Good Things Come in Pairs
"Attention, please", a robotic voice announced over the public address system. Jerking up from sleep, Diana adjusted her splayed limbs, made sure she wasn't drooling and sat up. "Aeroline flight nine-six-three to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, scheduled for departure at ten-thirty am from gate C-seven, is now scheduled to depart at eleven am, from gate C-four. Please, check the arrival and departure boards for more specific information on individual flights", the robotic voice finished off. She peered at her wristwatch; it was twenty minutes past ten O'clock.
Diana sat in the waiting area of Omagwa International Airport, waiting for her flight to Lagos from where she would fly to Baltimore through British Airways.
You have been selected as one of the beneficiaries of Chief Udemba's Free Oversea Education Foundation.
She reread the letter for the umpteenth time. The joy that filled her heart as she read the mail over and over again was bountiful. Her Mama was the happiest person that day, the thought of one of her children going to a university was something she never expected.
Her stomach was rumbling. She had taken mama's advice, and not eaten anything all morning. Mama claimed that her enemies, as she liked to refer to people out to harm her, are not happy with her university scholarship. She emphasised that some wicked villagers could manipulate poisonous substances into her food, even if she ate behind closed doors. However, Mama had ensured that she packed a small lunchbox for her in spite of her protests. She was supposed to eat it while waiting for the flight.
Mama kept the news of her university scholarship from her fellow traders at the village market. She feared it would breed envy. And, when a few market women became curious and asked what all the preparations were for, she only told them that her daughter was travelling to Kogi, a city ninety kilometres from where they lived, to stay with her aunt.
Papa, on the other hand, always tried to debunk mama's claims. He believed that one's moral standard and uprightness spoke volumes in times of trouble. Papa was however happy, that the veil of poverty that had since engulfed them, had been lifted-- never had anyone dreamed of going to the university, more so, a university in the white man's land.
Diana thought how she was going to miss them especially her little niece, Kamsi. The news of her travel was hidden from Kamsi like bad news until it could no longer be hidden. It was on Friday evening, four days ago that Diana took Kamsi to buy icecream and broke the news to her. They were seated side-by-side at the food court of the shopping mall. Kamsi dropped her spoon and stood up to hug her aunt.
"Oh, I am so happy, Aunt D," she said.
"This is certainly not the response I was expecting," Diana thought but said nothing.
"Let us go home, quickly. I must tell mommy and daddy so that they can help me get ready to follow you to America," Kamsi said.
Diana did not see that coming. She thought quickly about how to dissuade Kamsi about her intention to follow her to the US, but she came up with nothing. There could not bring herself to be responsible for wiping the look of contentment, happiness and excitement on Kamsi's face, so she decided to let the little girl's parents worry about that. She was only six years old, and she had no idea how to explain to her that she could not come.
They finished their ice cream and left the mall. Diana dropped her niece off with her parents and left amidst her excited talk about travelling with Aunty and headed home herself.
It was Kamsi's father that woke Diana and her family members the next morning. It turned out that Kamsi's father had agreed to let her spend the next three days with Diana until she left. As Diana thought of Kamsi, she could not help but smile at her witty remarks and mischievousness.
"Attention, please", the female voice announced over the PA again, "all passengers boarding flight nine-six-three, rescheduled for departure at eleven am, should please report to gate C-four, ready for departure".
She turned to the woman seated next to her, "Madam, e don reach my turn oh. E go be. Bye bye", which was Pidgin English for, "Madam it's my turn to leave. See you later. Goodbye" she said, smiling broadly.
"All right. Farewell!", she said, nodding, with a knowing smile.
She stood, straightened her skirt and picked up her khaki suitcase. With so much pride, she walked majestically towards the C-four gate.
The queue was yet to build up, as she was fourth in line.
"Good morning, Miss. Your passport, please?" the lady at the check-out desk requested. "Good morning, my sister", she said, visibly excited. She dug into her handbag and came up empty. Frantic, she searched and ended up upending her handbag's contents. The smile on her face slowly faded, as she dug into her left and right skirt pocket. Her passport and flight ticket were gone.
