I sat back in my chair, barely listening to the person near the entrance of the conference hall, who was droning on and on about some new thing that was coming to S and M. Not that any of that concerned me. My job was to do enough to earn my salary and get off work when the day was over. Or so I thought.
"And the winners would get 1 million in cash prize, and 15 million other assorted prizes, that come from our sponsors."
Now that got my attention. I turned to look at Samuel who was dutifully taking notes. "How can we win a million?"
He laughed. "I knew that that was the one that will get you. Unfortunately for you, you have to work in order to get the prize. If not they would just be throwing away money."
I groaned. "Somebody should just dash me money, abeg."
Samuel shook his head, looked up to the sky and whispered, "God when."
Then we both laughed, as quietly as we could of course. We had fallen victim to one too many raucous laughter in several meetings before and we knew enough to not try it again.
But our precautions were not enough. The person sitting in front of us, an old man who was beginning to go bald turned to look sternly at the two of us. He was wearing a blue suit and a white shirt, no tie, and one could clearly see the bump of his pot belly underneath. "Would you two idiots keep your mouth shut."
"Sorry Bassey," Samuel apologised while I looked away, "It won't happen again."
He eyed the two of us and turned back to face the speaker, who seemed just about to finish up his presentation. I stuck out my tongue at his balding head and Samuel snickered.
"Etim, it's enough," he said, "Before we get in trouble again. I'm already close to not being able to buy that new Dig Raider that's coming out tomorrow. Not everyone can depend on their parents like you."
I sat back once again and stared at the ceiling. "Don't worry about it, if it gets to that, I'll try to convince my mom to get one for you as well. Or you can just share mine."
The roar of applause drew my attention and I looked ahead to see the speaker leaving the hall. People clapped him away, and I couldn't be gladder to see him go. I glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, a few minutes to closing. I didn't want to spend another moment here that wasn't necessary.
A higher executive took the stage. "That was Peter Barrow who came to talk to us about their companies latest activities, another round of applause for him."
People clapped again, and Peter acknowledged them with a wave.
The exec continued. "And with that we have come to the end of today's seminar. Don't forget you can find all the information on what transpired today on the notice boards in all the office floors."
But at this point I wasn't listening anymore. People were already streaming out and I wasn't intending on staying here a moment longer. I joined in with the crowd as we shuffled our way to the elevator.
Batches of people descended and the three elevators that were installed, strained to handle all of them. The waiting was insufferable, and even with the A/Cs on, I could still feel the heat emanating off some people.
I forced my way into the elevator just before the door closed and came face to face with someone I didn't really want to meet.
"Sandra," I greeted to maintain cordiality.
"Etim," she greeted back.
I faced her no more and turned instead to face the door of the elevator. I couldn't deal with any of her right now, or anytime for that matter. But I couldn't avoid her. As the floor boss, she was in charge of supervising all the workers on the floor. And I, unfortunately, fell under her jurisdiction.
As the elevator hit the ground floor, I sped off, almost running through the lobby, out the front door and out onto the street that ran in front of the building. People were already loading themselves into taxis that would take them home. Though others decided to go to the bar nearby for an after-work drink.
The sun hit hard. The heat that took up residence outside the doors of the building in stark contrast to the cool of its insides. I wiped the sweat that was forming on my forehead with my hands, before drying it on my suit pants.
A taxi pulled up at the bottom of the stairs that led towards the building entrance, and I seized the opportunity. I pulled open the door and entered into the back seat of the cab. Its interior looked just as beat up as its exterior, but what did I expect.
"First Station," I ordered as I sat back in the seat to rest.
"Oga, the car no dey full," The taxi man said.
I stuffed my hand inside my pocket pulled out some notes and handed it to the man, resisting the urge to fling it at his face. "That should be enough for the extra seats."
With that, he was satisfied enough to begin the journey. The car drive through the streets of the city, passing highrise after highrise, as well as the occasional duplex or walled compound. Poster stuck to some walls and giant billboards displayed their wares to the streets below them.
The taxi pulled up to First Station and I got down. The imposing structure of the entrance marvelled me every time. Three arches stood to allow the passage of people into and from the station.
The sounds of trains going and coming could be heard both above ground, for those who wished to travel out, and below ground, for those that whished to navigate the innards of the city.
I followed the crowds of people into the building and turned off immediately into the underground passages. There I found a train going in my direction and bought a ticket with my train card. After a short wait, the train came thundering towards the platform, slowly coming to a stop when its form was revealed by the lights.
I boarded the train and took a seat opposite the doors. The doors closed and the train began to leave the station. Immediately a wave of fatigue crashed over me. I couldn't wait to get home and sleep.