Content Warning
This story contains themes of mild violence (slapping), a dream sequence involving cannibalism (biting a sister in a dream), discussions of crime (murder, theft, rape referenced in a backstory), religious criticism, and mild language. It also includes themes of unemployment, boredom, and a stranger approaching a woman in public. Reader discretion is advised.
Intro
Precious is the kind of girl who causes go slow on the highway — the kind a man walks past and then stops to turn back. She is twenty-three, beautiful, unemployed, and bored out of her mind. After a long, hot day of waiting for job applications to bear fruit, she steps out for an evening stroll. The scent of jasmine fills the air. The evening breeze cools her skin. And then she smells it — roasted meat on the wind, sizzling over an open fire, fat dripping into the flames. There is just one problem: she has no cash. Then a stranger appears. David is handsome, confident, and wearing a shirt that says "NO GREE FOR ANYBODY." He offers to buy her the meat. She agrees to talk — no strings attached. What follows is a story within a story: a tale of a drowning boy, a wanted criminal, and a split-second decision that changed everything. A murderer saved a child. A murderer found redemption. And Precious forgets all about the meat. But when she finally takes a bite, the dream shatters — because the meat was never meat at all. Part 1 ends with a bite mark on her sister's arm and a question that lingers long after the dream fades: can one good deed atone for a life of crime?
The Girl Who Caused Go Slow
She is that kind of girl that will cause go slow on the highway. She is the kind of girl a man will walk past and then stop to turn back. She is that kind of girl a driver will forget he is in the middle of the road, and stop to stare at the wonderful creation of God.
She is beautiful with grey eyes that glint like silver when the rays of the sun touch them. She is tall for a girl of twenty-three, robust front and behind, shoulder-length hair, and a perfect set of teeth, and those dimples when she smiles — it is like a new dawn. She wore a sleeveless gown that reached above her knees, showing the perfect sculpture of her legs. Her name is Precious, and she knows the effect she has on people, and she used it as a weapon of mass destruction — not in the bombardment way, but in a way that many doors open for her.
The Boredom of Waiting
It was evening. The weather was hot, and the sun was going down over the horizon. She had been home all day, and boredom had been trying to crush her down. She had lost her job, and there was nothing to do but to wait for a new one after sending so many applications.
That day, the heat was too much for her to bear, and so when the sun went down, she thought it was time to take a stroll in the neighborhood. After all, sitting idle is not good for the health, so experts had said sitting down at home or even laying down and doing nothing is the root cause of so many health challenges, including piles and over-bloating of the body.
The Evening Stroll
She entered the street hoping to walk a few distances and then return back home. It was just a walk and nothing more. It turned out to be so refreshing as she walked and the evening breeze hit her as the cars sped by. She saw the horticulturists tending to their flowers, and the scent coming from them was overwhelming — the scent of jasmine, wild flower, and the morning star. She lingered a bit to inhale their scent, and then she moved on.
She saw the vulcanizer packing his stuff for the day. He was shouting to his apprentices to hurry up and that he had had enough. He claimed he could not even be able to buy groceries for home because it wasn't a good day.
She watched as he carried used and damaged tyres and stacked them together into a heap. She walked on, and she saw a nomad herding cows along the road. This is dangerous, she thought. Government needs to regulate these people because they are a danger to lives on the road and off the road. She took a wide berth as one of those cows came near her, not wanting those huge horns to mistakenly harm her.
Above all, it was a nice walk. She heard the chorus of voices singing hymns from a nearby church. She frowned. Religion has been one of the worst things to happen to Africa. It has stunted the growth of the continent. She remembers hearing a preacher asking people to vote for a particular aspirant because he is a member of their religion and not because he can perform well or provide the needed development, but because he is a member of their religion. She shook her head, her mood souring at the thought.
The Smell of Roasted Meat
She perked up when she smelled roasted meat on the wind. Yes, it was the time for these vendors to be out. She loves these steaks. It is done locally by using a stick to pierce each piece of meat and roasted on a fire with a sprinkle of pepper and spice on it. She hurried her pace, and just when she put her hand in her pocket, she found out she had no cash with her. She frowned. This had never happened.
