SOMEONE LIKE FATIMAH

CHAPTER 2: HOME COMING!!!

HOME COMING
25th Dec, 2018

Lagos, Nigeria.

No matter how one decsribes Lagos to someone who has never stayed in Lagos before, they won't just get it. "Lagos is crazy, and to survive in Lagos you have to be crazy too", most people have often said.

By crazy, not literal craziness, but commitment kind of craziness.... Lagos is a city that never sleeps. To get to a job that starts at 8am, one had to leave home as early as 5am, sometimes 4am, depending on distance.

Lagos is a city that is surrounded by water, hence the routes and roads are way too small to accommodate the ever increasing population.

Fatimah woke up as early as 5am to put her apartment in order before leaving to catch her 10am flight to kano....She switched on the socket to the water heater in her bathroom while quickly putting her clothes into a small box. She looked into the mirror, smirk at the fact that her hair was light, through and through and decided to get some rollers on while still packing.

She had gotten home from work the previous day very late because of the things she had to tidy up to avoid being called back to Lagos for unfinished projects during her short vacation, hence she couldn't pack all she needed for her trip.

She walked around her apartment in her bathing robe, wearing a pair of flip flops, rollers on her hair and walking really fast to finish all the chores she had to complete before embarking on her leave.

Fatimah finished packing, tidying up and getting ready at about 7am. She quickly picked up her phone, opened the Uber app and ordered for a ride.

Her ride arrived at about 7.15am. She locked up everywhere, pulled her trolley with hand bag carefully wrapped around the handle of the trolley and turned to lock up her apartment.

It was a rainy morning, typical of Lagos weather. The rush of thoughts and emotions could be seen visibly on her face as she looked out the window of the car.

Everywhere was busy with life. She could see women pulling their toddlers about in the drizzles of the rain, probably to take them for chrismas clothes shopping, which is very typical of the festive season.

The sight made memories of her childhood rush to her... Memories of her mum taking her to try out different gowns in different shops in Idumota market. She remembered making faces of disgust each time a shop owner pulled down a dress she didn't like or not fancy enough to make her feel like cinderella or barbie.

Being a very conservative child but very picky and clear about what she wanted had made her grow into a lady who didn't settle for less and worked hard to achieve her set goals.

"Ma'am which terminal"..... The driver said as he looked at her through the rear mirror.

"MM2".... She replied softly....."how long do you think it will take before we get there?"......she asked adjusting her head-wrap slightly and looking at her Casio wrist watch almost immediately.

"I couldn't say, but it depends on the route we take, this time of the year is rough, one cannot predict which route will have less traffic pile up".....The uber driver replied still keeping his eyes focused on the road.

"My flight is by 10am, do you think we will be there any sooner than 9am?".....She asked with concern on her face.

"Hopefully, its christmas, everywhere is crazy, so there will definitely be hold up... I dropped a rider at the airport yesterday, from the airport gate checking point alone to the departure took us almost an hour, because of congestion...Everyone is trying to get home for christmas, but it might be different today if we are lucky since its christmas already and most travelers have left already"......The driver said in details.