He pulled down, sank in the last seat— “short one” in motor park parlance— & put on a pair of glasses. Then he started collecting his fare. Despite Lagos daily churning out surprises, a bus conductor with medicated glasses is a unique spectacle.
Last week was filled with odd firsts & weirdly amusing scenes. On Sunday, I saw a female barber in action at a salon in the mall. The previous evening, I saw a cart parked by a vulcaniser next to my barber’s place— it had never crossed my mind that cart pushers would need to keep their tyres pumped, too. But then, I’d seen a cart with a Benz logo attached to its front somewhere in Victoria Island in the past.
Two sparsely-clad fair-skinned girls in their early twenties walked into Mediccy pharmacy. I was meant to be next but they barged in & cut the queue. It had been a long day & I was tired—I’d rather wait a few more minutes to be attended to than get into any form of fight.
They spoke, almost in a whisper, as if ashamed of their enquiry. The pharmacist’s voice echoed their request. She asked follow-up questions to know what they needed the drugs for. They are sex workers in search of protection— from STDs & pregnancies. It is strange— and this is the weirdest of my experiences this January— that a sex worker would be timid about what should be the most important aspect of her business. I remember walking into a pharmacy in Festac to buy condoms. The owner told me they don’t sell, scorn & pity written on his face— scorn for the sin, pity for the sinner.
Sexual health is underrated here!
You think you've seen it all, then boom, another surprise.
What a way to begin a new month. I love the pace of this piece and how astoundingly visceral it is. Thank you gifting this to us.