She stood there looking at the man as he turned the meat and the hissing of the fire as fat dropped on it. Her mouth watered as she swallowed hard. She was watching the meat with such intent that at first she didn't hear the man behind her.
She turned to see a young man maybe in his early thirties standing behind her. He was smiling in a kind way. He was taller than her, wearing a white polo shirt with the words "NO GREE FOR ANYBODY" written in bold red letters. He had a perfect set of teeth, a well-trimmed beard, and a muscular frame, dark eyes, and he was wearing an earring on his right ear.
The Stranger Named David
"Excuse me," he said, smiling at her. "My name is David. I couldn't help it — your beauty just brightened my day."
She paused, looking at him. Looking at his smile, it seemed genuine, but these days men are scum and not worth the stress. She sighed and said, "Thank you."
"May I know your name?" he asked her, still smiling that disarming smile.
"No, I don't tell strangers my name."
"Ha," he nodded his head with understanding. "How about I become your friend?"
"Just like that?" she asked him with a frown.
"Well, I don't know any other way. You see, I'm an old-fashioned kind of guy."
"What do you want?" she asked bluntly.
"It may seem somehow, but I'm in love with your beauty."
She laughed. It was funny how a total stranger could approach her and be telling her about being in love with her beauty. Men, she thought, they are all the same. "Thank you," she said, "but I'm not interested."
"I mean no harm. I just want to know you."
"I'm not interested," she said again, turning around.
The Offer of Meat
David couldn't understand why a beautiful girl like her was forming hard. He understands he may not be the first to tell her how beautiful she is, but she doesn't have to give him the cold shoulder treatment. Why would women do this? he asked himself. Is it bad to start a friendship with a total stranger? Women and the issue of trust is really annoying him.
He looked at the young woman and he could see the way she clenched her jaw and how her hands trembled like she wanted to grab the meat on the spit, but she was holding herself. An idea came to him then, and he tapped her on her shoulder. She turned and looked at him with a questioning stare, eyebrows raised.
"What now?" she asked him. He could see how she subtly inhaled the aroma from the meat.
"Can I get you some?" he asked her. "We can sit over there," he said, pointing at a bench overlooking the road, "and maybe have a chat to get to know ourselves better."
He saw the conflict playing behind those two beautiful eyes. He watched her frown, not daring to breathe. And when she said, "Just talk, no strings attached,"
He exhaled. "Just talk," he agreed, and she went to the bench waiting for him as he purchased the meat.
The Story of the Drowning Boy
A few minutes later, they were both sitting down and laughing, the meat between them untouched yet. David was saying, "I couldn't swim back then, so I took a challenge just because my crush was standing there smiling. Unknown to me, the smile wasn't even for me, but for my opponent. I slapped my chest, daring my opponent to never think about it."
"Wait," she said, laughing. "What was the challenge?"
"It was a stupid challenge — to get to the far side of a river and pluck a flower and give it to the one you love."
"Oh," she said, laughing. "How did it go?"
"Well, when the whistle was blown, we both dived in. Mind you, I don't know how to swim, but love pushed me. So my opponent was swimming while I was walking. The water was at chest level then. As I walked, the water reached my chin, and I looked back. Everyone was laughing, but my crush was encouraging and clapping. What a fool I was — she was encouraging my opponent since he was ahead and swimming, while I was trying to put my foot one step at a time. I was testing the ground before I moved."
"Why not quit?" she asked, still laughing.
"Love was a motivation that spurred me on."
"So what happened?" she asked him.
He was silent for a moment. His mind went back to that day. He thought he would die. He thought it was the last time he would see his family. He remembers the waves as they hit him. He remembers how the water rushed into his mouth and then the darkness that threatened him.
"That moment I nearly died," he said as he looked at her with a sad grin.
"What really happened?" she asked, now going quiet, meat still between them untouched.
"Well, I was testing the ground. You see, the water was at my chest one moment and then it was at my chin. I knew if I went further, it would cover me. So I was using my right leg to test the ground, but unfortunately, the ground was slippery, and so I slipped. The water dragged me to the deepest part of the river. I was going down and coming up, and the water was filling my mouth. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. The world was dark, and I didn't know where was up or down."
