Tales of a Keke Passenger From Opolo to Ekeki by Victor Oroyi – Episode 9 | Today is Not Christmas
Tales of a Keke Passenger From Opolo to Ekeki by Victor Oroyi – Episode 9 | Today is Not Christmas
Hazy and dusty weather condition, this noon hour, associated with heavy dry breeze causing breaks on the skin especially on the feet and lips. The chilled-dry breeze brought the nostalgia of Christmas as I stand to find a keke to Ekeki. Quick observation, is today Christmas?
The road is scanty low both in vehicular and human traffic ‘where is everybody?‘, I questioned. It’s already, the first weekend of the second month, the day after the last working day of the week.
It’s only a nostalgic feeling of Christmas but something is contrary as I look around.
The rider stops, and there is a passenger heavily dressed in his traditional lion-head ‘Etibo’ finine with a red-and-white coral stoned beads round his neck and waist. The black bowler hat is accompanied with an ancient black walking stick. In one minute, I was confused, ‘is there a change of season‘ or like in the movies ‘the world clock goes anti-clockwise‘. I enter and settles with him on the backseat.
‘Where you dey go‘, the rider asked.
My unconscious mind comes to reality, and I said ‘Ekeki‘, from the puzzles behind seasons and times. The thoughts of Christmas since I left home had occupied my mind.
‘150… you hold change‘, he informs me.
I didn’t bother to reply. He looks at me, takes away his face, rides into motion. I pick up the jigsaw of the weather condition, stillness of the environment and this heavily dressed-man to build the Christmas fantasy on my mind.
‘What’s happening‘, I said while thinking ‘is this a coincidence or am I dreaming?‘.
Strangely, the chilly breeze this morning did not give a good account of the increasing temperature at night resulting to uncomfortable sleep by residents of Yenagoa. The last four weeks have not been fun. Everybody is asking ‘this heat reach ur side‘.
The passenger alights at the Nembe Park, ‘okay‘, I reasoned ‘he is attending a function in his community, either in Nembe or Brass‘. So, I relaxed my thought that today is not Christmas, since there are no other passengers gorgeously dressed like him at park. One of the jigsaw don’t fit on the board of Christmas.
‘We have long passed that season‘, I reasoned, ‘the change in the climatic condition is only playing a prank with my mind‘.
Two other passengers joined me at the backseat.
Just then, the rider stops for a fair fleshly-bodied average height passenger who says “pilae”, abeg drop me for Arizona filling station‘, holding an empty 4-litre jerry-can, pleading. Possibly, he is a rider too, looking to get fuel for his keke.
My interest is awakened at this point, my rider looks at him from his head to the jerry-can while the presumed passenger smiles at him. My rider rides off without saying a word to him.
He murmurs to himself, ‘… you no see the filling station for dere; instead of u to waka go there, you dey find free keke to Arizona‘, he angrily complained as he accelerates his keke looking at his side mirror.
This passenger crossed over from the other lane of on-coming vehicle to make his plea, I wonder what is on his mind. I, however, made excuse for him ‘Arizona pump go better pass dis people their pump na‘, my rider didn’t say a word.
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Most times, keke riders and drivers have complained about how this filling stations in the city are adjusting their pumping machines; that you don’t get the quantity you are paying for. One litre is not one litre in most filling stations. So, these riders prefer to buy from black market irrespective of the price difference where is fuel scarcity.
It has become an issue in Yenagoa, there are filling stations, that riders don’t buy from due to the manipulated pumping machine. Where do the black market operators get their product to sell and make profit?
************
He picks a fourth passenger sitting with him at the front seat.
As the two passengers that joined us at Nembe Park alights at a popular fastfood by Baybridge junction, a young girl joins us; she is wearing a white polo-shirt with a multi-coloured trouser. Her character and make-up cannot be defined until the keke rider cautioned her when she alighted at Okaka junction.
You remember, I shared stories on how passengers stop rider when they get to their destination? This is another case, the character of this passenger is impolite. Just after the u-turn, this passenger shouts, ‘stop me here… dropping‘ in the middle of T-junction at Okaka.
‘I no fit drop you here‘, he shouted back at her. He maneuvers out of the speed lane to stop, from his side mirror, there is keke racing behind us. He takes it slowly to safely stop the keke for her to alight.
The young girl is already frowning and swallowing, the black-coloured-face is furious at the rider. She shouts again ‘drop me here, stop na‘.
‘I no fit stop for junction, you suppose talk say, you dey drop before Okaka junction‘, he hits back at her.
Her voice reveals the depth of her anger for taking her after Okaka junction, ‘I don reach where I dey go before I tell you say make you stop‘, she questions him.
‘Next time, talk quick before you reach’, he manages to stop after escaping a hit from the keke behind him scampering for a passenger.
She alights and walks away murmuring to herself.
After settling in my heart, when the heavily dressed man dropped that today is not Christmas, this young lady arouse that thought again with her dressing. You know those multi-coloured dressing of young persons on Christmas day, hanging bags and painting red lipsticks, she had all of that. The day is for children and teenagers, the Christmas costumes and props, the harmattan breeze creating a scenic mood. The season is unforgettable memory of childhood.
The rider, in this episode has proved to his passenger that today is not Christmas despite the heavy dry chilled-breeze that pours out every December 25 and the usual dressing from his fellow passengers. On Christmas day, people give out free gifts both in kind and cash but this rider couldn’t even help his fellow rider to get fuel from his preferred filling-station.
The passenger may be missing the previous’ year festivity of Christmas; maybe he didn’t have a enough for the season. Now he’s hallucinating on ways to fill the vacuum only to be misled by the climatic condition of the day and the people he met.
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