The alarm clock beside her rang out. Mrs Stevenson, a big business tycoon quickly jumped out of the bed and yawned heavily. She had had a rough night the previous day. But she could not afford to get to the office late that day. A whole lot of work waited for her. She got into the bathroom, yelled instructions to the maid on the day’s activities and for the kids’ welfare and got ready for work.
She worked in an insurance company, owned by her husband. She assisted him whenever he was not available in the country. The company was a big one, with several branches scattered all over the city and beyond. It took her places, places where she wouldn’t have originally been to. How grateful she was to her husband.
The office was buzzing with activities by the time she arrived. Papers were flying from desk to desk; instructions were given out and carried out in every office and from every desk. Phones were ringing off the hook. And clients were already seated waiting to be attended to.
Her phone was ringing when she opened the door to her office. It was her personal assistant informing her of her flight to Abuja later that evening by 4pm. She replied in the affirmative and proceeded to start work for the day.
A couple hours later and she was on her way to the airport. She was to spend fivedays in Abuja for a conference her husband had mandated her to attend. According to him, she was not to miss it for any reason at all.
The flight was to depart by 4pm. It was 12pm and she didn’t have her flight ticket ready. She called her personal assistant and scolded her for forgetting to book a ticket earlier as she used to do. Getting to the ticket counter was very difficult. There was a lot of crowd waiting in a scattered queue, rather impatiently waiting to be served their tickets.
However,getting there she discovered that she had come very late. Anger overcame her. How can tickets finish four hours to departure time? She didn’t know what to do. Frustration began to set in. This had never happened to her before. She was a much organised woman, and planned for everything. That stupid assistant! She swore under her breath. She couldn’t afford to miss that conference.
Mrs Stevenson decided to try to alternative road express. A couple of calls got her going to a bus company that would take her to Abuja. She got to the park and sat down on one of the benches she found there. She didn’t have the slightest idea about the procedures carried out there in the park. All she knew was that she was going to get to Abuja that day.
It was getting to 3pm. One man approached her and asked her if she was waiting for someone.
‘No’, she said. She informed the man she wanted to get a bus that was heading to Abuja that day. The man looked at her like she was crazy.
‘You cannot get Abuja bus by this time madam’, he explained to her. Unless she was ready to take the night bus, he added. Mrs Stevenson shuddered at the thought of taking night bus, but she couldn’t imagine what her husband would say if she missed that conference. The man told her the amount and the time the buswould be leaving which was by 7pm that night. She thanked him and got into her car ready to come back as soon as it was time for departure.
Mrs Stevenson arrived at the park at exactly 6pm. She got to the ticket station and got herself a ticket. She went in the bus, muttered some prayers and sat in the seat directly behind the driver. Gradually people began to fill up the seats of the bus. They seemed like they were all desperate to get to Abuja that night. With delight she brought out her phone and began to check on her children.
‘Madam please that seat has been taken’, a voice close to her said. She was startled. She couldn’t believe that she was the first person to arrive at this park and her seat was already taken!
‘What do you mean by my seat has been taken?’ she queried.
‘Madam I don’t know’, but the officer over there said you are in my seat and you have to get up’.
‘What officer?’ She was clearly beginning to get angry. What kind of problem is this one?’ she thought. First, her PA forgot to book a flight earlier for her, she got to the airport and tickets were sold out, four hours to departure time! Then, she got to the bus park and it was only night bus left to make the trip that day, and now her seat was taken, even when she was the first to arrive! What a country, she thought. Full of lousy people, she hissed angrily. She however made up her mind she wasn’t going to give up her seat for anyone. She sat tight and held on to the seat.
‘MrMan, I was the first passenger to arrive at the park and youwere nowhere to be found. How then can you come to claim my seat? Who do you think you are? I will not get up from here; let’s see how you will get to Abuja. I must get to Abuja by morning, and you won’t stop me.’
The young man stormed off to report to the authorities. The other passengers had begun to interfere in the matter. The man came back with the other man who had sold the ticket to her.
‘Madam please we are very sorry for the inconvenience. I must have forgotten to mention it to you that we are overbooked. This man booked his ticket the previous night and I forgot to enter it into the books. Pleaseyou will have to come down ma.’
Mrs Stevenson was very much overcome with rage. She couldn’t contain her anger anymore. She began to shout and shout and even cursed the other passengers who were urging her to come down so they could depart. It was getting to 8pm. She however climbed down from the bus and headed the parking lot of the park. She still saw her car there. She was alarmed. But she had given specific instructions to her driver to come get the car as soon as she arrived at the park with the spare keys. Whatever the case was, she was grateful the car was still there. Immediately she got into the car, the officer who had offended her tapped on her window.
‘I’m sorry ma for the inconvenience. But maybe only God knows why you shouldn’t travel with this particular bus this night. Please, accept my apologies.’ She nodded her response and proceeded to drive out of the bus park. From her review mirror she could see the driver hop into the bus and zoom off into the night. She drove home tired, sad and angry.
The next morning she called her PA and instructed her to book another flight to Abuja. It was better she arrived the conference late. She got to the office still angry about last night event. She could have been in that conference by now, she thought. Sulking and still in a bad mood, she entered her office and switched on the television. What she saw left her eyes and mouth wide open. How could this be? She thought. This was impossible!
It was the same bus she would have been on that was being shown on the television. The bus had been crushed beyond repair by an oncoming trailer by 4am when they were at the outskirts of Abuja and everyone on the bus was dead!
She didn’t know when tears began to flow down her face. She was dumbfounded by the news she just watched. Her husband would have been rendered a widower and her kids motherless all because of her stubbornness. By this time, she was shaking. The tears were almost choking her. She fell on her knees and began to cry to God in gratitude and thanksgiving.
It was better she was late to this conference than late along with other passengers on that bus! Oh, how she could have bought death with her own money!
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