The last bus episode 26

“Oh, not again,” I whispered. This time, I was sure none of us would survive this setback! We all turned around and lo and behold, Hayakharet was laughing.

“Just kidding,” she shouted and waved at us still laughing.

Our temperature came down. We laughed and waved back. Then we turned around and continued our journey. Fiona and I held each other’s hands as we walked along.

She looked up at me and asked, “What about the job now?”

“Job?” I frowned. “The only thing on my mind now is that I didn’t die in this mess.”

“Thank God, we didn’t.”

As we moved closer to the expressway, I looked at these warriors that were with me—Fiona, Sister Elizabeth, Lilian, and Amitabh—and I shook my head. We had gone through a lot in the last few days. Indeed, we had spent three nights and three days in the claws of death!

We were about fifty-six that started the journey together and eleven that ran into the forest, but only five of us made it out alive. What happened to the rest? We did not know. They might have lost their lives in the shoot out. The soldier might have rescued them. Only the news would tell.

The End

In Nigeria, just like with natural resources, we are blessed with hundreds of languages that are rich. And over the years, we have coined words, phrases, and expressions that add spice to how we communicate. These coinages and our local expressions have over time blended into how we use the English language in the forms of slangs and colloquial speeches. Below are some used in this novella in order of their appearance:

1. Tesko: A nerd.

2. Lepa Shandi: A Yoruba colloquial expression for an extremely slim lady.

3. Gbera: A street slang used to mean ‘move on’. It is coined from the Yoruba word gbera which literally means stand up.

4. Chinko: A word coined from Chinese usually used to refer to low-quality merchandise/goods.

5. Mother-in-the-Lord: A deeply pious woman; sanctimonious.

7. Oyinbo: A white person.

8. Tey tey: A long time ago.

8. Koboko: A whip made from dried animal skin. Some are forked and can be very painful.

9. Ajebutter: Coined from the Yoruba phrase that literally means butter eater, ajebutter is used to describe the feeble, over-pampered children of the rich.

10. Bends-down-select: Usually used to refer to second-hand items, especially clothes, imported from abroad.

Qudus Adeyemi Oko-Osi Is a public speaker, writer, poet, artist, and a financial and management consultant. He worked in the banking industry for eleven years with experience spanning three different banks before he resigned to join a financial and management consulting firm. Qudus brings into his stories his knowledge of banking and consulting as much as possible.

Over the years, he has written several articles and poems, some of which were published on Hubpages.com. In the past, he also designed textbook covers and did cartoons for magazines amongst others.

He hails, from Lagos-Island in Lagos State, Nigeria where he was born into a family with five brothers, four half-brothers and a half-sister. He spent his childhood growing up on Lagos-Island with his affectionate and caring siblings and parents.

He enjoys reading, playing scrabble, and spending time with his family.

He is blessed with a lovely wife, Glory and two wonderful kids, Jason and Janice. They presently live in Lagos, Nigeria.

Friend me on Facebook: http://facebook.com/qudus.okoosi

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