"That was terrible," she said, now looking sad. "How did you survive?"
The Murderer Who Saved a Life
At this, David laughed, and she raised an eyebrow questioningly, wondering if he was just pulling her leg.
"Life is really a twist. I can say from my experience that no one really knows tomorrow. It was like heaven was on my side that day. Here is why."
"There was a murderer, a thief, and a rapist on the loose. The government had promised a big bounty for his capture. He had his mug on every street, every corner. There was no space his ugly mug wasn't showing, and sometimes mothers used his story to scare kids so they could behave. Calling his name was like summoning the devil himself. I will not lie — even the adults were afraid of him. He was dark and with a face like it had been run over by a truck. There were scars all over his face. Half his right ear had been bitten off from a fight or whatever — no one knows — but we all know him as a wanted criminal.
"I saw him once in action, and I knew that is the kind of person I can never entangle with. So here is the thing: on that day, I was getting drowned in the river. The cops were after him too, so he jumped into a boat to escape from them. At that time, the place criminals hid was in the river. There is this area that is like a highland, well hidden from the public, and if you don't know the place, you can never find it. So he was getting away from them. You know what desperate people do in such a situation, right?" he asked her, and she nodded.
"So this guy was almost gone when he saw me drowning. Now, the world knows him as a murderer, a hardened criminal with no mercy. His list of crimes is so glaring that you can feel it physically when you read it on the paper.
"Now, this hardened criminal saw a young boy getting drowned, and he knew he would die in a few minutes if nothing was done. And so he jumped out of his boat — his only escape route — and swam to this boy, whom he didn't know. He grabbed him by the waist and swam him to dry land."
"Wow, that is incredible," she said, hands over her mouth, eyes shining in the moonlight as night had already fallen by that time.
The Fate of the Criminal
David rose from the bench and took the meat back to the vendor and asked him to reheat it, because it had gone cold, and then he got back to Precious.
They were silent for a moment, each thinking about the story. David playing back that day while Precious wondered if it was divine intervention or just pure luck — a murderer who is escaping from the cops, saving a drowning kid. She shook her head and asked finally, "What happened to him?"
David sighed. He was silent for a moment as he watched the cars speed by. He thought he could see the man in front of him smiling. He shook his head and said, "He was arrested. He got caught, but he never stopped caring for me. Everyone was watching as the cops rounded him up and all manner of guns were pointing at him. He made sure I spilled out the water I had swallowed. He looked at me as I looked back blurry, coughing and crying. He bent down and whispered, 'Be strong, little one. You will be alright. Thank you.'"
"Why the thank you?"
"I don't know. At that time, but later I heard he was looking for redemption."
"Can one life atone for a life of crime?" she asked him.
"I don't know," he said, going back to the vendor to get their meat. He brought it to her and told her to eat it before it got cold.
"Come on, have a go at it now before it gets cold again. Don't have the strength to run back and forth," he grinned.
Precious took the meat from him. She could smell it and her mouth watered. She watched the fat dripping from the headlamp of cars passing by. She inhaled the scent. She swore she could separate all the different kinds of spice added in it, even the smell of smoke. She looked at David and said, "My name is Precious."
"It is a pleasure meeting you. I hope we can be friends."
"Well, you gave me a good story. I guess I will like to hear more of your stories to see where it leads."
"Deal," he said, extending his hand as she shook it, and then she bit into the meat.
The Dream Ends
There was a scream, and a mighty slap hit her on her back. She jumped up, clutching at her back from the pain, and with eyes still blurry from sleep, she heard her sister Amy shout at her, "You were eating me!"
Precious froze. She looked at her hand and then at her sister, who was holding her hand, and she could see a bite mark.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I was dreaming of eating meat — a barbecue on the street, on a bench as I watched the cars speed by."
"What has gotten into you? When did you become a cannibal?" Amy fumes.
"And there was this guy. He is so handsome," she said.
"A guy?"
"Yes."
Amy hissed and left the room, muttering, "You just ate me and with no apology, you're talking of a guy."
