The bus swayed recklessly along the narrow road. Insults especially from women were thrown from every angle at the nonchallant driver.
‘una think say to drive bus na easy thing? Una for go buy una own na’ the driver retorted when the insults were getting too loud.
‘foolish man. We no dey pay you? Drunkard’ a middle-aged woman shouted from the back.
The driver turned his head to the direction for a brief moment and hissed after facing the road.
‘who be that animal self. Na only God know whether na your husband and brothers be drunkard. Ashawa’
‘you say wetin?’ the woman’s voice was now probably audible to pedestrans
‘i no dey repeat myself’ the driver answered.
‘you for talk nau. Bastard. Na your wife be ashawo. Infact your mama na ashawo’
The sharp halt of the bus caused the passengers to jerk forward. The driver stepped out from his seat,moved over to the middle of the bus and flung the passengers seat open.
‘my mama,ashawo?’ his eyes were blazing red.
The woman kept mute.
‘Madam come down here,shey your mouth dey sharp nau’ the driver said.
By now,almost the entire passengers were pleading seriously with him. Some complained of not wanting to be late to their destinations but he paid a deaf ear to their plea.
‘she must comeout today,if not we go sleep here’ the driver said.
At this,some male occupants emerged from the bus,persuaded the woman to come out and they are moved away from the bus to have a chat.
Olu checked his watch and shifted uneasily. He hated to stay on the road for so long.
‘what’s on your mind?’ a light in complextion man who sat next to him asked.
‘nothing…’ olu feigned a smile.
‘aha!.. Now that’s not true. You don’t want to be late,do you? And you hate night journeys’ the man said and olu nodded in affirmation.
How did he know that? Olu question in his mind.
‘it’s a gift’ the mand responded as if he had read olu’s mind.
‘hmm’ olu sounded and streched his hands towards the man. ‘am olu’
‘am pastor jacob’ the man said as he accepted olu’s hand.
‘pastor?’ olu appeared excited.
‘yes’ the man answered. ‘let me guess,you want to be a pastor too?’
‘how do you do that?’ olu asked shocked
‘do what?’ the man was smiling
‘tell me what i am about to say’ olu said with his eyes opened wide in anticipation.
‘erm… Lucky guess and other things’ the man answered.
‘just those?’
‘yes’ the man’s smile grew wider. ‘so you want to be a pastor huh?’
‘yeah,you already know that’ olu answered politely. The man smiled.
‘i could teach you a few things you know. If you want to be successful’
successful? Olu thought. He viewed the man clothings and always wondered why the man was on a commercial bus if he was so successful.
‘i usually don’t travel with my car’ the man said.
‘jeez,that’s creppy’ olu said, wondering how the man seemed to know what was on his mind.
‘that i don’t travel with my car?’ the man asked.
‘nooo,it’s erm…… Nevermind’ olu answered. ‘so what can you teach me?’
At that,they heard chaos few metres from the car. A fight had began and someone was unmoved on the ground. It was the driver.
The remaining passenger rushed out to the scene. One of them move towards the driver and placed his fingers professionally on his neck.
‘he’s dead’ he said.
A shout rang out from the passangers suddenly a youngman ran from the scene and was out of sight in minutes.
The pastor moved over to the driver solemnly and bent. Olu wondered what he was up to.
He placed his palms on the drivers forehead,shut his eyes briefly,then the driver jerked,and sneezed and opened his eyes.
Everyone stood tranfixed with their mouths opened. The driver was up.
The pastor moved over to olu and smiled. He tapped olu on the shoulder and said;
‘i can teach you how to do that’