Thread by @nwaoma007

Ekerete’s Tale

1./ At the dot of 4:30 a.m. Ekerete’s alarm began its insistent and annoying buzz. As he had done for the past 3 months since he chose that sound, he silently promised to change it to something more pleasing. But he knew he wouldn’t.

2./ His previous alarm setting had been a pleasant tune that made him want to linger in bed. After one too many incidents of allowing himself be led astray by the alarm and oversleeping, he changed it to this one that roused him and sometimes made him want to smash his phone.

3./ In response to the buzz, Ekerete stretched and reluctantly yet determinedly got out of bed. On those past few occasions that he’d deceived himself and lingered in bed, he paid the price by being on the ‘standing only’ BRT queue, catching a later bus,

4./ encountering more traffic than usual, getting to work late, beginning his workday playing catch-up and feeling über stressed. He shook his head and rose to his feet. Mbok, he wasn’t doing that today. The restive, uneasy extra few minutes in bed;

5./ and the resultant out-of-syncness accompanying it wasn’t worth the angst. Reaching out to turn on the light, it dawned on him that the clunking sound accompanied by juddering vibrations and a high-pitched whine

6./which had hitherto blended into standard background neighbourhood noise was his neighbour’s ‘I better pass my neighbour’ generator. His well-honed mind-over-matter technique (developed as an essential survival skill); had automatically kicked in and dulled the noise,

7./ thereby making it almost bearable to his ears. Learning to ignore cacophony from the multiple generators in this compound was crucial if he didn’t want to live in a state of perpetual irritation and agitation.

8./ Damn! No ‘light.’ That meant there was probably no running water because the landlord’s nephew who pumped water in the mornings only did so if there was power. Oh well, the water in his ‘bhutta’ would suffice.

9./ He grabbed his rechargeable lamp from the small table in his room that multi-tasked as bedside table, reading desk, bookshelf and dressing table, snatched his towel hanging on the back of the chair and headed to the glorified cubicle that was his bathroom.

10./ Upon entering the excuse for a bathroom in his cramped, self-contained flat, disappointment awaited him on opening the ‘bhutta.’ It was empty. Slapping his forehead in irritation at himself, he recalled that although he’d intended to fill it on Sunday evening,

11./ he’d got carried away watching BBN. Damn! Now he had to go and fetch from the communal tank behind the building. Approaching the tank with his bucket in hand, he heard voices raised in angry bickering. He recognised the male voice as his neighbour 2 doors down from his flat;

12./ the one with the noisy gen and his adversary was a young woman half his size ‘jacking’ him by the boxers and angrily yelling that he must pay her money after fucking her all night long. His neighbour was gesticulating frantically and begging the girl to lower her voice.

13./At the same time as he was trying to placate the girl, he was nervously looking around furtively to see if anyone was in the vicinity to witness his disgrace. He kept pleading with her to lower her voice and begging her to accept 7k.

14./ Undeterred, she was shouting that 7k fell short of their pre-fuck agreement. She screamed that he should quit wasting her time with his useless begging. She hadn’t given incomplete fuck and she needed the full 15k they agreed on when he contracted her for overnight action.

15./ “Bros! Abeg, nor let me vex here. I no dey like the thing wen I no like. Which nonsense discount you dey find?” She queried disdainfully eyeing him from head to toe like something stuck under her shoe. “The time you dey fok for night,

16./ you no do like person wey him money no complete. No be only you dey collect style? The time when you dey hang my leg one side, dey bend my back call am ‘First-lady style, I complain? I beg you say my back dey pain?” She asked twisting her mouth condescendingly.

17./ She went on relentlessly. “After that one, you still hang am the other side, tell me make I turn my back give you. Make I wide my leg, hang my hand for your wardrobe door, make you fok from back. You tell me say you that one na ‘Prison break.’ Say you dey like am like that.

18./ Shebi I do am?” She stuck her chin up in the air as she queried him.  

Ekerete surreptitiously slowed his steps to better enjoy the drama. Omoeaux! This guy finish work for the ashewo’s body. The young woman was still raging. 
 
 “Only you collect doggy; on top that one,

19./ I still suck your prick, now, time to pay, you dey price me down. God punish you! Ogbeni, I don work finish. Abeg pay me my money make I comot from here, day don break.”  
 
It struck Ekerete that despite speaking pidgin, there was a cultured undertone to her speech.

