LIFE AS SHE SEES IT : EBOLA et al........by Adesuwa

"Get up joor! Dey there dey sleep like fowl!"Lisa hit her room mate's feet that peeked out of the duvet and pulled at them.

"Leave me jare" Eniola murmured. After having been awake all night, disturbance was not welcome.

It was 1pm.

Lisa climbed the bed and dragged away the pillow Eniola was hugging.

"Lisa what is it?"

"Hmmmm. It’s this ebola stuff o!"

Eniola shot up, quickly shifting away from Lisa. "Huh? You are ill or something?"

"Abegi, so if I get am now, na so you go pick race abi?" Lisa eyed her

Eniola held her chest and sighed. "No be so.."

"See, how we wan take dey do our runs? Ebola has entered Lagos o and we are in Lagos!!" Lisa said like 'being in Lagos' was not obvious.

"What are you talking about?"Eniola was still sleepy

"Hmmmm, you know after I left you yesterday, that guy I told you about..the one I said spoke in a funny way, he called me. I gladly went because from the way he sounded when he called I just felt he would pay well. He took me to Valencia's where we were going to get down, next thing a call came and he went out to receive it.  He left his stuffs on one of the pillows, plus his international passport. Hmmm...I don't even know why I did, but I looked through his passport and lo! He had recently been at Sierra leone!!!"Lisa clapped her hands

"Ehen? Sierra Leone is still 'abroad' now..." Eniola started saying and then she caught herself "Oh! wait o!  Is that not the main place where the virus is finishing people?"

"Yes o! Eni mehn! I didn't do again." Lisa raised her arms.

"Huh?"

"I just picked my bag and left o! I no wan die! Funny enough I thought I would see him outside the room or something, I don prepare to shout to say he try to stop me. If you see as I take run commot for that hotel eh?! He has been calling my phone since like say them send am come!"

"Ahnahn? Was 'ebola' written on the passport too? Or on his forehead? Kini? Shey you said, he said he works at mobil? So you forfeited good money because of fear?" Eniola could not believe her ears.

"What are you saying sef? So I should have done it even with the risk involved?"

"E get time wey risk no dey involved?"

Lisa kept quiet for some seconds "ehh but see, that's why I am discussing with you. What would we do?" She was serious "I don't know any other way to make money eh?Are we going to be telling our clients to bathe with medicated soap before action and we too would bathe or how?"

Eniola looked away. First she was trying to imagine how much Lisa had passed on, but then again Lisa had a point. She whispered "See me o! That's true. And I had two lebanese guys yesterday." The truth is she was not sure of their nationalities, they were just white-skinned and good 'magas'.

Lisa heard her "hian! You no dey fear sef? I am scared of my hands not to talk of 'lebanese'. Shebi na foreign person carry am come lagos?" She was not sure. With the hypertensive kinds of news that the media reports these days, it felt safer to hang on to 'word on the streets'.

"Woh, na God dey protect person abeg. If ebola fit kill us, even boko haram fit reach us too. Anyhow we take do am risk dey."Eniola murmured, got up from the bed and stretched. Stopping 'runs' now was not even an option. She had promised to send some money home this week, so her father could start renovating the family house and she could not even imagine adjusting to a penniless lifestyle. On the scale of the levels of 'runs babes' they were in the middle class. She made N250,000 last night., even some bankers don't earn that much in two months. She shuddered as she remembered all she did to earn that amount.  Her 'shit hole' still ached, they insisted on going through that way. She silently asked for God's mercy...afterall He's ever merciful.

"Hey girls!" Another lady came in to the room, She was all smiles. "See as you na leave the main door open? And no body dey parlour"

"Linda Babe! Na wa to you o! Na so e sweet?!" Eniola hailed "see when you are coming back since yesterday"

"Hmmm, Money over everything o!" Linda laughed

"I feel you!" Eniola hooted

Linda walked to the bed and placed her Victoria Beckham handbag carefully on the bed. She glanced at Lisa who was yet to say anything.  "Lisa? Wetin dey do you?"

Lisa looked worried and shifted on the bed.

"Don't mind Lisa jare. Ebola dey do am. She dey fear. Imagine the babe asking me what we would do with our clients? unto say ebola dey town" Eniola went on to recount Lisa's story to Linda.

"Hmmmm, me sef reason this matter o. E no go easy. Wetin we go do now? I just tire for this life. If no be Boko haram, then na ebola go kill person join wetin dey ground! Well na to bathe and wash our hands everytime with medicated soap now, then to stop eating bush meat. Even 'suya' is suspect too o"

Anyone who listened to the three of them speak would think they lacked proper education. They were all University graduates. After studying economics and had combed the town for jobs to no avail, they settled for 'runs' when life became very difficult. They had been friends since they met at the University of Ife and were in the same class. Their line of business entailed living fake lives - fake accent, hair, nails, careers...there was nothing they could not feign or lie about.  Eniola had always been the leader of the pack, urging them on with her philosophy that  "men just cannot resist flashy babes".

"Only? What about our clients?" Lisa asked

"We would try to tell them to do same. Or do you have another suggestion?" Linda was impatient

"Woh! Woh! Life continues! You may not have ebola, but Boko Haram go fit still kill you!" Eniola retorted

"You no add poverty?" Linda interjected

"Yes and that too! We would just take necessary precautions and pray." Eniola said "or shey if them give you  one million naira cash you no go take? Or hasn't it occurred to you that ebola carriers too would touch and spend money?" She looked at the clock "its 1.30pm already...Chief and co are coming in today. We need to get ready. Don't derail us with your worries abeg".

Lisa sighed deeply. Every thing around her screamed 'ebola', her skin felt funny... She remembered how she rushed home to bathe after she had left the mobil man. Sshe rubbed her arms idly and sighed again. Yet she needed to survive. "God dey" she whispered to herself.

"Bia! Lisa this one that you are doing one kain, you sure say that bobo no infect you?!" Linda joked.

Eniola laughed out loud and left the room "ebola ko, E. Bola ni".

N.B With the talks and reality of the 'Ebola virus', it’s really dampening to think that it affects our very being. One can only hope that the events of our time would give us reasons to choose to live good lives. You may want to argue that everything is a risk these days, but who would lose from bad choices? That question is yours to answer.

 GOD is with us. 

Best Regards

ADESUWA