"Can I have your passport, Miss?" the attendant asked, visibly running out of patience. "Chai!!", she exclaimed, "Aunty, dem don thief am o! I put everything here!", she said, tugging at her handbag.
Her nervousness, made her switch to Pidgin English again. Someone had stolen her passport and papers. She tried to explain to the boarding clerk. She tried to recall at what point she could have lost those things, but she could not figure out where it happened. Her father had dropped her at Omagwa Airport Port Harcourt from where she was to take this flight to Lagos.
"You may have to step aside, Ma", the lady said firmly. She cringed. "B... b... but... but I'm sure!", it seemed like she was only trying to convince herself.
"Step away, Miss, Or, I may have to call security", she stated, her voice calm but firm.
She staggered away from the C-four gate, not making any attempt to hide the tears that flowed down her cheeks.
She slumped against a wall, weeping like a child, her rumbling stomach adding to her dismay. How could she have been so negligent?Distraught, she called her father to inform him of what had befallen her. He heard how sad she sounded and quickly turned around and headed back to the airport. When he arrived at the airport, he said nothing but hugged his daughter and helped her with her bags.
Kamsi was so happy to see her aunt back, but the frown on her aunt's face changed her mood immediately.
"Aunty D, what's the problem? Do you need a hug?" she asked spreading her tiny arms. As Diana hugged her, she let the tears flow freely. After a few minutes, she carried Kamsi into her room. Neatly arranged on her dressing table where the passport and the ticket together with Kamsi's stuffed bear. Diana was both relieved and angry when she asked Kamsi what she was doing with the papers.
"It has your pretty picture in it, and I just wanted something to remember you by," Kamsi said, wide-eyed and innocent. Diana was disarmed. As she walked into the living room to tell her father, she found him watching the news on the television. Flight number five-six-three to Lagos had crashed, and there were no survivors. Diana could not move.
Authored by: @greenrun
Click on the coin to join our Discord Chat
Witness proposal is here:
Go To Steem Witness Page
In the bottom of the page type: adsactly-witness and press vote.
Use small letters and no "@" sign. Or, click here to vote directly!
Thank you!
This is Full of emotions and it actually is a story to which every middle class guy or girl can relate to..Mothers are just amazing..The way she tells her daughter don't eat anything, somebody may poison you is exactly what my mother used to do when I was in my college days.She would make sure I don't eat anything at my neighbours place, even at my uncle's place, she actually was afraid that my hardwork may go in Vain.we live in very reserved, conservative and not that exposed society I would say.My mother would be like they will do the black magic,and other superstition things . She just wanted to make sure that I didn't suffer at any phase of my life.Life passed by I completed my education, then started working , my mother would be like don't discuss your salary with anyone, as soon as you discuss it, your salary will start leaking from your pockets, to which I never had an answer. Though My mom is still same , but I have changed , I used to get irritated with this stuff but now I actually love it..I would want my mom to say things to me now..I would ask her Mom should I do this, will it work and then she smiles.She actually now feels that her Son has started to love back her Mom.I could see so much concern in those things now,actually not concern but Love..All mothers are somewhat like this..Respect and give them love..They actually want love <3 And as they say Your mother is the door to paradise
kwowkowkowkokwokw good story
You could say that again. Mothers are pretty amazing people. Lovely comment. Thank you so much.
I would say they only deserve love..Thank you for appreciating :)
Because of you wonderful and talented creaters i fall in love with steemit community
Here we can found to read very enjoyble contents
@Tasauver, you are right,Diana's mother, prayer led Kamsi to keep those items. It was God's way of answering her prayers. Every disappointment is a blessing in disguise ..
Nice piece @greenrun,you've touched the sacred part of my hrt.
thank you for sharing...good story!!!
Wow, three incidents like this at the same time. First when she thought she lost her papers I felt with her. Than when she found her papers and the way it was taken from her by her uncle I thought “seriously?”. But than, when the plane she was supposed to be on (but wasn’t thanks to her uncle) crashed. I thought “girl, someone from the heaven, must have looked out for you”
Great story!
