Urenna stood by the roadside. She
was tired as she had been standing for almost four hours. The night was rather
slow. She blamed it on the time of the month. It was mid month and the middle
of the month was always a bad time for business. Disposable income would have
decreased considerably from the end of the previous month. But what did hunger
care about such things? Indeed her stomach must be fed first before all else.
A draft of cool night air hit her
as she manned her corner. She inhaled cigarette smoke along with the night air.
Not so fresh. She hated cigarettes. Nasty, filthy things! But in her line of
work she had no choice for the men and women she worked with liked their tobacco.
Cigarette smoke reminded her of all that was said to be bad and evil. She had
been brought up amid the chaos that was her childhood by a strict catholic, Mr.
Ikechukwu, the district catechist superintendent. No, Mr. Ikechukwu was not her
father. How she wished that was the case but the catechist was just that, a
catechist; who had warned her and her peers about the dangers of alcohol and
cigarette smoke when she was younger, not so many years ago. If only he could
see her now. Urenna laughed inwardly.
A car appeared from around the
corner and Urenna changed position. She stood facing the road, perpendicular to
the approaching head lights. This position gave the occupants of the car a
profile of her body, her precious asset. Then as the car moved closer, she
turned away and gave a view of her backside. At the last moment
she turned again, facing the car while bending to greet the occupants giving
them a winning smile and a view of her significant chest. The car drove by and
slowed down to a stop. Ope o!
Urenna walked briskly to the car
– a black Honda – to ward off the other girls. Na me get this one! She said to herself. She got to the car in
time.
“Hi!” she said to the front seat
passenger.
“Hello!” the men in the car
replied.
She took a look into the dimly
lit interior of the car with its dashboard and stereo lights offering very
little illumination. There were three occupants, the driver, the front seat
passenger and another at the back. She hesitated. Inasmuch as she really needed
to get customers for the night she was not sure she wanted three men but she
waited to hear what they had to offer.
“What’s your name?” Front seat
passenger asked.
“Jessica”, Urenna replied with a
sweet smile.
“Hmmm...Jessica! That’s a nice
name,” front seat passenger said.
Idiot. If only he knew that half of the girls along
the street had christened themselves Jessica!
“Awww, thanks!” she said in her
most American-movie-flavoured accent.
The inside of the car smelt nice.
In fact it smelt like these men might have some good money.
“So you look very nice,” front
seat continued. Urenna flashed a winning smile.
“Oya! How much?” the driver asked
impatiently.
“Depends of what you want. Is it
all night or short time and for how many of you?”
“If it is more than one person, I
am available!” a voice rang out from behind Urenna.
Vultures! Urenna thought. They
would not allow someone to progress. She recognised the voice as Blessing’s. Well
to be fair to her, Blessing had sometimes involved Urenna in some of her
prospects. Urenna had sometimes returned the favour but she needed to be sure
of what was going down.
“Erm, how much is all night?”
driver enquired.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Erm, Ikoyi.” Driver responded.
Hmmm....these Ikoyi boys! They
may have money but were not to be trusted and were quite stingy too! She paused
and then asked them to put on their inner light.
“What for?” driver asked.
“So I can see your faces na! How
do you expect me to get into a car with three men I don’t know?”
Driver and front passenger
consulted each other briefly and turned on the car’s inner lights.
Mscheeeew! Urenna cursed loudly. These were not men but small boys
barely out of their teens! Driver whom she was sure was a Yoruba boy because of
his dark skin and looks seemed like the oldest of the lot and he could not have
been more than nineteen. The quiet one at the back in glasses she was sure was
seventeen or even younger. No way! These boys, children of rich parents sure
had money but had no respect for it and quite ironically would want to pay the
barest minimum for the services that women like her offered. Mba! No! She recalled what happened to
one of the girls who had followed two of these Ikoyi boys in their car and had
ended up in a BQ with four waiting boys! Poor girl had had to scream, shout and
claw her way out of there! Cheapskates! Instead of them to have been upfront
about how many they were, then she would have gone with two other girls at a
bargain price. But no, these small boys wanted to have their cake and eat it.
“You are small boys! I don’t do
small boys!” Urenna shouted, moving away from the vehicle.
“Ah! What do you mean?!”
passenger seat retorted.
“Come first, we will pay you good
money!!” driver added.
Urenna laughed. “Blessing o! Come
and see the small boys wey wan fuck!”
Blessing moved in for a closer
look. She laughed, “These ones neva finish secondary school o! Hahaha! Now run
along to your mummies and go return daddy’s car.”
“Mscheeew!! Ashewo!” driver
lashed out.
“Ehn thank you! As you get home
please call your daddy for me! I will fuck him for free sef!” The ladies
laughed as the deflated boys zoomed off to try their luck elsewhere.
“No mind these small boys jor!
When you come reach, do finish, dem no go wan pay you complete money. Their
wahala too much!” Blessing ended as she walked back into the shadows.
Urenna sighed. She hoped she
would get a customer soon. It was getting late and the odds were rising against
her. She hoped for a customer that would take her home. Those ones were
preferred as she got to sleep in a bed as against standing for long and
sleeping on the road or in smelly taxi cabs. She looked at her cheap watch. 2am.
Sigh. Even a couple of short-time customers would make sense now. She waited impatiently.
A jeep cruised by ever so slowly.
She took position and waited for it to stop. It drove slowly as the occupant
eyed the ladies of the night, taking them in.
“Oga stop now!” Urenna called.
The driver did not stop but
zoomed off. Alu! She cursed.
She waited a few more minutes and
was just about to resign her fate to an unsuccessful night when a car appeared.
It was a Toyota Camry, one of the new ones; very sleek, very shiny in the poor street light. She hoped
it was not a driver because these drivers were funny. They were not so much
better than her but they tried to appear better off. But not all drivers
though, some were nice and kind like that Tony. He had been very nice to
her, sometimes just visiting her without wanting to have sex. They would gist
for a couple of minutes before she would chase him away for scaring away
potential customers. She had even given him a couple of free rounds. She liked
Tony; small sha. And she missed him. His oga
had been transferred to Abuja and she had not seen him in months.
The Toyota stopped right in front
of her. The driver rolled the window down and the cool air from the air
conditioning hit her face.
“Hi!” Urenna said, turning on the
charm.
“Good evening” the driver
responded.
They conversed for about a minute
and Urenna said her goodbyes to Blessing and got into the car. She thanked her
stars as the sleek car pulled away. She would definitely sleep on a warm soft
bed tonight; and if she did well she would probably get a performance bonus in
the morning. Her customer did not look like or sound like the stingy type. In
fact he looked “safe”. She thanked her stars again and crossed herself as the
car picked up speed and headed towards Lekki.
