"Is this how Lagos is? Chineke m e! My phone... How will I reach Emeka?"
His heart kept pounding. But for the others in the bus, he would have cried like a baby.
He had no idea how his phone went missing, where he was, where he was headed.
"Driver please, when we get to Ikeja bustop, let me know. Conductor, help me remind him, I don't know the place", he muttered as he positioned himself just behind the driver's seat. He felt eyes feast on him. The two ladies behind him giggled. The conductor said some things. He didn't hear. He didn't even care. Losing his phone was enough stress already.
The girls behind him were chewing gum and making all sorts of noise in his ears. He wanted to shout at them and tell them to stop! He couldn't. He just didn't know what to expect.
He felt a rumble in his tummy, he'd not eaten all day as he was being economical with the little money he had budgeted for the trip. He looked out the window for food but found a little girl selling what looked like burnt plantain with groundnuts. He quickly called out to her.
"What is it you're selling?" he enquired.
"oga na boli (roasted plantain) and groundnut.", she answered with vigour and a loud voice. Did she have to let everyone know he wanted to buy something?
''Is the thing sweet?'' he enquired further.
"Oga, e sweet die o" she responded, smiling.
"But it's not hot. Why is it so?", John asked. The bus was moving slowly and the girl was running with it.
" Oga, you won buy or you won set exam question for me for this place?", the smiling girl's face had changed.
"okay, give me 100naira own.". He bought it and just then, the bus moved faster. Thank goodness he had bought it already. He devoured the meal. He was so hungry.
John's attention drifted to an argument between the bus conductor and a very fat woman. The conductor wanted her to pay for herself and her luggage. She had offered to pay #300 but the conductor held out for #500.
" Ah, iya, mi ole gbe eru yen fun 300 oh! (Mummy, I can't carry the baggage for 300 o)"
"Ah! Ah... Fun kini? Awa naa maa ni moto o..(for what? We also own a vehicles o.)
''ehn, you for bring your own vehicle ni... You dey tell me nonsense! '' the conductor blasted back.
"Abi o ti ya were ni?"(are you mad?)
"Your children dey mad."
They exchanged curses and it seemed unending till the sudden intervention of the driver.
'Alhaja, oti to ! Oya pay what you have."
As the bus drove off, her curses trailes behind it.
John checked his watch, 9:05pm. It was getting late.
The rest of the ride was quiet. The chewing gum girls had come down at a bustop.
"Conductor, please where are we?"
'Na Falomo we dey... No dey ginger. When we reach Ikeja bus stop, I go tell you."
Soon, they were at Ikeja bustop. Everyone alighted. John's confusion started from here. How was he going to get to Olaonipekun street by this time?
He pulled his box along, looking for anyone who looked responsible so that he could ask for directions.
Only about an hour in Lagos and he was frustrated already.
TO BE CONTINUED
