The mobile phone alarm blared out a party song by a Nigerian musician, there is no way you wouldn't hear such loud noise from the abyss of dream land, no matter how tired your body, or potent the substance you sipped, smoked, sniffed or swallowed before sleeping.
That was the start of a new working day for Francis. He always wanted to delay in bed for another fifteen minutes before getting up, but the loud and funny dance hall music would not let him stay in bed for ten more seconds from when it always started to play at five thirty in the morning.
He got up, said his prayers of the Rosary and listened to gospel music while doing some exercises. He then put on the TV, entered the bathroom to have a shower and was dressed up to go to work. Things didn't always go this smoothly every day though, especially if you were a banker in Lagos Nigeria, and was expected to be in the office by 7:15am every day, except for Saturdays and Sundays.
For instance, there was 'NEPA light' (electric power) today, so he used the hot shower, on days there was no light, he heated up his bathing water on the gas burner as he prayed. Also the flat he rented had a functional solar powered borehole, so he didn't have to wake up and scout for water like many of his colleagues, or how he did when he first came to Lagos, while staying with Sani his classmate from secondary school.
Francis removed a neatly sewn navy blue three piece suit from his wardrobe. Looking sharp and sophisticated was a deliberate and conscious ritual for him every Monday, to look like he owned the bank that he worked in. He always looked distinctively debonair with whatever modest accessory he wore, he had his jackets carefully sewn by hand by some good tailors, who made his unique well fitted suits and traditional attires, which they were all expected to wear on Fridays.
He was now fully dressed up, except for the tie that was still dangling unknotted around his collar, he made a quick breakfast of cornflakes with some slices of bread, and ate while flipping through the news channels on his television. He knotted the tie, properly locked up his apartment and was off to work at about 6:45am.
Francis usually reached the office gate in a maximum of twenty minutes, but he arrived in fifteen, because he lived close to his office in the Lagos island area and there was less traffic. He waved at the security man who opened the gate for him as he drove in, and the man waved back almost subconsciously. "Morn sah", he shouted with a sloppy salute as the car passed him. His attention seemed to be more with his friends inside their small office by the gate. If it were at a more cordial time, they all would have swarmed around his car the moment he drove in, and spent some few minutes arguing about the soccer matches of the weekend. It was almost their daily routine depending on the general mood of the day. On this morning however, the men were hungrily munching away wraps of 'Okpa', and Francis was not in a patronizing mood either. He drove by the side of the building, and went behind to the reserved parking space for staff, there were only a few cars there, but he knew that many other staff who didn't have cars would have been inside already. He parked his car neatly and entered the bank's building through an unmarked door that led to his office. He dropped his small work bag and headed to the conference room where their morning briefing was to commence in fifteen minutes.
The room had a scintillating, yet confusing fragrance, because of the various brands of perfumes which all competed for dominance. The sensation was neither pleasant nor repulsive, but no one would miss the bright spark of shinning suits, well-polished shoes and shiny faces trying by all means to look bright, even when fatigue and stress was clearly written in most of them. That's how you knew Mr. Poffet was the supervisor on duty.
Mr. Poffet always set everyone on the edge because he was never impressed with what anyone did, no matter how much effort they put into it, he always maintained a very shrewd disposition, and was always everywhere at every time in the whole of the bank's building, especially the exact moment when someone was doing something wrong, and he always went for the pound of flesh in full scales. This made him very unpopular with all the other bank staff, but a very celebrated crony to his fellow executives, because he made them a lot of money every now and then. He knew very important people in government and was among the richest men in the bank. For the rest of the working week, he would lead the pep-talk and delineate everyone's task for each day, his renowned catch phrase always capped it all, "cheer up guys, let's bake some bread". With that, he expected to see everyone with a cheerful grin at all times, irrespective of whatever bothered them. He didn't care to notice whether the smile was artificial or true, but you were sure to be on his good side if he saw you with that wide smile on your face. Revealing your teeth as you smiled always got you more consideration, if you wanted to ask for a favour from him. He would consider the request very carefully before saying yes or no. But it was mostly a 'no', unless if it was a life threatening situation. Francis Secretly called him Mr. No behind his back.
One time he refused to allow a female staff to see her son, when she was called and informed that he had been rushed to the hospital, after falling from a mango tree. All her pleas to Mr. Poffet to let her attend to her child fell on deaf ears, he threatened her with a query if she dared to walk out of the bank before closing time. She immediately tendered her resignation and walked out, everyone was upset with him, but he still insisted that the woman should be further charged to court and punished. Unluckily for him, the odds went against him, and the woman was recalled, but she couldn't understand why she should keep working for an organization that cared less for her personal wellbeing. So she refused to return.
