The promise I made
900 Words
I opened my eyes,I shut it immediately because the room
was so lit up that I could not open my eyes,I blinked and opened
my eyes gradually studying my environment, I was lying o. a bed
in a room painted white,blue curtains,a small drawer by the side
of the bed still wandering were I was,then I saw a drip stand
beside me I trailed it and saw there was a drip fixed to my hand and a bandage
was also wrapped around my head then the smell that stingy smell that tells
you ,you are in a hospital nobody told me before my instincts said it.
I tried sitting up then the pain that surge through my body
made me lie back onhoheed,it felt as though varieties of drum
was played in my head, the pain in my body could not allow me
to sit upright,I laid down on the bed,shut my eyes wandering how on earth I got myself here just then the door handle clicked and the door was opened,it was my granny she walked in holding a flask I could see the worries over her face.
I sat up struggling with the pain I can't comprehend,my granny noticed me struggling to sit,so she hurried towards me and she helped me sit up with the aid of a pillow at my back"easy my
child" she said,"arale Mama"I greeted my grandma "how are you my dear" " I'm in pain mama "I said " sorry my dear" "what happened mama"I asked in a faint voice " you were hit by a car ,it was mama Bolaji that saw you and carried you here"she sighed as she finish talking then she fed me with the food in the flask she brought earlier.
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Five days later
I had been discharged from the hospital everything went back to normal,I countined hawking but I was warned never to cross the road again.
When I was age 12(twelve), I began entering public transport,
also mama changed her business,we started selling pepper,
tomatoes and vegetables ( ugwu,bitter leaf and water leaf)
and as God lives,our life was getting better,my granny was able to afford a place to sell at the main market in Lagos,since we were on school break I had to wake up early every day to meet up with the morning market bus. I have to open the shop at the market while my granny supply some of her customers in other places tomatoes and peppers.
One thing I hate about Lagos road is the way vehicles behave on the road especially public transporters. In Lagos if you wave
at a vehicle and you are expecting the taxi or bus to stop completely so you can enter,my dear you are wasting your time because you could end up spending the whole day standing there.
There was a day at the early dawn of Ajegunle,I stood at the
bus stop waiting for a bus there were many others there also waiting for a bus, some where business men and women and
some professional workers in their cooperate coats, everyone was
in a hurry to get to whatever place they where going, immediately
a bus slowed down almost everybody launched towards the bus
it was like a game first to reached the finished line,but here was
first to enter the bus. I rushed forward to enter cuz if you are not smart there would be any space left for you to seat therefore you would have to stand all the way to your destination, as I jumped into the danfo bus,my head smashed the metal frame above the
entrance,I almost fainted at the spot, I could not cry, there was
no room to cry sef because the moment you close your eyes
you might miss where you were supposed to stop,so I had to
stay strong.
By the time I got to the market my head was already swollen
which gave me the nickname " Ugochukwu". Later when I and my granny got home I. the evening as I prepared my self to sleep the pain hit me,I became very angry then I told my self " I will work harder so I can buy myself my own car and stop rushing to enter public transport" I said and I cried myself to sleep.
By the time I woke up,my granny was cooking and it was already a new day. I had to work harder since we needed money
to buy school stuffs cuz I will be entering a new class and a new school,so I Carried more goods to the market, I got used to the system of entering a moving vehicle. Sometimes I wonder how
old people cope with the lifestyle on Lagos road.
On a certain day I was in a bus going to the market,as the
driver approached the bus stop,as everyone was disembarking from the bus a lady fell down from the bus and she sprained her
leg because everyone was in a rush to come down and meet
the next bus.
In this Yoruba land I find myself you have to be fast in every thing you do to meet up .In Lagos speed is not just an advantage,
for many people it is a way of survival. And if you want to keep up,you must learn to move just as fast as a moving vehicle
- Writer
