5TH DECEMBER 2034

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I chase after Annalise as she stomps away from me in anger.

"Wait! Please wait! Let me explain" I cry.

But it is too late because by the time I can even recover from the effects of the thunderous slap she gave me as a parting gift, she is already halfway into the black SUV.

The automatic door slides close exactly when I am close to it and then the car zooms off violently, splashing some dirty water on me from a small pothole nearby.

There goes my favorite brown trouser.

... And the blue shirt I borrowed from my junkie roommate.

I stand distraught as I watch Annalise's SUV zoom off heartlessly without me. The annoying part is that Ann is my last hope for dinner tonight!

I had already prepared my stomach for a massive anniversary feast with my 'boo-boo' but... Well...

All thanks to the pandemic.

I look around to see if there are onlookers who watch the drama between Ann but I am safe because there are not many cars in the parking lot today.

Floodlights beam from across the road, with yellow streetlights arranged in straight lines at the demarcation of the double road in front of me.

The night looks colorful, especially with the colored bulbs and electronic billboards from buildings along the road. Cars fly by me as I stand and ponder over what just happened.

I just ruined my chances of both dinner and a good night's rest filled with lots of pleasurable moans to my utmost delight. Now I am stuck with my roommate who is a junkie for another miserable night.

I do not like my roommate at all.

And yes, I am this broke, but it is not because I do not earn some change now and then from here and there, it is because all my money and resources go in for my child's upkeep, my daughter Fil, my beautiful offspring.

I am a first-class graduate of Accounting from the University of Nigeria but I have no job because many organizations and firms these days prefer robots and artificial intelligence for accounting tasks and jobs over humans.

True.

So, we go into the streets to conjure up new methods of surviving.

A Man must survive!

I do what I call, "Stretching and stress relief"- A job similar to that of a masseuse.

Yes, I stretch pussies of mature women who need sexual relief. Do not judge, this is 2034 baby! The jet age.

I usually have many clients but recently, they have disappeared because my bills increased. They are looking for cheaper options from the abundant market. I cannot keep being paid for a job that I sometimes hate.

You have no idea what these cougars would make you do to them in the process of "stretching and stress relief".

So, one time I jam this Caucasian cougar who arrives in Nigeria to have fun and mess with African pleasure machines, so I do my job so well that she gifts me with my beautiful daughter Fil when she dies of childbirth.

Long story.

A sad story that I never tell anyone due to the emotional tsunami it causes me. I never dare to tell Ann about it because of the way she is; she is a drama queen, and I am afraid she will leave me finally if she learns of this.

Annalise is my lucky charm, she is one good thing in my life. Believe me, it is not easy to have a billionaire daughter as a girlfriend who accepts the 'demeaning' work you do, especially in 2034 when the gap between the rich and the poor is as wide as the gap between heaven and earth.

She knows about my job and how difficult it is for me to survive in these hard times. She does not understand what swallows all my money every time but she helps me when she can. However, it is difficult for her because I do not accept a dime from her. The only thing I accept from her is the food!

Yes, food.

Dinner dates are my favorite and she knows it.

I do not refuse gifts from her because I do not need her support or because I hate the luxury her father's money brings, I do it because of her father who thinks very lowly of me. To Dr. Otta I am nothing but a disgusting piece of unwashed underwear that can never amount to anything in life. So I rather kiss a toilet seat than take his money or accept anything that comes directly or indirectly from him.

Except for his daughter, of course.

He treats me so badly! Even worse than black slaves during the times of the slave trade, I think.

This whole melee pushes Ann to get a job at Walgreens Pharmacy as a professional pharmacist, just so I can accept any token she gives me from her income.

Yea, she loves me so much.

After standing under the dark sky at night for a while watching my beloved going farther and farther away from me in a black SUV, I began to trudge home with a sadness filling my heart. I am walking home because I cannot afford transport tonight, business has been bad.

I think about my roommate and I know I cannot stay with him tonight of all nights, so I make a mental note to pass the night at my father's house which is closer to my current location at the moment.

I edge towards a street corner thinking about the news of another pandemic worse than COVID and it causes fear in my heart, not for myself, but my daughter Fil.

At the thought of this, I begin to walk briskly overtaking numerous pedestrians on the walkway and trying my best to hold back an urge to run and go hug my beautiful daughter in her sleep.

I divert towards another street edging towards my father's house. I see a group of media people gathered by a corner and reporting some news with their cameras, lighting, and all. I recognize them from their logo; They are A.N.N TV news, the most prestigious news TV channel in the country. I do not care as I walk past them because more pressing things worry me than just a group of famous TV reporters.

But I suddenly stop in my steps when I hear the words the reporter is reporting live;

"... So far so good, there have been no reports of the disease here in Nigeria or Africa. We can see that the streets of Lagos are still lively and bubbling, with people still going about their daily businesses".

"Therefore, the borders and airports remain open for business and travelers from other countries outside Europe until further notice as the disease has been reportedly contained with a total shutdown of Europe"

"So far so good, only one thousand people have been reported dead for over five hundred thousand cases in five hours since the outbreak"

"Scientists suggest that the disease might not be lethal after all..."

All lies!

Annalise's billionaire father who was in France at the time of the outbreak reports death in millions and sends a jet for his daughter due to the lethal nature of the disease. From first-hand experience, he says it is worse than COVID which crippled the whole world for a whole year, and that was just twenty years ago. And now the national news is feeding people with lies even when their lives are at stake!

Who the hell do they think they are? God?

I get mad with rage and dart towards the reporter with my face fuming with accumulated madness.

"What did you say? Why are you telling lies!" My yell is so loud and disturbing that the camera is forced to turn and face me, expecting a new story to monetize. My voice is so loud that it echoes through their very sensitive microphones.

Even the reporter is alarmed herself, she is surprised at the suddenness of my reaction.

" ... Millions of people have already died in Paris alone! So why do you lie to people!"

I see hefty men slowly tiptoeing towards me to avoid the cameras. They want to deal with my big mouth and me.

"This is worse than a COVID! Thousands of people are dying by the minute, the government should shut the border! They leave it open so they can smuggle themselves and their children out of the country along with their money and influence while we the poor masses are left to face the music!"

"Nigerians deserve the truth! Shut the fucking borders!" I yell as the media lights beam over my head!

I see one of the media directors in a black suit gesture to the crew members in the background to cut the feed from behind the scenes so I yell again!

"Shut the border, you prostitutes!"

... And the media lights go off!

I see with the corner of my eyes hefty men rushing after me immediately the lights go off so I begin to run, charging away into the nearby streets in a fast and furious race...