@ugospur 3 August 2025 more from that month

Dance of the fools

Emmanuel looked at Chigo with anger. Didn't she know that we were barely managing, and yet she decided to get pregnant? Another eight children would follow, and she would be looking to me to salvage food for her—in this situation? He hissed and tugged at his whiskers. "I am going to the meeting." He turned tail and left his burrow. As he headed for the meeting, Emmanuel thought about the life of a rat. It was supposed to be simple: be born, eat, grow, have sex, and die. The few complications occur if the rat you fucked got pregnant; you have to provide food for her until she finishes breastfeeding those losers called children. The Earth is usually your home, and humans are the unwilling and unknowing providers of food. That was what it was. But with the recession hitting hard, the humans had started to reduce their food supplies. Bins that were full of leftovers were now running empty. And with the arrival of Sussie, the world would become even bleaker for rats if nothing was done. Sussie is the baddest bitch on the street—and that’s saying a lot, considering actual bitches exist. Unlike humans, whose clumsy footsteps act as sirens before they come out, Sussie’s steps are deliberate, silent, and calculated—always ten steps ahead of any rat. When she pounces on one, the unfortunate being is torn so badly that no one recognizes them. She was once just a street problem, something that the house rats used to laugh at us street rats about. But now she has been adopted by the Anyanwus—the only people who still keep leftovers. Both street and house rats need the Anyanwus' bin. Hence, the meeting. The underground hall was so noisy you could swear the whole of Lagos had gathered there. Rats were discussing violently. What’s the commotion about? "It’s about Sussie. Someone is suggesting that we fight her." "Who’s the fool? Doesn’t he know that we are rats?" "It’s Nwaka!" Nwaka was the fattest rat that ever liveth. Because of that, other rats listened to him. Emmanuel braced himself for more stupidity. "We can do it! We just need a plan." "Why can't we poison her the way the humans poison us?" "Do you know what a poison is? Can you identify a poison?" Emmanuel screamed. "This is madness!" "So what do you suggest?" Nwaka eyed him. "We all forget about the Anyanwus and find another base we can feed from. This is Lagos, and there are many rich people. It won’t be easy, but—" "You say this because your wife is pregnant again! Don’t lead us with your wife's problem." The whole place erupted in laughter and hisses. Emmanuel tugged at his whiskers in anger. So I came here to be ridiculed. He sat and watched as Nwaka continued his idiotic plan. When they were done, he left the hall, initially intent on going home—but Nwaka stopped him. "I thought you would wait and watch for our success—oh, sorry, you have a wife to feed!" he said, shining his brown teeth. "Greet Chigo for me and tell her that next time, she should choose a fatter man to pump her!" Nwaka and his volunteers laughed, galling Emmanuel. He decided to wait. So Emmanuel turned back to the hall and found a few rats arguing. He sat and listened to them. Five minutes later, he saw Koko—the smallest and most mobile of the volunteers—running toward them. "What happened?" "Sussie has eaten Nwaka!" Emmanuel smiled and walked away, wagging his tail to one of P-Square’s songs. *E don happen!*