AT one stage, Lazzo thought that his war with the riff-raff of the city had come to an end.
But he had a rude awakening after a nocturnal outing in the central business district en route to the hood.
He had barely settled in his mini-bus seat when the conductor began to call-out for fares.
During the day, there had been cat-and-mouse chases between crews and motorcycle riding traffic cops.
There had been rampant loading at undesignated points along Freedom Way and the lawmen were determined to halt the practice.
The effect of this onslaught was a tenfold increase in the number of pedestrian traffic long used to the helter-skelter hitchhiking.
This further culminated in arbitrary fare increases as unscrupulous crews in collusion with call-boys called out increased fares to hapless commuters.
The overloaded bus soon started off towards the hood.
Lazzo protested and wanted to pay the usual fare because the crews were holding commuters to ransom!
As the bus proceeded, little did he realise that he was being driven to a nearby police post.
After a heated argument over lack of morality in the transport sector, Lazzo realised that no intellectualism was welcome here!
He was wrestled out of the bus as a cop came to the door to receive him like a courier parcel!
The conductor and his driver told the cop that Lazzo had refused to pay the fare for the trip.
Soon, he was bundled into a police cell where he found a myriad of youth from the hood.
Some of them  recognised him instantly and was spared the rude welcome often accorded inmates as they receive severe beatings on entry!
He sat on the floor with the rest of the mostly youthful inmates.
In the corner was a pile of food wrappers indicating that some of the inmates had been bought some edibles from outside.
This night was typically quiet save for the occasional flushing of the toilet!
Lazzo noticed that these reformatory dungeons were getting better with the change of times!
To jailbirds of the hood, this was far much better than what they were ordinarily accustomed to.
At dawn, a trickle of sunlight silhouetted through a ventilation window high up near the ceiling.
This was a pointer to the atmosphere outside and all inmates could see this as the morning.
One after the other, names were called out so they could pay their admission of guilt fines.
There were  all sorts of offenders ranging from loitering to  pilfering…
When Lazzo’s turn came, the cop recalled him as one with some ‘stinging’ language.
Then he opened the cell door and demanded that Lazzo actually pick up all the papers in the cell and was escorted outside to throw them into the bin!
He was paying for his previous night’s defensive rhetoric.
In his mind, he began to think about what members of the underclass can do to someone intellectually superior to them!
Then he recalled the schooldays when he read various definitions of such low-class communities.
In the Western world, they were noticeably ‘underclass’ while in Eastern Europe were known as ‘lumpens’.
Going further, he reasoned that there was another word  which strengthened the status of this group of citizens in a given environment.
A class of ‘lumpens’ in a working domain were then known as the ‘lumpen proletariat’.
He could still see a legion of them in the 21st Century ‘s  hood obsessed with their menial jobs!
This included the conductor whose position in the industry did not have any security of tenure and was subject to a 24-hours dismissal.
Lazzo recalled that this person was at the core of the casualisation  process and had to be bailed out of this mess by the forthcoming  highly anticipated labour law.
Surely, only  Lazzo could explain the nitty-gritty of casualisation as the hapless conductor could evidently hardly read the contents of a statutory instrument!
After the garbage disposal, Lazzo was ushered back into the cell to contend with his plight.
“In fact, you will stay there until someone comes to bail you out!”, the cop said as he walked back to his reception desk.
The inmates comforted Lazzo and urged him  to “talk properly to the cop” because his offence was just like loitering in the night.
Lazzo listened intently to the advice and finally, it worked!
He was called out of the cell to collect his shoes and go home as he was given a pep talk “because the people who brought you here in a bus said you were capable of some sharp language!,”  the cop said not mincing his words.
Lazzo then figured out that this was not the time  for the pros and cons of an argument but time to come to terms with reality!
Incidentally, Lazzo had been told by some inmates that in fact, he had surrendered his cash at the reception desk.
The lawman had his discretion but Lazzo reminded him that in fact the fine demanded could be paid from that amount…
When Lazzo drifted off to freedom, he began to think about how malicious some lumpens could mess about ones life!
He also recalled the recent clearing of a whole horde from a popular spot in the central business district.
During the day, it had been teeming with miscellany and at night, was a dangerous zone as night hoodlums lurked in the corridors!
It was here that Lazzo’s  shoes were first taken off his shoes and then he was clobbered and cash picked from his pockets!
When he recovered,  it  was getting closer to dawn and he had to find a place to wait until the early morning crews started their business.
Since he had no money a good Samaritan had given him a fare to the hood…
Away from confinement, he sauntered towards the hood along the main road as  he wondered whether the oncoming commuters laded in those buses knew exactly what the crews  were capable off!
In fact, now he had to attend the funeral of a relative after a bath.
There was long-held  belief in the hood that on the demise of someone close, strange issues cropped up and Lazzo thought he was no exception!