WEB OF RICHES AND RUIN

"Have we met"

“I didn’t know that you were coming today”, said Marcus in a low confused voice. “What, am I now obliged to say whenever I feel like coming to my own house? Besides, I told Maria to tell you I was coming. The new house was finished early, so we are moving in tomorrow”, said his father. If only Marcus had listened to Maria when she was calling him earlier, Maybe, he would have stopped the party in time and would have saved himself from all he’d experienced that horrible night but he was past the point of no return; This was happening.

“We're gone for a few days and all you can think of is to party. You know what, I can’t have this right now, am tired and I need to sleep and tomorrow is a big day. Get those stupid children out of my house immediately.” Said his father. Marcus was having very many mixed emotions. After all, he had gone through a lot that night. Among those feelings was deep hatred towards his father but he just couldn’t find it in him to argue with his father. He slowly went back to the house moved to where the sound system was and cut the power to it. All the attention was now on him. “I need everyone out of here, the party’s over”, he shouted. There were murmurs everywhere and, in a minute, the sound of feet being lazily dragged on the floor was heard; Everyone was leaving. Marcus went straight to his room locked the door and was fast asleep.

Maria had been knocking on Marcus’s room for quite a while and was almost giving up. She had been instructed by his father to wake him to pack his things. Normally, they wouldn’t have relocated with any of their current furniture. Moreover, the new house was packed with new furniture. It was a ready-to-settle house but Mr. Highwood wanted nothing to do with that city and didn’t see himself going back any time soon so had made it clear that nothing was to be left behind. Everything was to be taken to a*****e in the new house and anything unwanted was to be given away.

Marcus shouted from his room telling Maria that he was up. He felt dizzy from all the drinking from the previous night. He felt as if he hadn’t slept at all; it had been quite a long night for him but somehow after sleeping was the shortest. He slowly walked to the kitchen and straight to the fridge looking for milk. For some reason, he believed that it helped with the dizziness.

The day was overwhelming for him and had made him forget about the whole ordeal of the previous night. He’d taken a shower after drinking a gallon of milk and was starting to feel like himself again. He had Maria pack his things for him. He was too lazy to pack them. “Are you coming with us?” Marcus was wondering if his mother was joining them for the relocation and had decided to call her. Perhaps he was missing her; after all, she was his mother despite of her absence. “Am sorry dear, I won’t make it today, but I will be coming soon in about three days after am done with some things I have to do”, she said. Marcus pretended not to care, but deep down he kind of wished that she was there. In a few hours, they were on their way to the countryside.

Andie had been at the construction for quite a while but now it was over. It had been two days after completing the construction and had not been lucky to find any work to do. He couldn’t stay in his house all day, he had to go out and maybe would be lucky and find something to do. Some of his mates had been called back to the house to do some final touches on areas that the owner had pointed out after moving in. He felt angry that he wasn’t one of them and went along cursing them, he was jealous but could do nothing about it. He found himself trolling outside the new house but couldn’t exactly explain why. He stood there near the fence just looking at the house; He was admiring it. He promised himself that one day he too would have one just like it or even better.

“Hey you”, said Marcus looking at Andie. “You planning to steal or what “. Marcus had been outside just breathing the clean countryside air thinking of how it was better that he couldn’t come into contact with Tony or Stacy and had a new chance to make new friends and probably a new girlfriend. It was then that he had noticed Andie who had been staring at the house for quite some time. “Oh hi, am sorry. I was just passing by and saw this big house. Am planning on stealing from it tonight!” Said Andie angrily. Marcus noticed that Andie had taken offense to his words and was being sarcastic and angry at the same time.

“Hey dude, I wasn’t serious”, said Marcus. “It's offensive you know. Calling someone a thief is just offensive”, said Andie. “Hey! Am not the one creeping outside your home wearing like a homeless guy”, said Marcus. Andie just felt more offended, he was wearing some good clothes, not his best but still… despite this, Marcus was right. It was Andie who was outside his house staring. “Fair enough. Am Andie”.