20./He couldn’t place his finger on it, but somehow, he didn’t think she spoke pidgin for want of an education. Knowing the way of Lagos life when one arrived only with a pocketful of dreams&no back up, it wasn’t improbable that she was only prostituting herself to make ends meet

21./Shaking his head ruefully at memories of some of the more hair-raising tales of the shenanigans people he knew had been involved in while trying to survive in Lagos, he quickened his pace and tuned them and their drama out. Mbok, e no concern am.

22./ It was time to face his own day and his hustle. 

He carefully side-stepped them, turned on the tap and waited for his bucket to fill up. He absolutely wasn’t getting involved. Let his neighbour do the needful. He, Ekerete who was living the celibate life,

23./ did he tell anyone that it was because he did not have any sexual needs? Or that his dick wasn’t able to stand? He gave the guy side-eye and allowed himself to laugh small at his neighbour’s predicament. His celibacy was induced by circumstances.

24./ After doing the math involved in chasing Lagos women, he had long since reached the conclusion that sex was for ‘big boys.’ He ‘jejely’ borrowed himself sense and settled for celibacy. 
 
The billing formula applied by Lagos women was beyond his pocket

25./& ‘ashewo’ wahala was more than he could handle with all that he had on his plate. 

He hadn’t had sex in over 9 months & that one had been a fluke ‘good-luck fuck’. (He knew that, because there was no other reason an ex from uni days had allowed him to have sex with her).

26./ He’d been at the Law School bus-stop on Ozumba Mbadiwe waiting for a bus on his way back home to Lakowe where he lived after work on the fateful evening it happened. It was one of those days when Danfos and BRT buses seemed to jointly conspire to punish passengers.

27./ He was one of many passengers awaiting a bus in the rush-hour crush. How she saw him in the crowd as she cruised along in her car was still a mystery. Definitely a stroke of good fortune. She’d driven past, then paused and reversed.

28./ A few aggressive would-be passengers pushed through and tried unsuccessfully to enter her car, but her doors must have been locked. She ignored them and pressed on her horn until he looked towards the car out of curiosity, whereupon she wound down slightly

29./ and asked one of the people blocking his view of her to call him. While he was still greeting her and expressing his pleasure and surprise at seeing her, she beckoned him in and they drove off. She said she was going his way but only as far as Sango-tedo

30./&offered to take him that far. Who was he to refuse?

Upon approaching Sango-tedo, she invited him in for a tour of her new home. She told him she’d moved in a few weeks earlier. Prior to that, she’d been squatting with friends on the mainland ever since she arrived in Lagos.

31./ It was a well-appointed 2-bedroom flat.  Life was obviously better for her than for him even though she said she was currently job-hunting but apparently (according to her) God was good. He agreed that God was good. She reiterated that in deed He was.

32./That she was a small girl with a big God.   
 
After she’d given him a tour of her apartment and shown off all the mod-cons, she offered him dinner. He declined as it was already late and the next day was a work day. But she insisted, saying that she only had to microwave it.

33./ She smiled seductively at him, pouting her lips and telling him she was lonely and would enjoy some company while she ate. She didn’t ask if he had anyone waiting for him at home. Obviously, it didn’t matter one way or another.  
Long story short,

34./ after he ate Jollof rice with goatmeat stew and plantain with a side of coleslaw in the comfort of her home; for old times’ sake, he sang for his supper by ‘washing her plate’. He wasn’t called headmaster for nothing. He did a thorough job of ‘plate-washing,’

35./ and as his expert tongue and lips worked their magic, she couldn’t quiet her moans nor was she silent about how he was the best at ‘plate-washing’ and how she had missed him. He wound up spending the night. The gymnastics of pleasuring her

36./&receiving the pleasure she gave generously in return combusted the entire Jollof rice from his body by fire by force. She was well-endowed, skilled in love-play &seductive with it. She knew how to handle a man, bring him to his knees with pleasure&have him begging for more.

37./Ekerete knew he couldn’t afford her, but he couldn’t help but wonder as she knelt before him, to take his eager penis in her mouth how a girl as beautiful and as accomplished as she was could still be single and tried to remember why they had broken up back in the day.

38./ Her head was thrown back, and he’d burrowed his hands into her hair, holding her head in place as she deep-throated him. She was so expert at it that his eyelids closed shut of their own volition and uncontrollable guttural groans of pleasure escaped him.

