Different Worlds

Chapter Four

A/N: here you go. Enjoy

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Ijeoma

I placed a few gentle knocks on my friend's front door with my free hand because in the other was my two year old daughter, Chizolum who was still asleep with her head on my shoulder. In less than five minutes the door opened to reveal her younger sister.

"Temi, how far? Is your sister around?" I asked.

"No, she just left for classes but I'm not having classes so she told me to help you watch over Zozo" she said

"Oh okay, thank you" I said as I passed my child gently to her along with her diaper bag that contain all the necessities

"No problem" she said as she gently rocked her back to sleep as the transferring must have disturbed her sleep.

I grabbed my pastries bucket from the ground where I had placed it when I initially got here and began heading to the bus stop. I checked my wrist watch and I had twenty minutes to get to work. I already knew I wasn't going to make it on time because getting to the bus stop would take me like ten minutes and then waiting for the bus to fill up with passengers could take—well, there's no telling how long that will take.

After the long walk, I finally got to the bus stop where a couple of buses were parked with their conductors screaming the destinations they were heading to.

"Chief Anthony ... Onitsha" One of the bus conductors shouted repeatedly.

I walked up to him. "Chief Anthony?"

In this country, I've learnt to ask the destination once more before entering any bus because you might think you heard one destination and then before you know it as the bus is moving you start hearing another one.

"Enter" He said in with a gruff voice, pointing to his bus that only had three people currently in it "Na 150 oo. Hold your change"

"Ah ahn, Chief Anthony is 100naira now"

"Fuel scarcity dey, so money don increase" He replied harshly (There's fuel scarcity and the money has increased)

"Nawa oo" I said. "Na 200naira I get oo" (it's 200naira I have)

"Enter, change go dey" he replied before going back to calling out his destination. (There will be change)

I entered into the bus and sat down waiting for more passengers to fill up the bus. We may have improved in our health sector but every other one was still trash. I just couldn't understand how a country that produces crude oil which is refined to get fuel can still undergo scarcity when the Americans they sell the crude oil to, to help them refine it don't make the same complaints.

I looked at my wrist watch once more and I had just five minutes left and the bus was only half full. In Nigeria, we don't have specific times in which the buses stay waiting before leaving whether filled or not like other developed countries. We basically have to wait till the bus conductor fills up his bus before leaving for your destination and the driver will never leave the bus stop with a bus half filled because they need every single drop of money they could get.

I looked at the sky and the sun was already up shining it's light for everyone to see properly, the streets were gradually filling up with people and shops were been opened, getting ready for the day ahead.

The bus finally got filled up and the driver began to move the bus out of the parked spot it had been in for over thirty minutes. The bus conductor began to collect the bus fare from all the individuals in the bus when a middle aged woman handed him a 1000naira note.