As I sat right there on
my bike, I could hear my heartbeat louder than ever. I felt the adrenaline rushing
through my bloodstreams. I held the bicycle’s handlebar tightly with one of my
legs on the pedal and the other on the ground. I could feel the earth move
under my foot. I fixed my gaze on the policemen few metres away. They were
flogging and frog-jumping some defaulters of the sit home order.
As I looked on, one of
the policemen saw me and shouted orders at me to come to them. A thousand
thoughts raced through my mind. To obey or not to obey, that was the question.
When I realized quickly that there was only one way out, I quickly made my
decision. I made a quick U-turn and raced off with my bike and rode away as
fast as my leg could pedal.
My name is Luke Orji, I
live in Lagos, Nigeria and you might want to know what led to the situation
above. Well, it was as a result of the isolation order relating to the
COVID-19. Social distancing, isolation and other precautions were advised as
ways to prevent the spread of the virus. Different countries put measures in
place to curb the spread of the virus.
To help stop the spread
of the virus, the government declared a lockdown. The lockdown somehow prevents
communal gatherings and favours restriction within one’s home. One failure on
the part of the government was that they did not provide financial support for people
to survive the lockdown. It was every man for himself.
Day one of the
lockdown, it was 6.30am and my alarm went off, as I wanted to hurry out of bed
to take my bath, I remembered that there was lockdown. Immediately, I sank back into bed and rolled
under the sheets again to catch another round of sleep. As I shut my eyes to
force the sleep to come, there was a knock on my door.
“Who could that be this
morning?” I cursed the knocker under my breath and rolled over and covered my
head with a pillow.
As I laid there hoping
the knocker would go away but to my amazement the knocker persisted then resort
to calling my name.
“Luke! Luke!! Lukie!!!”
A female voice called from the back of the door. I recognized the voice
immediately. It was my nosy neighbour, Agatha.
In anger I yelled,
“Agatha, what do you want?!”
She replied in a rather
soft voice, Luke, I need to borrow a little salt.”
I was angry and cursed
the virus - it was the lockdown that caused me to be at home to be bothered by
Agatha. Agatha was my annoying neighbour who has a crush on me. I reluctantly
got up from bed and walked to the door to interrogate her more. I spoke to her
through the door without opening.
“Agatha, it’s too early
for you to be disturbing me.” I said in disgust.
“Well, there is
lockdown, where are you gonna go? Please let me have a little salt.” She said
in a rather casual manner.
“Agatha, there is
coronavirus out there, it is not advisable for you to come in here let alone
borrow anything from me. I don’t know where you have been or who you had had
contact with” I queried.
“Lukie, Lukie, my
Lukie, I’ll rather contract coronavirus from you than anyone else. It would be
like Romeo and Juliet, Luke my Romeo.” She said flirtatiously.
“Agatha, I have warned
you to stop saying that, I am not your boyfriend.” I said firmly as I turned to
the kitchen to bring the salt.
I took a polythene bag
then poured a portion of salt into it and took it to the living room. I put on
my face mask, put on my gloves and in my nightwear headed for the door. I
opened the door a little and stretched the salt out to her.
She was delighted as
she grabbed the salt but before she could grab my hand, I slammed the door
shut.
“Luke, one day, I would
get you!” She said in a cheery voice.
I turned and made my
way back to bed, but on getting to the room, the desire to sleep left me. I sat
on the edge of the bed and stared round my room like a prisoner, I have become
a prisoner in my own home. I stayed in a moderately furnished one room
apartment which became a refuge or fortress of some sort. I converted it into
everything possible; it became my gym, my church, my movie theatre, my office,
my sanctuary.
Well, I thought to
myself, that the first time in a long while I was away from the four walls of
the office. I never have to wake up early to run out of the house to the
office. I became another person entirely – it was like a dream come true for me.
So, I said if I must make it through this isolation, then I have to be fit.
Then I started vigorous workout routine.
Two weeks down the
line, my money was depleting and sooner or later I just have to find a way out
to make some money. Going by the nature of the country, power is the major
problem here so I started my business around it. I connected with my friend who
sells power bank. I placed an order for like 20 units of power bank. I put up
an advert on Facebook and placed my phone number there for door-to-door
delivery.
The advert paid off
immediately, my phone began to blow up with calls. I was surprised and happy at
the same time. It was an overnight success because many people wanted to stay
online with their phones on. It was a risky venture, the government restricted
movement of people from place to place except for people on essential duties
like medical personnel, policemen, pressmen etc.
I was able to harness
my way to every delivery point without issues using my bicycle. However, one
faithful day, things didn’t go according to plan. It happened that after my deliveries
I was four streets away from my home. I saw some policemen like 50 meters ahead
on a roadblock. They already had like five people detained being frog jumped. I
was lucky to have sighted them from far off.
Immediately, one of the
policemen yelled out to me, Hey, boy just come here!” I quickly made a U-turn
to start riding in the opposite direction. Where I was riding to, I never knew,
I just wanted to avoid being manhandled.
As I rode like few
meters, I saw another police officer in front of me waiting for me with a
horsewhip. I did not stop, I kept riding like a maniac but when I was a little
closer to him, I swerved into the bush, and began riding off-road. He chased me
like a crazy man, but I was too fast for him. I rode like crazy thanks to the
daily workouts.
I rode for a while and
when I saw that I was out of their range, I slowed down. It was a long ride that
took extra hours to get home. On getting home, I rushed to the bathroom to have
a very cold bath and after lay on the floor and slept off without eating.
I spent the rest of the
days indoors, watching as events unfold. The time seems to be very slow; I
began noticing every detail in my home. I saw every crack in the wall, noticed
every tree and building in my surrounding that I never knew existed.
The whole situation
after a while became monotonous. I was bored, needed to meet people again, the
isolation was beginning to have its toll on me. I am now beginning to nurture
the feeling of having Agatha come over and be with me. I must be losing it
though. I am seeing from my mind’s eye how beautiful she is and how caring she
can be. I think I have secretly fallen in love with Agatha.
