In the little time I've lived on this planet, the people I call friends today were once total strangers, and we got connected through things (plus irrelevant things) that occurred. Before we knew it, good friendship had been made.
In my former workplace, a very big eatery, we were privileged to watch TV as we liked, and there was electricity 24/7. Due to the fact that I was the only guy among the ladies, the manager entrusted the remote to me to be in charge of controlling what they watch. He did that because the ladies often got carried away with irrelevant TV programs like Big Brother Naija, which was responsible many times for food burning in the kitchen while the chefs were busy in our sector watching the TV show. I wonder what would have happened if a TV were installed in the kitchen.
Because I don't find most of the things they show on a normal weekday interesting, I only turn my chair to watch music channels for Throwback Thursdays and Premier League matches on weekends.
On a particular Thursday, it rained as if the angel in charge of downpour was suffering from depression, and the rain's effect shut down the inflow of customers coming to patronize us.
"Thank God it's Thursday," I clapped my hands in excitement of being free when the time got to 5:00 pm. I reached out to where the remote was and changed the TV channel, and the ladies glued to the TV screen shouted out of anger, "Ohhhhh! You've started ooo!" Oh yeah, I boldly spoiled their entertaining TV program they were watching, and I wasn't bothered by their frowning faces and murmurs.
My soul was locked in already with the old Afrobeat music on the TV channel, and my head was as well feeling the music with an agama lizard's pattern of head nodding.
Then, a Melanie tall lady walked into the hall. I wondered how she came because it was raining. When I checked through the transparent door revealing the outside, I saw a dark blue-colored car parked. She came with a car.
Since my duty is to attend to her payment only, I remained focused on the TV with my back turned at her while the female staff took her orders.
Then, one of my favorite old tracks, "Suddenly" by D'banj, began to play, and my whole system couldn't contain the excitement. In fact, I was shouting, "Oh my God, I've missed this song so much!" and wanting to get up and dance but I held back; I'm among the guys that are allergic to dance. So, I began to sing along with the lyrics of the chorus as a way to express my excitement.
When it got to the second verse, I heard a voice singing along behind me. I was shocked and quickly turned my back, only to meet the lady, the same lady that came to patronize us, singing. "Jeeeez! How did you know that?" I asked, feeling like I just met my better half. She smiled and later converted her smiles into laughter. "Hahahaha! What kind of question is that? I know the song the same way you do," she replied while handing me her debit card to debit her for what she purchased.
I collected the card, dropped it, and gazed my eyes on her. "No way! Even if you know the song as you claimed, how did you manage to sing that difficult verse that has D'banj slangs? Also, this song was released in 2005. So, how come you know a song that far back?" The surprise and eagerness in my voice got her smiling while I was saying all that.
"Okay, I'm a D'banj fan, and I know all his songs," she replied, motioning her face to the debit card she gave to me as a way of reminding me to debit her.
"Yo! This is my first time meeting a female D'banj fan..." I paused, looked at the debit card, and stole the name written there, smiled, and continued, "Christabel, I want us to talk more about D'banj. Write your phone number here." I shifted a book and a pen on top of the desk to her, and she happily penned down her phone number.
I was happy like I won a jackpot, and when she left, I tried dialing the number, but it didn't connect for once. It's a wrong number.
Thanks for reading.