More than a Chance

During the late seventies in Nigeria, one day Danny was driving from Lagos to “Abeokuta” city in his brown 404 Peugeot car, he was cruising while listening to a subtle afro music from his car tape. The express road wasn't that bad expect with some few pot holes he encountered in a town called “Ishagamu” before “Abeokuta” city. In “Ishagamu” there's a restaurant called “Stomach palace” where travelers love to stop by to grab something to eat. The restaurant has special delicacies most people passing by don't like to miss. It's at one side of the express road. By this time of the day there are always various kinds of cars, trucks, lorries and buses parked around it. (Both private and commercial vehicles). The restaurant is a place where different people are all on the same level. People of different calibers trying to have their meals served. Various kind of local “Yoruba” dishes is served hot. Even people from other regions in Nigeria, don't like to miss this part of their journey. Except you've never had a nibble of one of its varieties or you've never heard someone tell you about it. Danny as well doesn't like to miss any part of this trip whenever he's plying through this route. More so he has been starving. (The sound of the music produced by the tapeworms in his belly almost overshadowed the one coming from the car tape). When he got to “Stomach palace” there were a lot of vehicles around the vicinity. Thanks to his dexterity, he was able to maneuver his way to park at a spot. He rolled up his glass and turned off the car tape. He alighted from his car in a blue-check short sleeve shirt with bell-like trousers on black loafers. He looked around as he locked his car. 3:30 p.m. is always a busy time here as usual. People moving in and out, he tried to find his way around the crowd. He walked gently into the restaurant. He got in and looked around to find a place to sit but everywhere seems to be occupied. Danny can be dogmatic sometimes. He took a glimpse at his wristwatch; he came up with an adage in his mind. “Where ever a needle passes through there is always a way for the thread”, he thought and raised his head and spotted a little space near Aaliyah eating pounded yam with vegetable soup crowned with a big smoked fish. (Hmm, It looked tantalizing and inviting, it got his mouth salivating) He was bewitched not only by her ravishing beauty. But the way she was natural about eating. (Some ladies of her physical charms would prefer to form using cutlery, in eating a morsel rather than their bare hands). Danny has come across ladies who were not as pretty as her. But they would prefer to use cutlery in eating a morsel rather than their bare hand. But this dainty damsel was busy eating her food with her bare hand without giving a damn despite the pressure of gazes on her. She has a grand and imperious style. She was a cynosure of the eye. Maybe it wasn't the adage that helped Danny this time but the attraction of a peach in the building. He ambled towards the little space near her; he was confused whether to greet her or to hold his peace. He stuck to the latter, which was the best for him. She's already tired of people trying to indulge her. She managed to raise her eyebrow to glance at who sat beside her. She longed for her handkerchief and wiped the perspiration on her face. Without giving much concern about who sat beside her. She continued with the eating. She was already half-way with her meal when Danny placed his order. He was enticed by the combination of her food but they had ran out of pounded yam. They're just pounding another round but he couldn't hang on for another second. He then ordered for “Amala” with “ewedu” and beans soup. He guessed she's with someone, to him beautiful ladies hardly walk alone. (In this case maybe his right or wrong, we would find out soon.) She noticed Danny was fast with eating his food. He couldn't get a hint if she was alone when she stood up to wash her hands, until she was ready to foot her bill. She opened her bag, and brought out some money. “Don't worry ma, your bill has been footed,” one of the waitresses told her quietly. “Who paid for me?” She asked quietly. The waitress pointed to a man waiting outside. The man's well-dressed in an expensive “Agbada” an overall attire. You could tell he's influential by the way he stood. He was waiting on his driver to make a U-turn and maybe Aaliyah, the paragon of beauty, who knows? Aaliyah dashed out of the restaurant to thank the man. It was just in time a Mercedes Benz pulled over beside the man. (You have to be handsomely rich before you can posses a car like this as at then). “Thank you sir,” she bowed to the man in “Agbada”. Virtually everybody around was watching the scenario. Danny inferred from his mind, “Hmmm! I know it beautiful lady never walk alone.” The man gave her a wide smile. “You're welcome dear,” he replied her. And she gave a sharp smile back. “Where are you heading? And do you care for a ride?” He asked her incessantly. “No thank you sir. I would be fine,” she answered and walked away with a gait that's enough to sweep a man off his feet without a broom. Danny's eyes were glued to the drama from inside the restaurant while footing his bill. He couldn't figure out the whole conversation until the man in “Agbada” who was in his late forties asked his driver to zoom off without her. (Now Danny got the message of a man trying to woo a damsel.) She made her way towards the roadside to get a bus going to “Abeokuta”. He rushed out hastily before she would evanescence. He looked around confusedly into the crowd as he drove out slowly. (It was like no place for a golden fish to hide in the water under the sun) Her radiant and moisturized skin reflects every sun ray that falls on it. Her beauty will always lead you to her spot if you have an eye for one. She adjusted her sunglasses that took her for a supermodel. She has a face of a half-caste. Her hair-do dazzled under the rays of the sunlight. The red V- neck shirt looked perfect on her, revealing her cleavage. She was sexy in her three-quarter shorts that revealed her little curvy hips. Her outfit gave her an astounding look. She turned heads, in short, she was an embodiment of a stunner! Danny approaches her as he drives slowly to get his wheels off the road. One part of him told him to move on in other to avoid the wrath of a god of beauty. “She had turned down an influential man, what chance do I have?” He impeded that thought and stirred the wheel to the right side. “You don't quit before you try,” he muttered to himself. He pulled over just some meters away from her. When he alighted from the car, she looked away. He tried to be as calm as a gentle wind. He walked timidly towards her. With a wince on her face, he constrained out words. “Hello beautiful, what's an angel doing under this scorching sun?” He asked. Aaliyah didn't answer him. “Do you keen for a ride?" he persisted. “Please keep your stale lines to yourself, besides angels don't ride they fly.” He felt a sting on his skin with her response. “And what does it look to you like I'm doing?” She responded harshly and then moved away from him after a prolonged hiss. Cold sweat started dripping from his armpit, inciting to blame himself for why he'd stopped in the first place. But the other side of him wouldn't want to give up the move that easily. He tried to sound more convincing this time rather than reflecting flirting. He cleared his throat trying to create attention from her. She looked back, “Why are you still following me?” She yelled at him. Then she saw this momentous look on his face and she chose to leave him to hear what he has to say. “I just thought it would be unkind of me to drive past the person that shared her seat with me a few minutes ago. Especially not in this kind of unpleasant weather. I don't want you to see or think of me as a smooth operator,” he added.