Around 10 a.m. on Thursday, Kephas, his wife Vivian, and Daniel, their 14-year-old son, got ready to set out to attend his late grandfather's burial in the village, which is scheduled for the next day. As it's always with women, Kephas got tired of waiting for her, so he urgently called her from the living room.
"Honey! Honey, where are you?"
"Honey! Must you always waste time?"
"I'm coming! It's Daniel that's delaying!" While petting Daniel in the room, she responded, urging him to join the planned journey. However, Daniel declined, citing a troubling dream from the previous night. He firmly believed that his dreams often foretold the future and feared the events he saw might come true.
"What's wrong with him?" Daniel's father entered the room to meet both of them sitting down on the bed with the mom coaxing Daniel.
"Honey, Daniel does not want us to go."
Mr. Kephas walked close to Daniel, knelt down, and used his hand to raise Daniel's face. "What's the issue? Why are you opposed to attending the ceremony we've been organizing for an entire month?"
"Daddy, I saw you and mommy die on our way to the village." Tears had already soaked his face while the mother kept cleaning it off with handkerchief.
"Don't worry, it's just a dream; nothing will happen. Get up, let's go." He tried pulling him up from the cuddled hands of his mom, but was refused even when the mom had let her hands off.
Growing frustrated, Mr. Kephas resorted to stern measures, fetching a long-unused cane to compel Daniel to comply. Tearfully, Daniel relented, joining his parents in the car, apprehension etched across his face.
As the family embarked on their journey, he was seated at the back seat while the father and mother were seated at the forefront. Daniel's fear intensified. He tapped on his father's shoulder from his seat.
"Dad, please, let's go back. I saw in my dream that in the next village, our car will break down and..."
"Daniel!" His father interrupted him.
"I bet you'll not have access to Nollywood movies when we return. I can see that those movies have affected your thoughts a lot."
Daniel sobbingly remained calm in obedience to his dad's warning, and just at the entrance of the village, as Daniel mentioned, the car halted, giving an heavy shake as if it stumbled on deep gallops.
"Honey, what's that?" The wife asked. He rushed out to the front of his car to meet the left tyre flattened.
"Gosh, it's a flat tyre!"
Stranded in the bushy area, the family awaited assistance; there was no vulcanizer nearby to patch the tyre; they would need to travel to a busy area of the village to get a vulcanizer. Daniel, eerily calm, withheld his foreknowledge, watching events unfold as his dream had foretold.
Desperation set in as Mr. Kephas whined up the car windows, attempting to secure their vulnerable position. The family set out on foot towards the village, hoping to find a solution. Fortune favoured them, as they secured a motorcycle to transport them to the village in search of a vulcanizer.
As soon as they got to the vulcanizer's shop, people started running. They learned about a shootout between armed robbers and the police on the road at the entrance of the village. Panic ensued as the villagers scattered, seeking refuge. Forced to hide in a house nearby, they, along with the occupants of the house, peeped from the window and saw a black Corolla being pursued by an army-coloured van of the police, with gunshots firing and sirens blaring as if it were a movie shooting.
After the danger subsided, they cautiously came out of the hiding scenes, grappling with the reality that Daniel's dream had indeed forewarned them. Astonished at the normalcy that had resumed in the village, they contemplated the fragility of life.
"Oga, let's go and fix your car." Mr. Kephas had a tap on his shoulder. He turned to meet the vulcanizer with his tools in his hands.
With outmost curiosity he asked, "Wait, how come everyone is acting like nothing happened? Look at how everyone returned to their activities," he pointed at various people in the surrounding area.
"Hahahah! We are used to it, so whenever such happens, we run into hiding and come back to ourselves as soon as things get cleared." The vulcanizer dragged his motorcycle and placed it for him to enter.
Vivian, gripped by fear, pleaded, "Honey, give him the key; let only him go alone."
"What's that? Are you bringing up Daniel's dream again? Please, you guys should stay while we go fix the car. We'll drive to this area to pick you guys up, and we'll continue our journey". Reluctantly, he left with the vulcanizer, leaving his family behind.
As they approached the area and behold, the sight of his car gave him goosebumps. The shattered windshield and bullet-ridden exterior stood as a stark reminder of the peril they narrowly avoided.
He stood on a spot with his hands resting on his waist, not knowing whether to cry at his scattered car or to thank God for saving him and his family's lives because if they were on the spot when it happened, only God knows what would have happened.
"Oga, thank God oooo!" The vulcanizer spoke out in a loud voice.
Among the four tires, another one was lessened plus the earlier faulty one, the vulcanizer fixed it. Mr. Kephas carefully removed the pieces of glass that fell inside the car. He pulled off the badly hanging windscreen, checked the car engine by igniting it, and it worked perfectly. After the vulcanizer was done, they drove slowly to the village, and upon seeing the nature of the car, the wife shouted and began to cry.
The villages gathered together to thank God and sympathise with them as well.
The car was parked in the police station in that community while they picked up their belongings, and yes, they headed to the burial ceremony.
Daniel received appreciation, pampering, and heartfelt pleas for forgiveness as they regretted not heeding his advice sooner.
