chapter TWO

TWO

People immediately converged on the train in the manner flies descend on a decomposing dead animal. The entrances of the coaches were jammed with baggage and their owners. In the great commotion that ensued, shouts of "thief, thief, thief... " were deafening. And in the coaches, heated arguments about who was entitled to vacant seats raged.

Instead of first come, first served, those who had the good fortune to have been on the train were discriminating against who should occupy the available empty seats. Some passengers would put luggage on vacant seats and lied to fellow passengers looking for places to sit that the occupiers of such seats just went to fetch something at the station.

But if they liked your face or you belonged to their tribe, they would simply remove the luggage and allow you to take the seat.

In the scramble to secure a seat in the train, Taye and Hassan ended up in different coaches; both of them had for now forgotten about each other and even about their long wait for the train.

The train gave the familiar loud long hoot and jolted the passengers in their seats and those on their legs reeled backwards as it began to pull away. Taye looked at his watch and it was 20.20 prompt. "That is 8.30 pm" he thought.

The atmosphere was dry and hot. Even the air being blown by the ceiling fans was

unbearably hot. The heat was not on account of the sun just setting but was due to the huge crowd which blocked ventilation while the train sat at the station.

Now that the train was gathering speed, the beads of sweat on the foreheads of passengers were gradually drying. The train crawled on climbing hill upon hill and descending valley after valley. On one of the hills, Taye caught a bird's-eye view of Ibadan, the most populous black settlement on earth. It was a fascinating scenery. As it appeared, Cocoa House, once the tallest skyscraper in Africa towered above every other buildings in the ancient city.

A kaleidoscope of lights illuminated the sprawling city, the roads traced out by streetlights appearing narrow and crooked. Certain areas in blackout stood out poignantly like a sore thumb. "Almighty NEPA", Taye murmured to himself. The train followed its track which ran in to a bush and the beautiful moving picture was lost, shut out behind the bush.

Taye returned his gaze to now survey his immediate surrounding. There were about twenty double-seater and three-seater sofas of both sides of a narrow aisle. Taye was sharing one of the three-seater seats with two other students. Opposite them sat an elderly woman with tribal marks probably an Igala by tribe. She occupied the three-seater with two working-class men.

The two-seaters facing each other across the aisle were occupied by some Hausa traders. You could tell by their voluminous flowing 'babanriga' and their long cylindrical hand-woven caps popularly called Shagari cap. A young pretty girl traveling with them sat next to the window from where she fixed a glare outside.

Once again, Taye realized that he was only physically present amidst yet another set of people; his mind was away. He was not thinking about home this time: his thought had suddenly been taken over by another matter. A girl had

walked past Taye to buy some bottles of soft drinks from the kiosk at the Ibadan Station. This girl now occupied every available space of his mind. Then, at Ibadan Station Taye was deep in thought as a result of frustration brought by the  long delay of the train. That girl had meant nothing to him, but now he wanted to see the beautiful creature again. Taye had never in his life approached any girl despite the fact that he attended a co-educational High School. One would not call Taye a shy boy; far from it. He was an extrovert, confident and handsome, only that no girl had ever made any impression on him. "There is a time far everything and may be the time has come to fall in love. But why with a complete stranger", he thought.

Taye would have approached her at the station but she carried three bottles of soft drinks when she walked back from the kiosk. His eyes followed her back through the crowd on the platform until she stopped where a fairly old man and a woman were waiting. The man and woman wore the same type of 'ankara' clothing. Taye knew without being told that those were the girl's parents and that they had come to see her off because there was only one small suitcase on the ground. Anybody would know the luggage was a student's, the

way things were written on it. All Taye did at Ibadan Station was to take an investigative stroll past the trio to spy on the name on the suitcase. May Taylor' was the name and it stuck to his memory. Taye had forgotten all about the girl  during the rush to secure a place on the train. Now that he was seated and a bit relaxed, the name crept quietly into his mind. His heartbeat immediately quickened and he became nervous and restless.

The train slowed down, and almost immediately it hooted and picked up speed again, Taye looked out of the window. The immediate surrounding was dark but as he wanted to return his gaze, the train sped past a small old building. There were some men in uniform in front of the building.

"Hi brother", the boy sitting next to Taye nudged him, and asked; "Did you get the name of that small station?" Taye startled, and was lost for words but the enquirer did not even give him time before he continued. "I have an assignment to write down the name of every station on the rail line between Lagos and Kano". Taye, now composed, replied, "It must be the major

ones where the limited trains always stop..... "No, our geography teacher says, every station, big or small. In fact, he's

more particular about the smaller ones". The boy insisted. ? I'm sorry, I wasn't

attentive as we passed that station; maybe our friend here knows" Taye passed the buck to the third student sitting near the aisle.

The two other boys looked at each other and smiled. Really, Taye was not attentive and that was why he did not know that it was after the two boys had tasked their brains that they invited him to rescue them.

Before Taye or the other boy could continue the discussion a voice interrupted them. "LALUPON na the station, that na where one train get accident before". And that was the beginning of the first general discussion since the journey began at Ibadan. Many passengers contributed their bits on the train mishap at Lalupon which one source put as the first major derailment in the history of the railway in Nigeria.

As the discussion waned, the third boy accused Taye of not contributing enough to their discussions. Taye apologised to them and excused himself saying that he was a better listener than a talker.

"Honestly, I enjoyed very well all your stories but you will agree with me that you sure need listeners. I am a good one" he laughed heartily. Taye lied. The truth is that he was all the while planning a strategy in his head which he did not want to upset by indulging in any chat.

The train arrived at Ede station at about eleven in the night. It stopped for about ten minutes. A few travelers dashed down holding water jugs and plastic containers. From the window where Taye sat he saw them washing their legs, arms and heads. He watched as they sat on the bare floor, bent their trunks and heads forward and began to touch the earth with their foreheads. "They are Moslems saying the hour's prayer". Some of them were actually still on the preamble to cleanse themselves before the prayers when the long blast of the train hurried them unto the coaches.

The boys sharing seat with Taye who had gone out as soon as the train halted at Ede station also hurried in. They came back with a big bunch of fresh bananas.

"Do you mind?" asked that guy who once accused Taye of staying aloof as he offered him bananas. Taye tore off three out of the bunch and returned the rest with thanks and lots of smiles.

"Have more, go on, help yourself to some more", the gentle boy of the two coaxed. "Thanks but I'm not too fond of bananas", Taye said and did justice to the three bananas, peeling the backs and throwing them into the black oblivion outside the window as the train sped on.