25: Good Thoughts

Good thoughts, think good thoughts…, think...music, comedies, food...yes! food always works,...well, in theory. Gosh, not everything you read on the Internet is truth; I remember reading somewhere about occupying your mind with pleasant thoughts to overcome fear and what better time or place to test that theory than now, pushing my bicycle down Hilton walk at 2am.
Yes! , Ibidun, there she is, standing just beside the goods entrance to the hotel, good thing she closed on time today, we may get home a bit earlier and get more sleep today.
“My knight and his steed approach..” she announces to her colleagues,.
And in my head, I quickly count the cost of a sarcastic reply, no..”She who holds power o’er the Kitchen key”…no, just smile, I conclude.
We walk together down the pride park of southern Forth Valley, well, a pride in the day and hidden shame at night, where things we shouldn’t speak about happen every night, and yes, even tonight. Looks like we have a younger group living out their curiosities with alcohol and drugs, and more girls with them tonight,… boy, my little girl would be asleep now,..God keep her safe always.
“Hey you! You gotta light?”, a guy, 18 or 19 at most, coming up behind says, just when I have finally gotten my good thoughts flowing.
I walk on with Ibidun, completely ignoring this man with no manners. “You deaf or what, do you have a light?”…I turn my head without stopping, giving him my “Terminator” look…and then he whistles at us.
Whatever, whoever Shakespeare had in mind when he said “Frailty, thy name is woman!”, he obviously had never met anyone like Ibidun.
She stopped, and I knew from the look on her face, if I were to measure the anger she felt within on a scale of 1 to 10, it would be a 15.
I thought he was just drunk before, now I know he was drunk and stupid,.. you don’t whistle at Ibidun. He asked for a light but he was about to get a fire, “Look, we don’t have a light, ok?!” I said, trying to act quickly and steal Ibidun’s opportunity to give it to him.
“Well, you gotta have something I need then, you see..”, he said. One, he’s just one person, easy for me to deal with if it gets to…“Bud! Them funny people giving you some trouble eh?”..one of the girls drinking with this unruly man said to him, as his gang, all looking about 18 to 20 year old, walked towards us. Just perfect, emm, God, could you spare a moment and give me a hand here…
And Oh no, now it’s a macho thing, he has to look good for the girls and his gang. We stand and face them squarely, me, Ibidun and my bicycle,… you don’t want your back to these bunch.
“Me and my pals want to go for another drink at the pub, and we are sort of low on cash, you want to help us out there?, you could come along with us if you like.”..He says to us like we’re his bankers, even his bankers wouldn’t …..
And then I remembered the verse..”I.b..”..I said as I passed my bicycle to Ibidun and walked close to him.
“Kingsley, no..just leave ‘em”..Ibidun said.
“Don’t worry..” ..I responded thinking to myself, she thinks I’m going to fight them, me? Fight? No way! Am I crazy?!
“We’re going this way, and you, are going that way..we have nothing for you and we don’t want any trouble…”…I said, because someone needed to lead this situation, and give the final orders, and it’s surely wasn’t going to be them.
“what?...we’re going that way?..we wanna go with you, cant you see we’re friendly people and just wanna be nice?”..Bud said, well, guessing his name was Bud, that what’s the girl called him anyway and hold on a second, is he coming closer towards me or my eyes are just being tired and ….
“what the ****..I can’t believe he just said that to us,..like we’re his kids or something,…Bud, we’re just going to leave you with your new friends, this is so rubbish,..”..the same girl said again,..not exactly helping the situation at all..
Don’t step back, just don’t move an inch, I’m telling myself,..not fear, but power and a sound mind, that’s what I got, even though Bud’s so close now, I’m not stepping back.
More and more young people in Southern Forth Valley are victims of knife attacks, and gang fights. No knives or sharp objects, that’s the government’s new stand, but its not going to be easy with decadence already eaten deep, masked poverty, poor parenting, etc.
Back to Bud and me, before I could stop her from acting, Ibidun’s already by my side and I need to include this, ... Ibidun is a Lawyer, from the University of Ibadan, Cum laude and Queen Mary’s London with distinguished Honours, but I think what makes her the best is her voice, her accent, her eyes and their piercing search through your lies, and how she can communicate clearly even when upset...
“I have called the police and they will be here in 2 minutes, I advise you do what is best for you and that you do it now”…Superwoman Ibidun says.
“Bud, I don’t want no police trouble now, I already got 2 cautions and my mom’s not going to bail me out this time..”..one of the guys says and there are some other murmuring going on behind him, and I’m grateful it’s working out this way.
In a group they leave and Bud gives us the finger as he turns but that’s okay, they still lose.
“Thank you I.b, and thank God too it didn’t turn to something else o, me wey neva chop since today…wait o, I.b, when did you make the call to the police and which phone did you use?. I thought your phone batteries were dead?”.. I asked Ibidun as we walked home safely…
She just smiled…and I know that evil smile, ….lawyers! lawyers!! wetin dem dey do sef?!


“You ask a young person why he wears a hooded top and if he knew it scared people a bit, and he says,..that’s good, because that’s what he wants. People carry guns and knives because they feel threatened, and if we must change this, then we need to make our communities safer”
Liam Hannan, the Youth Parliament, U.K
http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=18