Chapter three
Three weeks passed by fast and she had been assigned her driving route which was from the general park at Ikeja in the mainland to Tafelewa Balewa Bus Park on the island.
She would end up seeing Jade at the end of each day when she drove her Bus to the park to sign out and they would go home together on the Bus that took their route, driven by one of their colleagues or the other. She never got tired of seeing the amusement on people's face when they saw it was a female driver incharge of the bus they were about to board.
One passenger had even refused to board one time for that same reason one morning. Jade experienced the same thing as well.
Her first drive for the day now had regulars, before she got to the bus terminal at 6:30 a line mostly filled with youths who had to go to work on the island were already lined up. She now knew some people on first name basis.
Some elderly people as well, some even brought whatever they were selling for her and while they handed it over they would beg her to please drive safely on the third mainland bridge. She understood their fear as people tend to drive faster on the bridge. They had been warned not to in class. Any complaint by multiple members of the public could cause her to face possible termination from work.
It was a Monday morning and she drove the bus into the terminal and came to an hault beside the queue waiting for her. She came down from the bus and the fresh air consumed her. She greeted her colleague that was in charge of the ticketing. The weather was beautiful and the air was clean. A very, very rare occurrence in Lagos.
"Good morning" some familiar faces yelled as they saw her. She greeted them back and made small talks on things they had brought up with her before. She had a good memory which made it easy for her to fake conversations . She smiled at the older people. The market women especially were always extra nice to her.
One had even gone to the extent of inquiring about her salary and simply nodded after she had answered. She wondered if she would have gotten the same reaction if she was a doctor or a lawyer. Maybe he would have ended their conversation with "I hope my child grows up to be like you" instead . She simply smiled and went on her day.
Like every Lagos morning, the traffic was tremendous but the Bus lane was as free as it usually was. She had just maneuvered the bus over the Airport bridge and into the Bus lane on The Express when she noticed a blockage. She drove slowly into the bus lane.
"What's the problem, Remi" Ahmed, A bus regular who worked at a bank on the island asked her.
He always sat in front of the bus behind her and when he didn't get that seat he would simply take a stand on the bus, standing as close to her as possible. She has a feeling it was all part of a bigger plan to get her attention. Two men in black suits and shades waved at the bus as it came to an halt.
"I would like for everyone to stay calm, everything is under control" she yelled out, trying to assure the passengers as she looked from one worried face to the other.
"I will step out and take care of this and until then, everyone should remain on their sit" she announced quickly in English and Yoruba. She opened the door by her drivers side and stepped out.
"Excuse me gentlemen, is there a problem" she asked aloud as she stepped towards them. She looked back at the bus and saw faces stuck to the window. She looked forward at the men again.
"We have an important meeting to meet up with and we would like you to empty the passengers in the bus now. We are with the state " the man to her right said
She looked shocked and was very much tempted to laugh. In all of her classes there was no mention of government officials who looked like they worked with the MIB who would come and take full control of the bus they were in charge of.
" I should empty my bus for you to get to your meeting" she said sarcastically with a questioning tone.
" if you will, please do that immediately" the man on her left said as a smile grew on her face before he walked away towards the other side of the road filled with traffic.
She chuckled as she tugged on the bottom edge of the blue and white shirt of her uniform that came with the State Bus logo. She cleaned her palms on her black pants before looking up at the other man who stood in front of her.
"You better move or I will crush you with that bus" she said pointing at the bus before she turned to leave and her phone rang.
The other man who went to the other side of the road had returned . She looked at her phone and then at the men. It was Chima
"Pick it" one of the men said.
"Don't tell me what to do"
She walked away and tried hard to shut off the noise made by the cars on the road.
"Hey babe" she said into the phone.
One of the two men that had been sent to find a solution for him to get to his meeting had come back to give him feedback. He had been watching from his car. He had watched how she stepped out of the bus like she owned it.
She had stepped out with the full essence of the power that came with driving the big bus she drove. It made him want to laugh. Life was quite simple as people found ways to feel power irrespective of where they were on the ladder.
His father had been the founder of the Transportation system she worked with. He had been the former governor and now he too was running to be the next governor. They had been on the road since 5:30am after he had landed at the international airport. He could have flown to where he needed to go to but he just didn't feel the need to for some reason.
He looked at his watch again 7:05. The traffic seemed to go on forever. He had less than an hour and the only way he could do it was through her. If he could lift the car into the lane she was in. He would have but he couldn't.
He watched closely while she was on a call. His assistant had made a call to his fathers assistant who had made a call to the Permanent secretary how the calls got to her from there. He didn't know and he didn't care. He watched as her face changed. She tried to talk but she kept getting caught off by whoever was on the other side of the call.
He saw defeat and a smirk grew on his face. She looked at the car but she couldn't see him. The car was heavily tinted but she looked like she had locked eyes with him. Only if she knew that she did.
