Stereotypes [A Nigerian Story]

Chapter 2

My neighbourhood had the same look it had when we first moved here years back, except for a few new shops that were recently built but were yet to be rented.  There were houses facing  each other on both sides of the street. Buildings weren't apart from each other. To be precise, each house shared a fence with another.

There was nothing similar about all the houses. They all stood out in different colors. For those who bothered, there were flowers planted around the fence that decorated it. Only few houses had gutters. Water had formed a path for itself that linked to the proper gutters. I don't blame the landlords that built the houses. Everyone was interested in just erecting a structure and renting it out. The tenants would never spend money on doing that too because they claimed it wasn't their personal house and so not their duty.

Most families owned their own homes and only a few public compounds existed on my street. The place was mostly quiet except for the loud noise that usually came from the other public houses down the street. There were fights occasionally that could have originated from different things.

It could start from the children or just someone playing loud music or about whose turn it was to clean the compound. Anything could lead to those fights. When it happens, some people will choose to gather around to find out what the problem was this time. But for the rest of us, we no longer cared.

Sometimes the fight escalated and the people involved moved outside their yard to the main street which meant an outsider had to intervene. Those fights only happen from time to time. So I wasn't surprised when I saw a crowd gather in front of one compound.

It was the house where mama Iyabo lived and everyone who lived in this street knew that she was always the one to pick up fights with others. The fight sounded really serious because I could hear their loud voice from a distance.

"Why you pour water for my domot?", a woman spoke.

"Na your house? You be landlord?" I recognised that voice as mama Iyabo's.

"Make una see wetin this woman dey do o. I don talk am say I go kill person for here one day", the first woman spoke again.

Come kill me make I see. I go show you say Oshogbo winch pass your own", mama iyabo threatened back.

[Translation]

"Why did you pour water in front of my house", a woman spoke.

"Is it your house? Are you the landlord", I recognised that voice as mama Iyabo's

"You people should see what this woman is doing. I have said I will kill someone here one day", the first woman spoke again.