Happenings

Disclaimer

Whilst these stories are inspired by actual events, certain characters, characterizations and dialogue were fictionalized or invented for purposes of dramatization

PICKPOCKETS

Martin gripped the handles of his bag, resting on his shoulders. He could see Evelyn's white house just a few feet from where he stood. And Evelyn's herself stood outside waiting for him. He smiled sheepishly. Evelyn started to walk towards him when she saw him. They met each other halfway. In a businesslike manner Evelyn asked, "the laptop".

"Sure", Martin said. He opened his bag and gasped. Then he put his hand through it. His hand came out at the bottom. He held it upright and looked through it. There was a gaping hole at the bottom. Someone had cut a hole right through it. One large enough for his laptop to slip through.

Both of them immediately knew what had happened. Martin bit his lips in despair.

Martin had passed through the infamous Circle to get to Evelyn's house. Kwame Nkrumah circle was famous for many things. One was for the many pickpockets that loitered around the area.

He sat down and held his head. "What am I going to tell my dad?" he said.

Evelyn simply shrugged.

 

"Let me handle this", Kingsley said.

His friend Samson simply nodded. They were on their way to Circle, to buy a phone. Both of them had heard the stories. Some vendors managed to pass of bars of soap as phones. These vendors actually happened to be the pickpockets that moved around Circle and stole people's gadgets. They then brought them out to sell. Of course a lot of the time it was a classic bait and switch. They lured you in with a good looking gadget, and when you weren't looking switched it with bars of soap. Or gave you a faulty one.

Many people stayed away from them because of this. But others, like  Kingsley, dared to engage in a battle of wits with the pickpockets. The thing about those phones were that they came at a great bargain. Less than half the original price. Samson was the one who wanted the phone. Kingsley had absolute faith in his own street smarts.

They came across a vendor and from his looks alone it was clear he was one of them. They quickly found the phone they were looking for. A Samsung Galaxy S3. Kingsley took it out off the box and examined it. He checked all the features and the product ID to make sure it was genuine. He handed it to Samson so he could look it over.

Then he asked for the price. "120 Gh", the man said.

Kingsley smiled. "50".

The man glared at him with a vengeance. "100", he repeated.

They bargained until they settled on eighty. The man was visibly annoyed but said nothing.

He took out a rubber bag.

And then the moment of truth…

Kingsley saw his hands moving. He was probably in the process of switching the boxes.

"Can I take a last look at the phone?" he asked.

He took the box from the man and opened it. He saw the phone grinned and closed it. And then he put it into the rubber himself. He and Samson turned to leave.

"Wait", the man said. "I forgot the charger. Follow me".

Kingsley wasn't so keen on that. But he decided to. All they needed was the charger and they were home free. A phone that cost several hundreds of cedis and they would walk away with it for eighty.

They followed the man. Until he led them into a long dark alley.

Then they realized their mistake.

Not far off in the distance were some other dangerous looking men. Probably the vendor's friends.

Then the vendor pulled out a knife. "Give it to me", he said.

Kingsley obliged. He handed the phone over. And then they walked away.

Samson looked at Kingsley. He was now 80 Ghana cedis poorer and he still hadn't found a phone yet.

 

Abu was walking home from work with his I-phone in his pocket. He walked past some two men in a motorcycle when he realized they were speaking in his tongue, Hausa. They were discussing what kind of phone he was having.

"It's an I-phone", one of them said.

"It looks like a Samsung Galaxy", the other argued.

 Abu immediately understood what was going on. They were planning to rob him. Right then and there Abu realized he had two options. One was to run. But those guys had a motorcycle. He wouldn't get far.

He chose option two. He walked back slowly towards them. And started to speak Hausa with them.

"It's an I- phone", he said.

"Come on, we're brothers. We both came from the mosque. Let's not do this today. "

The two of them contemplated Abu's speech. Then they decided to let him go.

As he walked away he pondered over his narrow escape. And the fact that he was a Christian, not a Muslim.

 

Esther was coming home from work when she saw them. Three men standing not far from her house. The streetlights were out and it was only because of her headlights that she saw them. Her eyes drifted to what they held in their hands. Machetes.

They quickly moved close to her car. Esther screamed. No one came out. She realized that if she didn't give these men what they wanted…

She managed to get off with giving them about 30 Gh. About five minutes later the police arrived. A constable put his head out of the window.

"They're already gone", Esther said. She pointed towards the direction in which they'd ran.

The police car moved in that direction. But she and the police both knew they wouldn't catch the thieves.

As Esther got home, her mother, father and younger brother came out to meet her.

"You guys were home? Why didn't you come out when I screamed?"

"That was you?" her mother said astonished. "We didn't know. We would have come out if we knew it was".

The underlying message sent a chill down her spine instead of a reassuring coolness. So what if they didn't know me? She asked herself.

 

 

POLICE

A woman rushed into a police station. The men behind the counter immediately got up. She'd rushed into the police station in such a hurry that he was sure something must be up.

"Police, I'm here to report my husband", she said.

The police man tensed even further.

"He beat me".

All the tension and anxiety the man had felt before immediately left. He felt a coolness rush over his entire body. He relaxed and almost laughed. This wasn't a case, he thought to himself. In hindsight he realized some of the bruises on her face and arms. But that wasn't enough.

"Madam", he advised," come back when your husband really beats you. Until we can see blood this is not a case we're going to handle".

 

A man rushed into the police station. "I'm here to report a robbery currently in progress", the man said.

The police officer behind the counter quickly asked for details as to the location of the robbery. After getting all the details he nodded. 'Okay. We'll be right with you. " He went inside and out of sight.

The man assumed the police officer was getting reinforcements ready. But when he came out alone, the man was confused.

"What's going on? Aren't we going?'' he asked

Somewhat embarrassed the police officer said, "We're sorry but we can't come with you. The man with the gun…isn't here".

 

 Ben quickly called the police when he heard what was going on. The entire neighborhood was in an uproar. Michael, the first son of the Sam family had been addicted to wee for more than two years. So far all attempts geared towards making sure he became clean had failed. Whilst many in the neighborhood felt for the family, some couldn't help but feel threatened by Michael's eccentric behavior. Many felt he would snap one day.

Ben, a single man in his late twenties was one of those. And today he was proved right. He'd woken up  to a hear a lot of ruckus going on outside. When he opened the door many people were standing in front of the home of the Sams.

"What's going on?" he asked Anita, a fellow neighbor.

"Michael suddenly grabbed a machete this morning and is holding the rest of the family hostage."

 Ben immediately rushed back in, grabbed his phone and called 191. A man picked up the phone.

Ben immediately relayed the situation to him. The man listened calmly and barely interrupted. When Ben was finished, he said, "could one person from the house come to the police station to verify your story?"

"What? I'm telling you they've been taken hostage and this is what you tell me? How do you expect them to? They should maneuver past their crazy family member and make it to your station to confirm?"

"No", the man began.

Ben cut the call. He was too angry to listen to any excuse. He went back outside. A band of young men had come together, moved inside the family home and overpowered the eldest son. The situation was back under control.

Without the help of the police.