[b][/b][b][/b]You only miss the sunshine when it starts to rain, with the August break gone; a day hardly passes by without heavy downpour. With the deplorable state of our roads you can only imagine the traffic jams that characterize the highways these days. If you wish to get home before 10:00pm, you'd have to alight from the bus and meander your way through the heavy traffic by foot. One man's misfortune is always another's fortune. Just as the Lion's demise means food for scavengers, there were always going to be some opportunists to capitalize on the situation, some for good and others for bad. The few available cyclists tripled their fares as people desperately scrambled for their services. A crowd will always comprise different persons, the good, the bad and the ugly, so you have to expect just anything. As we walked briskly through the locked vehicles, body contacts were inevitable. If you want to pick a fight each time you're touched, you may have to fight every step of the way. I had my own fair share of contacts, some were heavy, and some were mild. None was significant enough to trigger any form of suspicion. Perhaps I was just too carefree and lackadaisical, with my mind preoccupied with getting home.
With some kilometers under my belt, I was fortunate to get a taxi to my final bus stop. As I slumped in my seat enjoying the soothing breeze from the window of the rickety car, I just kept wondering if and when we will ever be free from the menace of bad roads and insanity of the drivers on our highways, particularly the commercial transporters. Little did I know that a much bigger showdown was in stock for me. Talk about a bad day getting worse, this surely was it. With the bus stop in sight, the driver requested for his money. Cold sweat came on me as I reached for my back pocket. I could not feel my wallet. Then and there, my mind flashed back to all the numerous contacts I had. How was I going to get through this? What would the driver's reaction be? I would rather not go into what ensued at the bus stop that day. I don't believe there's such thing as a bad day. Every day is a gift from God, so regardless of what happens, I try to be grateful. I lost my wallet, I trekked a good distance, my limbs ached me and I got an overdose of embarrassment that day. Surely it couldn't have been worse.
As I ate my cold dinner, recollecting all that transpired in the day, and mourning the unfortunate theft of my longest serving wallet, that had been my companion for the last four years or so, the candle light burned out while I fondled with my phone surfing the internet. Thank goodness I didn't lose this, I thought to myself. You may say I was too lazy to tidy up before dropping off, but for me it was more of tiredness than laziness. The last thing I remember that night was reading some old text messages and mails, before I succumbed to the heaviness of my eyes and weariness of my body. Three days later, six missed calls from a strange number. It is not in my character to call back, but this time I did. "I'm sorry to bother you, the voice said. I found a wallet in a taxi some days back. I got your number from the deposit slip I found in it, I guess it must be yours" said the cracked voice on the other end of the line. "I misplaced mine some days back, as a matter of fact, I actually thought it was stolen" I heartily replied. We made plans to meet and get my wallet back. My mood was a bit lightened, there wasn't much in it, but it meant much to me. It was a birthday gift in my second year in school and its quality, a little bit above average. So it would have been cruel losing it just like that.
What a strange old man he turned out to be the day we met. He handed me my wallet and declined the little token of appreciation I offered. His kind is rare, I said to myself, a species I thought we had lost to the cold hands of extinction. It was heartwarming to know one or two of them were still out there. As he walked me to my bus stop, there was hardly a topic in this world we didn't cover. No matter where I find myself or with whom I'm surrounded, as long as I'm in public, I've made it a rule not to lend my voice to debates that boarder on any three of the following topics-Politics, Religion and Her. So I politely and cunningly evaded topics that had anything to do with these. The old man was having none of it. For such a kind and gentle soul, I didn't mind breaking my own rules. I made him know just how much the wallet meant to me. He smiled and said the permanent voters card (PVC) in it should mean much to me at least for now. I quickly told him I couldn't wait to use it to bring about change. Change? He asked, interrupting me. Where have I heard that word before? He asked further. Saying something in French that I never really understood, he answered Cote d’Ivoire. He had lived there and was in his early fifties when Laurent Gbagbo, preached the same gospel-change and made his way to power. Only for them to realize it was a grave mistake they made. Then he took me down memory lane and told me how the people of Senegal, Burkina Faso and others took their turns, and equally fell for the same gimmick-change. Even in recent times the people in the northern part of the continent in pursuit of the so called change, have also fallen into the hands of these vampires that parade themselves as the agents of change. Now they wish they could turn back the hands of time and get back to how things were.
By this time we were at the bus stop, it was quite a distance but felt like just a five minutes’ walk. As I flagged down a cab, he reiterated he had nothing against change. I won't forget the last words he told me as I boarded the cab "son the grass is not always greener on the other side as it seems from a distance. Son you must deemphasize change, and emphasize positive change. If taking off 'agbada' to wear 'khaki' can’t make a civilian a soldier, then dropping an umbrella to wave a broom can't make a sinner a saint either. I've seen this movie before, it is the same script, different cast and another location, but with a well-known end. For me it is positive change or no change at all". I was speechless all day and couldn't get those words of my mind. How could I have forgotten to get his name and number?