THE PAYMENT

I trekked in darkness for close to an hour before I reached Ekpe. I tried to stop some cars on the Ekpe-Ajah Road but all of them sped pass as if I was waving a gun. I walked on, keeping company with occasional rodents crossing the road and the hundreds of crickets chirping good nights to me as I walked pass. 

My hand had grown to about twice its normal size. The stump had turned dark brown with the caked blood and seeing the empty space in the middle of the hand forced tears out of my eyes. The thought that I could fall down at any moment did not bother me as much as the thought that I had become a disabled man with nine and a half fingers. I remembered what Eric told me about a lot of Northerners staying in Mile Twelve the day I came to Lagos, and I made up my find to get there. I walked on, with not a dime on me, but with the determination to get out of Lagos that night.

I reached Ajah, went passed the market and stood by the road waiting for the appropriate bus to come. I stood for about a minute and saw the right bus coming, with the conductor standing by the opened door, shouting 'Ketu, Mile 12; Ketu, Mile 12.'

I waved it down, and it came toward me, slowly down. I jumped in, careful not to bump my hand to the iron and wooden seats. I found a seat at the back and lowered myself and the bus zoomed off as if the police were after us. 

I looked at the conductor, expecting him to ask for the fare, but his attention was on getting more passengers into the bus. We reached Lekki Phase One before he changed his voice to a higher pitch and began to ask and collect the fare. He got to me as the bus approached the Lekki toll gate and I kept my eyes on the window, watching the cars passing on the opposite lane, my heart beating fast.

'Sir,' the conductor said, his voice gritty and loud. 'Pay your fare.'

I kept my eyes on the window. 

'I am talking to you, sir,' he said, leaning forward. 'Give me your fare.'

I turned and faced him. 

'Are you deaf?' he asked. 'I have been calling on you: pay your fare.'

The bus stopped behind another bus on the queue to pay the toll. The driver turned off the engine and looked back. 'What's going on?' he asked. 'Who is not paying his fare?'

'Are you deaf?' the conductor asked me again, ignoring the driver. 'Give me your fare.'

'I don't have it,' I said. 

'What?' the conductor shouted. 'You don't have what?'

'What did you say?' the driver cried from the front of the bus. 'You don't have it? And you boarded my bus? Are you crazy? Are you out of your senses?'

'You must be crazy,' the conductor said, shouting. 'If you are the son of thunder himself, you will pay for your fare today, did you hear me?' He banged the roof of the bus, startling the other passengers. 'You must pay your fare, or I will kill you today.'

'Are you out of your mind?' the driver asked again. 'Are you crazy to board my bus without having the fare?'

The bus in front of us moved and our driver started the bus and moved closer to the toll gate, stretching out the money to the toll collector. He collected the change and veered the bus to the curb and parked. He flung his door opened, jumping out. The conductor dragged the side door of the bus opened and stepped down. The driver rushed halfway round the bus to stop at the opened door. 

'Get out of my car,' he screamed. 'You are a scoundrel. A thief. Do you think I came out at five this morning to give free rides to thieves like you? Are you mad? Are you out of your senses?'

I got up and walked to the door. Three of the passengers sitting on my way got down and stood impatiently for me to get off while the others stared at me in amazement.

'Get out of my bus, you thief,' the conductor screamed at me, even though half of my body was already out of the bus. 'You and your children will struggle to pay your bills all the rest of your lives. Stupid thief!'

I stepped out of the bus and stood on the curb while the passengers waiting for me returned to their seats. The driver glared at me for a moment before hissing and retracing his steps back to the steering wheel.

'Your luck comes from the fact that I have other passengers in this bus hurrying to get home,' he said. 'Otherwise, you would have paid my money if it will take spending the night here to get it out of you.' He slammed the door shut and started the bus. The conductor closed the door and brought his head out.

'Thief,' he shouted. 'Stupid thief.'

I stared at the bus until it got out of sight. Other buses slowed down, asking if I was going to Obalende or Ketu-Mile Twelve. I ignored them and stood for nearly ten minutes getting my nerves back together. I took a deep breath at last and stretched out my left hand, stopping a bus coming out of the toll gate. 

It went pass without stopping. The next bus slowed down and stopped in front of me.

'Where?' the conductor asked, opening the door. 

'Mile Twelve,' I said.

'Get in,' he said.

He dropped from the bus to make way for me, and I climbed into the bus, hearing Fela singing about the African woman calling herself a 'lady.' I walked to the back seat and sat, noticing that the bus was half empty. The bus jerked forward, picking up speed on the near empty road and we got on the Third Mainland Bridge before I heard the conductor's voice.

'Gentleman at the back,' he said, 'pay your fare.'

'I will pay,' I said. 'I will pay when we get to Mile 12.'

'Okay,' he said and sat. 'I hope you have the right amount, because I don't have change.'

I made no reply, and he did not ask me again. We got to Mile 12 much earlier than I wished and the conductor opened the door and got down, allowing the seven other passengers to alight. I followed them out of the bus.

The conductor faced me. 'Gentleman, give me the fare.'

I stared at him.

'You have not paid, remember?' he asked, stretching his hand forward.

'I don't have it,' I said, 'I don't have money.'

'Olu, what are you waiting for?' the driver asked from the front of the bus. 'Close the door and let's get out of here; do you want to sleep here?'

Olu ignored the driver and observed me for several seconds and his face showed he was wondering if I was in my right senses or not. 

'Why did you get into the bus without money?' he asked. 'What do you want to pay me with?'

'I am sorry.' 

'Olu, what are waiting for?' the driver shouted again. 'I will go and leave you here.'

'Sorry?' Olu asked me. 'Are you in your right mind?'

'I ran out of money. Please—' 

His hand smacked my face with a force that threw me staggering back, and I fell on the lane dividing the road. White dots circled my eyes for a time before I could see again and remember where I was. By the time I got up, the bus had sped off, but I heard the conductor's laugh, loud and satisfied, like the laughter of a man who had struck gold. 

He had collected his payment.