My Life As a Fifty Naira Note - Concluding Part

[Excerpt from Part 2: In the beggar’s bowl I at least had fresh air but being crushed between this food vendor’s breasts with her mammary glands pressing on me heavily I wished for the weight of the twenty naira note on me once again. I would happily suffer their company and bear the twenty naira note’s weight on me than this crushing weight that felt like a trailer was over me not to mention the nauseating smell.] To read part two CLICK HERE

I suffered in this condition as she went from street to street hawking her food. I listened from my prison as she boasted to some of her customers that she had the new fifty naira note and is among the first people to own it in the country. I wished throughout the entire period that she would at least bring me out to show off so that I could breathe in fresh air but each time she was asked to show me, she would pat her breasts affectionately and reply in the negative saying she had it hidden somewhere safe. I did not get released from this prison till much later in the evening, when she was home and decided to show me off to her children. They gathered around me where she laid me like a prized treasure and I watched the wonder in all of their faces.

They each had their turn to feel me, examining me from head to toe. My old feeling of importance came back as the illiterate mother and her little children practically worshiped me.

“Maami, shey e le fun mi?” Tunde, the youngest son asked his mother in Yoruba. He looked about ten and his little child eyes pleaded with his mother silently. She looked at him sternly as if he had asked her to buy him a car and she scolded him sharply for being greedy. “Ki lo fe fi aduru fifty naira shey. Oloju kokoro.”  The family settled down to their dinner and after all was set for bed, she put me gingerly on the only table in the dingy one room apartment. My only companion was the single candle that acted as a source of light in the room with the snores coming from the sleeping figures breaking the silence.

It felt like only minutes after I had settled down into my own sleep when I suddenly felt a hand grab me and I woke up groggily to stare into the mischievous eyes of Tunde. He had a smirk on his face as he looked at me and then tip toeing to where the candle lay he teased the burning flame with a tip of me. The eager flame leaped at me and I felt the heat of the fire but he quickly withdrew me just before the fire could touch me and he smiled happily to himself. This game continued for a while with me closing my eyes in fear each time the fire came near till alas, he was a bit too slow and the fire kissed my tip eagerly.  I curled up in pain as Tunde stared in horror at what he had done. His gasp of fear must have woken his mother because she startled awake and seeing Tunde standing by the candle with me in his hand, she leapt up from her place on the mat and smacked him hard on the head for his mischief. He started crying but a threat of a severe beating with if he didn’t stop his noise put an end to that and I was put back in my place. I was damaged and I cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, the food vendor angrily told Tunde that as his punishment he was to keep me but not to expect any meal in the house for that day. After apologizing to his mother for last night’s mischief and then he headed off to school with me safely tucked in his pocket. My appeal had quickly dwindled with the new burn scar on my body and he didn’t hesitate to hand me over to the conductor as he paid his bus fare. The conductor looked at me suspiciously and just to confirm my authenticity, he squeezed me and left me all wrinkled before adding me to the other naira notes. My stay with the conductor was however short lived as he soon handed me over to another passenger as change.

My new owner Bimbo is the one currently questioning her brother Funbi about my whereabouts and for the sake of all of us I really hope she does not find me. I am tired and been through enough as it is. She had dumped me unceremoniously in her room and perhaps Mother Nature herself has seen that I have suffered enough, she had been kind enough to send a gust of wind to this hiding place under this bed.

“Have you checked under the bed for your money?” I quaked in fear as I heard Funbi’s voice. I heard the bed creak again as Bimbo got off it and her shadow descended over me as she peered under the bed on bended knees.

“There it is,” she cried happily as her fingers grabbed me. Another journey about to begin I suppose. My life as a fifty naira note is apparently not yet over. 

THE END

Keep updated, follow on Twitter and Instagram with @iamposhkid. You can also join other readers by subscribing to Akin's Corner BBM Channel for instant updates. Simply search for "Akin's Corner" or with pin: C00396EEB