I never knew I would enjoy the pleasure of sneaking around to get what I wanted—something that wasn’t mine, something I didn’t get with my money, but I wanted to own it. The feeling was something I couldn’t resist because I enjoyed doing it.
“Clearing my throat.” Before you go far thinking about what it’s not meant to mean, I’ll explain how everything happens.
This is Fash, popularly known as Fashtioluwa.
After I left home to stay with his uncle in the capital city, I started working for a nice organisation and was earning a good salary. My uncle is a senior military personnel; he provided everything I needed without asking for anything, which in turn made it difficult for me to request things I needed. I’ve got accommodation, food, and some other benefits to being the nephew of the Master Warrant Officer of the Nigerian Military Force.
My uncle is someone I know who always has wine and fruit drinks in his fridge. I have access to everything in the house except his room, and the fridge was definitely not in his room. Most of the time, when he gets back from work, he eats with his wine or fruit drinks. I’m someone who likes wine and fruit drinks too; I guess it’s a genetic thing. Anyway, anytime he drinks his wine or fruit drinks, he doesn’t invite me to have some.
One lovely day, I went to the mall, bought a big bottle of orange juice, and took it home. My intention was to keep it in the fridge, take it to my room every night, and sip my stuff to my satisfaction. After closing hour that day, the only thing on my mind was my orange juice. I was already thinking about how I'd gulp the whole bottle. I got home, and I met my uncle’s wife and her friend, almost finishing my bottle of orange juice.
I greeted her and went to my room. Different thoughts were going on in my mind, and it was then that I realised, “All the drinks in the fridge belong to all of us.” 😌😌
At first, I wanted to go into the fridge to take any of the drinks I saw there, but I was scared of what my uncle might say. I wasn’t the one who bought those drinks, but the one I bought was drunk by his wife. The first day, I made sure no one was looking.
I went to the fridge and took a sip of the grape juice. Damn, it was very good, and that was how it all started. I started sneaking around to take the juice from the fridge. There was this nice night, and everyone was sleeping. I walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge so I could take some cool water, but I ended up taking a sip from the bottle of wine.
I started enjoying this feeling of sneaking around and not getting caught. I knew what I was doing was bad, and I felt guilty about it, but the joy of moving like a ninja and covering my tracks without getting caught made me enjoy doing it more.
I wasn’t stealing; what belongs to my uncle also belongs to me. A fun fact was that no one could stop me from taking anything from the fridge. I even bought some wine and fruit drinks, but I’ll still sneak a drink from them.
It almost became a habit, so I had to stop and always make a request anytime I wanted to take any drink from the fridge, even if I was the one who bought it. It got my uncle angry, and he asked me not to make such a request again. “If it finishes, we will restock,” was what he said, so since then, I've gone to the fridge to pick whatever I like without feeling guilty.
Thanks for reading.
Here is my entry for the Hiveghana weekly prompt.