Must Read: The Player

6 years ago

Must Read: The Player

Kidnapping a chicken was a stealth operation.

You hoped the noise from the mission wasn’t much. You also hoped the nosy neighbors didn’t know about the operation.Ugo, Tope and I had been stalking this particular chicken for a while.
We would have gone for the kill last month but I decided it wasn’t big enough and Tope still believed that Mama Joshua, the owner of the chicken had spiritual powers.

There was a red piece of cloth tied to the chicken’s leg, while I said it was merely for identification, Tope said it was jazz.
“We would use the three pronged approach, while I attack from the middle, both of you will close on to it from the side,” I said to the guys.

I was the fastest of the three, Ugo was more muscular, Tope had issues.

“The chicken don big oh!” Tope said with adoration, as he stared at the bird from a distance.

Tope was from a poor family like I was.

The only difference was that his folks were with him. His dad was a Laborer with more children than he can cater for. I liked his mum though, especially the amala she makes so beautifully well.

Ugo’s dad was a police-man, while his mum was a teacher. He also had a very cute younger sister called Ogechi. She was a year our junior.
“Let’s get going,” Ugo mumbled.

The chicken didn’t seem to notice that we were approaching it until when we got to about 5m from its position. It started moving away, but as it noticed that we were on its heels, it increased the speed, we did same.

It was a hot afternoon and most grown-ups were at work, Mama Joshua was in her shop and the rest of the kids our age were in their houses.

I was clamping down on the chicken and went for a dive, that was when the unexpected happened.

With the size of the bird, I hadn’t expected it to have the ability to fly but it did. But the chicken being airborne wasn’t the main problem; it was the shrieking that came with it. Tope was alarmed but I ignored him. It soon perched at a distance and we followed. It started running in different directions and even attempted to fly but couldn’t, until we cornered it to a wall.

Tope took a go at it; his dive brought him crashing to the floor. His legs and shirt were covered with sand when he stood up. I motioned for the guys to stop moving, the chicken stopped moving after a while too, probably guessing we could retreat, then I dived. I was sure I had caught the bird unawares. I landed with three feathers between my right palm. Fortunately, the re-energized chicken ran into the waiting hands of Ugo.

I looked around to ensure that we were not being watched, Tope brought out a black polythene bag, soon the muffled cries of the bird was only heard by us.

Ugo’s house was usually the venue of our cooking. Sometimes my house was used, but that day, I had no kerosene. It was three months since dad died, and things were looking very bleak.

Getting drugs for Hana was getting harder by the day, food was also a problem.

Ugo’s flat was a few blocks away from mine.

It was also a three bedroom apartment. Tope was our top chef, so he went to the kitchen while Ugo and I stayed in the sitting room.

“E get this mojo wey I get, na black chocolate,” Ugo said, rummaging through a collection of hidden Video cassette players, until he brought out one with “Farming Club” written at the side.

The video soon played with a white man surrounded by two black busty girls.

The video quality was terrible, but Mojo is Mojo.
While the initial flirting was going on, Ugo asked me a question I was surprised to hear.

“What’s up with you and my sister,” he asked.

I was speechless for some seconds. It was weird that he chose to ask me while a man was having S£x with two girls on the TV.

“I don’t understand,” I replied.

Although he didn’t sound pissed, I had instructed Ogechi to keep our relationship from everybody, especially her brother, the reason being that I could not allow any guy come close to my sister.

“You be my guy oh, if anything dey, just tell me.”

“Nothing my guy.”

I turned abruptly to see our chef behind us.

He was transfixed by what was going on in the television.

“Tope, hope say wetin you dey boil no go burn,” I said.

“una dey crase!” he replied exposing his broken incisor.

The sound of the guy grinding the slimmer of the two girls coincided with knocks from the door, so we didn’t notice on time, until it grew louder.

“But Ogechi suppose still dey her friend house na,” Ugo m0aned, quickly ejecting the cassette, while I went to open the door.

Staring back at me with eyes that could kill the faint hearted was Mama Joshua.