Mona and Keren frantically jumps out of bed on
realization that they had overslept into half of
midday. ‘‘I can’t believe we slept that long.
Yesterday was not the first time we stayed up so
late.’’ Keren shuddered. ‘‘We should be thinking
of how we could rush up to the warehouse
before Madam Lucy arrives, rather than bother
our head over situation we cannot change’’ Mona countered.
Madam Lucy, a stout looking woman in her early
forties, with wavy, long black hair that spreads
over her shoulders, average height and a tan
skin that had gone all bleached, owns one of the
biggest business enterprises in town and a big
warehouse filled with lots of cartoons. It is
alleged that she had sold her womb for money
since she has no child or perhaps children and
yet has accumulated so much wealth. And also
that she killed her husband. All these, was at all
never her concern. And perhaps to prove them
wrong, she however accepted the responsibility
of taking care of Mona and Keren who were
dumped by a teenage mother few hours after birth.
A neighbor had found the twin babies and
reported to the police station. After
investigations and due processes carried out,
they were handed over to the woman who
found them since she had volunteered to keep
the babies. After few months of nursing them
alongside taking care of her own children, she
approached Madam Lucy and pleaded with her
to collect the babies since she could not carter
for them as she should.
''Lucy, I do not want you to consider what
people have been saying concerning you. I know
you will be able to take care of these children
much more than I would. Consider them as
children which God has blessed you with. I see a
bright future awaiting them and all they need is
good grooming which I cannot give but you can.
Please for the sake of God and humanity, accept them'' the woman pleaded.
''When every one have been trying to rub my
name in the mud? what makes you think I will
take good care of these babies?'' Madam Lucy countered.
''I believe you will''
She hesitated for a while and later accepted the
babies. But as the saying goes, ''Time is man's best tester''.
One could wonder how young girls of about ten
years of age without education could be
involved in masculine work such as packing
loads of cartoons and trekking long distance,
such was the turn of her attitude towards the
kids as they turned a decade old. Most detesting
to her, people expressed displeasure about it
and the most concerned ones often times call at
her house to talk to her. Just to do the wish of
the people and reduce their attention on her,
she decided to enroll the girls in school. After a
couple of years and seeing that people's
attention on her had reduced, she decided to relocate.
The girls had no option but to do what she says;
at least they have their three square meals a
day. Most times, they would work into midnight
offloading vans containing cartoons and
sometimes loading them. And they would go to
bed very late and extremely tired.
Mona glanced at the clock on the wall and it was
11:02am and heaved a sigh of relieve. “At least we have gotten here be…”
''Moooooooonaaaa…''
Before she could conclude her statement she
heard Keren scream out loud from behind the
building. She rushed up and met her glaring in-
between her legs. She had been deflowered the
previous night. Mona quickly glanced down in-
between hers but saw nothing. “But how
come?” keren could not say a word but cried.
Mona led her to were she could find water and helped her clean up.
Few minutes later, Madam Lucy arrived with
some Lebanese men with a van that contains
thousands of cartoons. They alighted and one of
them had a tete-a-tete with her then entered
their Hilux and drove off. Mona wanted to tell
her what had happened but she appeared too
busy, slipped some naira notes into Keren’s
palm and exited announcing that she would see them in the evening.
Mona finds it funny that for the past sixteen
years they’ve been with Madam Lucy and
worked for her, they’ve not known what’s inside
those cartoons and each time they want to
sneak up to open them, the cartoons would
either fall on them getting them badly injured or
Madam Lucy would be somewhere close, and
that would dissuade them. But that particular
day, they vowed that nothing would stop them from seeing what’s in them.
That night, after offloading the van that was
brought in by the Lebanese men earlier that day,
they refused to go home and tried getting
themselves busy till other workers had left.
When it was all clear, they sneaked up and
opened one of the cartoons. Inside laid wraps of
papers. They got the shock of their life when
they lifted them and white substances fell off.
They carried them and tried arranging them
back. They were about opening another cartoon
when Madam Lucy’s car horn was heard and
they rushed into hiding. She came in with a
Lebanese man amidst discussion.
“You fulfilled your end of the deal but the cartoons were not complete” Madam Lucy
began
“You told me I will be having the two girls but you sent only one, which was why”
“We agreed on one”
“No, the two girls”
“Alright, no argument. I will send the other by tomorrow. And please make sure the cartoons are complete on arrival”
“Sure, as long as you keep to your end of the deal”
As soon as the Lebanese man and Madame Lucy exited, the girls came out gasping for breath. They look at each other with mouth agape.
“What was that we saw?” Keren broke the silence.
“That was an illegal drug if I’m not mistaken?” Mona expressed her own shock.
“Does it mean we were actually drugged last night?” Keren added
They were unfortunate not to hear the other part concerning Mona being the next as they discussed that part while going out.
The following morning, Madam Lucy announced
to Mona to get ready as she will deliver a
cartoon to a house couples of miles away. Keren
offered to go with her but she objected. Mona
quietly got dressed and left with the cartoon.
Few hours later, news reached Madam Lucy that
Mona has been shot dead by the police.
Immediately, she took to flight leaving Keren
behind who was already soaked in tears as a
result of the tragic death of her twin sister.
According to the report, It happened that Mona
arrived at the Police check point and was asked
to open the cartoon she held, with fright, she
did and when the police realized what was inside, she picked a race.
When all effort to make her stop failed, The
police fired at her and the bullets killed her
instantly. The Police traced where she came
from and because Madam Lucy had fled, they arrested Keren and took her away. While she
was detained they went further in their
investigation and in the warehouse, they
discovered cartoons of hard drugs and a few
guns. Fortunately, the woman who handed the
twin to Madam Lucy heard what happened and
immediately went to the police station, gave report and bailed Keren.
Fortunately, The bullet that was fired at Mona
only hit her upper arm but did not kill her. It
only took sometime before her twin sister was
able to find her. More so, It did not take too long
before Madam Lucy's evil deeds caught up with
her as she was arrested while making effort to
leave the country. Her cohorts were discovered
and they were made to face the wrath of the
law.
Photo source- from pixabay.com