door opened and he almost ran, until he heard Ahmed’s voice.

‘Kolade? Is that you?’

His friend was back!

‘Bro! Welcome!’ he responded excitedly before noticing that Ahmed wasn’t smiling.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

Ahmed pointed at an envelope on the table. Kolade moved close. His mouth flew to his mouth when he opened it. Without control he started laughing excitedly and pumped his fist in the air.

‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’

‘You dey mad?’ Ahmed asked. Do you know where this money is from?’

Kolade ignored his question but asked him another.

‘Did you touch it? Have you counted it?’

Ahmed shook his head.

Kolade rushed to it and started counting the money. It totaled 180,000 naira in 1000 naira bundles.  

He immediately dialed Ugo’s number, but it wasn’t reachable.

Ahmed pulled a note off the envelopes back.

‘This should be for you.’

‘Thank you for saving my daughter,’ it read. ‘I’ll be in touch.’

Ahmed still watched him confusedly.

‘Kolade, what’s going on? How did you get this money?’

‘Sit down, sit down, I’ll tell you. But first I need to call my sister and mom.’

He dialed Sewa’s line and she updated him that their mom was to be discharged the next day. She hadn’t suffered any permanent damage from the stroke. They’d put her on a schedule for physiotherapy, and in a few weeks would be back on her feet. Kolade kept shouting in elation. He would return to Oshogbo the next day. For now, he had a story to tell Ahmed.

‘O boy, you won’t believe what has happened to me in the last few days.’

Kolade launched into the story of the past few days while Ahmed looked on disbelievingly.

‘Are you sure we don’t need to move?’ Ahmed asked when Kolade finished.’

‘Nah, we are fine now. I’ve done what Ugo wanted, so we are done. Today couldn’t be any better!’ Kolade pumped his fists in the air.

His phone rang so he picked up. The conversation lasted barely two minutes. As he dropped the call, he swiped quickly on his phone to open his email. His eyes scanned the screen quickly, before he collapsed to his knees, his head in his arms. Ahmed rushed to him.

‘What’s wrong?’

Kolade handed the phone to Ahmed, who collected it. He read the email out loud.

‘Dear Kolade, congratulations on your success in our selection process for the role of Business Analyst.’ He stopped reading.

‘You got the job?’

He nodded affirmatively.

‘Congratulations Bro!’ Ahmed laughed for the first time since his arrival, then pulled Kolade up. Lagos had finally smiled on Kolade. He crashed unto the couch in a mix of emotions.  

In the space of three days, he’d had a near death experience, saved a dying child, got the confidence that landed him a job, and made profit from his side hustle. He laughed out loud at the final thought.

Still seating, he proceeded take off his clothes, feeling desperate to be unrestricted. He took off his pair of trousers first, and a black wallet fell to the floor. He’d stared for a moment, realizing that he’d forgotten all about the wallet that man gave him in the morning.

He reached for it opened it to find a note and a phone number.

‘My name is Obinna,’ it read, ‘and I have an offer for you. Call this number, let’s make a deal.’

Without hesitation, Kolade tore the note and dumped it in the bin. The wallet looked nice enough, so he kept that. No way was he going to make another deal. Maybe they needed to take Ahmed’s advice after all and move to a new place. After this drama he’d just been through, he wasn’t ready for a replay.

One deal was enough for a lifetime.

THE END