ESPIRIT DE CORP

(This story is a product of writer’s imagination, and the characters therein are fictitious, any resemblance to a real life event is highly regretted.)

“Espirit de corp.” He said as he pouted his mouth out of the bus to address the ‘money-thirsty’ Mobile Policeman. To ascertain the originality of his utterance, the Policeman ordered the bus to a halt, and requested for the speaker’s Identification card. The speaker, in his gullibility, flipped from his archaic breaches’ side pocket his school ID card. The Police man became furious, and from his countenance could be read expression of disappointment and he decreed the speaker to jump down from the bus. The Speaker innocently went to meet him, but before he could utter any apology, the Policeman landed on his skeletal chic-bone a hot slap that thundered in our ears. He could not cry, the best expression for that slap was to laugh and he did so.

Out of pity and spirit of cooperation, the rest of us in the bus thought it proper to go and apologise on his behalf, and also considering the importance of the assignment at hand.

The 16 of us had left our base with high spirit and with euphoria of our would-be host considering how important he is in the society and in his occupation. The trip was required of us as partial fulfillment of a necessity.

After pleading for about 10minutes, the policeman demanded that the accused should be left with him, and we should continue with our journey. The accused burst into wide cry as he opened his deformed buka cavity wide to let loose of some hot air. Tears flooded his face and mucus oozed freely from his nostrils. He knew the consequences of not continuing with us the journey, but he had earlier not known the consequences of saying what he knew little or nothing about.

The adamant Policeman insisted on what he has said and the only remedy apart from this is by paying a fine of 5000naira. He was not ready to reduce the fine despite our plea. We gathered all the money at hand and it all amounted to the one third of the required amount. The Policeman said that failure to provide this fine would land the accused in “Kirikiri”, one of the prestigious prisons in the country. On hearing this, the careless speaker burst into another round of cry, he really did not want to go to the prison. Earlier, the Policeman had accused him of impersonation. The words is esoteric, it could only be used by those in the forces. The required punishment for anyone who has committed this offence is 10years imprisonment.