Episode 1
I walked into the inner chambers of the ATM hall to make a withdrawal; low and behold, an ATM card was in the mouth of the machine. Was that the mouth? I guess not! The mouth should be where it vomits the cash. So I can call it the eye, or ear....or....okk, not that! you know what I mean shaa...a card was in the card-entrance of the machine. The machine was blinking and sounding a light warning note, like a notification for the card waiting for collection. It wasn't hard to decode what had happened. The last person to use the machine must have collected his cash and zoomed off without collecting his card. I looked left and right, the other two machines were occupied. No one seem to notice what was going on. There was no queue, the fourth machine opposite mine was still empty. I pushed the card back in slightly. For the next 9 seconds or so, my mind was wondering what will be next. The machine welcomed me...or welcomed the owner of the card with name displayed on the screen; prompting me for a password. Passwords! I calmly punched in the numbers... 1:2:3:4 and pressed enter key. Wrong Password! Well, what was I thinking! Which dunce in this information age will use such a weak password. Would have been surprised if it worked. "Do you need more time for your transaction?" The ATM machine was prompting me to proceed or get-the-fvck out of its presence. I pressed the no button and it ejected the card. The other two guys making withdrawal from the other machines left. The hall was empty, just me and 4 ATM machines. I decided to get adventurous. I looked at the ATM card in my hand. The name of the owner was written fully. I brought out my phone and searched facebook for the name. 2min later, I got the owners full profile and date of birth. This was gonna be fun! Born in 2nd february, 1979, there were only 2 possible password combinations and after that, no more! 2:2:7:9 1:9:7:9 For some unknown reason, I tried the second one first...it worked! I was staring at the control panel of the account...Balance, Withdrawal, Inquiry, Transfer, Statement.... I heard the footstep behind me and my heart nearly jumped out of my mouth. I turned around just in time to see a man walk into the hall. He looked at me with a cold eyes, like he was about to jump at me. I felt a hard notch down my throat, like a fist trying to suffocate me. The man was approaching me calmly like he knew I had no place to run to; like a cat backed on the walls! I prayed the earth would open and swallow me! I was almost having a heart-attack; or a stroke whichever one kills faster. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I swallowed hard and felt my throat ache like I hard burning coal in my throat. Then, all of a sudden, the man walked past me to the nearby ATM machine. He stared at me one last time like he knew I wasn't all right; then he faced his machine and started his transaction. "Do you need more time for your transaction?" The ATM was asking me once more. Then I got confused! What was I doing? Adventure at first, but now this was crime! Pure crime! There should be a boundary between adventures and crime: I think I just overstepped the boundary. I wondered what would have happened if that man was the original owner of the card?! Well, the name on the card and the facebook profile was that of a lady. Could still have been the owner! A lady will raise hell if she happened on someone trying to rob her. A guy might be understanding but a lady will sure raise hell. "Please take your card"! The machine was tired of my bullshit. It vomited the card and continued its light warning note for me to collect the card. I contemplated on leaving the card there: just the way it was when I met it. On a second thought, another person may stumble on it and wreck more havoc. I decided to hand it over to the bank security still on duty. One last thought occurred to me as I was walking towards the security post: I checked the owner's facebook profile again and her number was there. Well, if I was going to be a good samaritan, I better get some acknowledgment and a vote of thanks. I dialed the number and she picked on the second ring. 'Hello?' It was a rich voice with no accent. 'Hello...' I replied and informed her she had forgotten her card in the ATM machine at the bank premises. 'Really?' She asked nonchalantly. 'Yes ma' I replied. There was silence on the other line... 'Hello?' I wanted to make sure she heard me alright. 'Yes, I'm still here.' She said. She informed me she was on a car to an urgent function and can't turn around immediately. 'I will call you later in the evening for it.' She concluded. I walked back to the atm machine. I still needed to make some withdrawals. I inserted my card and completed my transaction. Then, out of inquisitiveness, I decided to check her account balance. It wasn't like she will be notified that someone checked her account balance: it was only during withdrawals that such notification is sent. I inserted the card, punched the numbers, selected balance inquiry and then... I needed to get closer to the machine to get a clearer picture: it was 8 digits in the savings account, another 8 digits in the current account. Cool, solid cash in millions! So many thoughts rushed through my mind. I had to remind myself the difference between crime and adventure and to stay on the other side of the line. Moreover, I had made the call with my phone line. "Do you need more time for your transaction?" Damn this ATM machine! I was sure it had some evil spirits inside it. Who knows if it actually caused that innocent woman to forget her card. 'Please take your card' 'Fool...' I cursed it before walking out of the bank

