Human beings could be as fickle as the wind

I was trying hard to make peace and there he was, adding fuel to the fire. If only I was allowed to beat up my seniors, I would have spanked the man shouting at the top of his voice. To think that the person he was supporting was barely paying him or anybody else any attention. Some men could do anything when expecting a couple of naira notes from a so-called ‘big man'.

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“He should at least get down from his car and apologize to this woman, she's old enough to be his mother,” I said to the ranting man before me.

“You know who you dey follow talk like this? Na house of reps member be this o”

The man ranted, hitting the bonnet of the black Land Rover where the bulky man in black shades was seated comfortably as if nothing was going on with one of his arms resting on the sill of his window.

I was just standing at the entrance to a shopping mall where I went to get groceries for the month when I experienced a mild accident. An old woman who was trying to flag down a commercial vehicle got hit by a man in the Land Rover.

We all saw that it was an accident, the man who was reversing had not checked to see if someone was behind his car, and the woman who heard the sound of the car behind her didn't check to see if there was an oncoming vehicle.

Thankfully, the collision was not severe. Some onlookers and I rushed to the old woman's aid as she crashed to the ground bruising her 2 hands. Someone brought a sachet of water and we were able to rinse off the sand and blood to prevent the scratches from getting infected.

All this woman wanted was an apology from this man who hit her but none was forthcoming.

“Don't you have a mother? If a stranger hit your mother would you sit in your car and claim to be a big man?” The old woman too was crying at the top of her voice.

One of the onlookers had offered to take her immediately to a clinic for a general body checkup but she said she was going nowhere if the man in the vehicle did not step down to give her an apology.

That was when the middle-aged man who I was exchanging words with came into the picture.

“Madam, person don offer to carry you go checkup, leave oga alone go check yourself. Him no get your time”

I was pained after hearing this and didn't know when a reply came out of my mouth. Truly, maturity was not a function of age.

“Oga, I'm trying my best to beg this woman to leave and go check herself and you're here adding fuel to the fire. If you don't have anything helpful to say, leave this place!”

I usually didn't speak to older people that way but I was really upset because I could see that his misplaced loyalty was a function of eye service. If the victim was a younger person then I wouldn't have a problem but she was an old woman for crying out loud.

“See, smallie, nobody put your mouth for here o. Better comot here before they jam you next” the middle-aged man shouted back at me.

The man in the jeep didn't say a word throughout this entire exchange and that upset me the more. Who did he think he was to treat people Like that? Whether he was a true member of the House of Representatives like the middle-aged man announced him to be, or he was the next president of the country, I felt he would have made an effort to beg the old woman.

We were still there exchanging words when suddenly, I felt something whiz past my face. I ducked out of reflex and turned wide-eyed at the old woman. She had picked a stone in the middle of the fracas and aimed directly for one of the side mirrors which came apart immediately.

Everyone froze for a second. The middle-aged man who had been running his mouth all along quickly walked into the supermarket I was just coming out from.

It was then that the man in shades stepped down from the car. He was leaning heavily on a walking stick and took his shades off when he wanted to address the old woman.

“You're going to pay for this. Do you know how much this car cost?”

“Oga, do your worst! Rubbish!” She said and walked away with a satisfied smile on her face.

I stood there as stupefied as the remaining onlookers were. There was nothing this man could do now. As the crowd dispersed, I turned and saw that middle-aged man peeping cowardly from the supermarket. After adding fuel to the fire, he backed out leaving the arrogant man to face his music by himself.

I shook my head and walked away, human beings could be as fickle as the wind, one minute they were on this side, and the next, they were completely invisible.