The Man?

Have you ever met someone and you just have a feeling they’re gonna have a great personality? I met a man.

There I was, trying to cross the road with three bags, a box and extra polythene filled with pears(courtesy of the Osisanwo sisters ✨💖). Then this young, lithe, dark-skinned man signals me from across the road, "Should I come and help you?" He said. And putting on my biggest puppy eyes I said: "yes please".

He crossed the road(NTA junction is not the easiest place to cross in my opinion), and relieved me of two of the items I was holding, while I held on to the smallest of the three. After thanking him profusely, He asked where I was going, I said “Lafia.”

He said he was headed for the same destination, pointed me to his car and told me to take the front seat.

His car was so clean and polished, I was impressed. While we walked to the car, he was insisting that I pay him 50 naira for helping with my bags, (such a great sense of humour). I entered the car and there were four fat loaves on the backseat, wondering what he was going to do with four loaves of bread inwardly, I got comfortable.

Someone hopped into the back seat and started complaining about the bread,what did Mr nice guy say? "If you knew who this bread was for, you’ll plead with me to buy more."

We got moving and along the line, his friends kept calling (I know. Driving and phonecalls? I realized he was a human with flaws after all), he was sharing the story of how his car battery was stolen just last night, (yes, I was eavesdropping 👀). You’ll expect anger or pain from someone who just suffered a loss of a vital part of his source of livelihood, but my guy was just cool. One of his friends was trying to place a couple of colourful curses on the thieves, but he stopped him, saying that “its the loss of the thieves actually, and that he only hopes it leads them to repentance”.

I was blown away, really.

You don’t need to hear about the pains of interstate travels in this Rona era, so here’s the end of the story. Apparently, he bought the bread for some soldiers at a particular checkpoint in one remote area. I was captivated by the smiles on their surprised faces, I wish I had the words to describe it, but I can only say it was an utterly beautiful moment.

So yes, before you judge me for hopping into a stranger’s car, he was the driver I paid. Had the cleanest sienna I’ve seen in Nigerian public transport.

Nice to see you smile.

I never got his name or number. I dropped before we reached the terminal 😆

It should be noted that all the conversations happened in Hausa Language