THE TELEPHONE
Toyin was more than delighted to receive such an expensive gift from Dele, her fiancé. It was a brand new telephone, and it looked exactly like she wanted, bright in white and somewhat square shaped. It had a little screen and worked with many buttons. In those times when telephones cost so much, one would think twice about purchasing one. But Dele had proven his love for her once again by getting her this expensive gift. It was at a time when telephones were rare, mostly owned by the few that could afford them. That was when phone boots roamed the streets, making money out of the people that couldn't afford to own a phone for themselves. A time when men and women had to scream on the top of their voices while making calls, just so it would he obvious that they owned a telephone.
"Do you like it?" Dele said with a smile.
"I love it!" Toyin could not help but scream out her excitement. "You must have spent a fortune in getting this"
"Anything for you dear", Dele was her dream come true, she was sure he would always take good care of her.
Toyin quickly tore the transparent nylon off the phone, haven taken out the carton. She jumped on Dele in excitement. She was more than eager to learn how the phone worked, and though the buttons squeaked at every touch, she loved it. She saved tons of contacts and made calls to say that she now had a phone. Dele watched with delight as she would not stop smiling.
"I love you so much, thank you", she said, giving him a shy smile.
" I love you too and will do more for you if you let me", they hugged and kissed for much more time than they had planned.
Hours later, Toyin received a call. Dele had left her house only 30 minutes ago. She wandered if he had forgotten something hence the call, but she was surprised to see a different and entirely strange number.
"Hello, good evening"
"Good evening, please who am I speaking with?" She really needed to know.
"You do not know me, but I know you" the strange voice sounded, it was unusually deep, Toyin noticed.
"My name is Charles", Mr. Deep-voice continued, it seemed to Toyin like he took out time at intervals to take in air.
"I'm a good friend to Dele and I just heard news that he has been involved in an accident on his way from your place. Please do well to come now to Cristal Medical Center, Dele is in a critical condition ". Haven said that, the call went off.
Toyin lost her calm immediately. She ran left, right and center trying to put some clothes on as she was inappropriately dressed for the visit to the hospital. After ravaging through her many wares in confusion, she slipped into a dress, put her feet into her slippers and raced out of the house. Only a few steps away from her house, she met three young men in black. They looked scary but the one at the middle seemed to be worse. She knew that she had been attacked, for in her haste, she had forgotten that it was too late for any decent woman to walk alone. She should have gotten Shade her neighbor to come with her, she thought. She didnt have money to give and certainly did not want to get raped by these men so she tried frantically to explain that she had to meet with a loved one who had been involved in an accident.
"Shut up joor!", the man in the middle spoke, his voice sounded familiar. Very familiar and extremely deep too, fear gripped Toyin.
"It's too sad that you were gullible enough to believe my fake story. You'll have to suffer for your gullibility" He was smoking.
He was beginning to move too close for comfort. He was about to stab her with a weapon but just before the knife pierced through her belly, Toyin jerked up from her sleep. She was very relieved to find that it was all a dream.
"What sort of a dream is this?" She marveled.
"God forbid bad thing oh", she said to herself in pidgin English, snapping her fingers over and around her head repeatedly.
" Amen", a voice responded from behind her. It startled Toyin because she lived alone. Turning around, she almost fainted out of shock. Toyin pinched herself over and again to be sure this was not another dream.
"Keep your mouth shut and don't attempt to scream, where is the phone?" His eyes were fierce, his voice deep, and his sturdy hands held firm to the knife. Toyin could not remember having any phone except in her dream.