I don’t know how and where to start this story from. Should I start from the past to the present or the present, then joggle through the past?
This woman lodged into the hotel around September last year, she was pregnant then and she told us her husband stays abroad. She deposited money that will cover the bill for a month for our economy room which is the cheapest room in Hotel Conga, about Two Thousand Naira a day.
“My husband is in Dubai and if I mention the name of my father-in-law, you will shake”, she will always say.
She told us that she doesn’t want her father-in-law to visit her because he will always come with a convoy and this will make people know her.
She lives with her sister, brother, and daughter.
Weeks passed and I noticed that she wears one shabby gown with her unbraided hair filled with undergrowth. She comes to mummy Diamond’s shop to buy things on credit, she will wait for everyone to buy and leave then she will buy something worth N200 on credit, and ask her to add it to her bill. I always sit at mummy D’s shop whenever I am less busy. I also noticed that her daughter wasn’t going to school, and when I asked her about the beautiful little girl’s education, she said she doesn’t like the schools around, she is looking for a big school.
When she gave birth to her baby around October, she borrowed two thousand Naira from me, then later borrowed another three thousand Naira. November, she sent her brother to borrow four thousand Naira from me, and I reluctantly gave him.
During Christmas, she rushed down to my table begging for Twenty Thousand Naira.
“Anwuolam o (I’m dead), ncha agaghi abam na anya na mmiri (I won’t let soap enter my eyes when I’m in a river). Mmiri na eri m (I’m drowning), Nna please help me” She had wailed
I asked if her baby is okay and she replied, “Nna, it’s not about baby, what is about to happen is worse than losing a baby”
After her mini-drama, she calmed down then she told me that someone wants to take her husband from her and her pastor saw the vision and asked her to send twenty thousand Naira to buy some materials for prayer. I told her I didn’t have such an amount of money, but she pressed and pressed. I also tried to advise her against such “Prophecy” because I wondered what materials the pastor wanted to buy for prayers, but her mind was made up, and she pressed me like I was entitled to her.
Finally, I sent the pastor ten thousand Naira, and she promised to pay me back that weekend when her father-in-law finally visits. Well, I have been hearing that story. Mind you, she is still owing me nine thousand Naira o, she hasn’t paid for the room she occupied since November, and her little drops of water credit transactions with Mummy Diamond have turned into a river of still waters.
This January, she told me that her pastor saw me in his vision and will love to see me, that the foundation of the hotel is not pure, and that the owner of the hotel tied every staff and guest.
“Every night, a dwarf spirit hovers around this hotel”, she told me.
“But I stay awake at night, I’ve never seen such”, I replied.
“It’s a spiritual thing, how will you see it?” She pushed.
She narrated that since she moved into our hotel, her sources of income have been tied down and she has been going through challenges. But that her pastor just concluded the prayers last week, that since then, her doors have opened again. Her husband just sent her a thousand dollars after two months of silence and her father-in-law will visit that weekend.
“Finally, my money will be paid back to me” I thought. I told her I will think about the invitation from her pastor.
That weekend she moved out of the hotel. No one knew how they moved out unnoticed. Well, she didn’t have many clothes or property.
Yesterday, I got a call from her, she wanted to send me my money. I sent her my GTB account details, and she called to tell me that the POS machine wasn’t not seeing my bank. I sent her my Access Bank details, and she said the same thing, I sent her my Fidelity Bank details and she said she had left the place but she will do it this morning. Now she said the machine didn’t see my Fidelity Account.
