Something About 6 AM

3 Hours in Traffic

It's been six months working for an NGO and I'm already brain fatigued. There were days when I just wished to not do anything – not think about so much work. My boss was an actual boss-lady, and she never even realized how frustrating it is to get up at 6:00 AM, shower, get dressed, and spend extra long hours in traffic before getting to work.

"Julia. Where are those reports I asked you to get me yesterday?! I told you that all deadlines need to be met!! I don't give two fucks if your cat is dying, or if you were hit by an okada! Just get me the goddamn reports!" I didn't even have a cat to start with, she just means it when she says she doesn't care.
"Ye-Yes ma – I mean, Ms. Lola." She thinks calling her 'Ma' makes her look old, she was Thirty Nine Years Old, I was Twenty Three, and I sure as hell didn't give two flying fucks either.
I hurried back to my workstation to treat the report as she requested.
"Motherfu..." my cup of hot coffee dropped to the desk, spilling over a couple of documents Ms. Lola gave me to work for the reports, and most annoyingly, on my phone.

"Nononono", as I quickly cleaned the spill off my phone, turned it on... "Thank God!" Super relieved. I checked my notifications to see a text from the guy I met two nights ago. It read; Hey Julia, you could've at least woken me up to tell me you were ready to go, I would've dropped you back at your house. I enjoyed every bit of our time together. I can't wait to do it again. You were sweet and so full of energy. Please send me your account details, let me send you a little something.

What th- who the hell is this guy again? No be only do it again. Funny thing is, I don't even remember what went down. Oh well, that was some great nine shot of nastiness, I thought to myself. I am no hoe, but I could really use some extra cash right now.

I texted him my account number and in less than twenty seconds, I got an alert in my bank account N120,000!!! My eyes widened, I let myself smile widely... "Ooh wow..." how generous eh. Was I that enjoyable in – "BE NEEDING THAT REPORT IN THE NEXT HOUR!!!".

"I'M ON IT!" I yelled back at my boss.
Her office was right next to mine. Walls were far from sound-proofed, in fact, it was made out of light board. So, she could hear almost everything I did in my work station. Most times, I ran out of the office to take any call that I couldn't whisper softly to.

I hurried back to finish the report using the mail she had sent last week to accumulate data for her perusal.

***

Ms. Lola might be hard on me, but she was not as hard as the traffic I faced heading back home. I always wished for the weekend to roll in before starting a new week of misery.

I got home past 10 PM, spending up to three hours in traffic. Ugh, good lord! I need to find something or somewhere to while away time with. I would rather spend three hours at the movies than in traffic.

I got home exhausted. There was no light. My neighbor had informed me about the power outage that happened in the area earlier that day and how we might not be having power for the next couple of days. So, I settled down in the living room on the couch to finally pay off all my debts, including the loan I collected from my friend last month. I made sure to set aside a budget for one-month food stuff in the kitchen. I was slowly running out of cash, again, and I could not afford eating out. I also budgeted for some new corporate clothes too. Ms. Lola once told me; If you want people to value and respect you, you have to dress, look and talk the part. The one hundred and twenty thousand naira definitely came in handy, but I was never seeing that dude again.

Ever...