TÓDÙN

33

                         ~TÓDÙN~
 
It has been three days after we weren't allowed to enter the school premises and ASUU too had decided to play the game of hide and seek with the government. I stretched out my hand from the window and drew it in when the driver of a passing car glared at me as he zoomed off. I was seated right beside Kunle as he drove the car and Akorede was seated at the back tweeting and retweeting whatever he saw pertaining to the strike which doesn't seem like it will come to an end soon.

I drew in a heavy breath as we approached the road block mounted by the police which consisted of half broken cement blocks and trees. In their black devil like attires, armed with those guns that are tied together with pieces of clothes which they always miss handled, the reflection of sweat on their faces made them glitter from afar. Cars that were at our front slowed down as they were waved to stop and I felt myself cringe as those drivers handed fifty Naira note, a note which I sometimes think is specially made for them

"Park, park your car." A police man with a potbelly protruding like that of a pregnant woman howled as he waved his hand and Kunle calmly followed his orders by parking beside the road. He signalled to me to open the save and from there he took the particulars of the car and handed it to the policeman who had two conspicuous tribal marks on his face.

"Okay, your driver's license... and..." His voice trailed off as he flipped through the papers given to him. "Na you get this car?" He asked in pidgin English.

"Yes sir, I am the one." Kunle answered in his American accent and had a smile plastered on his face. If only you know they aren't enticed by being friendly, I muttered.

"No dey use that kin oyinbo for me."  He said as he used his hands to wipe off beads of sweat on his face.

"I am sorry sir but the car belongs to me." Kunle continued.

"Wetin dey happen for there?" A tall police man who was attending to another car earlier walked closer to us and stood beside his colleagues accessing the car with his eyes. Unlike the first police man, he looked well kept and had a pistol in the holster around his waist.

"I sure say they steal this car ni, abi how small pikin like this go dey use this kin car." The first policeman said again, welcome to Nigeria where every youngster that owns a car is believed to be a criminal. "Na your girlfriend be that?" He pointed to me but Kunle ignored him and instead pleaded with him to let us go. Akorede took his phone from where he was charging it and tapped on it. He signalled to Kunle to stop talking to him and placed the phone against his ear as he dialled a number.

"Who you dey call, who?" The second police officer whom I thought had some sense in his brain asked, knocked the door vigorously and at the same time ordered him to open it but Akorede was unmoved.

"Take it easy, you don't want to spoil the car, do you?" Kunle asked him and I frowned expecting what the policeman's reaction will be. He stared at Kunle angrily and used his hand to hit the car. I held tight to the seat belt waiting for a saving signal from Akorede who was still muttering some words to somebody over the phone.

"Se you no go find something give boys like this?" A third police officer asked in pidgin as he moved closer to the car having taken money from a taxi he just allowed to leave.

"Excuse me sir, he wants to talk to you. Akorede opened the door by his side and handed the phone to the police man who with the conspicuous tribal marks.

"Na who be the he, na who?" He muttered as he placed the phone against his ear and stamped his leg on the floor in revolution but all of a sudden he stopped when he heard the voice boom from the other side. "Okay, sir...they are even on their way to leave now." He said in fluent English even though the phone was obviously still with him. "No...sir...at all." He stuttered and saluted again, he handed the phone back to Akorede and  suddenly a smile appeared on his ugly and sweaty face.

"You for tell me say your papa na my oga na." He bent to the car level and smiled at us. "Help me to greet him o, you can now go." He stepped aside as soon as he said that and Kunle ignited the car.

"So your dad is a police officer?" I asked Akorede whom Kunle had earlier told me his Dad was a politician just like his.

"No, my dad is a politician and the person on phone is my uncle he is an Inspector General of police and he is also like a father to me." Akorede replied and I smiled in response, looked at Kunle who was expertly holding the steering wheel and I settled properly on the chair so as to be able to face the front.

As we got closer to Lagos, the urge to get home as quickly as possible was very evident in every word I said and everything I did, I sometimes hummed along with different songs that were played by the car tape or just stared at the scenery as we passed at different places. We were already in Lagos and children and even elderly selling their goods in traffic reminded me of what I used to do and will still do once I get home. The traffic sellers shouted in deep voices asking passengers to buy their goods but Kunle wind up instantly because of possible theft.

"My sister has always told me to wind up in traffic because they might attempt to steal things through them." He said like a baby that is still being trained.

"What else did your sister tell you?" Akorede asked sarcastically and used his hand to poke Kunle who attempted to pay him back but holding the steering  stopped him while I laughed so hard.

"She told me many things than you can imagine." He muttered and chuckled Kunle's sentence isn't far fetched as he can't say any without mentioning his sister's name whom he is so fond of.

"Leave the boy alone jare, let the boy enjoy his sister and let those of us with non continue to pray for one." I said and looked back to seek Akorede pressing his phone.

"I thought you have a sibling?" Kunle asked me as the car moved forward a little in the traffic.

"I don't have any sibling, it is me, myself and I."

"Oh, and look at me thinking I know you so much."

"You do not." I replied remembering that he thinks my mother owns a boutique and my father stays abroad but my mood was dampened when I realised some of my interactions with him has been fake. I took my ringing phone out of the bag and informed my Mum that we were already in Lagos and that I will soon be home. I sat up startled as the car came to an abrupt stop in the middle of traffic and the car almost hitting the bumper of the car at the front.

"You have to be careful." I half screamed and held on to my chest.

"I wasn't expecting him to stop like that." He replied and stared at me. "So where do I drop you off?" He continued.

"I will tell you when we get there ." I replied still thinking about where to tell him to stop. If I should tell him to go and stop at my real neighborhood that means he will discover what I have been hiding and if otherwise that will mean I am lying to someone who has always told me nothing but the truth. I breath in and out trying not to panic at anything I was going to say.

***

The rustic environment welcomed me when I got down from the motorcycle that I boarded after Kunle dropped me at the road side even though he insisted on taking me home. The roofs remained the same in their rustic brown colour, the street roads untiled and dirty as usual, women in their wrappers tending to their children, staring at who just got down from the bike and men in their buba and shoro tending to the little gardens in front of their houses and some of them playing the Yoruba mancala game which is referred to as Ayo olopon.

Our house stood right within everything, even though it looked so much like others, the patterns made by brooms while sweeping remained on the floor and only altered by foot prints which I knew belonged to my Mum. The door looked so weak as it used to be and grasses around looked over grown. Where is my mum, I thought as I knocked on the door without getting any reply.

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