39./ He came shortly afterwards.  
After he had paid his dues by giving her 2 orgasms, one from eating her and the other from taking her doggy style and bringing her to a shuddering, toe-curling orgasm, she’d excused herself to shower in her en-suite bathroom.

40./ She’d just exited the bathroom, sauntering towards him smiling seductively, a tiny towel wrapped around her generous curves, water droplets clinging to her soft skin, her long legs giving him bad ideas, when her phone began to ring;

41./ confirming her caller with a look at the screen, she placed her index finger on her lips, and motioned him to stay silent. She reached the bed, reclined on the other side from where he lay before she answered the call.

42./ Lying on her back with her legs drawn up at the knees but left slightly wide apart, she held her phone in her left hand and raised it up so that the person at the other end of the phone could see what she was doing, licked her right index finger

43./ and slipped that hand between her legs and began, gently teasing her clit with that finger. The phone was on speaker so that her caller could hear her as well as see what she was doing.
“Hello Baby?” She spoke in sleepy, sexy tones. “Yes Baby, yes. I’m home.

44./ In bed as you can see.” Pause… “You want to come over tonight? No Baby. I’m exhausted. I’m going to sleep now. I drove all over Ajah and Badore looking for a space for the shop. Then I had to go to Victoria island on some errands.” Pause… “Come tomorrow baby.

45./ I will stay home and make you Edi ka ikong with pounded yam. Not poundo yam. Freshly pounded yam.” She spoke softly but with emphasis on ‘freshly.’ “Of course, I will do it by myself. Baby you will eat and lick your fingers then you will lick and suck other things.”

46./ She laughed seductively at her little joke. Pause… “Baby, trust me now… After you eaten that one, I will give you the real food.” By now she was circling her nipple with her finger and pinching it gently. “I will take care of you very well.” …Pause.

47./ Then she affected a softly chiding tone; “I miss you too. Baby promise me you won’t go and fuck Madam tonight oh! Save your energy for your Sweet Baby. I have serious plans for you after I feed you tomorrow.” She laughed again. Another small sexy chuckle and added;

48./ “You’re such a naughty boy. I really miss you. Yes, Baby. You like what I’m doing? I will send you a picture when I hang up. You can already see what I’m planning to serve you  for dessert tomorrow.” She laughed seductively again and said goodnight.

49./ Omoeaux! He had been weak. When she’d lain on the bed to take the call, as soon as he realized it was a video call, he’d discreetly moved away from her, inching closer to the edge of the bed on his side in order to give her privacy and avoid being caught on camera.

50./He knew things like this happened; that girls juggled men &played the same games guys played. He’d even been juggled in the past. But to be present while a girl was talking to her main lover while he was cutting sideshows! Hah! He hadn’t experienced that one until that night.

51./Wow! Uduak being kept by a married lover? It now made sense how she had all she did without a job. He must’ve been having a slow day not to have immediately cottoned on. As far as he remembered, she didn’t come from a family comfortable enough to fund that lifestyle for her.

52./ Women’s life was different sha. But wetin concern him? After her call, she rolled over to face him and beckoned him closer to where she lay. She bit her lower lip, looking at him somewhat questioningly as if she thought she ought to explain something to him,

53./ or expected him to ask questions. But she didn’t follow through neither did he ask any questions.  
 
What was he going to ask? The facts spoke for themselves. In response to her invitation, he positioned himself between her spread open thighs,

54./ slid up to be just at eye level with her bosom, and buried his face in her cleavage inhaling her clean smell. He nuzzled for a few moments rubbing her breasts and tugging on her nipples and enjoying the feeling of her nipples hardening to his touch.

55./ He kept on until he felt his manhood stiffen in readiness for more work. Meanwhile, reacting to his touch, she cupped her breasts together, offering him the plump mounds to suckle on. As he obliged her, Uduak, rolled her head from side to side.

56./ Her breath was coming in small gasps and she whimpered in anticipation of the imminent pleasuring. His dick was getting even harder, and Ekerete wanted to accelerate things so he could bury his engorged dick inside her eager and pliant body.

57./ He had now accompanied his hands with his mouth; biting on one nipple and progressing to sucking on her large breasts. She moaned aloud and again pushed her breasts close together wordlessly begging him to suckle on both at the same time.

