MY FIRST TRIP TO ABUJA AND ZARIA (STORY BY DINDY) EPISODE 7
I didn’t have much time to stay and chat because I was to travel to Zaria, that very morning –I was stressed out that day–. My uncle’s wife said to my uncle that, there would be heavy traffic that very morning because that day was a Monday.
She also told my uncle that, it might be hard seeing a straight bus to Zaria because time was fast spent.
My uncle said to me that, if I’m lucky I would see a straight bus, but if not, I would have to goto Kaduna then from their I would see a car going to Zaria, which would be very stressful for me.
My uncle quickly went to take his bath. When he was done, he dressed up and we were about to move out when my uncle’s wife called us to pray.
After we prayed, I and my uncle left. He had a car, but it was faulty, so we had to take bike which would carry us to the main road –my uncle’s house is located inside, which was not a walk-able distance and his house was hidden inside–.
At first, when we came out side his house, we didn’t see any biker. We then walked towards the entrance of the street and luck found us. Two bikers had just dropped some school kids, in a school close to my uncle’s house.
I climbed a bike with my load, while my uncle climbed the other bike. The biker who drove me was a faster rider, so I got to the main road before my uncle did.
When my uncle got to where I was, I paid then we crossed to the other side of the road. After we crossed, we saw a bus heading to mararaba.
We entered the bus immediately it stopped. After minutes of smooth driving, we stop at a bus stop, which was where I was going to find a bus going to Zaria –I can’t remember the name of the park again or bus stop–.
The park was small and was close to a bridge, I saw only one bus there. My uncle went to ask them, whether the bus was going to Zaria direct.
He came back smiling at me, he told me that the bus would be going straight to zaria, so I had no need to worry.
After I paid and my bag arranged gently (because of the wine in it) at the boot of bus, and after spending about 30 mins in the park waiting for the bus to get full, the bus was ready to move.
I stood up from where I sat, with my uncle and went to take my seat in the bus. I told my uncle bye, as the bus entered the road to begin the journey (of 3-4hours).
As the bus moved, I joyed the cool weather, but then I saw the traffic my aunty talked about, which was really bad, more than my expectation.
–To my Lagos fans out there, Abuja traffic is worst oo, you can stay in 1km for three hours–.
The traffic was really bad, but when we finally scaled through, it became a smooth ride all-through.
As we moved further going to Zaria, i saw beautiful sites and rocks of different kinds, my heart was filled with joy as I saw them –I’m a lover of nature–, but all my joy came down to nothing, when fear engulfed my living existence.
My reasons for fear was not only because I was surrounded with people I didn’t know, but I was also afraid of the examination I was going to write.
I was crying inside me, thinking of how I would fit in with others. I looked up to the clouds with fear in my heart.
My mind started encouraging me, telling me about “ANGELS” –which was the story I was writing at that time– and God. I finally got back confidence and stood back on courage.
We got to a place, where the driver stopped, for people in the bus to buy what they wanted to buy. The place he stopped was a place where mangoes were sold.
After the mangoes –mangoes are very cheap their– were bought by high numbers of occupants in the bus, the driver drove off and the journey continued.
After 30mins, the driver stopped at another place, this time he opened the bus door, for anyone who wanted to urine and poo.
I quickly came down to stretch my legs because where I sat was not really so free, so my legs were hurting me badly.
Immediately I came down, others who wanted to urinate and poo came down, they all went to the short bushes, which were right beside where the bus parked. It was as if the bus was reduced to half because all the people that came down from the bus, were busy poohing in the bush.
After they were done, they pulled up their trousers. Three of them washed only their hands with pure water, while others came inside the bus without washing at all –Aboki na Aboki oo–.
As the journey continued, some started eating their mangoes. The man sitting beside me brought out his mango –he was amongst the people who didn’t wash at all–.
He smiled and offered me a mango with his hand, I returned back the smile and thanked him
–Like seriously am I mad?___ If na you?___ You go chop sheet hand?___ Oga gbagbe, i no dey eat sheet ooo–………
To be continued .