I guess it was Diana's lucky day.
Beautiful .. For more creativity and good work
Wonderful story .. Thank you for your words
Great job well done
great things does comes in pairs, great story and hope for another chapter hehe...thanks ya for posting it, if there is another one looking for it to see it :))
What fate denies us today, tomorrow maybe he will grant it to us
between Kamsi's innocence and Diana's fate ... a human life is saved !!
It is very moving...
Fate has a way of throwing us some freebies :)
life is like a roller coaster ride. It depends on you to screen or enjoy the ride.
This story describes the fear of taking a huge step in life. Compared to other adsactly stories, which I've found pretty 'meh', I liked this one more.
The narrator, ready to embark on a life changing journey to a university in the west, at the final moment faces tragedy (lost tickets). Though predictable, the ending that the niece had the tickets, worked well enough.
As far as writing goes, the sentences are clear and there's description of characters. I can imagine the family situation, and the worry about leaving home for someplace far away.
I enjoyed reading the family background, as well as the use of pidgin English. It gave more depth to the story and the character. Describing life in Nigeria, the family life, the pidgin English, these idiosyncratic elements constitute the strongest part of your writing.
As far as conflict goes, the main conflict was the moment the character had to present the ticket, only for it to be missing. I think there could have been more conflict present. Perhaps more conflict between the family members about the ticket, about going to the university, about leaving Nigeria. I think this is hinted at, and could have been something else to bring out conflict and plot.
"...never had anyone dreamed of going to the university, more so, a university in the white man's land."
This line stood out to me the most. I think you could have explored this more.
I didn't like the plane crash ending though. Having the ticket stolen by the niece, this wasn't a surprise, but, it worked with the plot. The plane crash seemed out of nowhere. You spent a lot of time discussing the implications of the trip on the narrator's family, then instead of resolving *that * conflict, you brought in a plane crash. The story is about taking a step in life, so the resolution to that conflict is about how the narrator changes after. With the plane crash, the narrator hasn't really changed.
For example, replace 'plane crash' with any sort of crazy event (car crash, terrorist attack, robbery, thief, etc). It doesn't matter what the event is, because it'll still be out of left field. We're interested in how it changes the narrator. because that 'change' is what actual story is about. I feel like we didn't see that change at the end.
Thanks. This is very helpful.
Wow so good a story just when i thought i had it all figured with her missing the flight then comes kamsi's innocent plot and the crash. So many emotions it evoked in me from tension to pity, then sorrow, then anger and finally joy she missed the flight
Been long a story got to me this way, u did very well @adsactly
It's a series of events which ended on a good note for Diana.
I can almost not believe what I just read. This is beyond beautiful. Its simplicity wrapped up in a wealth of aesthetics is just amazing. And the story, it speaks true to the Nigerian situation. It tells of everything we are facing in one quick swoop. It's like many stories in one. The poor ones who do not even know what a passport is, the expectant youths wanting to make a life for themselves; the sorry condition of a nation that is neck deep in death and dearth, everything in one swoop. This is really amazing, that's just it.
Thank you for kind words. It's a story of life's ups and downs with fate throwing in some magic that some may relate to, especially around here.
An award winning articles garnished with Nigerian flavor, simple English and very descriptive to the core. A writer like no other @greenrun
Beyond the writing, the plot 'wey u use na very tight one'. 😂
Keep glowing Sir
Thanks a lot.
Wow, lovely story. For a second I thought her mother's fears had actually come to pass. I like the way it ended. Good things indeed came in pair. Nice write-up @greenrun
I had the same fear too :)
An incredible story, especially the small details that make all the difference. I could actually see the characters. Bravo!!!!!@resteemed
Thank you.
And i know i wont be the only one who would find this so intriguing and interesting. i just hope there would be another chapter of this story @adsactly
I'm glad you find it interesting. Thank you.
