There And Back On Time Season 2

Season 5 years ago

There And Back On Time Season 2

Lisbon Portugal

Europe Wahala

1: Lisbon, Portugal
Portugal is located in the western side of the
Iberia Peninsula. The only bordering country
is Spain which had invaded them and took
most of their lands. Portugal was the first
people who built ships and started
colonization and international business. Lisbon
is the largest city in Portugal followed by
Porto. Lisbon is located near the Atlantic
Ocean. An 8.5 earthquake had happened in
Lisbon on Saturday November 1, 1755. The
earthquake had cut Lisbon into two and water
from the ocean had surged through the
artificial valley created by the earthquake and
formed the Tagus River. The Vasco Da Gama
Bridge across the Tagus River is the longest
bridge in Europe at 17.5km. It is a cable stayed
bridge. It was estimated that between 10-100
thousand people perished in the earthquake.
As a result, Lisbon became a hilly city without
level lands. They have only one airport, The
Portela Aeroporto. This and other information
I found out at the Lisbon central Library a
few days after I arrived. I wanted to know if
the city was worth living for me.

*******

I left Berlin Germany and landed in this
strange city called Lisbon. It was in a bid to
acquire European residence permit. The laws
in Germany say that one must either have a
Child with a German woman or marry a
German citizen before you get their papers.
Some of us who never wanted anything like a
child or a woman to tie us down in one part
of this big universe chose to look elsewhere
for the papers. Another reason was that the
German police were closing in on me. They
had found some illegal drugs in my room and
had fixed a date for my court appearance. It
was time to run. I had the money after all, so
i can afford to spend even 20,000 Euro just
to get the papers rather than one woman
holding me down in one country for over 10
years in the name of marriage. I had left
Berlin that warm afternoon through Berlin
Schonefeld airport to Palma de Majorca Spain
and then Lisbon Portugal. It took over two
hours and at a time, i wondered if we were
going back to Africa. I came out of the
airport and boarded a taxi to the city center.
Jordan, my Nnewi friend in Germany had
given me a number of Francis, his brother
who lived in Lisbon. I had sent some money to
Francis to secure a place for me in Lisbon
before my arrival which he did. Francis waited
for me at Madrid Hotel near Elephant Blanco
Hotel before i arrived. He shook my hand and
motioned me to follow him. He took me to a
three bedroom flat where he had secured a
room for me. I entered my room and
unpacked my bags. – for those who has
never been to central or western Europe,
most of the apartments and rooms usually
have everything you need.

You just pack in with your bags- I took my
bath and joined Francis in the palour. He was
playing Poker with two other guys whom i
later learn lived in the same flat. Their names
were Vitus and Kennedy. Vitus came to
Portugal from Holland for the same purpose
like me while Kennedy was a football player
who rented the flat with his name. I
announced my arrival with ‘Ekene diri
Unu’. An Igbo sentence that translated to
‘Greetings unto you.’
They welcomed me warmly and i rightly
guessed that they were anticipating my
arrival. I sat down and watched the TV while
they played their poker game. One hour later,
i told Francis that i wanted to go outside and
look around the city. Something i loved doing
each time i visit a new city. Vitus, the fat
yellow guy jokingly tasked me to buy them
drinks since i was a new guy on the block. I
happily agreed because i had over 5000Euro
with me. They packed their Poker and
dressed up for the outing. Kennedy the
footballer had a small fiat car which four of
us boarded and headed towards the city
center. – The city center was like a third class
city in Germany and that was when i
observed that all European countries were
not the same. We headed to a restaurant
owned by some Brazilian guys. We requested
for Crabs and Vino de tinto.. (Vino de tinto
means red
wine in Portuguese and Spanish). We ate and
finished our wine, then another wine and
another and another. Vitus was a wine tanker
that never got filled up. I got bored eventually
and demanded that we go to another place. I
paid our bills which amounted to 411
Euros and headed to the commerce center
called Rossio. (The commerce center was the
point where they traded African slaves in the
1800s). The commerce center was also the
place where all the Sex workers stood in the
evening for business.

It was in the commerce center that i met Lisa
and Edora, two beautiful Brazilian girls. We
were all drunk except Kennedy the driver
who insisted that he had training in the
morning and believed he should not drink. The
girls were tipsy and wanted some adventure.
We played with them for sometime before my
friends decided to go home and rest. -i was
not going to let those girls go home alone.
Assassins could shoot them on the road. So i
decided to hang on a little more while my
friends went home. There were
hotels everywhere and i had money with me.
No qualms.- I talked more with Edora and her
friend and we joked about football and Africa
and their beauty and my height and my
perfume and why i left Africa etc. Then it was
time for them to go home. Lisa remembered
that i refused to follow my friend’s home
because i insisted on taking them home. She
told me to follow them and i did. We
got to their car and i entered the back seat
while they both occupied the front seats. We
drove for about ten minutes and crossed the
long Vasco Da Gama Bridge into the other
side of the city where the Benfica Sporting
club stadium was situated. We got to their
house three minutes later and they asked me
to follow them up. We took the lift to the sixth
floor and entered their apartment. It was a
well furnished two bedroom apartment with a
lot of coloured candles in every corner of
the room.

They offered me a seat in the palour while
they went into their various rooms to
freshen up and change. A few minutes later,
Lisa showed up with a bottle of Mexican
Pinacolada wine. She opened it and filled two
empty glasses. She explained that her
partner doesn’t drink much. We sipped the
wine slowly and chatted until it became clear
to them that i was not going back to my place
that night.

“Where are you from?” Lisa asked from
nowhere.

“Nigeria” I fired back.
*I was in Portugal now and didn’t care what
the Nazi skinheads would do. Portugal, a
stone throw to North Africa. I was just
looking for Papers. I had money
already and didn’t fear being sent to Africa
anymore.

I had shipped over 30 vehicles from Germany
plus some cash I sent to my mum
to bank for me. The Germans can send me
home for all I care*
“What are you doing in Portugal?” Lisa asked.

“I came from Germany today and I am looking
for a residence permit,” I said.
I was tired of lying and I figured out that the
fastest way to get whatever you want is to
open up yourself and start telling the truth.
“I could help you but it will cost you a lot of
money,” Lisa said.

Things were getting interesting.

I was drunk and didn’t want to pursue that
topic for the fear of making a mistake. So I
asked Lisa to forget the issue and we will
talk about it another time. A few minutes
later, Edora said out of nowhere that I should
come inside and sleep on her bed. I declined,
insisting that the chair was comfortable
enough. She insisted that I follow her, I did.
Who was I to say no?

I was surprised to find out that it was just a
bed for two people and there was no other
place I was going to sleep except on that
same bed with her. My excitement was
building up, my blood was getting hot and my
J0yst!ck had just started getting hard. I
removed my clothes and wondered where
and how I was going to hide my money. I
decided to leave the money inside the jean
trouser and take my chances. After all I had
more in Germany which they would send if I
ask for it. I went to the bathroom and
showered after they had finished showering.

Then I lay with my back on the bed and
stared at the concrete ceiling. Edora crawled
onto the bed, switched of the main light bulb,
switched on the reading light at the head of
the bed and said
“Do you like Ses?”