“You look like you could use some help Andie”, said Marcus. “I’ve got some things that you could like. Come on, follow me.” Andie knew that beggars were never choosers. He couldn’t refuse such an offer. Despite not knowing Marcus, he couldn’t care less. Maybe, he’d get something good from Marcus, he convinced himself. They walked past the working guys and went around the house to the back. There, Andie saw a fortune. It was his lucky day. There were 2 very attractive seats. “Yeah, these couldn’t fit in the store so my father told me to get rid of them. Would you like them?” Asked Marcus. Andie couldn’t believe it. “Yes! Of course,” he shouted.

Only one place deserved such seats and Andie knew exactly where; a shop for second-hand furniture. The thought of taking them home never crossed his mind. I mean why would it; he always just thought of making money furthermore, they were too fancy for his tiny crap house and probably could not even fit. Marcus was too lazy to lend Andie a hand, he had one of the workers help him carry them out of the gate one by one. “Take them home or anywhere, I don’t care so long as they're out of here”, said Marcus. Andie was too busy flagging down a passing motorcycle to hear what Marcus was saying. “I want this taken to the ‘second best store’”, Andie instructed the guy. By then, Marcus had disappeared back to the house. It was none of his business; he had completed his part by getting rid of the seats.

Andie then flagged down another motorcyclist and instructed her to follow the first guy to the store. It was in times like this that Andie didn’t care about using up some of his money, he knew the reward was much more than the cost. On arrival, Andie paid the two motorcyclists for their service and went in to negotiate the price. “What do you mean you can’t, we had a deal. Trevous…Trev…Trev don’t hang up on me”. This was the store owner; he was too busy speaking on the phone that he hadn’t noticed Andie. Andie cleared his throat to make his presence known. “Oh, hi, I didn’t see you there. Can you Imagine this guy, hanging up on me. Anyway, what can I do you for?” Said the storekeeper.

“What do you mean you can’t”, it was Andie's turn to complain. “These are genuine original seats. Can’t you see, feel them, yes touch them…”, he said making the storekeeper feel the softness of the seat material. “You see, genuine seats”, he continued. “Yes, I can see they are really good seats but I can’t buy them. Buying these would cost me a fortune and the business has not been doing so well, I don’t have the money to buy them and as far as I know, these seem stolen, I mean, how else would someone like you attain such seats? I don’t want trouble with the cops. Go sell them somewhere else, I don’t want them.” Andie once again felt very offended, for the second time that day he had been called a thief but as the case was, the storekeeper was right. No one would believe that Andie had been given these seats. One look at him and he would’ve been framed as a thief.

It was clear that no shop would buy from Andie; at least no genuine shop would. Andie now understood these clearly. He knew that if he was to sell the seats, he would have to use someone to do it for him but first he had to figure out where to take them before he could sell them; his house was tiny and couldn’t accommodate both. Suddenly, he had an idea. He took out his small phone from his pocket and called Trizzie. Trizzie’s house had a big empty store that could have accommodated the seats for some days before selling them. Trizzie had no problem with helping him out, her only fear was for her parents to find out but if it was only for a few days, it wasn’t likely for them to find out.

“Where did you steal this?” Trizzie asked. Andie had just arrived and was struggling to carry the seats by himself. That was the third time he’d been called a thief that day. “I have a question Trizzie, do I look like a thief to you? Stop laughing, am being serious. You are the third person to call me a thief today. What is giving away the impression of a thief? I mean my clothes aren’t the best but still. Or is it my face?” Andie asked Trizzie expecting a genuine answer. He couldn’t understand why everyone was thinking of him as a thief. “You look like a homeless guy. I mean you’re dressed like a homeless guy. You just woke up in the morning and wore that? Trizzie said laughing at him. “Hey, what’s wrong with my clothes? Are they that bad?” asked Andie. “They look like you got them from a dump or somewhere”, Trizzie said. “But they are kind of one of my favorites”, he murmured, “Let’s get these seats in before your parents arrive”. He finished avoiding further talk about his clothes. Trizzie helped him get them to the store but mostly complained about how heavy they were; That was just Trizzie being Trizzie.