Honesty Pays

Story by Abdul-Basit Dabiri
Edited by Mr Akeem Alao

There lived an orphan named Segun. He was a bus conductor. He had to do this job to make ends meet. His mother died after giving birth to him. He lost his father at three. He had to live with an uncle who maltreated him and chased him to the streets. He had to sleep under different bridges, work as a bus conductor. He was now 18.

This day, a bus passenger left a briefcase on Segun’s bus. After the day’s work, Segun was cleaning the bus, and he found the briefcase under a seat. Many ideas were jostling for attention in his mind. He thought of giving the case to his master, but he did not trust the driver. Next, he went home with the case. He opened the case, found a complimentary card. The name on the card was Mr Oregbesan Julius. He also found a huge volume of foreign currency in the case. He almost shrieked, but he controlled himself.
Segun called the number on the card found in the case. He gave a direction to the owner of the case. Some minutes after, the owner arrived, breathing heavily. Segun told him to calm down that nothing had happened to his case. Mr Julius was glad to hear this. He was pleased with Segun’s level of honesty.
After listening to segun’s pathetic story, he felt sorry. He promised to repay him a good way. The man took Segun home. He introduced him to his wife. Segun was enrolled in a school and at the same time employed as Mr Julius’ personal assistant. Soon after he was done with his high school, he traveled abroad for his university education.

Abdul-Basit is a basic 4 pupil @ Kith and Kin Nursery&primary School, Owode Ibeshe, Ikorodu Lagos.