THE DISMISSAL

'I don't want you in this workshop anymore, so pack your things and get out! And by things I mean your ignorance, thievery and arrogance because you possess nothing else here. Useless boy!' the owner or Oga as he was called in the mechanic workshop spat fierily. Tiny bullets of saliva shot out of his mouth with the dismissive words, the bullets pouring out like a machine gun when he shouted get out.  This was a problem of his; that need for his words to drag with them on their way out, spit. However Oga is a good and morally upright man who believes in doing what was right as much as possible. His workshop was only fifteen months old and was built to standard as far as standards went; he had good working equipment and sold genuine spare parts and his customer base was becoming too overwhelming for his enterprise to service completely. But I do not care about his success because I do not own a car even though I still find his passion and zeal commendable nonetheless, especially in a country wherein most people want more money whilst giving poor quality service. What I care about are his workers and students and the coveralls they wear while working; orange in color with the expected black blotches smeared here and there on the wears, which made them look like kids used to make exaggerated adverts on detergents. But the color isn't all, the thing I love most is the fact that whenever they are leaving the four walls of the shop, they first exit the dirt of their work clothes and put on clean ones like civil men and you can seat beside them comfortably in a commercial vehicle without even knowing what it is they do. But you see these other guys in our local and more pervasive mechanic workshops? My God! These guys would bathe you with grease or break your head or an appendage with a motor part in a tightly congested taxi cab. Avoid these ones!

'Blockhead!' Oga yelled at last as Osarobo—the dude who needs to leave with his ignorance, thievery and arrogance, words he knew not their meaning—turns his back to exit the salivary man and his salivary office, hissing and mumbling as he went away with his marijuana-perfumed body.

Oga knew his father from another story and out of the kindness of his heart, following several pleas by the father, had taken him in as an apprentice, in the hopes of fixing his delinquency as he learned to fix automobiles. Almost like trying to quickly fill a puddle before it turned into a gully. But Oga knows now that he was already a gully and couldn't put up with his defiance and thievery anymore.

Osarobo's case was the kind society quickly dismissed as spiritual when they can't explain its cause or proffer a solution. He is an alleged cultist whose arrogant carriage embodies different stories: his eyes talk of addiction and danger, his gruff voice is an arsenal for armed robbers for effectively instilling fear in the weak and his body, scarred at almost every angle, told one of a hothead, an upgraded hooligan and sucker for conflict. Stealing, smoking and fighting were the major crimes he was known for; the typical bitter ingredients a delinquent kid living in Benin city was made of.

Anyway, his dismissal had happened only two days back and today his eyes were being searched for as they hid behind his swollen eyelids, his mouth had increased painfully in size and were bloody. His head had put on weight within a few minutes. Isn't God wonderful? Normal people have to go through series of junk eating before achieving this but here we have a miracle. He was clutching, in pain, his left arm broken with an iron rod wielded by a young man from the angry mob whose assault have been curbed by the presence of some policemen. The damage Nigerians can do when they unite against an offender.

Oga had been rushed to the hospital some minutes ago by some of his apprentices who were more interested in saving the life of their boss whose chest now accommodated two bullets from a small homemade pistol, than pursuing Osarobo the shooter whose sagging trousers had hindered his escape after he emptied the firing device.