LIBERATION The cars were slower today. The wind felt thicker. A haggard woman rambled by the road side. A destitute child dawdled past picking dirt as she walked. The gold merchants: all Hausa, the other traders and the men constantly clawing at, grabbing, pushing, sweet-talking and nagging, hoping you would follow them into their stalls were even rarer by this time. But you could still feel their shadows. It was weekend, towards night in the weekend. As if that matters. A man with a cat on his shoulders walked towards me, a rope locked around its neck and clipped to his belt amongst other loose clothing, garbage jewelry and flashy metals that did not rhyme with the shiny jargon of his unkempt hair, the metallic waste of his skin nor with the dust and smear permanently rubbed in like on a mechanic after a tedious job with engine oil. The cat sat still on his shoulders. Its penetrating fluid eyes stared vacantly, as if to cement the obvious state of permanent insanity, total loss of balance, infernal damnation. Animal lost in space... I wondered whether the cat too was mad. If even cats and the lesser creatures could be mad? If they weren’t all already in one permanent untouchable state of madness? But no one uttered a word. Instead we avoided contact of any kind, while throwing the curious spiting gaze. A beggar resting on his crutches with the stump that once housed the missing limb. He motioned for some change ‘Allah would bless you.’ He said and I escaped to the left. It was two bus stops away from the hospital when I stopped for a few items. The woman trader I finally settled for shouted at me ‘Trouble maker!’ She yelled simply because I asked for a bigger polythene bag. When the Keke, – Commercial Tricycle stopped me at Airport Road. A woman came rushing at me stumping her finely covered feet, her skirt rising helplessly with the imploring motions of her hands ‘Please brother! Help me! My Atm card!... Ojuelegba! Oh my dear child! My son! God will bless you!’ (To be cont'd) #iamDanalaeyar #Danrevolution #theDanAgenda #DanLove #Infiniteexceed #Soarbeyond #Livegood #broodingsofawisesoul #Danalaeyarwhisperingsfrommyangelmuse https://www.instagram.com/p/BhYI5qDhv0t/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=b675zrl65izz