By  Sunmola Olowookere

The last Eid el maulud celebration in our neighbourhood took a sour turn for a poor mechanic in our neighbourhood as his greedy girlfriend packed all his year’s savings that he had been keeping and ran away to her village.
It was a huge shock for Gabriel. Here was a girl he loved and wanted to marry. He was also disappointed as he was not aware he was courting a thief all along.
All through the year he had been saving money in a local safe which the Yorubas call ”kolo”. The savings was what he planned to spend during the festive period. He was also planning to travel to his village.
He had big plans of buying gifts for his parents from the savings and also having a good time in his village during the celebrations
His preparations to travel was in top gear. He had packed all his belongings in anticipation for the planned traveling.
Early in the morning of the Eve, he had eagerly carried his kolo out from underneath the bed where he kept it. He looked at it and smiled with satisfaction and congratulated himself for saving so diligently all through the year.
He thought of his luck and sufficiency where people were complaining of lack and literally patted himself on the back for being so smart.
Regularly all through the year, he had been putting cash into the box, sometimes weekly or biweekly. He did a rough estimate of what his savings could amount to and he was sure that he had over fifty thousand naira in the box.
His chest swelled with self importance as he thought of how he would surprise his parents and also paint the village red. He knew he would be the envy of his friends who never left the village when they see him arrive in his finery.
He brought out the kolo and checked the wooden box all over to know whether it had been tampered with anywhere. After being satisfied that the money was intact, he brought out a small crooked instrument to break open the box.
When he broke open the box, he removed the lid and blinked sharply as he could not believe the scene that met his gaze. He rubbed his eyes and checked again. The box was empty.
He dipped his hand inside to check whether the naira notes was blocked somewhere, but no, nothing was ‘ to be found. He could not help it as he raised an alarm.
His neighbours who were alarmed at their neighbour’s screaming in his mother tongue rushed to the room. They met him with an empty broken box and a glazed look in his eyes.
He kept on shouting incoherently in his mother tongue.
His neighbours alarmed at his wildness held him down and became to ask him what the problem was. It took a while before they could decipher what he was saying.
He was so downcast as they tried to calm him down. He was at the verge of going berserk. It took a while before he stopped moaning in pain as if he had been hit on the head. He was indeed a pitiful figure to behold.
He now thought rationally of what could have happened to the money in the safe. He refused to believe that it could have disappeared as some of his neighbours claimed and he realized that only his girlfriend could have done the dastard act.
He was very sad and angry at the same time because the girl had traveled the previous day and he could not take out his frustration on her.
As people were celebrating the festivities joyously, he could be seen sulking and it was evident that his black mood spell doom for the thrify hand girlfriend when he get a hold on her.