Precious sat down on her bed, breathing hard. It seemed so real. Wow, what a dream. If only I could meet someone like David. She sighed as she collapsed on the bed with a dreamy smile on her face. But the story he told her... she just shook her head and muttered, "What a dream."
What This Story Teaches Us
The Girl Who Stops Traffic is more than a romantic dream sequence — it is a quiet meditation on hunger, longing, redemption, and the stories we tell ourselves when reality falls short.
1. Beauty Is a Tool, Not a Destiny
Precious knows the effect she has on people and uses it deliberately. But behind that power is a young woman who is unemployed, bored, and waiting for life to start. Beauty opens doors — it does not walk through them for you.
2. Trust Is Earned in Small Moments
Precious refuses David at every turn until he does one simple thing: he sees what she wants and offers it without demanding anything in return. Real connection does not force itself. It waits. It reads the room. It buys the meat.
3. Even the Worst People Carry Seeds of Good
The most powerful lesson in this story is not about Precious or David — it is about the wanted criminal who jumped out of his only escape boat to save a drowning boy he did not know. Society had written him off completely. Yet in that one moment, he chose a child's life over his own freedom. No one is entirely beyond redemption.
4. One Good Deed Does Not Cancel a Life of Crime — But It Matters
The criminal was still arrested. Saving David did not erase his past. But the boy grew up carrying that story, that whisper: "Be strong, little one." A single act of humanity can echo for decades in someone else's life, even if it changes nothing for the one who gave it.
5. The Mind Turns Longing Into Dreams
Precious did not dream of David because she met him. She dreamed of him because she was hungry — for food, for company, for something to break the monotony of waiting. The mind is creative with longing. It will build an entire world, complete with roasted meat and a handsome stranger, just to feed what is missing.
6. Boredom Is the Beginning of Many Stories
Nothing extraordinary was supposed to happen that evening. Precious just wanted a walk. But boredom pushed her out the door, and out the door is where life begins. Sometimes the most important thing you can do is simply move.
Nigerian Pidgin English Glossary
New to Nigerian Pidgin? Here's a quick guide to the expressions used in this story.
Go slow — A traffic jam. When Nigerians say someone "caused go slow," they mean the person was so distracting that traffic literally stopped because of them.
NO GREE FOR ANYBODY — A popular Nigerian street slogan meaning "don't yield to anyone" or "don't let anyone intimidate or take advantage of you." It reflects a spirit of boldness and self-reliance.
Forming hard — Playing difficult or acting uninterested on purpose. When David says Precious was "forming hard," he means she was deliberately acting cold and unapproachable despite being interested.
Men are scum — A widely used expression among Nigerian women (and beyond) to express distrust or frustration with men in general, usually said half-seriously.
No strings attached — Not originally Pidgin, but used here in the Nigerian street context to mean a clean, no-obligation agreement. Precious uses it to make clear that accepting meat does not mean she owes David anything.
Vulcanizer — A roadside tyre repair man. A common figure in Nigerian streets who patches and replaces car and motorcycle tyres by the roadside.
Outro
And so Precious wakes up to a slap, a scream, and a bite mark on her sister's arm. The dream was so real — the smoky scent, the sizzling fat, the handsome stranger with the disarming smile. David felt real. His story felt real. The murderer who saved a drowning boy, who whispered "be strong, little one" as the cops closed in, who looked for redemption in his final moments — that story lingers long after the dream ends. But now Precious sits on her bed, breathing hard, staring at her sister's wounded hand. There was no David. There was no meat. There was only hunger, boredom, and a mind that turned her sister's arm into a roasted steak. She sighs and collapses back onto the bed with a dreamy smile, still thinking about him. What a dream, she mutters. But somewhere in the back of her mind, the question remains: if David is real somewhere in the world, would he buy her meat? And if a murderer can find redemption, can a cannibal dreamer ever be forgiven? Part 2 is coming. The next time Precious dreams, she might not wake up.
The Desolate Trails
Subject: Isolated Settings, Dark Impulses, & Cursed Nights
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The classic foundation. Journey down a desolate highway from 2024 where the quiet carries shadows you cannot outrun.
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