Anytime👌 thanks
:)
Life is full of ups and down , what an interesting story , guess more of this will make me glad , thumbs up @greenrun ,@adsactly thanks for the sharing
That is very true; life's a mixture of the good and not so good. Thank you.
You are welcome sir
I loved how you built op this story and was sad that it ended so suddenly :) I hope she'll get to fulfill her dream...
I heard from a reliable source she later made it safely to the Land of the Free, got some good education and lived happily ever after :)
Aaaaaah good to hear, I love happy endings ;)
Me too :)
@adsactly nice I love stories, I spent my whole life reading books, I am from Venezuela and I want to ask you please to see one of my post to say preparing for difficult times I think it is written in both languages, I want you to let me know some tips to improve in steemit, and don`t want votes for doing so and I only want to learn Thanks
Thank you.
Wow.. what a beautiful plot. We need to have that type of story writers who put all basic ingredients in their story..Like above.I am highly inspired.@upvoted
Thank you.
Life is always a force of good and evil, so most things are in pairs.
Thank you.
She is indeed a lucky girl. Sometimes we just need to follow the rhythms of life cause we never can tell what awaits us.
If you dance with the beat of life, you'd never get tired. Thank you.
Damn!!! Very angry expression will be written all over Diana. Little Kamsi loves her Aunt and wouldn't want to hurt her concealing her travelling documents from her.
I believe the thought on Diana's Mother's mind would have been
Lol!!!😁😁😁
Who wouldn't be pissed at that? But seeing it's all with good intentions, I guess she'd be mighty glad for that on hearing the news.
This is a bit long story for the midnight, because time is 1.40 am now in my country. So I read only one word from each passage and combine all them. Thus, I achieve a point of view about your story. I only read the last passage at all and I am crazy curious now. I will dig your story tomorrow morning =)
You can take all the time you need to read. Thanks for visiting the blog.
Wonderful story, Lagos is my home and Nigeria is my country, thank you so much for making a great story out of my country I love it .
Thank you for reading the story.
I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT. Incredible write-up! This gave me goosebumps. I don't know if you have more of this but anyhoo I think you should write more. Stories like this will take you places. :)
This comment is for @greenrun btw :D
Nice comment for anyone :)
Hahaha I just specified to whom I address my comment since it was only after I posted that that I noticed the name of the author. So, congratulations, @greenrun. That story was amazing. 😁
It's all good, we are in this together :)
I also think that Robot will replace human. The future is the world of robot.
Graet story... Nice post..
I read in between the lines and noticed that it wasn't Diana's supposedly flight that crashed.
Her flight was "flight nine-six-three" while the flight that crashed was "flight five-six-three"
Well crafted story by @greenrun for @adsactly
the story is really exceptional...☺ i enjoyed a lot... 👍
This great story ...
I appreciate your writing thanks for sharing...
An incredible story,
Wow oke banget itu luar biasa menarik sangat
The great story.
Beautifull
Very well crafted. Fate can be a funny thing sometimes!
Very good información amigo
Follow me , I follow u : (u can win lot of money here)
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@fixedbetwin/introducing-fixedbetwin-experts-in-football-prediction-669293ae34586
Your welcome @adsactly
astonishing & astonishing!
pleasing & brilliant!
This is an interesting read. The pesin for move from kogi to katsina wey i dey naw. Joke aside the write up is good.
Nice story, I did not see those two twists coming. I was completely with Diana. Very well done! Thank you :)
Wow, nada es Casualidad el destino y el Universo son sabios , realmente emocionante !!!! Gracias estas historias son lecciones de vida. @adsactly
Great content and awesome article
Traveling is wonderful, although being in an airport and waiting is not so nice.
So profound. I am speechless. Amazing ways we are protected. Great share.
upvote and follow @rikineng
please
upvote and follow @rikineng
please
I can feel you through your post. Love is all our life :)
Good job friend
Good luck
Keep spirit
This was absolutely touching I must say, imagining that kind of connection between Diana and her her little niece, Kamsi: a live saving love. I can relate to this well, because 'that pidgin English na confirm'.