What People Do For Money

You choose to sit outside on this particular night despite the mosquitoes currently feasting on you. You put your hands under your chin and ponder on life and the poverty afflicting your family.

It has been said that no generation in your family has ever been lifted out of poverty. They have toiled hard but only manage to feed from hand to mouth. Even the females of the family all marry into poor homes. It is a curse, people say.

You think about all your friends. You think of the ones in the tech world, the writers, the ones who are still studying but are doing well for themselves, the ones whose parents provide everything for, the married ones, the ones in promising relationships, the ones with kids and lastly you think of the ones who drive flashy cars, live in big houses, spend money like it's water and frolick with beautiful ladies. These last ones are the happening guys, the Yahoo boys.

With these thoughts on your mind, you suddenly remember that Uche, one of your secondary school classmates saw you carrying goods in the market where you work as a porter, last week. He laughed at your situation and promised to show you "the way". He even gave you his business card. It read " Uchenna Anyanwu AKA Dollar Boy, Cyber Technologist".

You decide to give Uche a call but it is already late so you make a mental note to call him first thing the next morning. You see a glimmer of hope and with that, decide to return to bed.

You wake up the next day. The first thing you think about is the call you have to place to Uche. You check the airtime balance on your Nokia torchlight phone and discover that it is empty. You try to borrow airtime but you're only able to borrow fifty naira because of your outstanding debts. You call Uche and he tells you that he is busy but informs you what time he will be available.

You quickly run to the bathroom outside to take your bath. It is a smelly enclave but you don't seem to mind. Very soon, you're done with the bath. You rifle through your tattered clothes and pick out a pair of washed out jeans and a faded polo. They have been through a lot but they are your best clothes. You dress up, go out and jump into a bus. It arrives at your destination, you get off and walk the remaining distance to the address Uche gave you. When you get there, you find out that it is a 5- star hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos.

As you ask of Uche, the receptionist looks you up and down wondering what someone of your type is doing here because this reputable establishment is not for your likes. She tells you the room number and you take the elevator. You knock on the door and Uche opens it for you. Your eyes widen in amazement as you take in the suite. It is like something from another world.

Uche welcomes you, offers you a bottle of water which you accept because why not? You are thirsty. Uche explains the solution of making money to you and you take a while to gather your thoughts. You tell him that you will get back to him in a few days time.

Back home, you weigh the pros and cons of going for the solution which Uche offered you and decide to go ahead with it. Afterall, who will lift your family out of this generational poverty, you think. You contact Uche and he gives you a date. A date that will change your life forever, he calls it.

On the D-day, Uche comes to your house to pick you up. You climb into his car, a Bentley 2021 model, and he speeds off. Very soon, you will be lifted out of poverty, he says. You get to your destination and you both alight and walk towards the building.

Uche introduces you to Baba Arije who sprinkles water on your head and tells you that he has already prepared your work because Uche is a special customer. The Baba gives you instructions and Uche drops you off at your house.

You wait for 12 midnight as Baba Arije told you to do and there in your room, you take a bath with the soap and sponge he gave you. You lay down in the bath water and sleep. In the morning, you start receiving credit alert from clients you never knew you had, on a laptop you didn't know you have.

Very soon, you too start living the fast life, doing what Uche and his cohorts do, only your own case is much worse. You are seen with different ladies and you even take more than three to bed at a go. You forbid your family from coming to see you in your breathtaking mansion and people begin to shake their heads at you.

Two years later, you find yourself in the marketplace where it all began. You are barely covered as your tattered clothes have almost given away. You smell like the gutters of Lagos and look even worse. People whisper and point at you. They talk of your rise from grass to grace and your fall back to grass. They tell the story of the mad man.