After every morning meeting, Mr. Poffet always asked at least five people to wait behind whenever he was the one on duty, and Francis was always among them. Not that something different or special was being discussed afterwards, but he always felt the need to emphasize all he had said in the general meeting. Francis was always exasperated by that, but he always tried to stay on Poffet's good side because he was sure to earn himself some extra cash, in all of the boss's special assignments. His gaze was fixed on Mr. Poffet as he addressed the staff, but his mind was totally on the lady sitting opposite of him, Pauline. Immediately the briefing was over, her beautiful smile caught up with him as he walked towards her, it was flawless, and she meant the face. She always had a lovely smile for everyone. Francis badly wanted to give her a very warm hug, to feel her bulging soft breasts on his chest, but the peering onlookers he caught from all sides would trigger busy mouths.
"Good morning Francis", she greeted as she opened her arms for an embrace, while he was about to extend a handshake, he was glad he didn't. "Good morning Angel, I hope you had a great night rest", he replied. Talking with Pauline was one of the only two moments he completely forgot about all his worries in life, the other was whenever he got unexpected extra cash.
"You look ravishing", he continued. He was about to speak further when Mr. Poffet brought him back to reality. "Morning Mr. Francis", greeted Mr. Poffet from the distance. "Did you finish balancing those figures I gave you yesterday?" Deep in his heart, Francis wished he could throw the man a grenade made of iron thorns and acid, but he excused himself from Pauline, and went towards him with a large smile. "Ah! Oga Poffet, good morning sir, I'm actually done, I was about to come to your office after the briefing". "Yes I know, waved the boss, come over let me talk to you for a second". Francis was getting irritated, that Mr. Poffet could not let something as little as his interaction with Pauline slide by. Even madam Kate the unofficial office pastor, was too busy in her small talk by the side with Hajiya Mairo. The serious look on their faces accentuated that they were drenched deep into a gossip, it was usually about their fellow senior colleagues. Gossip was the only thing that united them. While everyone else was already at their duty posts, in anticipation of the customers that would start flowing in once the bank's doors were opened, senior staff like Madam Kate and a few others, could afford idle talk for almost thirty minutes before settling in their offices, where they didn't do more than sending emails.
"Young man", started Mr. Poffet, "have you seen the roster?" He inquired, "I was about to", replied Francis. "No need", interrupted Poffet, "you're with me… Well you're officially in the bulk room, but I am expecting special customers today so you will be by my side". Francis's heart sank, he preferred to be in the bulk room, at least he was certain that all he would do the whole day is count money, a task which he usually left for the interns and new contract staff to do under his supervision. The only thing that needed close monitoring was its packaging and movement to the vault. However being by Mr. Poffet's side required everything, from counting money, cashing, depositing, photocopying, spying on colleagues, summoning whoever was caught by the surveillance camera, to any other thing he wanted you to do. Summoning your colleague for breaking any of the bank rules was the errand they all revered, nobody liked being the bearer of bad news, except for Mr. Poffet himself. They all knew it could happen to anybody at any time, because the bank rules were so tempting to break, and they all did every once in a while, especially if someone less rigid as Mr. Poffet was on duty.
Francis looked round and saw Kunle, he was a bit relieved because the young man was constantly ingratiated towards Mr. Poffet, and this always inspired a series of eye service moves, something which frequently alleviated some of the tasks from Francis's shoulders.
Kunle was the most popular of Mr. Poffet's minions, while others repeatedly denied their closeness to him in the eyes of their colleagues, by avoiding him publicly, Kunle was a loyal fan who cherished the idea of being around him at all times, he too was as shrewd as Poffet. Francis believed strongly the young man would have done better in the Nigerian Police Force.
Mr. Poffet was specific with his instructions to Francis. "You will receive cash later in the day that you will take to Mrs. Effiong in the bulk room, she knows what to do once she sees you, do you understand?" He asked. "Yes sir", replied Francis, but quite frankly, he did not understand, but he knew that something fishy was about to go down. "I am expecting my friends Hon. Lancer and DePrince", continued Mr. Poffet, it then began to smell like money laundering to Francis, it always seemed that way whenever those two were around, bringing their monies from different sources, to clean up and make legitimate. It was common practice that all the old workers in the bank knew how to facilitate very well.
DePrince was a business man, and the owner of DePalace Lounge, a private guest house that metamorphosed into a bar, then a nightclub, and finally a preferred location, for the practice of every immoral vice known on the surface of the earth, you would never imagine for a second you were in Nigeria once you were there. The establishment was well furnished, managed, secure and up to date with the demands of customers, so people always went there. It was also located in a very serene and liberal part of the city center, where many corporate organizations, private businesses and people of all nationalities did their business and resided. So it wouldn't be strange for such a man to deposit large sums of cash into various bank accounts every day, would it? Except rumour had it that various politicians used him to launder their money, in fact it is said that the growth of his business over the years was largely financed by them. For the bank, the money was clean enough for them, after all, the hospitality business is one that thrives anywhere in the world, so far as the players involved know the dynamics of demand and supply. Besides, weren't banks meant for saving money?