0500hr: The alarm blared from the mobile phone I dropped sometimes during the night. “it’s five o’clock in the morning, when conversation got boring…….”. I found the snooze button and lazily pressed it. “I can’t come and kill myself, I will still beat traffic if I am smart about it” the thought surfaced as I plunged back into the crevice of sleep.
0510hr: “it’s five o’clock in the morning, when conversation got boring…….” Snooze button? Found. Pressed.
0520hr: “it’s five o’clock in the morning, when conversation got boring…….” The alarm blared again. I stood up after another three minutes of rolling around. My knee found the bedside stool and I groaned. “Alhamdulilah al-ladi…..” I continued on my way to the bathroom. I brought out the buckets in the bathroom and went outside to fetch water.
0545hr: Fully dressed and heading to the nearest mosque to pray fajr (pre-dawn prayer) before heading out. The town was already waking up by the time I left my apartment. “Yi pada, ijoba orun ku de de (repent now, tomorrow may be too late” An evangelist announced. The announcement colliding with several adhan (call to prayer) from mosques around.
0610hr: I left the mosque and I hailed the first motorcycle rider I saw. “where to?” he asked. “Na park I de go” I answered. “Na two hundred naira o” he replied. “ha ha! Na one and fifty naira I go pay” I exclaimed. “na because na early morning o, make we de go” he finished.
0625hr: I dropped from the motorcycle. Paid the man and entered the park. Immediately I stepped into the park, I was harassed from left and right. “guy! Where you de go? Na Benin? Warri? Ughelli? Asaba” came from various angles. “I’m going to Benin” I replied. “Ha na now one Benin bus comot, but nor worry, this park de quick full” another man admonished me. “I shouldn’t have pressed the snooze button twice” I thought.
0700hr: I was still the only passenger in the car. The driver came around to meet me and told me not to worry. “na only just six passengers remain” he advised. “But this is Monday sir, I need to be in Benin before 2pm” I told him. He laughed and said “don’t worry, I’m called a pilot around here because my car is an aeroplane”.
0730hr: A couple walked down to the park and were directed to the Benin axis. A smiled blossomed on my face. “four passengers to go” I thought.
0900hr: I was frustrated and angry at this point but a part of me was happy the car is finally filled up. I resolved never to oversleep again (I have always made this resolution). The conductors collected the transport fare from the passengers. And after the usual shenanigans, the car eased out of the park.
0910hr: “Let us close our eyes and pray to the Lord” a passenger announced. “In the mighty name…..” the prayer started and continued for a while.
0930hr: “In the name of the Lord I pray!” and thus the prayer ended. Almost immediately another passenger started “Good morning my fellow commuters. I am an herbal doctor with proven success in diseases such as gonorrhea, malaria, thyphoid, headache, influenza…..” . The herbal doctor continued for a while. “Any disease at all, this herbal ointment will cure it. And it is just two hundred naira for a bottle” He concluded. After the man finished, the driver turned on the music and sped on. “kaiparimarichupakpo….” issued from the speakers.
1030hr: We left Oyo State behind and entered Osun State. The water from Asejire Dam looked as beautiful as ever. “Driver abeg I wan make call” a woman announced. Without taking his eyes off the road, the driver reduced the volume of the music.
“Hello” the woman said into her phone. “E Kaaro (good morning) .. a ku ti xenophobia yii o, Olorun a ko way o (greetings for the ongoing xenophobia, the lord will save us”. The shocked expression on the faces of the other passengers resulted in a cacophony of laughter in the car. “My people and greetings” I thought.
1111hr: True to his words, the driver was indeed a “pilot”. He sped on with little or no regards for potholes and speed bumps which were ever present on Nigerian roads. Even though I knew I should caution him by virtue of sitting at the front with him, I spurred him on. Mt appointment in Benin was the only thing on my mind. “is a pilot there” I exclaimed. “You sure say you nor go audition for Fast and Furious movie?” I joked. “see this guy, na because I too good na why dem nor pick me” he replied. And at that point, we made the mistakes of our lives. The “high-fived .
8888hr: It happened so fast. One moment my hand connected with the drivers hand and the next, my skull connected with the dashboard with the force of Ronaldo”s drilled shot. The world changed suddenly. I heard screams from everywhere. My brained screamed. My mouth wailed. “Subhannallah” came from somewhere. “blood of Jesus” reverberated from another. Like a toy car launched angrily, the car rolled on the road continuously before colliding with a solid mass. Tree? Another car? A house? My eyes couldn’t make it out.
Time is only functional when you are safe, sound and sane. Time makes sense when blood is flowing in your brain and around your body not outside. The accident could have lasted for a few seconds or hours, but we had no way to tell. We were not humans at that point, but animals hoping to survive, fighting for oxygen. Gasping for one more breadth. Appointments, dates, profit and all other worldly benefits are just on the peripheral. Life matters. But what do we do when time has ran out.
Like rag dolls in a playhouse. The passengers were mangled together. I had no way of knowing if the next person is alive. Survival was the only prayer. The last thing I remembered was the feeling of being dragged, and the sound of a metal drill being operated. The world went dark.
NOWhr: The only time we have is now.
©Ridwan Akinkunmi Ajagbe
Sophocles Writes 