painful pleasure,a story by kahab

The Painful Pleasure
.
EPISODE 5
Since we lived in the outskirts of Ibadan, i
had to board two
different taxis to get to Iwo-Road (like the
extreme end of
the city, where you get buses going to other
parts of the
country). My mum followed me to Apata
where i took a taxi
going to challenge, she waved at me and
smiled with tears
(who does that). I waved at her and i
rememberd the ‘ranti
omo eni to nse’ speech. This means:
remember the son of
whom you are.
You guys know what I’m talking about, there
is no one in
Nigeria that won’t hear this speech from
either or both
parents when going to the university. These
includes stuffs
like:
1. Koju mowe e o: face your studies
2. Ma ko egbe kegbe o: Don’t keep bad
company
3. Ma kobirin o: Don’t follow girls e.t.c.
But since my mum knew me to be someone
that doesn’t
really like ladies, since i don’t talk to girls in
the area, only 1
and 2 above was applicable to me.
To cut the long story short, i got to Iwo
road, and i gave a
small boy 100 Naira to carry my load for me
with his wheel
barrow. I could have carried it myself, but i
just felt that if
everyone should think that way, how will the
poor boy get
his means of livelihood? “At least he is
better than those
guys with no physical disabilities who beg
around.” I said to
myself.
I went to the Bus, and seeing my load, the
driver said briskly
“E maaa sanwo eru o.” Which means i will
have to pay extra
for my luggage. I nodded my head in
agreement, and asked
him how much that was, he said 200 Naira,
after so much
bargaining, and so much chastisement by
the other
passengers, he agreed to take 100 Naira, so
with 400 fare,
that will be 500 all together. “Its not that
bad.” I. said to
myself.
So we were waiting for the bus to get filled.
You know those
guys now, they won’t move an inch until the
bus is full. I sat
at the third row as the bus has five rows. I
would have sat at
the second row but the driver had told us
that three people
will sit on a row, except the second row
where four people
will sit. Why he said that i didn’t know, and
i don’t want to
know. Because i wasn’t really used to
traveling, i wouldn’t
want anything that would cause me
inconvenience.
On my row there was just one space left as
we waited
patiently. One baba with bald head was
already on my left,
“who will be my right hand traveling partner”
I wondered. . .
There she comes, my sitting partner. As i
saw her, i knew she
was also going to resume in OAU. . .
Was I right or wrong? Find out in Episode 6.