58./ All about the phone call was forgotten as he accepted her silent offer, took over from her and squeezed both breasts together then quickly taking both nipples in his mouth. Uduak responded by reaching down to stroke his manhood.

59./ They had sex about 4 times in the course of that night. In the morning, he was worn out in the best possible way, but felt curiously revitalized. He hurriedly showered and brushed, using his finger as a toothbrush and dressed in his clothes from the previous day.

60./ He gently nudged her awake and told her he was leaving. She murmured something unintelligible and turned over to continue sleeping. They chatted on WhatsApp a few times after that, but she hadn’t invited him back and he hadn’t sought her out. Anyway, since then,

61./ he seamlessly picked up the threads of his celibate life without missing a beat.  
 
Refocusing his attention on his now full bucket, he noticed 2 other neighbours waiting for him to remove his bucket, so they could fetch water and hurriedly removed his full bucket.

62./The quarrelling neighbor & his ‘ashewo’ were now negotiating in quieter tones but were yet to reach an agreement. The guy’s voice was low, but Ekerete heard his words & he had upped his offer and was now begging her to manage 10k but she was insisting on her 15k or else…

63./ Although she was no longer shouting, her voice retained an undertone of menace and was loud enough for others to hear with the implicit threat that she could raise the decibel if he didn’t pony-up.  

Omoeaux! 15k? Let his hand bend if he gave any ‘ashewo’ 15k.

64./ In this Buhari’s Nigeria? When he had his right hand and soap or Vaseline as the case may be. God forbid. He snapped his fingers in rejection of such profligacy. Climbing the stairs with his bucket, he tripped over a lone boot on the staircase and nearly fell.

65./ Thankfully, he regained his balance, but he was annoyed at himself for not noticing it and annoyed at whoever had left the boot there. He continued upstairs relieved that he hadn’t spilled the contents of his bucket. Just as he entered his flat,

66./ he tripped over his backpack and half of the water he had just fetched spilled. Ekerete put down the bucket, stood with his hands on his waist and shook his head in frustration. What kind of morning was this?  Was today going to be one of those days?

67./ It appeared as if everything around him was conspiring against him. Was it a sign from above that he should return to his bed? Maybe he should have taken those few extra minutes and lingered in bed. This was the kind of day when someone would get hit by an okada,

68./or some other bad luck thing would happen. He was superstitious like that. Too many incidents in one morning. They must all be building up to the big one. 

At that moment, his phone began to ring. The melodious voice of @ugoccie belting out the tunes of ‘No Wahala’

69./ cheered him up. He had intentionally picked that song as his ringtone. Her sonorous voice soothed him every time plus the lyrics of the song captured everyday reality. Looking at his phone, the Caller-ID showed it was his friend Efiok. That was a surprise.

70./ He hadn’t spoken to Efiok in a while. 

“Boss! Long time. How your side?” Ekerete cheerfully greeted his buddy. Last time they spoke, Efiok was preparing to ‘japa.’ He was surprised the guy was still calling with a Nigerian number. Or was it a WhatsApp call? Very quickly,

71./ he glanced at his screen again. Nope. Not a WhatsApp call.   

“EK! Guy! I dey oh! But it’s not good with me. It’s not soft at all.” Efiok replied. His voice sounded despondent.  
“Boss? Not good? What do you mean? I’m surprised you’re still calling with this number.

72./ I thought you would have ‘japaed’ by now,  and be calling me with an ‘abroad’ number. How far with ‘japa’ moves?” Ekerete was curious. Arrangements had been fairly advanced the last time they spoke. In fact, it had appeared that departure was a mere formality.

73./ Their last conversation had left him green with envy that his guy had successfully put money together to fund his immigration plans as well as sorting out the visa and all the necessary formalities.

In his dreams, that was his #Lifegoals. But he didn’t have access to,

74./ nor did he earn the kind of money that would allow him the luxury of dreaming of attempting to save that kind of money. His semi-indigent parents and 2 siblings in university depended on him. His salary was strictly apportioned and his hours were too long

75./ to allow him time for any of the side hustles he had considered which may have given him a second stream of income. He had finally caved in and accepted that there was nothing but drudgery for him in the foreseeable future.

76./ Naija for life unless there was a drastic change in his circumstances.

