Hello guys out there. I'm relatively new out here and this actually will be my second post here ever; the first being a poem titled INTERVENTION.

I greatly need your encouragement to move on. Constructive and helpful criticisms are most welcome.


RIGHTEOUS THIEVES is purely fictional and a product of my own imagination.

I guess I just wrote it as it occurred to me. Though it may not match your taste in many ways, I hope you find it a good read.

A million thanks to Ollyfad.

Hello guys out there. I'm relatively new out here and this actually will be my second post here ever; the first being a poem titled INTERVENTION.

I greatly need your encouragement to move on. Constructive and helpful criticisms are most welcome.


RIGHTEOUS THIEVES is purely fictional and a product of my own imagination.

I guess I just wrote it as it occurred to me. Though it may not match your taste in many ways, I hope you find it a good read.

A million thanks to Ollyfad.

Hello guys out there. I'm relatively new out here and this actually will be my second post here ever; the first being a poem titled INTERVENTION.

I greatly need your encouragement to move on. Constructive and helpful criticisms are most welcome.


RIGHTEOUS THIEVES is purely fictional and a product of my own imagination.

I guess I just wrote it as it occurred to me. Though it may not match your taste in many ways, I hope you find it a good read.

A million thanks to Ollyfad.

RIGHTEOUS THIEVES: A short story
Ever since I arrived in the community, the atmosphere here compared to that of my previous area has been overwhelmingly calm and reassuringly peaceful. Even the neighbours have proved themselves friendly in the past months against my expectations.
Martins, Mrs. Agboola’s three year old son had just left my room. I played with him the same way I would with my younger ones back at home; giving him those mild tickles that would make an infant laugh and twitch with uncontrollable outburst.
“Uncle Badejo.” Mrs. Agboola’s call from outside ended our play session. “I think he is done for today. He needs to eat supper and I need to change his diapers.”
“No problem ma. He’s all yours” I said with demure satisfaction.
Not long after this, I sat on the only chair in my cozy room, with head thrown aback, I started reminiscing the unlucky events that tossed me into this new and unfamiliar terrain where I have found myself.
Before now, I had never really been away from home; from the comfort of my parents and my siblings. I remember the childish chuckle that perpetually oozed from my mouth by playing around the garden in our compound with my siblings and friends and how Dad would come intermittently to caution us on the need to play safe.

More updates on the way... Awaiting your comments and go ahead signal.

"Righteous Thieves" CONTINUES...

Enjoy and be free to pass your comments.
**********************************
But as I and everyone around me grew up, things began to change. And the particular change that brought about my present condition was invited when Dad picked up a new job after being laid off by Smith & co. – the same company he had been working with for over 10 years. After many failed attempts at new jobs, he got one with a construction company that inadvertently required him to travel every month. Dad said they were to build some kind of dam and firsthand departmental stores in the locality. In the whole of a month, we only would see or have anything of him in just a week after which he would pack his things and set out for another three weeks voyage.

On a night of one of his usual one week stay at home, he called me after dinner to make the most shocking announcement of my life.

“My boy, how have you been faring all this while?” he asked in his firm baritone voice which revealed nothing.

I searched his large piercing eyes for any hint at what he might be driving at and when I found none, I replied, “I’m doing ve-ry well sir.”

“Well, I don’t have much to say and…” He stopped and looked me in the eyes before continuing. “What I want to tell you is that you will be travelling with me in three days’ time when I will be leaving for my station …”

“Sir, but… but…but what about my school…?” In the midst of my confusion, that was all I could think to ask.

Dad was getting a little impatient when he answered, “Don’t worry, everything is settled. We have made plans to settle you in a new and fine school over there. Even your mum and your brothers will soon join us. It is for the good of all of us.”

When he mentioned ‘we’, I knew for sure that my mum had a hand in it. She probably must have informed Dad about my waywardness and gross disobedience in his absence. And the only solution they could arrive at was to send me to ‘exile’ under the hawk-like gaze and protective hands of my dad. Sheer wickedness, I thought to myself, not knowing that much more awaited me.

I was downcast for a lot of reasons: I hated travelling, I would lose a lot of friends, I would be robbed of any chance to come first again in class this term, and I would miss my brothers. Of all these, the most grating reason is that I would be demoted one way or the other. Where on earth do I start from? My new destination is a town that has just two tarred roads: the one that linked it with the city and the one that ran through the king’s palace. Also, there would be no access to the easeful amenities like there are in cities, no more basketball, no more of such delicacies associated with the city. The list was seemingly endless.

The most rational thing that occurred to me at the time was to run away from home. But after much deeper thoughts, I dropped such an impulsive and childish thought. Where on planet earth does a 15 year old boy who has never lived off his parents run to without money and other essentials?

Placidly, I accepted my fate and that was what rendered me an inhabitant of an entirely different world from what I knew beforehand.

Truth be told, my first month in this dark part of the world was utterly hellish. I was introduced to unusual conditions that were not part of the city life that I grew up with. I would fetch from a well as frequently as I would comb my hair. There were even times when one needed to fetch from a distant stream. Mosquitos were frequent acquaintances – not that there were no mosquitos in the city where I stayed but the ratio was so disproportionate. The school I was enrolled in (the best in the area) was nothing compared to St. Gregory College where I attended with its serene environment, plush and nicely mown lawn. The name in itself was infuriating – Gelede High school. I never for once loved to describe it to anyone because I would only end up giving more and more gruesome accounts of the school, students and teachers alike.

