Osama was a short, stocky and powerfully built man with hair growing out of his ears, his nose and from his shirt collar. Little clumps of grey hair grew on the backs of his massive, fat fingers. He was about 50years old, extremely black, balding, with egg shaped head, steely, red eyes from years of hard drinking and smoking marijuana, a flat nose that spread half over his face from a punch he had received from an unreasonable man who had caught him stealing his goat.  He had a gaping hole in his mouth because most of his teeth have gone as a result of beatings from unreasonable people who had caught him trying to steal their domestic animals. His specialty was goats, sheep, donkeys, cows and Horses. For this he had lived more than a quarter of his life in prison. He had started plying his trade at the of 15years of age and had retired according to rumour mills about a year ago settling in two mud houses surrounded by a low wall at the outskirt of a village in North Central Nigeria. There is no denying that he has lived an inoffensive life in the past one year – just drinking local brew and retiring to his abode everyday. He had one invaluable possession which is his only  prized companion, a Stallion Horse. The villagers avoid him because they fear him and suspect his professed retirement. But more importantly because of the stories of his incredible escapades, many view him as possessing magical powers. In his hey day, Osama could herd an entire village of cattle in the middle of the night without making a single sound; and only for the villagers to wake up in the morning to discover their entire cattle which they had secured before they went to sleep was missing. Such was the professional expertise of Osama that people even attribute to him the power to communicate with cattle.

So who in his right mind will attempt to steal a Stallion belonging to Osama? Of course, nobody aware of his reputation will attempt it. Not, until two youths wandered into the village one day. Nobody knew where they came from, but they were teenagers about 17years of age. The two decided to steal Osama’s Stallion. Their plan was simple, they will go to the compound at night when Osama was still out drinking and while one stands outside the compound, the other will go inside the compound to untie the Stallion. The one standing outside was to whistle in a special way to alert the partner inside who will then jump over the wall and escape through the back of the compound, if Osama happens to come. The night was pitch dark, which was good for them. So the first thief took his stand at a discreet corner in front of the compound to keep watch, while the second thief picked the lock and entered the compound to untie the Stallion. But within a short time, comes Osama. For some reason he was coming home earlier then expected.