Counterfeit.

It was raining heavily, so heavy that the wipers were just mere formalities on the windscreen. They moved at a snails pace and the vehicle fell completely quiet because of how risky the journey was turning out to be. His mind started playing tricks on him, first all the robbery incidents that took place on that high way started coming back to him the way they were gifted, which one will he even talk about? Kidnap has become like "kpukpukpu ugele", indiscriminately people varnish.

The car headlights? That one that can't pick up any image 3 feet away, na wah o! He should have just gone to sleep at his elder brothers house, what was he rushing back Umuahia to do? One fault he has is that he finds it hard to sleep in anyone's house other than his parents or his own house. The meeting had ended late and every member he knew of was residing at Aba. When the first listening appeared and a faint thunder struck, he muttered to his brother "you sure say I no go sleep?" That one only smiled, knowing he always says that each week but hardly follows up....." You know that you are always welcome and wifey will always prepare your specialty,mmmmh....run along mate, the rain will soon pour down". He shook hands and made a dash for the park and took one of his favorite sitting positions each time he took a commercial bus. He just paid the gushy he bought gala and fanta from the window and was unwrapping the gala when her voice stopped him in his tracks.

He turned sharply while thinking " where did that angelic voice come from?" Immediately he saw the face and the shape, he started practicing everything he has read or learnt on the Power of Attraction and Positive Thinking and got sorely disappointed when she chose the seat directly in front of his own. He sighed at another missed opportunity and started getting irritated at the waste of time, at which point the first drops came and stopped. He seriously considered getting down and even living the money he had already paid for ticket and heading back to the brothers house because it was really getting dark by 6.30 pm and that was a sign of the rains to come.

He only stayed partly because she was still in that vehicle, sitting like one of those Nubian Queens he has read and researched about. By the way, he is well read and informed, a way of life that has taken him to the fore of  whatever environment or class he found himself in. Nubian Queen was on phone and he was paying rapt attention to her phone conversation. "I had to stop over at Aba to collect the gift" she missed a bit and continued "Gift ke? I just succeeded in cutting three hours from my journey to Umuahia, you know how bad these Aba roads are?, as I am talking to you now, getting to my house is a big problem when I get to Umuahia, you know that vehicles to that village may not be available and the weather is seriously changing" He started his Attraction practice again, willing all vehicles to which ever village to varnish when they get to Umuahia.

Like the elements heard his prayers because it started pouring almost as Nubian Queen dropped her call at which point the driver knew that waiting for two more passengers to fill the bus is a futile venture. The journey started and the first huddle was how to negotiate the traffic jam at the park area before jumping all those mad potholes that burst tyres when you jump in like an amateur driving. "Ol boy! See cursing a and raking " he considered changing seats severally, but held his peace. "This journey go long naa" , true to his thoughts, the journey was proving too long. Back to the present, the vehicle trudged along the Portharcourt-Enugu expressway on its way to Umuahia, with a headlamp that could barely see your outstretched hands if it were in front, a wiper that wasn't functioning because of how angry the elements were and a heavy breeze that ws increasingly threatening to push the bus off road.

Her phone rang again and she spoke in almost a whisper " for where? We are in the middle of no where, our car is fighting to stay on the road and all the robbers and kidnappers are strolling beside us" atleast Nubiaan has a good sense of humor, the type his mom calls devilish. Thinking of his mom made him start praying, funny guy, he prays whenever he is in serious difficulties " God, please don't let me die, for the same of my born again mom who is a widow, if I die, she will, you know that I am the apple of her eyes and she is the apple of your eyes....you know that she has suffered to raise us since daddy left and I wouldn't like her to pass through such pain again". Funny as it sounds to him when things are normal, but when they are not, he prays it with all sincerity and faith, it seems to work because the other day robbers attacked them at Iseleuku in Delta and he ran into that bush amidst hot pursuit from them in the daytime o, haaa! daytime! and they were just passing in front of the tiny bush where he hid and didn't see him is a proof that the prayer really works.

Nubian spoke to the woman by her left and as if on cue, the vehicle lurched and stopped. " driver, what is it naa?!"...a scared voice from the back shouted, one could sense and smell and even touch the fear in that bus. He was calm, after all he has said his saving prayer and Nubian was calm too. He mused " is this girl human? Everyone is panicking except her, are you sure she is not one of those mermaids or possessed girls they tell us about in church" anyway, today na today. A woman stepped down from the front of the vehicle, and he wondered how she could tell which junction she was dropping at because he couldn't see nada.  " Driver which junction is that?" Nubian calmly asked as the vehicle continued its tortuous journey. It turned out that the passed junction was Ntigha junction, he started feeling better " two more junctions to go and now, we will leave enemy territory" he thought with a smile on his face. The enemy territory thing was as a result of the Ngwa stories and human meat, a story for another day.

"Hmmmm, this rain won't stop o! Nubian! Nubian! Nubian! How many times did I call you? It won't be easy today, that I promise you".