He hadn’t folded his arms, but for now, he was hemmed in on all sides. The helplessness induced by his current lack of options wasn’t a matter he liked to dwell on.

77./ Efiok’s voice dragged him out of his reverie. “Omoeaux! EK! This country can NEVER be good again. NEVER!! Nigerians are evil. Unrepentantly evil. Evil to the core! The devil is Nigerian, I swear.” Efiok’s response was comedically vehement.  
Ekerete was taken aback.

78./ The conviction and intensity in his friend’s tone were deep. “Boss?! This sounds like you’re speaking from a place of a terrible experience? What happened? I’m in a rush kind of, so please, make it brief.” TBH, he’d already lost too much time

79./ and didn’t really have the patience or even the keen interest to listen to tales of how bad Nigeria was. Every Nigerian already knew the country was messed up. That was nothing new. Why was Efiok acting as if he had made some bold new discovery? What was his eureka event?

80./ Oh well, he owed it to his friend to offer a listening ear at the very least. 

Efiok launched into the most pathetic tale Ekerete had heard in a while. He lost count of the number of times he exclaimed “Omoeaux!” in the course of the tale. It was too much.

81./ The bottom line was that Efiok had been scammed by the agent helping him get a visa.   
It was a classic smoke and mirrors scam. He had paid and followed up and as far as he could reasonably do, had done his due diligence. The agent had appeared legit.

82./ Even provided evidence of people he had previously helped who confirmed via email with pictures that they had crossed over. As agreed, the guy had assisted Efiok in getting a visa via his contact. Efiok had been granted a Schengen visa

83./ without him having to face lengthy interviews after the initial submission of his documents. On receiving the visa, Efiok hurriedly put things together, quit his job and left. His innate penchant for confidentiality and fear of ‘village people’

85./ was all that stopped him from updating his status and regaling the TL on his various social media platforms with the usual “Good-bye Nigeria, you have done enough” picture at his point of departure. He wanted to do it in a more impactful way after he settled in properly.

86./ Everything went well and he arrived safely at Schiphol. Following disembarkation, there were stern looking police? or were they even soldiers in full combat gear waiting to receive the passengers. They looked at visas of the passengers, waved most past,

87./ but detained a few (mostly male) for further questioning. Efiok and his cohorts were later taken to an unwelcoming holding room where they were individually interviewed about their reasons for coming to the Netherlands as well as their immigration processes.

88./ Apparently, a batch of visas had been traced to a compromised process which involved some of the consular staff as well as Nigerian agents and Efiok’s visa was one of those. He was particularly pained because his intention had been to go to the UK;

89./ but when the agent said he could more easily get Schengen, he accepted it rather than nothing or a lengthier process trying to get a British visa. Following the interviews, those of them whose visas were found defective were deported within 48 hours.

90./ He never reached the arrivals area of Schiphol Airport.  
He had resigned his fairly well-paying job and sold all his sellable belongings as soon as his visa had come through,  Upon his ignominious return to Nigeria,

91./the job which had made it possible for him to put the savings required for the trip together was no longer available. To even get a poorly-paid job was a challenge and now, 4 months later, he was still hanging and perching from friend to friend.

92./He was living in penury as he had put all he had into acquiring the visa through the backdoor after several failed official applications both for student and visiting visas.

93./ The decision to pay an agent for any visa (visiting visa) to get him to Europe in the hopes that he would begin hustling ASAP on getting abroad while seeking a means of getting into a school or something had been his desperate last resort.

94./ He had simply wanted to leave by all means and had ‘exchanged his head for hair.’ In addition to being broke, he now questioned his mental state.   
Ekerete had sunk down onto his bed as the story unfolded. “Omoeaux!” This was beyond his comprehension.

95./ The loss of that kind of money, the loss of a job, in this Nigeria as everything red! The raising of hopes and the shattered dreams just as one’s dreams seemed within touching distance. Wow! He was speechless. He didn’t have the words to comfort or condole with his friend.

96./ All he could do was to exclaim over and over. 
   
Efiok’s next words dragged him forcefully back to the present. “Guy, I’m down. This is worse than rock bottom. I haven’t eaten in 2 days. Anything you have, please send.” Efiok pleaded.   
Ekerete was weak.

97./ This was not the Efiok he knew. His guy had been working for an oil servicing company making decent money. Why had he even been so desperate to leave? Damn! This wasn’t Efiok at all. Damn!! Life!!! “Boss, you know my case nah! I no too dey buoyant at any time.

