THE STORY OF THE MYSTERY GUCCI RING

Paranormal Activity or Just plain Paranoia?

Word Up my people. Hope you are keeping hope alive, not just waiting for change but being part of the force that will create that change. So many things have been happening. First of all I must be congratulated on taking a bold step and owning real property of my own in Lagos. A mattress. Yes, indeed I finally own something. It is an achievement considering the high cost of living in this city. I was coasting in my hermit status until a certain wind blew my way and I had to find another place of shelter. Sadly. I was enjoying the hotel/dormitory life of 'the guest house'. No responsibilities, no obligations, constant electricity but nearly deafened from the generator. The food was good but occasionally the cook messed up and I had to pay for it. But all of that has now changed. I have to do housework, cook and clean and worst of all pay bills and additional salary. Living with my parents never looked more enticing. So if you are tight handed and frugal like I am and you are about to move from your parents home. DON'T!! If your concern is that they will kill your mojo and prevent you from tripping, just give them a nice 'working late', 'company retreat' excuse or just buddy up with a friend in your favorite 'play' destination and chip in grocery every now and then to cover for your food. I also now have a better appreciation for Criagslist and those friendly neighborhood yard sales. Can you imagine I went to one of those fancy and well decorated furniture showrooms and the price tag for a couch (may be it was the set) read "N650,000". An equivalent of just about $6000. For GINI? Oche!?! chair...a variation of a stool...a log and two stumps of a tree trunk...one cinder block. Please how much is it at 'Rooms-To-Go'? I didn't wait for anyone to tell me to go to the carpenter under the tree at the Chevron Round-About. At least I know the man is excited to be making furniture for a 'VIP client' who will at least recommend him to other members of the 'VIP caucus'. Then I have to find a cook if I want to keep this little weight that I have gained. That or I begin to cook. I tried it last night. Indomie noodles, microwaved heinz baked beans with chopped avocado and cucumbers on the side. It was indeed a daunting task but I ended up with a nice platter. I will try cooking again tonight. Same delicacy might just throw in some canned sardines and corned beef. Sadly. Will probably end up getting pounded yam and egusi from Tantalizer or Moi-Moi from Chicken Republic. Oh the misery.

Anyways to the real story I wanted to share. About something very strange. I am not sure if I am just being paranoid or I should be really concerned. The other day I picked out a hand bag to go out with my sister. The bag was empty when I picked it out and I put in all the stuff that I needed. Money, lip gloss, sunglasses, powder, a pen and my book. We visited a number of people, had lunch with a client, went to the tailor and ran a few errands at the market. Later that night I went out with a friend and had the same purse. Fortunately, being that this is Lagos, I didn't spend any money so I had exactly the same amount I started with. The next day I went to my friend's mother's 10 year remembrance at Unilag Chapel. Unfortunately for me they have two services simutenously, one catholic and one anglican. Yours truly went to the catholic service and was wondering to herself, "this certainly does not look like an anglican set up". I then went up to the attendant and was directed to the other service which was just rounding up. Suffice to say, the spirit has been calling me and decided to allow me publicly embarrass myself. Anyway after hanging with her family I went home and set out to clean my purse and transfer things to my work bag. Then I made an odd discovery. A silver men's ring with the word Gucci 'perforated' into it on two sides. A very tacky and N.C., for 'no class' ring. Automatically I assumed it belonged to my driver so I thought nothing of it and waited for him to come to work the next day. I asked him and he said it was not his. I asked a few of the folks in my office thinking may be it fell into my bag. No one took ownership. Then I started getting interested in finding who owned this ring. I decided to call my family members. Although I knew they would never own such I still had to satisfy my curiosity. I called everybody I knew who could possibly have fingers that large. I was afraid they would say they didn't own it because it was a rather tacky ring. This got me very concerned, especially when I looked in my bag and the money I had there was SHORT. I tried to retrace my expenditure but could not account for a huge chunk of money. Then I thought to myself, could the missing money be related to the discovery of the ring? And then to add to my paranoia, I have been getting 'proposals' from strange people. Some who have been persistent I have had to shout down and others I have turned down nicely. HOWEVER...nigerian men don't give up and are known to try 'spiritual' means. Now the first thing my sister told me to do was as long as I had the ring with me I needed to put it in a bible. Another suggested that may be I had come in contact with some of these crooked money changing mallams who do abracadabra for you and disappear with your money. Then someone said to me that I have been contracted in a 'spiritual engagement' and of course my answer was "Olounmaje... God Forbid'. I have covered myself with the B.O.J (Blood of Jesus) and since thrown the ring away though and will go to church on my own volition on Sunday for the first time since I moved back to Nigeria nearly 2 years ago (not because of this but because I have been meaning to do so and the spirit pushing me towards a particular church has been nudging me harder). So back to the mysterious ring. My question now is how did it get into my bag, who owns it and where did my money go to? Do I have reason to be concerned or is this one of those funny things that happen in life that you just can't explain? Has this or something similar ever happened to you? Holla and MAKE SURE YOU VOTE IF YOU CAN.