Anyone could tell he didn’t belong once he opened his mouth to sing the first line of the song “Kumbaya.” Apart from the unconscious cracks and the battle of staying on the key of C major, Joni was shaking with each breath exhaled. His legs wobbled, his hands waggled, and his eyes spoke the language of fear mixed with doubt. How shocking! He was introduced to the choir as a tenor singer from a sister church called Oasis. Unfortunately, this oasis had its lungs and throat all dried up. Joni stopped singing from the looks on every face. By a corner, he saw the man playing the drums lift his eyebrows - not in wonder but a mechanism most people adopt to hold back laughter. The woman playing the bass guitar was looking down at nothing. As Joni’s eyes roved around the church, he saw an invisible congregation, all rising from their seats, eyes tight with laughter! The white walls were bloody-looking. Ah! Even the brown wooden cross on the altar resembled a negation. Joni felt the wo...
THE NEW MARKET PLACE When about 30 of us got into the interview hall, an HR official walked to the front and became a sales man right before our eyes. He sold us the one thing many of us did not wish to buy. "We are all sales men; marketers in this world, else why do women apply makeup and men make money just to woo the other sex? We want someone to buy what we are directly or indirectly selling. Marketing is one of the best jobs in the world . Be proud of it! So my friends, we offer you the job of a loan officer. You will go out looking for clients who we can loan money..." Those still seated had sad looks on their faces . They probably had no fare to take them home. I spoke to one of them. He was coming all the way from Sango to Gbagada for a job of his nightmare. These were his last words: " Omo this na interview scam o. Na why I come spend my last card be this sha… God dey." We all wanted to be Graduate Trainees but oh well...We were being sold...