She shook her head at how unbelievable the whole situation was. Chima had called her telling her she had to evacuate the bus for them to use as they wished. She tried to make him understand but he sounded firm. Firmer than he had ever been with her on any issue. He didn't tell her anything about who they were, he just gave her direct orders and reminded her that he loved her before hanging up.
He had reminded her he was getting off work early to go and pick his mom at the airport afterwards his annual leave would begin.
The passengers had began to exist the bus when she finished with her call. They started to line up in front of one of the men beside the bus. She walked angrily towards the bus. She walked past the passengers who tried to make eye contact or small talk with her about what the rukus was all about but she ignored them. She stepped into the bus.
"Please step down uniformly and line up you will be refunded your bus fee with a little extra for the inconvenience.
"Get down from my bus right now" she yelled "Get out now"
"Ma'am, you've received your order please step aside so I can do my job" the man who had been standing on her left had said.
"Get down from my bus now" she yelled angrily but he didn't move until the last person in the bus had alighted.
She felt very confused and didn't know what to do. She told everyone to go back into the bus but she could see the confusion on their faces but they didn't proceed as she instructed.. She looked at the time on her wristwatch and thought about what to do. She turned around to cross the road. The traffic was still heavy and stretched as far as the eyes could see.
She walked around the traffic to the car she had seen one of the men walk to while she was on the call.
She got to the side of the Jeep and knocked on the heavily tinted window. The windows came down and a man with very appealing features appeared.
His eyes were blackest she had ever seen. His skin was evenly dark and his jaw was perfectly shaped and his nose had that perfect arch that she has seen people put their lives on the line to have on Doctor 90210 on E!.
He brushed his jaw with his palm which made her secretly wonder how the rest of him looked. But that wasn't her mission.
"Can you call your boys off?" She asked politely
He looked at her with a plain face.
"Excuse me?" He said without looking at her
"Call your boys off, I have a lot to do today" she said as she folded the sleeves of her shirt up. She tried her best to sound as Polite as possible to hide the hint of anger in her voice, her heavy breathing and her growing impatience. "Look, we all have our different destinations, you might be a boss but everybody on that bus works for people who don't want to listen to excuses so please just call them back ".
He looked at her slowly.
"You should..."
"I don't want to hear anything from you. Call them back and let me be on my way. I don't care who you are because if you had any human empathy at all, you wouldn't look down on people" she said angrily at him
Before he could say anything she had turned to leave. He stepped out from the car and walked behind her. He buttoned his suit jacket as he walked. He felt a lot of anger cussing through his veins but he had mastered the act of showing no expression whatsoever whenever he didn't need to.
He had learnt that from his maternal -grandfather whenever he went to visit when he was a child. His cousins who lived with his Grandfather had it harder than he did. But whenever he was around he took his own dose. His grandfather had sat them down to tell them sad news or happy news or dangle things they wanted in their faces and they were only allowed to act accordingly.
It sounded easy now but as a six years old child it was one of the hardest things he had to do. They had grieved the shooting of his Cousin's Wife-to-be, he had watched his cousin try to keep his cool after she had been shot in his front. He had watched the whole family keep their cool despite what had happen. So yes, he had enough practice.
He got to the other side of the road where people had started to recognize him. Some had even started to bring out their phones to take pictures.
"If these people can't get on this bus, then I am not driving this bus anywhere" she said loudly as she turned back quickly, she faced his chest. His tall frame enveloped her. She felt very short in his presence.
She looked up at him and stepped back quickly as she wondered why she felt breathless. She walked back and sat on the pavement by the road.
"What's happening" he asked softly with a smile
" I am not driving if they won't get on" Remi yelled again
"Mr Talabi sir, Good morning" Ahmed had said as he walked past her. Her jaw dropped as she looked at him talk to the so called Mr Talabi. After a few minutes of them talking together
"I am so sorry for the inconveniences, please board the bus" he said with a smile as she looked at him cluelessly from the ground level which she sat.
Was her eyes fooling her or was he pretending to have no idea about what was happening. He was the cause of everything and he stood here acting like a god of diplomacy.
She stood up and looked around as people from the private cars stuck in traffic now started to look at them.
"I am so sorry, the driver came to talk to me about how these men have disturbed your daily routine and I apologize on their behalf's. I will now ride with you people to make sure everybody reaches their destination" he said with smiles that made the passengers cheer for him.
"Whoever you people are protecting must lack common human empathy" he spat in the faces of the guards before turning around to face the people.
"With your votes I will give you a Lagos where everyone is treated equally regardless of social status and class"
" what are you doing" Remi whispered to him as the passengers cheered.
" righting the wrong that you've done" he said firmly without looking at her. He walked towards the bus and urged the people to board.
She stood in shock as she watched him take pictures with some of the passengers that requested to take pictures with him.
She didn't notice when the last passenger got in till his firm voice annoyingly said "are you going to drive the bus"