To the shore where they hip and keep hipping the sand, till it is enough or at least considered a money worth price to the tankers before purchase. Prieto  taught about joining some group of boys or should I say youth, the capable ones that fit such job to make some money for himself. On the other hand, he considered the job too risky. As much as he tried and waited for the moment to dawn on him to have the job, he changes his mind. I think, the personality he brought from the city sticks to him so much that he considered such job as been too uneducated standard way of making a living. Trying to share the village cultural orientation, which I figure out to be relapsing him in a way. Best reason known to him, it actually a money making venture to some of the youths that has the vigor. While Prieto steps out of the river after his bath, he finds a cool place to sit alone at the river and light up his cigarette.
After blazing a wrap of marijuana, he observed the direction of the wind, the sand jobber and the little children playing at the shallow part of the river, he never fail to keep his eyes at the corner where he packed his mother’s bicycle, for it was the only means of transportation his mother own. It was bought for his mother as a gift by her immediate younger rich brother, so he tried as much as possible to keep pedestrians in check. After observing much more, everything around the wide spacious river, he would pick stones at the river bank, while having a stick of lighted cigarette on his left hand between his fingers, he flungs each stones he picks at the goose birds floating across the river surface with his right hand, in a certain way but slightly trying to miss his target, so as not to ring any mischievous alarm of killing the birds, someone somewhere owns the goose. At a nearby whetco dredging sand company. The water birds do their own daily activities, they float along the coast where anyone that comes to have communion with the aqua can see them.
You might be wondering why I used the word “aqua” men!…am sure you will like to be my guest in thirst quenching with the refreshing water. It has tasty texture, is just at the middle of not worm and not cold. With that, I account the village as being blessed, for not coming to share in this goodness with money, like some of the people at the city would turn it to be an opportunity. Turning out a gate fee from it. Lagosians are guilty of such maladies. Prieto went for his colourful towel, hung at the handle wheel of the standard bicycle against a palm kernel tree. He would clean the remaining part of his body that is not yet dried, dust his trousers away from embedded sand and slit in his leg into them carefully not to pack the sandy gravel.
Pulling the bicycle and drifting it along a less sandy free zone, to peddle on the bicycle for an easy ride. Sometimes, it's a different ball game, when the chain responsible for the peddling got loosed, it irritates him for all you can hear him say will be curse words. Cursing the gravel sand, damaging the already half-life old bicycle in a jiffy. Mosttimes, he got them fixed. Sometimes he retired it at the village bike repairers shop to fix.
One day Prieto was ridding home while returning from the river, It happened again with the bicycle chain, it got loosed. This time aroud, he was lucky enough to have been nearer to the repairers shop. He pushed the bicycle to the shop for repairs, he told the repairer to help him fix it permanently. The bicycle was fixed, he gave the repairer a green twenty naira note. After giving him the money, just a stone throw travel the chains of the bicycle got broken, he dragged it back to the repairer and started laying blames on the repairer for causing the chains to damage completely. As he was raising his voice in accusation, whaat! whaat! What the meaning of call this shit; just opposite the repairers shop, was a house in between the house and the repairers shop, the street was demarcating to the other side of the road. looking boldy enough, at the front of the house, he saw Jessica.
To shed light on the expression Prieto gave at the unexpected sight of a girl, a girl like Jessica, I knew they both have something in common, an attitude of wanting not to mingle with strangers and the villagers, except with few ones they dim fits to converse with in the village.
Prieto changed his position properly to the excitement when he saw her. at this unexpected awareness, he composed himself with an iota of self control, to unmask her expectation. Like they say, good impression at first will compliment the second impression; In such a moment, it won't be a passing thing because Prieto has been waiting to meet with her again, because their first meeting was at a ceremonial opening of some Ndokwa league club.
She brought herself to the notice of virtually most of the audience, at the ceremony. She was among those who served drinks and foods and of course, the traditional ways of kola-nut, hot seaman liquor, and palm-wine with everyone faces beaming with excitement, as the local dialect musician named "Vinco" performs exclusive highlife with his band. Jessica came into the scene wearing green silkers hip style trousers, a light brown body hug, with something like a Japanese weave, to bring her face to the limelight of beauty. She’s actually not with the kind of beauty that made Prieto went gaga for Ify, that’s Blessing.
Prieto talks about Blessing( Ify) to me at times.