I saw a bridge resembling the River Niger and River Benue in Nigeria. Whenever one travels to the North, they encounter River Benue, and when heading West, they come across River Niger.
Wow, the memory remains vivid of an incident that occurred fifteen years ago. After graduating, I decided to go to Lagos in search of a job. Lagos has always been the dream destination for many Nigerian youths, especially when they reach a certain age and wish to leave their parents' homes in search of better opportunities.
I boarded a comfortable vehicle bound for Lagos, and in the car was an elderly woman around 70 years old, who was going to visit her daughter that had just given birth in Lagos. At the park, the woman expressed her desire to stay awake as our vehicle crossed the bridge over River Niger, to which the driver agreed.
Unfortunately, we encountered a severe traffic jam in Owerri that lasted about four hours, disrupting everyone's plans. The driver even contemplated postponing the journey to the next day. However, most of us urged him to be patient, as he seemed to detest traffic. Eventually, the road cleared, and all the cars on the road accelerated to their maximum speed. As a result of the exhaustion from the traffic, both the driver and passengers forgot about the elderly woman's request to stay awake when crossing River Niger.
One hour after crossing the Niger Bridge, the woman woke up and inquired if we were approaching the bridge. Those who were awake informed her that we had already passed the bridge an hour ago. Immediately, she became alarmed and demanded the driver to stop the car. She held onto the driver's clothes and shouted, "I cannot be alive and watch you kill me! Take me to River Niger or give me my transport fare, for we are not moving any further!" Everyone, including the driver, asked her what her problem was, but all she repeated was, "An agreement is an agreement. Before I boarded this vehicle, the driver promised to alert me when we reached River Niger. So take me there or this car will not continue."
The driver attempted to explain that he couldn't keep his promise due to the long traffic delay, but the old woman insisted on being taken to River Niger. The woman's behavior was not amusing, and everyone urged the driver to take her back to River Niger for the sake of peace, assuming that was her intended destination. However, to our great surprise, when we crossed the bridge again and asked her to disembark before leaving the Eastern part, the woman refused, stating, "My children, please do not put words in my mouth. I never said I wanted to stop here. I merely wished to cross the bridge while remaining awake. So driver, let us continue." As I tried to raise my voice at the woman, disregarding her age, I woke up from the dream, muttering to myself that the old woman must have been a witch. The person sitting next to me asked, "Which woman are you referring to?" and I replied, "Never mind, it was just a dream, probably a result of using an air-conditioned car for the first time in my life."