2 Homecoming

Taking the bottle of chilled water her assistant offered, Amanda looked out of her car's window admiring how busy and free and comfortable everyone looked while nodding her head to the soft music playing from her headphones.

The traffic was nothing compared to what she usually saw back in the states. It was more intense here and horns were blaring here and there with drivers sticking their heads out of their car doors to pour insults on who ever was causing the traffic.

Some frustrated passengers were already getting off the cabs to trek the distance  instead of running late.

She thought.

She could also see children barely upto six years of age hawking under the scorching sun and running tirelessly after moving vehicles.

She felt bad for all of them although she didn't know what it felt like to be poor.

She had spent all her life abroad and had only come home once out of all those years and she could barely remember what it was like back here.

Everything felt so new to her and she almost felt bad for not getting to know her country well enough.

Soon the sound of sirens blaring snapped her out of her thoughts as she saw drivers scampering to remove their vehicles from the way.

"Why are the sirens blaring?" She asked her assistant who was busy typing away on her laptop, probably fixing her schedule for the whole time she'd be in Nigeria.

"Oh. Mam. It's the convoy trying to make it pass the traffic" she said looking up at her with her thick nerdy glasses and a shy smile playing on her lips.

"It's Amanda not mam.....how many times I'm I supposed to say that till it sinks...huh?" She asked with a frown.

She had asked her not to refer to her as 'mam' right from the airport and she has been repeating that for the last 15 mins they've been in the car.

"I'm sorry mam...sorry.....Amanda "she said looking scared.

Her assistant back in the states was way better than this present one. She was fun to be with and she saw her more as a friend than an secretary.

But this one was looking at her right now like she was being chased by a zombie was nothing close to cool and she was pretty sure if she didn't loosen up fast enough she'd have to request for another.

"It's fine" she said looking away " but why can't they wait for the queue to move first" she asked furrowing her brows. "It's not like I'm in a hurry to get to where I'm going" she muttered.

"Your mother never let's them wait for the queue so it's like a tradition now to overtake the others" she said turning back to her laptop.

"I see....."

"So how many cars are in this convoy " she asked while playing with the rim of her water bottle.

"Six plus the one we are in..." she replied without looking up.

Amanda was dumbfounded.

If she was having a convoy of 6 freaking cars, she began wondering how many her dad used daily not to talk of her mum.

Maybe 12. The thought made her laugh earning a look from her assistant.

"What did you say your name is?" She asked after realising she had forgotten what she was told.

"It's Grace Modupeoluwa" she said throwing her her forced smile.

After seconds of trying to pronounce the second name in vain. She opted to call her Grace.

"So Grace. .....how far is my parents house from the airport." She asked looking out of the window again.

She didn't get the reply Grace gave because something else.caught her eyes and attention.

"Ask the driver to halt" she said instead removing her seat belt.

"But why...it's not safe" Grace said. Obviously she was now trying not to call her mam

Or Amanda.

"Because I said so." She said glaring at a scared Grace who was probably praying not to loose her job because of what she said.

By now the car had stopped and she could see they were on a highway just not as crowded as the other one.