Twist Of Fate

Mechanic Garage

Gbolade and Gbenga left the Church after service to Obele Odan to meet with Jubril, the master mechanic who specialized in Bedford, Austen Lorries and British made cars; the man was a specialist in Diesel and petrol engine vehicles and building site equipment. The master mechanic usually would not come to the workshop on Sundays because that was his only resting day every weekend. However, he came that Sunday to honor Gbolade’s invitation to discuss the apprenticeship of Gbolade’s younger brother with him; Jubril and Gbolade were close friends for many years.

They discussed the boy’s future as an apprentice mechanic together, Gbolade signed a five years Apprenticeship Agreement with Jubril to train Gbenga for the duration of the Agreement. Gbenga was instructed to resume his training from the first Monday in the month of March that year, and to come with a blue khaki overall uniform.

Gbolade was a caring brother to Gbenga, he bought all the necessary items and the specified uniform for the boy. The mechanic workshop was just a thirty minutes walking distance from their house in Cole street. Few days later, Gbenga met a young man called Peter at the deep-well of water for the first time; he was a younger brother to one of their neighbors. From their discussion that day, Gbenga was surprised that Peter who was seventeen years old; found it worthwhile to be friendly and talked freely with a fourteen years old boy as if they were age mates. Older teenagers usually had no time for small talk with younger boys.

Peter was also an apprentice Tailor at Adeniran Ogunsanya Street after Lawanson Bus stop. Gbenga also liked Peter for his friendliness, and they became close friends from that day. Peter liked Gbenga for his open mindedness and for his thirst for education.

Peter also had the same passion for education, he planned to study Accountancy later, and he would sponsor himself in the University as a part time student and continue working at the same time as a tailor. What peter told Gbenga actually surprised the village boy, he could never have imagined that one could study at the University on part time bases. This valuable information gave Gbenga the hope of going to the University later in life, but he had no clue of how he could accomplish such a lofty feat. However, the idea of going to the university made Gbenga very happy indeed.

Gbolade noticed the cheerfulness in the boy; he thought Gbenga must be enjoying the new novels he bought for him recently. Gbenga met Peter again after the Church service the following Sunday in front of their house, they both sat on a wooden bench beside the Landlord’s apartment window. Peter actually graduated from a high School the previous year; he came to join his older brother in that house when his parents could not afford to sponsor his University dream.

Peter advised Gbenga to enroll with any private tutorial school for his G.C.E (General Certificate of Education) which would teach him for five years. Gbenga learnt a lot from Peter about city life, he warned the village boy to beware of fraudsters in Lawanson area, Yaba area, Oshodi area, Mushin area, and other highly populated and dangerous areas of Lagos.

“If you see some boys betting with money on cards, don’t stop to watch them, otherwise you would be tricked into parting with your hard earned money,” Peter admonished Gbenga further. The village boy looked at Peter with a surprised look on his face, he admired the older boy’s intelligence a lot.

And Peter continued to lecture him like an older brother: “If you also see two boys fighting at a popular bus stop, don’t try to separate them at all, one of their members standing by would moved in and pick your pocket, and when the fighting boys receives a signal that their plan has yielded dividend; they will stop fighting immediately.” Gbenga looked at Peter with deep respect on his face.

Lukman the Landlord’s son came out to join Peter and Gbenga on the wooden bench with the hope that they would stop talking when they see him, but he received what he did not bargain for as Peter continued to lecture the village boy: “If anyone insult you just to make you feel inferior, ignore such negative comment and the person, such people are not worthy to be your friends, you must distance yourself from negative people, they are poison to your soul, such people lacked good manners and in most cases; negative people invariably end up as failures in life.” Peter was actually referring to Lukman, who insulted Gbenga at the deep-well of water a couple of weeks in the past.

Lukman knew Peter was jabbing at him but there was nothing he could do to hurt the apprentice Tailor because Peter was bigger and two years older than him, he did not want to mess with the older boy who just graduated from a High school at Oshodi, Lagos. Lukman felt uncomfortable sitting with the two jolly good friends, he stood up, and went back into his father’s apartment without a word, Lukman’s attitude made Peter to hiss loudly at Lukman’s receding back. Peter was the last born of his parents; and he had brotherly interest in Gbenga and loved him the way he would have loved his own younger brother.

Gbenga would have loved to have Lukman as a friend, but the boy’s attitude was a put off. Peter instinctively sensed Gbenga’s longing to have Lukman as a friend, so he said: “That boy is so full of himself because he is a son of the Landlord, don’t pay him any further attention and don’t even bother to win his friendship that would only make him more proud and give him further opportunity to insult you.”

Gbenga nodded his head, and then said: “You are right at that, the first time I met him at the deep-well of water, he approached me nicely, and then said nasty things to me when I told him about my plan to be a mechanic; I regretted ever telling him about my skill acquisition plan.” Gbenga was apparently happy to have a very intelligent friend as Peter; he felt God must have sent the older boy to him to be his guidance.

Peter knew the village boy regarded him as an older brother, but he actually loved the boy like a younger brother whom he never had; he vowed to do his best for the boy not to come to any harm as long as they remain in the same area of Lagos.

Peter could not resist to lecture Gbenga further, and he said: “Our elders says: when you are in a market place to buy any stuff, you must focus your attention on whoever is attending to your need, but to ignore all the noise in that market place, that way, nothing could divert your attention from your desired goal in life, this parable could be applied to life generally, Gbenga, do you understand this parable?” Gbenga grabbed the right hand of his friend, and replied: “Yes, my good friend and older brother, I understand the sayings of our elders, thank you!”

Intelligent Teenagers