If you're the type who doesn't pay your utility bills on time, you'd probably dread the visit of the guy from the water, cable or electricity company bringing a notice of termination of service. To you he'd surely be an unwanted guest whose visit could foul up your day but without doing any serious harm.
There is or would I rather say there are another set of unwanted guests whose visit is usually heralded by pure dread. The aftermath of their departure is usually met with a huge sigh of relief from the unwilling host who had no option but to bear the inconveniences caused by their stay. These unwanted guests are the men of the underworld.
For the lucky hosts the only loss that follows such visits is money but for the unlucky ones there could be additional losses such as damage to properties, bodily harm and the worse case scenario of loss of lives. An encounter with these unwelcome visitors could indeed be a traumatic experience that is capable of scarring one for life.
I was quite young, precisely in junior high school when my family was forced to host these unwelcome visitors. I remember the events of that night as though they happened yesterday. On the fateful night I was awakened to the sight of my father shuttling between the room where my elder brother and cousin slept and his bedroom.
It was an unusual sight and I instinctively sensed that something was wrong. While this was going on I heard some voices outside the window where I and my other siblings slept. This confirmed my worst fears. We were hosting the men of the underworld that night.
Finally after several round trips,my father returned the last time from older siblings room and our guests proceeded to pay a visit to the neighbouring apartment. They received a 'warm' welcome from the occupants of the apartment who put up a good fight to resist their entry. But alas they could only hold them off for that long.
Following the heated exchanges between the 'guests' and our neighbours, my father immediately ordered us from our beds to the floor, switched off the lights and instructed us to remain silent. I didn't quite understand the reason for this as well as the events that preceded it until the break of dawn when the entire events of the night were laid bare.
It so happened that when my elder sibling had woken up that night , he found that the window by the reading table was open which shouldn't have been the case. As he proceeded to shut it, he was welcomed by the nozzle of a gun. This was the beginning of our troubles that night.
While the robbers ensured that he was within their sights they instructed him to wake up my cousin to occupy the chair by the reading table. He was to be their hostage while my elder sibling was instructed to proceed to wake my dad up literally for forced ' negotiations' to endure the safety of my cousin as well as the entire family.
After much negotiations, my father paid the 'ransom' demanded by the unwanted visitors and they thereafter proceeded to our neighbours to confer hosting rights on them. But our neighbours were not having it at least not without putting up a fight. My father gave the instruction for everyone to lie on the floor following the engagement between the guests and our neighbours. The reason for this was to keep us out of harm's way of being hit by a stray bullet.
We also learnt at dawn that a brave occupant of the neighbouring compound had managed to evade the robbers and went in search of help. He narrated that he encoutered some police officers whom he pleaded with to accompany him to dislodge the guests from their apartment. The ridiculous excuse the officers gave for not immediately responding to the distress call still boggles my mind till this very day. He said they told him they were aware of the ongoing robbery and we're lying in wait for the robbers.
Alas help never came and the powerful guests gained entry after much damage to the building as well as properties. The brave occupants also received some beatings for daring to refuse the hosting rights and attempting to resist their entry. Eventually the guests still made away with some ransome money while leaving destruction in their wake. Shortly after this unwelcome visit , we moved out from that area to a more secure location with a lower likelihood of ever having to play hosts to the men of the underworld who are indeed the worst kind of unwelcome guests one can ever encounter.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
ขอบคุณ
ধন্যবাদ
Спасибо
for reading.
