The story of the scavenger.

- Ijeoma .O.

I'm a scavenger. That's what they call what I do. I'm not sure who or where I was born.
During my early years, I grew up with an aunty, Auntie Janet. We were over 12 boys living on what you could barely call a 2 bedroom. Nonetheless, we had a roof over our heads, which was very important. At 8 years, I was out in the streets, the introductory part and stage of my real life. I was even lucky. Kayode started off at 5; he's late now. He used to be my closest brother. He was 4 years older than me and apparently, I was his favorite of all the 12 of us. He left us at the age of 20, said he wanted better, he wanted more. We heard about his death 2 weeks after his body was found under a bridge. We weren't sure how he died.

I was a part of a whole. As little as we were, we tried to mind our business and as much as we could, stay out of trouble with the other kids from other neighborhoods. At 15, I ventured into other businesses like carrying load in the market, cobbler, street hawker; all kinds of petty things I could lay my hands on. As much as I could, I avoided trouble and illegal dealings. At 19, I wasn't satisfied with the uncertainty of my life. I decided to stick to what I know how to do best; scavenging.
Love finds us, even the mist worthless of us all. At 26, I had saved just enough money to invest in buying a plot of land. At 29, my perfect age, or rather, my age of perfection, I was lucky to acquire an extra plot, and started developing it. I didn't find love, love found me. She came in the guise of trouble and I liked that kind of trouble. I was captivated by the one who had the form of trouble. She was mesmerized by my diplomacy, and that was how it started. At 35, I made a roof over my head and it was my roof. Imade became my trouble. My trouble became my Imade and I was always happy. She always made me happy.
I am a scavenger. I could do better if I had a better opportunity from the onset, but I made the best out of what I had. But I'm not as bad as can be imagined.

I am the average nigerian, but I'm not as bad as can be imagined.

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