All the reports which I brought with me while coming were true except for that which painted the inhabitants in horrible light. Against what my friends (those who had been fed with several mythical stories) had told me, I found the environment largely undisturbed and the neighbours so peaceable. It is in this place that I would see someone help a neighbour pack clothes inside at the announcement of rain.

And there were no thieves. Apart from being told by Mrs. Agboola and other neighbours, I have also experienced it personally. No one took my things even when I didn’t keep them well.

“Even if you left your door open, nothing would happen to it. No one steals in this neighbourhood.” Mrs. Agboola would say.

“Hmmn… that’s pretty interesting. Very much unlike our dear city.” I would remark in response.

**********************************************************************

I guess these people were not right at all because the events that happened afterwards proved them otherwise.

Because Dad originally rented two rooms, I just settled into the less-occupied one when I arrived. He would always say to me never to handle his things and even mine carelessly. But I guess I never cared. I totally believed Martin’s mum on the ‘no-thief’ theory.

Not long after Mrs. Agboola came for Martins, I slipped into my bed and slept off my worries.

An insistent series of knocks on the door woke me up from my sleep.

I was wrong. It was in no way a series of knocks on the door but a pounding on the little reading table in the room. “Who the…who is that?” I asked with eyes that were pudgy with sleep.

As my eyes began to clear, I noticed that there were three huge and fierce looking men wearing masks that concealed the whole of their faces. They also clenched a club each in their hands. They moved with controlled and measured steps like one who knew his onions in the business. Also, they never seemed to be in a hurry. About how they managed to enter, that is no difficult question because I did not shut the door. Even with the door shut, the men staring me in the face would have had no difficulty in breaking in the wooden door that lifelessly guided the entrance.

One of them (the one who pounded the table with his club) held me by the shoulders and cast a menacing look at me. “Do you have any money in this house?” he asked with a tone of authority.

I was practically wetting my nightwear and shaking almost uncontrollably. Without having to think over it, I said a “yes” that was a blend of several versions of sobs and almost immediately pointed to where I kept my fortune. He told me to get it and I robotically lifted up my bed and dug my hand under the carpet.

They were all watching me with eyes that were both cautious and deadly. I produced the #10, 450 that was my fortune and placed it shakily into the waiting palms of the man.

“Is that all you have? Answer me quickly, we have other places to reach.”

“No sir.” And immediately, I fetched the trousers I wore the night before and emptied it into his hands.

“Why didn’t you lie?” The one of the trio who had been speaking spoke once again.

I was taken aback by the question. What exactly could be a thief’s concern with issues of truth and falsity? But because I feared what the effect of a club might be on me, I quickly answered, “Because I was afraid you might injure me and because...”

“Well,” he cut me off and at a whim, threw the money back at me, “learn to protect yourself in your own little way. Even if it might not really help, learn to lock your door before going to bed. It’s better to err on the side of caution.”

He made for the door while the others followed and in an instant turned back and added “And don’t think lies are totally harmful. You were totally truthful about your monies. It doesn’t work that way at all times.”

As he walked out, I noticed that he was wearing the kind of work boots that my dad always wore to work but this man wasn’t my dad in that he was taller and the voice obviously did not match my dad’s.

The next morning when I told Mrs. Agboola what happened, I was surprised that they had no such experience in their house and they never heard any noise during the night from mine. They hardly believed.

All she kept on saying was “I already told you that no one steals in the community.”

However, I knew better.

I did not tell her about the work boots and it remained a mystery to myself even till tomorrow.

yaaayy!!!!finally! m soo apy....atleast u av left us lazy peeps in d i wul start soon stage!.
lemme now read...
cc.Iosprince larrysun ishilove repogirl princesa

Ollyfad:
yaaayy!!!!finally! m soo apy....atleast u av left us lazy peeps in d i wul start soon stage!.
lemme now read...
cc.Iosprince larrysun ishilove repogirl princesa

Well, I hope I did not commit too much of a disaster in there.
Enjoy your reading and pls CRITIQUE.

;Dst gregory college nd gelede high...na real hell.
uhmm.....the thief wearing his dad work boot....( wat m tinkin ryt nw doesnt seem to make sense)
waiting for updates oo

Following. ....




No waste time

Mattttthew, thanks 4 following...

I guess I will disappoint you and every other expectant readers with this...

...that when I started writing it, a short story was what I had in mind and this particular point is actually my intended stopping point though I forgot to indicate.

I intetionally left it open in this maanner to allow for guesses...

But if my keen readers insist on an update, I guess I could put in a few updates and strongly hope not to sully the whole thing.

THANKS.

nice job, there is absolutely no need for expansion, just perfect.

onizy:
nice job, there is absolutely no need for expansion, just perfect.

Thanks. Kindly follow up my new piece titled 'I hate Miracles'. I hope you'd enjoy it.

I comment ma reserve
buh definitely following