King Of Circle

My Nokia E72 was giving me problems, the charging system wasn’t functioning properly and the battery was useless, it couldn’t even last 3 hours. I had no money to buy a new one so my only option was to swap it at Nkrumah Circle, Ghana Dubai for short. I had only 50 Ghana cedis on me, my last money. I’ve always wanted an HTC phone so I decided to swap my Nokia for any good HTC phone.

After school, I picked a car to Circle, got to the bus station, and used the overhead footbridge to the other side of the street, opposite the bus station known as tiptoe lane, that’s where I was going. There were so many phones to swap for but my eyes were on only the HTC phones. There are so many pickpockets and thieves at circle, so the least mistake your pockets would be picked. I held my phone and money in my hand and inserted them into my pocket.

Going round circle and bargaining with the phone dealers, I saw this HTC One phone, I told the guy I wanted to swap the phone, he took my phone and inspected it thoroughly and told me to add 150 cedis to my Nokia E72 for the HTC One. I told him I had only 50 cedis on me, even that, 5 cedis is my lorry fare, so I can only afford 45 cedis plus my Nokia phone. The guy said no, I pleaded with him for like 3o minutes but he still said no, he insisted I add another 50 cedis to it, making 100 cedis plus my Nokia for the HTC.

I told him I didn’t have that money on me, I can only afford 45 cedis plus my phone. But he said no. Then I said “Ok”, turned, I walked about 2 paces forward and he called me back from where he was sitting, picked the phone off his table and told me to bring the money and phone. The way I was happy “eehh”.

Before giving him the money, I inspected it very well, it seemed to be in good shape. I gave him the 45 cedis plus my Nokia phone for the HTC. I was very excited, on my way home I was fidgeting it, trying to get use to it.

The next day at school, I was just showing it off and bragging that I managed to swap my phone for a better one for only 45 cedis. Everyone in my class knew me, I was the king of circle, swapping a phone was very easy for me. By the end of the day, one friend who was a boarder in my class asked me if I could accompany him to circle to buy a phone. I told him, yes but only if he’ll pay my lorry fare, he agreed.

The next day after school, we decided to go, two other friends joined us. I asked him which phone does he want, he said, “any good phone, a phone like yours”, I said, “okay, how much money do you have on you right now, 100 cedis he replied”, I said, “okay, just follow my lead”. So we got to circle. Then suddenly he changed! This guy was acting like he’s been to circle before, he wouldn’t even wait for my lead, I told him to relax but he said he’s in a hurry, he wants to make it in time back to school for evening dining.

We kept moving from one table to another, the story was ‘either he didn’t like the phone I was pointing out to him, which I could bargain for 100 cedis, or he picking a phone with a higher price tag, or his money was insufficient. I was getting tired and bored. So I told him to go back to school, manage and save an extra 50 or 100 cedis, add it to the 100 cedis he already has and come back some other time. He agreed.

We all decided to go home, just then, one guy with these weird locks on his head approached us, showed us a  Blackberry Bold 2, told us he was selling it, he told us to bring 250 cedis, last price 200 cedis. I checked the phone, everything was working perfectly, and the battery seemed to be strong. But I told him the price was too much, he should reduce it, but the dude insisted on the 200 cedis last price. So I told him we only had 100 cedis on us. But he still said no. My friend was almost on his knees begging him, it was kinda funny though.

I told him to get up and come another time, but he was still begging him. Then he got up and told the dude he’ll pay 150 cedis for the phone. I was there thinking, where will he get the extra 50 cedis from? I thought he was trying to convince the dude to reduce the price, but out of nowhere, my friend removed 150 cedis from his bag showed it to the dude, and told him that was his last money. But the dude insisted on another extra 50 cedis. My friend told me he had only 100 cedis on him, but he was lying. I was shocked when he pulled out 150 cedis.

We realized he wasn’t gonna take the 150 cedis so we decided to go home. We walked about 5 meters when we heard the dude calling us, but I told my friend to ignore him. Then the dude shouted, “bring de money, come take the phone”, I told my friend to ignore it, cos I didn’t like the way he was behaving, but before I could even say jack, my friend was already there giving me the money to him. Soon as the dude got the money, I lost track of him among the passersby, I didn’t see him at that instance, I could only see the joy in my friend’s eyes and smiles on his lips, walking majestically towards us.

When he got closer, I asked to see the phone again but he was reluctant, but I took it out from his pocket, then I tried switching on the phone, but it wasn’t working, I tried for a minute but it was still dead, so I decided to check the battery, when I took out the battery cover, this was what I saw

It was a bar of soap fused into the blackberry bold 2, my friend couldn’t believe his eyes, then he turned back to the direction of the dude who sold him the phone, but he was no where to be found, then my friend started crying. The scene was so pathetic and sad but we couldn’t hold on to our laughter.

My two other friends and I laughed so hard that one fell to the ground.