98./ But I will send what I can. No shaking. Stay strong. This too shall pass.” Ekerete stopped himself from mouthing further platitudes at that point. He was sure Efiok had heard more than enough of those. They rounded up and he took a quick shower,

99./dressed, grabbed his stuff and dashed off for work. He was irredeemably late. Truly at that point, he had nothing to give and was wondering what to do. His friend knew how his finances were. But if despite knowing that, Efiok had reached out to him,

100./ it behooved him to try anyhow. All through the journey to work, he wondered how? His money for the rest of the month was tightly calibrated to accommodate his transport and feeding and nothing else. If he was to take anything out of it, he would either be unable to eat,

101./ or unable to go to work. “Na wa oh!”  

At the Office  
After all the minor incidents that morning Ekerete was relieved to get to the office without any major mishap befalling him. Hopefully, the universe had averted the worst by permitting the multiple mini-incidents.

102./ He had just settled into his workstation when his line manager called him in to his office. His heart began to thump again. “Ehen! He knew it! He said it!! He was about to be fired.” This would be the icing on the cake on an already bad day. God. How would he cope?

103./ He thought of his parents... Quickly, he made the sign of the cross and went into the line manager’s office. 
   
Returning to his workstation a few minutes later. He made a fist bump and mouthed “Thank God!” It had been nothing. In fact, it had been good news.

104./ A happy client had given his manager some money to share to the team. His share was 15k. Almost immediately he sat down, his phone vibrated. It was the alert from his line manager. He had written his account details on a post-it note before leaving his line manager’s office

105./ moments earlier. He promptly sent 12.5k of the money to his friend. The debit alert assured him that the money had gone through and he continued with his day lighter, less anxious.

106./ Two Days Later      

Leaving work that evening, it struck Ekerete that he hadn’t heard back from Efiok acknowledging receipt of the money. He decided to call his friend. Multiple attempts yielded no response.

107./ He sent an SMS in reply to the account number Efiok had sent to his phone two days earlier. Three days later, he still hadn’t got a response or a call from Efiok. He called again, now worried, still, no response from Efiok.

108./ He got worried and reached out to a mutual friend with trepidation; Efiok was not in a good place. God forbid he had committed suicide. Luckily, the guy said he’d been with Efiok the previous evening. As far as he knew, Efiok was fine. Ekerete was relieved but confused.

109./ What was going on? 
   
Much later that evening, his phone rang. It was Efiok, after saying “Hello,” he was about to launch into a gentle query as to why his guy hadn’t acknowledged the money when Efiok burst out in vituperations; asking if it was because of a mere N12.5k

110./ that Ekerete wanted him to begin bowing and scraping to him?

Was that why Ekerete was spreading stories about him to anyone who would listen? He went on and on and finished by saying that it wasn’t Ekerete’s fault but his for reaching out to Ekerete.

111./ That if it hadn’t been for the curveball life had dealt him, he would never have reduced himself to begging from the likes of a riff-raff like Ekerete.   
 
Ekerete was speechless. This tirade blindsided him, he absolutely hadn’t seen that coming.

112./ He had taken money he could ill-afford to part with and given his friend in sympathy and solidarity and this was his reward. He shook his head. Efiok was still speaking and assuring him that he would never owe the likes of Efiok. That as soon as things turned around,

113./ he would pay back the measly sum. Ekerete quietly cut the call and went to look for something to eat in his temperamental Tokunbo fridge. He pulled out his bowl of soup, uncovered it and was about to turn it into the pot to warm when realised that the soup had gone off.

114./ That was befitting. Anyway, he had lost his appetite. He fished out the meat and fish, poured away the soup and decided that if his appetite returned and he was feeling peckish, he would drink garri with sugar to sweeten his mood.

115./ Meanwhile, he would tune in to BBN to see what was happening in Biggie’s house. He could not come and go and kill himself. He had meant to do good. He had done good. He had asked after his buddy because he was worried about his mental health; but it had all gone belly-up.

116./It called to mind that Kent M. Keith’s ‘Anyway’ poem;

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. 
Do good anyway. 

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. 
Do good anyway. 

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

117./ Help people anyway. 

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; 

Give the world the best you've got anyway. 

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God; 

It was never between you and them anyway. 
 
The End