Hushed Echoes

The driver decided to continue the journey once more, with feeble hands, he tried to turn on ignition, there was no response, he tried the second, third, fourth and fifth time before the engine reacted to the ignition switch.

It appeared like the vehicle would also swallow them, having been hit by the armed robbers, that would have amounted to a double tragedy. Meanwhile, by the time the bus started again, everybody heaved a sigh of relief.

” Thank God that the bus didn’t break down in this place,” a woman who was carrying a baby remarked to Marco.

“It is both ridiculous and amazing, imagine they were even chatting with some of us and we did not know they had an ulterior motive. One has to be extra careful these days, it beats me how wicked and vile human being could be, perpetrating such vicious act on their fellow human beings, how can a man strive all his life to carve a niche for himself, only for those laboured for to be snatched away by some group of undesirsble elements on a sunny afternoon such as this? I believe some people are specially created to become predators and prey on the flesh of others” Marco retorted in a strained tone.

The bus journeyed on the city, the driver however had to pull the vehicle off the road to enable most of the passengers alight from the bus for a little refreshment, which some considered irrelevant, since they had no money left on them.

Majority of them were even thinking of how they would get home when the bus finally arrived the bus park, they were not in anyway concerned about the persistent hunger that was ravaging their stomachs.

The only thing they were able to do was to stand beside the bus enjoy fresh air and feed their eyes with the steady streams of vechiles moving across the road.

Marco who had not eaten anything since morning became so hungry that he needed something to quench his hunger, he stretched out his hand and removed his bag from the compartment, opened it brought out his shirt pocket.

At least, he was sure that amount would be enough for his lunch and transport from the bus station to his friend’s house.

Besides, he did not want to open that bag again until he got to the bus park, that explained why he took the amount.

When Marco stepped down from the bus, he first took a stroll down the road in order to urinate, scarcely had he started urinating, when three young boys apprehended him.

“Stop! Stop there and don’t make a move!” the three boys shouted resonantly.

17.

“Do you know that it is illegal to urinate in that place? Come! You must follow us to the city council, when you get there, you will have to bail yourself out,” said one of them as he pushed him forward in order to grab him. The others followed suit and they began to pull and drag him.

“What nonsense is all these!” Marco yelled out in aguish, trying seriously to defend himself.

“You will know that when you get to the city council, if you want to save yourself, you better give us what you have now, otherwise, you will end up coughing out thousands at the city council before you can be set free” one of the boy who was the tallest among the three told him rudely.

Marco knew very well that it was silly antics, the boys were employing to obtain money from him, he would have dealt with them were it not for the fact that the bus was billed to take off any moment from then.

In fact, if he had been left behind, he would have lost from both ends, He knew quite frankly that would have been catastrophic for him, so to save himself the trouble, he brought out a fifty naira note from his pocket and offered it to them.

The boys, having seen that he had more than that, smartly dipped their hands into his pocket and took away everything and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

By the time he ran towards the bus, it had already taken off, he stumbled on a heavy stone and hurt his right foot, he had to hop along, shouting with exaggerated desperation.

One of the passengers who was sitting at the extreme back noticed that marco was not on his seat, he quickly ordered the driver to stop the vehicle, the driver slowed down almost immediately.

Quickly marco hopped on to the bus, panting heavily.

“What happened to you?” asked one of the passengers who was occupying the seat next to him.

“I was harassed by a group of hoodlums while i was urinating,” he responded and fell back in his seat.

He was overwhelmed by the fact that he did not in anyway cut off that his nose to spite his face, the money the hoodlums extorted from him was nothing compared to the trouble he would have encountered, had it been that the bus left him behind.

Though the boys defeated him but they didn’t succeed in frustrating is innermost desire, thanks to divine providence that he was still left with some extra cash.

He considered the amount he had on him now and concluded that if he should spend a penny out of it, for food or anything else he might have to face some difficulties because the little amount of money on him cannot carry him comfortably to his friend’s house. Based on that, he opted to remain without food till he got to his friend’s place.