The Journey
493 Words
The Journey
It was one cold morning and I was heading back hone in a Toyota Hiace bus. The vehicle breaks down at Ekpoma amd the driver alights the vehicle to detect the fault. He opens the car bonnet and checks the radiator pretensively. He fakes a surprise amd squeezes his face.
"Driver wetin sup?", one of the passenger asks.
"Na the radiator", he replies.
"Wein do the radiator."
"E don burst."
"We go find who go fix am."
"Na shall thing."
"Na small thing?."
"I say na small thing."
"Oya na."
"I go fix am."
"If you say so."
"I say so."
The driver opens his car door, retrieves a keg of water and pours a pail of water into the radiator amd closed the bonnet of the vehicle.
"E don set."
"Oya na."
The driver boards the vehicle, starts the ignition, the ignition refuses to start, he restarts the vehicle, the vehicle starts, he drives the vehicle off the Ekpoma.expressway, the passengers jubilate.
Two passengers,, fat dark skinned, busty and slim, chocolate and busty conversate.
"Your bobo know where we dey go", the slim one.asks.
"I no tell am o", the fat one replies.
"E make sense like that."
"Na engage we engage, we no marry."
"He no surprise know."
"Na maga money we wan chop we no kill person."
"Maga must pay."
"Guy man fall mugu walk."
"Guy man fall mugs bounce."
"You tell your bolo wen we dey come back."
"I no tell am, why I go tell am."
"Correct girl."
"For e mind na vacation we go."
The driver crosses the Murtala Muhamnad Bridhr. The vehicle breaks down along River Niger at Lokoja few meters after the Murtala Muhammad Bridge. He dips his keg into the Niger to fetch some water to my greatest surprise.
"Make driver no fall o", one the passengers says concerninly.
"If he fall he go stand", another of passenger replies coldly.
"Abeg o", another interveners shiveringly.
He fills the radiator drives nonstop to Abaji, he repeats the process, he drives nonstop to Zuba.
"We don reach", one of the passengers says.
"Alleluis", another says.
"At last", another says.
"Thank God", another says.
"E cleat", another says.
"Finally", another says.
We alight the vehicle, most of the passengers board kabu kabu, while myself and two passengers, a tall dark skinned plump man and an average heighted light skinned girl stay back at the park.
"Goodluck no try, naim spoil Nigeria, I don dey work since 2011, I know wetin my eye see."
"Hmm hmm."
"This my work I dey travel, I don travel go Ghana",
"Ehn Ehn."
"We pass Benin Republic, pass Togo, wen we reach Ghana, police block everywhere , na bike come carry us cross, I don go South Africa."
"Those girls wen dey talk that time na runsgirls", he says.
"Those ones no get shame", she says.
The next morning I boarded a taxi cab home early in the morning thereabouts.
- Writer
