Musa’s Eyes At The Gate

An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics-Plutarch.

Sometime in November, 2023, an elderly woman in her sixties hired the services of a chef, whom she knew through her sister-in-law that is way older than her. This elderly woman is an upper class citizen living in a grand estate in Abuja; alone. She had an event that Sunday at her house, and she needed a caterer to cater for the number of guests she had invited, and because of the longstanding relationship between her sister-in-law and her chef she decided to recommend her for the job.

When the Chef communicated to the woman on the phone, she stated that she wanted the Chef to come unaccompanied. The Chef refused; there was no way she would be catering for an event, no matter how small without the extra hand of her girls. After she realized that the Chef was unwilling to do as she wanted, she reluctantly accepted. Meanwhile, she made certain that every item the Chef bought for cooking was accounted for. In fact, when the list was initially sent to her, she calculated over and over again, just to make sure that the numbers were adding up.

The day before the main day, the Chef drove to her house to drop off the items that she had bought in the market. She honked and honked, and it was not until she had to call the elderly woman on the phone that she came out and opened the gate herself.

This woman in her sixties has no gateman, no domestic servants, no companion!

Anyway, the Chef went with her girls, two of them that weekend to cook for her. They went late Saturday afternoon, and stayed the night just to be able to meet up because the event was that Sunday. The woman kept them in her room downstairs…according to her, she stays downstairs because she has some pains in her legs, and so she cannot be climbing the stairs. Therefore, everything they did was within the room, kitchen and backyard. When it was time to grind tomatoes, she told them that she wasn’t comfortable using “grinding engine” that is being used by other people, so they had to use her blender to grind tomatoes worth thousands of naira, as well as beans for moi-moi. Everything they did was in the house, even though it took them several hours, because they had to use whatever it was she provided to be used.

Mind you, she stayed around and monitored all that they did. They did not have the luxury to chit-chat, because she was always in their face, and for a house as big and well furnished as hers, it is not strange that there were CCTV in every room and corner. The only place they had the liberty to gossip and share a few giggles was the backyard.

They spent the entire night working their backside off.

Sunday afternoon, the Chef insisted on leaving; she had a get-together to attend with her husband, even though she had already painfully missed Sunday service that day. The arrangement was to cook for her only. It was when they arrived at her house that she also mentioned that they would be serving her guests.

So if I had actually listened to this woman and came alone, I would have done all this by myself? The Chef mused.

So, the Chef revved her car engine and zoomed out of the woman’s compound Sunday afternoon, leaving her girls to serve her guests. A scant minute later, the woman started to act out her true self. It was as though she was waiting for the Chef to leave. She started yelling at the girls, throwing insults and vile words at them, and ordering them around like slaves. They worked for her, serving her guests and cleaning up until late evening. When they finished and packed to leave, the woman was not even kind enough to tip them. The only thing she was generous enough to give them were two cans of soft drinks each, out of the several packs her guests brought to her house.

It became obvious to those girls why she did not have anyone living with her in the big house; she was intolerable.

The next day being Monday, she called her sister-in-law who recommended the Chef to her, saying that she did not know the exact amount to pay them for their services. Her sister-in-law, already pissed at how she treated them; because the Chef called her and narrated their experience to her, scolded her and asked her to pay them handsomely. That same day, the woman called the Chef, and instead of appreciating them for their efforts and services, rained insults on her girls, calling one of them an imbecile, but of course, she could not direct any of the insults to the Chef because she is not your regular poor-and-begging-for-bread chef.

Fast forward to about two weeks later, the Chef’s phone rang, and behold, it was the woman calling. She did not want to pick the call at first, because she already made up her mind that she was never going to work for her again, but when she picked, the biggest accusation hit her ears.

The woman said the Chef’s girls stole from her!

The Chef was stunned into speechlessness. The woman said they took two of her perfumes, one being two hundred thousand naira and the other one about fifty thousand naira…from the room she kept them.

“I can swear on my life that those girls did not take your perfumes. I have been working with them for years, and they are of good behavior,” the Chef attested, placing the call on speaker so that her girls could listen as well.

“Forget that thing, my sister!” the woman argued. She went on to rant about how she bought one of them abroad, and the other a gift from her child living abroad. As if that was not enough, she threatened the Chef that if her girls did not surrender with her perfumes, she would report them to her sister-in-law and make sure they lose their jobs.

“What about your CCTV, look at it to confirm,” the Chef urged.

But the woman wouldn’t listen. “They are not working,” she told her. After another round of rants and threats, she angrily ended the call, promising to come through on her words.

Dazed, the Chef and her girls were still talking about the whole matter when the woman called back. When the Chef picked, she said that she shouldn’t worry, the bottles of perfumes have been discovered; she found them inside one of her bags. She did not apologize. She was not sober for falsely accusing innocent young ladies hustling to make ends meet. Instead, she told the Chef to not bring the incident to the hearing of her sister-in-law.

“Nothing wey Musa no go see for gate,” one of her girls expressed in shock.

Now, if she had noticed something in her living room had gone missing after that day, would she have accused her prestigious guests of stealing from her? Would she have had the guts to place a call to any of them asking about it? Would she have even thought any of them capable of lifting her property?

Definitely not! But the moment she could not lay eyes on her bottles of perfumes two weeks later, the first thing that came to her mind was those poor girls had stolen them, and without wasting time, had called to threaten them with their source of livelihood.