Kola Adedayo was born and bread in Toronto, Canada. He is a Nigerian raised abroad. And has lived all his life abroad. Year after year, his grandparents had invited him to come spend sometime in his home land far away Oke dudu in Western Nigeria and perhaps find a beautiful maiden of the land to marry.
This December he decided he'd give them a surprise visit. When he told his parents about it, they were elated and couldn't wait for him to embark on the journey. He was going to his home town for
the first time in his 22years of his existence and he was going alone, without the company of his parents! Though, they promised to guide him all through the adventure.
"You see, I specifically chose to come home this period because "Ember-months" as popularly called in Nigeria are travel months in the country. The ember-months starts from September all the way down to December. I guess the name is picked from their unique but matching suffixes. My grand parents said there were always more vehicles on the road this period. Businesses start to experience a hike in sales with December being their peak period." He shared with his flatmate,Mark, this gist about Nigeria. He said it like he knew the place well.
"Looks like a worthy adventure" Mark commented and handed him his "adventure bag".
"Look, you've got a stuff here" Kola pointed out showing his flatmate a spray bottle from one of the bag's pocket. He was borrowing his flatmate's bag for the journey.
"That's witch hazzle man. You should take it along. You never can tell what you might need it for."
"Witch what? Kola iterated
"I take it along on my adventures for when or If ever I get bitten by insects"
"Oh alright, thanks man." He thanked him and continued packing while Mark strolled out of sight typing away on his phone.
The flight went smoothly and kola had long arrived Nigeria. He was currently at Idimu garage to take the next available bicycle for a 30km distance to his grandfather's house in Ikuroko as suggested by a good Samaritan he met at the garage. According to him, the road was bad. The buses that use to ply that road hardly do that these days because the road was not motorable or so he thought.
He had spent more than an hour standing under the hot 1pm sun. He couldn't tell if the long stares from passers by or the heat of the sun was responsible for his current restlessness. He started to say prayers to bring him a vehicle and In that moment a rickety old bus that looked like it use to be painted yellow came along calling for passengers. Luck shone on him as his area was mentioned as one of the dropping point and so he hoped in the bus with limited sitting space.
"Excuse me Mister, would you kindly notify me when I'm close to Ikoroko junction?" He said to a young man sitting next to him who somewhat looked around the same age group as him if he didn't have blood shot eyes and creased up forehead. He looked to Kola like a laborer.
Instead of replying Kola, he just casually forwarded the request to the driver as he continued devouring a cup cake he bought earlier from the roadside hawker hungrily.
The driver, an older man around his late 50s looked back to where he was and followed with a smile revealing a brown colored teeth stained with kola nut.
"E be like say na oversea you been dey?" He mentioned in Nigerian pidgin English.
Kola nodded a yes to his question about being new to the area and smiled back at the elderly driver.
"I talk am! That your bag no be from here!" He complimented Kola's bag.
This time he had become the centre of focus. With every passenger in the vehicle either beaming him a polite smile or looking at his bag with pure desire.
The rest of the journey proceeded normally with every passenger doing their own thing not necessarily interested in the road while Kola on the other hand was fascinated by things along the road. The bumpy ride made it more interesting for him as he marveled at the natural greenery with the red earth forming a dusty layer on the plants as well as the roadside kiosks. The breeze from the open windows was cool and sooting. The serenity of the view made him feel at home.
"Osapa Island!" Announced the driver.
The sudden shout by the driver took Kola, who was lost in his euphoria by surprise. I no time, he realized they had arrived a major bustop. Most of the passengers alighted and the driver started moving again. He looked in Kola's direction and told him to be ready because his bustop was next.
After ten more minutes of wandering in thought why that bus top was called an island, Kola arrived his bus top. He was the only one to come down and Kola was ready to jump off the vehicle now moving slowly along the side of like he observed every other passengers did when they were the only one to alight at a bus top.
The driver noticed his intention and he stopped him.
"My friend, no worry. I go park for you to drop." The driver reassured him that he will park for him to alight and so he did.
Kola came down and paid his fare. He then moved a few steps from the bus and waved the rest of the passengers journey mercy as well as the driver.
The driver once again beamed him a huge smile revealing those set of brown teeth.
"God bless you my friend!" Said the driver.
Kola had given him a tip.
Kola turned his back to the road, taking out his phone from his back pocket while walking towards path that lead to his grandparents' compound as directed by his father.
Source
This is a classic travel story. A young person comes of age and goes off to discover roots. Vivid descriptions of the the journey are satisfying. While the reader with an expectation of a journey to continue is fine, in some cases, leaving off too soon gives an unsatisfying arc to the narrative. This would have benefited from a stronger conclusion. Great writing though.
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Tell me you’re a Nigerian without actually telling me you’re a Nigerian. 😂😂
Beautiful story @faithann
Let me come and be going!
Lols
Thanks for reading @prayzz
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STOPYea. Thanks for reading!