Greetings!
At a point in my life, I came to believe that what they say about most strangers typically being angels in human form is real. I've experienced this many times, and each time, I couldn't help but marvel at how everything played out.
The most recent encounter I had with a stranger that shocked me was in December last year when I was traveling home for a friend's wedding where I was to be the best man. The journey from my residence to my hometown is about two hours and is very costly due to many stopovers. When I got to the last bus stop, which is the most expensive part of the journey because it involves taking a bike, I was annoyed at how they called out high prices.
As I was still there trying to find a cheaper bike to board, a bike man approached me and offered to take me for the price I was hoping for. I was so surprised because he didn't even argue, which made me a bit skeptical that maybe he had something bad in mind along the bushy road. But I chased off the fear and got on the bike. Along the way, we started talking as we reached the very bad road, and that's when I discovered that he speaks my dialect. So the journey became a smooth one with our conversation. The man was somewhat elderly and rode the bike at an average speed, not like those young guys who fly their bikes at a fast and furious pace, which I actually like because I enjoy seeing myself overtaking everyone on the road. But this man— for once, I didn't mind his slow speed, maybe because we were chatting and the breeze didn't disturb our talks.
When we got to the entrance of my compound, he stopped and my siblings rushed out to welcome me. I was still jubilating with my siblings, yet to pay the bike man, and before I knew it, he was reversing his bike to go. I had to rush to hold his bike and begged him not to be angry because I assumed he was upset at how I was delaying in paying him. When I finally handed the money to him, he smiled and said I should keep it.
"What? Is the man drunk?" This was what my mind quickly pondered on and it couldn't believe. So I had to hold him back and try to force the money on him, but he still insisted that I should keep the money because he just decided to help me. Besides, he mentioned he knew me from some time ago in our church when he traveled with his relative for a Thanksgiving service. Everything was still shocking to me because even if he came to our church as he said, I didn't do anything for him or recognize him.
Well, that's how we dragged and dragged until I finally begged him to take at least N500 from the N2000 he charged, which he didn't accept, but I stylishly squeezed it into his pocket, and he drove off without knowing. My heart was not ready to allow such an elderly man to take me from that far distance and go back empty handed.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Neoxian City Prompt #18
| Photo used is mine |
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