Episode 2
I spent the better part of the day contemplating on the choice I just made. My carnal mind was at war with my moral mind. I love adventures, but not so keen on crime. I have a natural phobia for crime; especially when it involves robbing innocent people. But millions of naira? What more could be adventurous? It was a long boring day. I had traveled down to Ph enroute home to attend a wedding and spend some time with my friends at the city. My friend was still at work: his holiday was just the 25th and 26th. I was lucky with 2 weeks break from work. Ph hasn't been all that fun since I arrived. I was already running short of cash from endless hanging out due to boredom. I could really make do with some money but I wasn't going to steal some. Since I got nothing much to do, I decided to probe more into the lady who owned the card. With such millions lodged into an account, she must be wealthy. I did a little background check and it was obvious she was active in the social media. Her facebook wall was updated regularly with recent events. I browsed her profile fully: she was the ceo of a beauty spa at Abuja: she lives in Abuja and had two salons at different areas in the town. I kept searching: from her recent updates, she was in ph for an event: a wedding ceremony. She was a mother of two; no info about her marriage history or her husband. Just some random pix of she and different men. She had two facebook pages, all devoted to beauty tips; make-ups, wears, trending fashion tips, pictures of she and a lot of celebrities, mostly from the movie industry. She also had some others I suspect to be politicians. She had pix of her trips out of the country: there was Dubai, London, Paris, Doha, South Africa and the Seychelles. Then there was a third facebook page which was for a closed user-group. Didn't know what the content were as I couldn't access it. I kept searching: She was on Instagram so I took the liberty of digging further. Her walls were filled with nice pix of her and her daughters. She had pix with celebrities. It was obvious she was the fun-loving type, rich and gorgeous. When I was bored of checking up on her, I decided to head to my friend's place. He wasn't back from work yet so I watched some movies with the laptop. By 6pm, she hadn't called yet. When it got to 7pm and I didn't get a call, I decided to give her a call. When she picked, it was obvious she was at a noisy place. "Who am I speaking with?" She inquired as she picked the call. "The guy with your atm card." I said confidently believing I would pique her interest. "Oh, you again!" She proclaimed like I was bordering her life. I swallowed hard and allowed her to continue. "I'm in a function and I can't speak right now, I will inform you of what to do." She said categorically and cut the call. I stared blankly at my phone for some minutes and could hardly make out sense in the situation. Just then, my friend returned from work and I told him all that happened. As usual, he didn't have any useful advise to give. "Just do what you feel is right." He answered casually. What I felt was right? Should have flung the damn card away! Some minutes later, a text message entered my phone: 'Drop the card with the receptionist at Hotel Presidential, tell them its for the occupant of Rm 19D.' How convenient! I thought to myself. Now I'm a courier guy delivering lost cards. What else won't I do for her! Maybe I should just flush the card down the toilet! "Did I tell you I had her password?" I asked my friend who was busy playing Winning Eleven with the laptop. "What do you want to do? Steal from a poor woman?" He asked. "She's not poor, she's rich and there were millions in her account!" I said to him. "Do what you want to do!" He said again. I thought about it again. It was more annoying than I anticipated. There was little more that I could do at the moment. There was no way I would be going to the Presidential Hotel to deliver an Atm card in absentia like I was a delivery boy. "Can you imagine these guys mandated that I come to work on the 26th?" My friend asked, looking up to me. Typical of him, he doesn't have any useful advise to give when you inform him of something but expects you to listen to his whining about work. "I can't wait to leave this company!" He lamented again. That has been his watchword since he got this job. He's been with the same company for over 3 years now, whining about how he hates his job but makes little or no effort to leave them. "Do what you want to do!" I replied him. "Fool!" He lamented and I smiled. The only time we have a meaningful conversation is when we talk about girls. Nothing takes his mind away from playing games in the laptop except the talk of girls and when you give him a listening ear to his whining about job: that and when he was very hungry. I picked my phone and replied the message. "Call me when you're ready to get your card."