The Robbery Attack - Episode 2

 

I tossed and turned until my alarm beeped. It was 5.am. It was time to rise up and prepare food for the kids and wake them up by 6am to prepare for school.  During my time in the kitchen, my mind tried to understand this new information. 

‘You people are the first to be robbed oh’ a tiny voice said in my head.

“ Shut up”. I replied.

“Who are you talking to?” . Frightened and startled, I turned around to see Seun who was standing in the door way. 

“Didn’t know I was that loud, forgive me. This robbery is really giving me a cause to worry”. 

He smiled as he walked towards the fridge to drink water which was his daily ritual.

“I still find it funny and see it as an expensive joke. No one is coming to rob us.” He replied.

“It isn’t funny Seun. Just think of it for a moment. If it is true, what do we do?”

“We would put up a fight” he said simply and walked out of the kitchen.

I busied myself with the meal preparation. 

I was a bit distracted at work. I work at a telecommunications company where I work as the supervisor of the internal audit department. I was staring into oblivion when I heard a bang

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/the-robbery-attack

. Startled, I looked around to see Wunmi, my colleague and friend standing across me with a smug on her face.

“What are you thinking about this morning?” She asked.

Should I tell her or not? As my mind did to tell or not to tell, she snapped her fingers at me.

“Wake up woman, what is wrong?”

I picked up my phone and showed her an image I had taken of the letter sent to us.

She burst into laughter and stared at me in the face. 

“Did you take this serious?” She asked.

“Of course I do take it serious”. I replied.

She took a seat and laughed hysterically.

“This isn’t funny Wunmi, they gave a letter to every occupant of House 5 and warned us not to inform the authorities”. I said shivering from the thought of it.

“A bored child is bound to make joke of you guys. What is Seun saying about it”

“He smiled and said it’s a bluff”. I replied

“My point exactly. Please unease your heart and don’t dwell on impossibilities and focus on more reasonable stuff”

I eyeballed her as I adjusted in my seat.

“I came to ask if you saw Hanty, her seat is empty”. Wunmi asked.

“She sent a mail this morning, informing me about a final meeting at the headquarters and won’t be returning to the office”. 

“Thank you Jesus!!! Wunmi exclaimed. 

Hanty as we fondly called her is our branch manager who sometimes is a pain and everyone is excited when she isn’t around. She was in her forties, unmarried and very ambitious. 

Her presence in the office stirred discomfort. She was the Miranda Presley of our branch. Everyone feared her except me because I respect her. She had achieved alot at her age and isn't ready to stop climbing the ladder of success.

“I can go home early and spend sometime with my babies”. Wunmi said.

Wunmi has two kids, a boy and girl. She is married to a wonderful man, Obinna who is a banker. They are the perfect picture of the happy couple but when they fight, they fight dirty. 

I got home that day and met Seun in a mood. I greeted and he snapped back at me. In our 10 years of marriage, I have learnt to walk away when I see him in a fit or upset. When he is ready to talk, he walks up to me and unburden himself. I went inside the kids’ room to see them watching cartoon.

‘Your dad must he upset’ I thought.

Seun was a contractor with an engineering firm and most times, he’s away from the house for a week for projects, whenever he is home, he spends most times with the kids playing tag. But when he’s upset, he’s on his own pouting and frowning.

“What do we do about this robbery letter” He said as he walked into our bedroom as I changed into house clothes.

“I thought you said it was a joke and unrealistic?”. I replied in sarcasm.

“It isn’t anymore. I spoke with some guys today and one of them told me it had happened to a friend. He explained the details of the letter right before I could read it out loud”.

My mouth was agape during the talk. He looked upset and that means he was serious about it.

“He said the friend in question, out of fear travelled and once the heist was over, he returned but when he returned, the 'Men of the Night' came back to rob just him and took way more than they took from other tenants of the house”. 

He sat on the bed and I stared at him with my top in my hand but with my mouth closed now. 

“Did anyone try to contact the authorities?” I quizzed.

“He said when his friend received the letter, one of the tenant of the apartment building called the police and they called the letter bluff. Reluctantly, they sent a squad down the premises to parade. On arrival of the ‘Men of the Night’ they ran"

" They knew the exact person that called the police. When they got to the person’s apartment, they asked him to choose the type of beating he wanted. They placed before him cane, koboko, fist and punishment of frog jump. He chose the latter, he jumped from the time they started robbing till when they finished robbing 15 flats. He begged and cried, a grown man shedding tears like a little boy.

Read " The Longest Night " by the same author ( Nancy Eseosa )

. On top of that, they flogged him which made sitting a task for him to do for weeks”. He continued.

I had put on my top because I was cold and practicallu shivering from the gist.

“But how do they transport their spoils” I asked.

“They come in with a big van and for every apartment, they pick what they want and put on the porch. Once robbery is done, they move one by one until it’s complete and they drive out”. He said.

“What do we do?”

“He also said, they are courteous, they would say ‘Thank you’ after the raid”. He said.

“So they would tell me ‘Thank you after stealing my stuff?”. I asked 

He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity.

“Babe, they don’t call it stealing. The 'Men of the Night' call it ‘gift to the underprivileged’. Once they take your TV, they say, ‘thank You for gifting this to the underprivileged’. Once they are done with the raid, they say, ‘Thank you for gifting these items to the underprivileged’”

With that, he left the room. What we could do? Was all I could think of at the moment. I was uncertain about a lot of things but one thing I was certain about, is that the kids are eating cereals to bed because I was too shaken to make any food.