Click. Click.
October 11, 2026 2026-10-12 8:48
Click. Click.
Click. Click.
There was no reason she needed to know.
The sound had been coming and going for a while.
Click. Click.
Then nothing.
A few minutes later.
Click. Click.
She looked up.
She had been sitting in her usual corner of the rooftop at work, where the breeze found her easily.
From eight floors up, Lagos spread out around her.
Office buildings. Rooftops. Construction. Roads threading between them. Farther out, the water.
Below, cars moved along the road. A motorcycle slipped between them. Someone was leaning on a horn as though the car in front might eventually respond to sustained pressure.
People appeared from buildings and disappeared again.
You could watch Lagos without Lagos requiring anything from you.
No traffic to negotiate.
No one asking where you were.
No delivery rider announcing he was at your gate when he was quite clearly at somebody else’s.
Just the city below and the breeze where she was.
Then.
Click. Click.
She looked over the edge.
Nothing.
She went back to what she was doing.
A few minutes passed.
Click. Click.
There it was again.
This time she paid attention.
She looked towards the road where she thought it had come from.
Waited.
Nothing.
Then.
Click. Click.
But farther away.
She frowned.
That was when she realised.
Oh.
The sound was moving.
Now she needed to know.
There was absolutely no reason she needed to know.
This changed nothing about her day.
But apparently that was no longer relevant.
She got up and went closer to the edge.
There was a surprising amount of street to search from eight floors up.
A woman stood beside a gate.
Two men were talking near a parked car.
Someone crossed the road carrying something she couldn’t make out from that height.
A car was reversing into the road, slowly holding everyone up while its driver completed whatever private arrangement he had made with Lagos.
None of them seemed connected to the sound.
She waited.
Click. Click.
There.
Her eyes moved in the direction of it.
Nothing.
Again.
Click. Click.
Farther along.
She followed it with her ears first, then searched with her eyes.
Eventually she found a man walking along the street.
She watched him.
A little farther down the road.
Click. Click.
There.
She smiled.
She had found him.
She followed him for as long as she could see him.
He kept walking.
Every so often.
Click. Click.
Then he passed beyond the part of the road she could see.
The sound stayed a little longer.
Fainter now.
Click. Click.
And then that disappeared too.
She sat back down.
She wondered how many streets he would walk that day.
How many times he would make that sound before someone called him over.
Another day, she heard it again.
Click. Click.
She looked up.
This time she didn’t get out of her chair.
She listened until the sound moved farther away, then went back to what she was doing.
Another afternoon.
Click. Click.
She barely looked up.
It passed somewhere below and folded itself into the traffic, the horns, the voices, the generators.
Then one afternoon, she was sitting in her usual place when she heard it.
Click. Click.
She smiled.
Before she could look.
Click. Click.
She stopped.
That one had come from somewhere else.
She listened.
Click. Click.
Then, from the other direction.
Click. Click.
She laughed.
My friends are hustling again.
She stayed where she was.
Below her, the sounds moved off in different directions.
