Greetings!
Growing up in the city of Lagos was very good and lively to behold most especially for me and my siblings. The lively environment coupled with the traffic jams and the yellow color of the buses on the street are the unique things that made the city the mega city to behold.
So, it's not an accident to make reference to this city as the commercial capital of my country Nigeria. So, growing up and living in such a beautiful environment has always made me proud.
But as beautiful as the city is, one thing I don't really like about the city is the stressful part of the city. No wonder my mum once said,
“I'm tired of this city, the stress wahala is too much for me.” When she said this, I replied to her and said, “ Mum, you're supposed to be used to it.” She said, “used to wetin.” “ the stress of course.” It's then she decided not to give a response to me again.
So, she's always looking forward to the holidays so as to rest from the stress of Lagos. My mum, who was a teacher then, used to be relieved when it was holiday time. And this is because waking up early in the morning would be out of her plans. Not only that, taking us to the village to spend our holiday with our grandparents was another thing that used to make her happy and relieved.
“ Sam, you and Josh go and pack your clothes inside the bag, we are going to the village tomorrow.” She said, When I heard her saying this, I was happy and jumped for joy and this is because it's a holiday time and spending time with our grandparents has always been our expectation just because of the love and the care they used to show us whenever we are with them.
So, my younger brother went inside to pack our bags and other necessary things needed for a month-long holiday which was to be spent with our grandparents.
So, throughout the night, we could not actually sleep just because of our preparation for the journey. Not only this, we were at the same time happy to pay a holiday visit to our grandparents and even to be free from the Lagos stress for the one month to be spent.
Very early in the morning, we all set out to the park. We left home as early as 5 am so as to beat the traffic jam on our way to the park and on getting to the park, my dad dropped us and we bade him our goodbyes. We boarded the available bus and left for Ajiboye village. Thank God traveling is one of my hobbies. So, while others were sleeping on transit, my own eyes were wide open till we got to the village. Though a stressful journey, but we were happy to get to out destination safely.
At the village, we were treated to a warm welcome by our grandparents and their neighbors after all the greetings. We were served our meals.
“Sam, come and take your meal,”my grandma exclaimed. I quickly went to the local kitchen in the backyard to carry the already served food placed in the tray. I took the food to the parlour and served it to my mum and brother.
So, before we could finish the food, it's getting late already and immediately we finished eating, we all prayed and went to bed, though, there's no electricity in the village, but thank God we are free from the stress and the noise pollution of the city.
The following was heralded by the rooster of the cock and when I heard the sound, I knew it's morning. We all woke up, prayed and headed to the stream the following morning. Though, I was not supposed to follow those of my cousins that were staying with our grandparents, but because of my love to explore the new environment where I found myself, I decided to follow them to the village stream, where people used to fetch water and at the same time take their bath.
But on our way to the stream, we saw something scary on the narrow path to the stream.
“ Look at this big snake .” Tayo shouted, when I heard what he had just said, I remained frozen and could not move and this is because I have not seen something scary like that before.
“Go and bring a stick and let me kill.” Lekan commanded us. “ There's no big stick around here,” Shola replied. But as for me, I was just at the same point where I stood without moving or blinking my eyes. So, before we could get the stick the snake had left the path to the stream.
“Thank God, the snake has left” I screamed. “Let's us then” “ Biola said, I'm no more going,” I replied Biola. But they were all pleading with me to please let's go, but I refused and they all asked Biola to take me to the village.
On getting to the village, grandpa was the first person that came our way, he was at the veranda, chewing his chew stick which was always used to brush the teeth in the village. When he saw Biola and I, he was astonished and asked us what happened, Biola narrated everything to him. And left to meet the rest at the stream. “ Though, I would have love to follow them to the stream if not for the snake” I told grandpa, but grandpa parted my back and asked me not to worry,
So, that incident was still occurring to me, even in my dream as i used to have nightmares and because of this, we only spent a week in the village and left for our Lagos and since then, I have not traveled to the village till now.
Thanks for reading.
Pictures are mine
Posted using Neoxian City
