Tutumeni.

You don't like to walk around Tombia because it is a bad-boy nest but you don't really have a choice. You take pride in the swiftness of your feet and hands. Although you are not muscular, you can be very slippery and you know how to fight. It is what you tell your girlfriend, Stella, whenever she panics: That you can fight for her. That your love for her makes you stronger. That there is no man on Earth as powerful as a man in love. That love is your driving force.

But, Tutu, you know you are very foolish. You feel it deep within you, every time you buy her gifts. You know she doesn't value you because you are a student and your uncle, Dr. Oyins, has shown his interest in her. You know that she spends weekends in his big house, that the gifts you buy her are nothing compared to the luxury that your uncle provides. You know all of these things.. you know that she is only with you because you have a nice penis and you know how to use it. You know you are nothing, but you try. You try because you love her.

Today, you decide to give her something different. Not airtime or underwear. You decide to buy her an iPhone. You are not worried about how long it will take you to recover from this financially. You are not worried about your sick mother, whose medication you have been struggling to buy. You are walking around Tombia with a big grin on your face and the most expensive thing you have ever bought in your life in your school bag, hanging lazily on your right shoulder.

You are still smiling when three young boys surround you. They look smaller than you, with dirty clothes and very rough hair.

"Who goes there?" They ask.

You don't respond. You know who they are.

In seconds they begin to chant words and phrases that seem familiar to you. They ask for your phone. For your shoes. For your bag. For your wallet. An hysterical laughter escapes your lips and they stare at you in awe. They can see you are unmoved and it is your nerve that irks them. They flash you a gun. 

Tutu, you know how to fight but you might not survive a bullet. You are not new to these streets... you know that if you're weak, you get preyed on. 

There are eight Local Government Areas in Bayelsa with distinct languages. You cannot tell what part of Bayelsa these boys are from but you know how easily Nigerians embrace people from their place, so you do the first thing that comes to mind. You speak.

"Imori, sisein" you say at last.

One of them smiles. He is from your place. He whispers something to his friends and they disappear, leaving you alone with him. He shakes your hand, calls you his brother. He begs you for some money and you give it to him without stress. He is loyal to you now and you know that you are safe.

You should go now. You should run to Stella and give her the iPhone, maybe receive a kiss and more than two rounds of sex as a reward... But you do not.

You return to the shop where you purchased the phone and plead for a refund. Because in your recent time of despair, all you thought about was your sick mother. Your darling mother, whose life is hanging by a thread.

And you know it, just as you know your ABCs, Tutumeni. 

You know that Stella will marry your uncle.