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DIARIES OF A RUNAWAY KID 2


As in big what!!! But I just chilled in the position I was at. No going back on that decision to pass the night at the house. Believe me when I say I slept off. Only that the mosquitoes wouldn't let me sleep... well, since I had made a decision to leave home, I was ready for anything that came my way - the great consolation I always gave myself all through the runaway days. I woke up in the morning set to leave, and my entry point was also to be my exit point. However, some other Hausa folks were just few meters away from the fence making tea or something. I figured it should be 5am yet, and I must leave before sun ever rises. The gate was my next plan, and I gently approached it to open, or at least scale. Did I tell you I needed to be quiet about it? Because the driver/gateman/security was sleeping in the verandah. The only thing that separated my "bed" and his was actually a railings. The foolish gate made a creaky sound, and the man stood up. Remember there wasn't power supply, so it was dark kind of. I quickly bent down and hid beside the Hilux car, he approached the gate with his touch and made for the side of the car I was, I tip-toed back to my corner. He really didn't suspect a thing, dude went back to bed. Wish I was scared, but I wasn't, I was scared that I wasn't scared though. I decided to come up with another plan; a much more feasible one this time around. The best bet was to throw in the towel and give up. That was what I did when I decided to walk up to the man. "Good morning sir", and dude was like stammering and wondering where I suddenly (dis)appeared from. From "who you be?", "where you come from?", to "you be thief?" and "when you enter, how you take enter?", this man was just all confused. I told him I scaled the fence and had been with the Hausa folks around earlier in the evening, that I just got ejected from home back in Ijebu-Ode and on my way to nowhere in particular. He was just staring at me! When he finally summoned enough courage to talk, he said he would wait till morning for his boss before he takes any further action. My heart should jump to my mouth I think, but the solid thing wouldn't move an inch, I almost let out my usual smile. He talked of how he could have attacked me with his knife, of how I gave him license to tag me a thief and other stories... anyways, I caught more sleep right beside him and woke up when it was dawn.


I really couldn't figure out what would have been going on back at home. Thinking of home wasn't part of the plan. Of course I cared, but I needed to still do what I wanted to, no going back. Would I have changed my mind if I could turn back the hands of time? Sincerely I dunno, I was something else as a young teenager... I'm still.



Oga came out, and he didn't look as if what happened was big deal. He is actually from Ijebu-Ode too. Seemed he was just too busy to give a hoot about one poor rascal that scaled the fence to spend the night. I bade them goodbye, and the tough security/driver/gateman warned me not to ever come back again. I just left him and Apapa. I set for how to get to Badagry. After some 2 or 3 hours of walking, I finally got to the express, asked a guy how someone can get to Badagry, he said via Mile 2. Mile 2 then!!! Took a danfo, and then hopped on to the next bus going to Seme boarder and Badagry. I just wanted to leave this country asap, couldn't risk getting seen by a known face. The journey to Badagry was actually longer than I anticipated, and I spent the better part of the journey sleeping. I was tired, hungry and hard-hearted. We got to Badagry and some few people alighted, then the bus continued towards Seme boarder. The boarder brought back the memory of some 13 months ago when I first came there. It was also on a trip to Cotonou, but I wasn't alone then. It was a youth camp from church, and we were headed to Houdegbe North American University back then to camp therein. We spent only a week and hardly communicated with the outside community, except for once when we went on an excursion. So when the choice of where to disappear to was upon me, Cotonou was the best bet. Why disappear? It really wasn't the biggest of issues, let's just say an ego problem. After my s.s.2 promotional exams, I didn't meet the cut-off percentage earlier agreed on with my mum and sister as per moving to s.s.3. I was in the sciences, and I wasn't really good with physics and chemistry. After my s.s.1 promotionals, my results were just average. My folks rightly felt such a result didn't have what it takes to write WAEC. I was advised to reread s.s.1 as an art or commercial student. I declined and rather promised to do better in s.s.2, and they both agreed. But on the condition that I make 65% at the end of s.s.2 or go back to s.s.1 if I didn't. We actually signed an undertaken to that effect. Of course I didn't make it, isn't that why you are "opportuned" to be reading this story after all? I wasn't ready to go back to s.s.1, so I decided I would go continue school somewhere else. And Cotonou appealed to me, definitely because of its "proximity". Although they later agreed I read only s.s.2, but my mind was just made up already.


The only thing that now stood between me and Cotonou was the boarder. It was going to be bye bye to Nigeria, to Ijebu-Ode, to church, to school, to family, to home. Bye bye for a long time, or so I thought. I took a long breathe and thought it all over again, am I really doing this?... what was waiting for me in a land I knew nobody? What will happen? I had no answers, but I went ahead towards the line that separated both countries. I didn't know if any of the custom officers was going to ask me questions, so I beckoned a bikeman and asked how to get to the other side. He asked if I had an international passport, of course I didn't, I still don't, almost getting one though. So he said I should hop on his bike and he will take me across for 100 Naira. 100 kini? Nibeyen, I pointed at the other side. It was just 10 meters or less away, but I paid it anyways. Got to the other side, and decided to change the remaining Naira on me to Francs/Cephas. Can't remember how much I got, but it definitely wasn't much again. I bought a bottled coke, and headed to the park in order to get to the City. A car was ready to take passengers, and I joined the others inside. Myself, a Yoruba dude that doesn't understand a word in English and an Hausa woman with her 2 kids sat at the back. I had asked the Yoruba dude in English how much the fare was, and he replied in Yoruba that he doesn't understand English. I kinda knew something was up. I had thought English was Benin's official language while French was just the "local" language. I prayed I was right and off we zoomed. We got to Cotonou in less than 45 minutes, and I could hear the Muslim call to prayer being made when I alighted. I guessed it was around 2pm. Here was I in dreamland, what to do next? I had no idea. But an idea flashed into my mind...

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source: http://sharpijebuboy.com/diaries-of-a-runaway-kid-2/