At the restaurant, we finished our drinks, ordered some more, and then some more. At last, we heard static coming from the public address system, followed by a barely audible voice. They were calling us to board. We headed for the gate and joined the queue that had already formed. Soon, it came to my turn.
Man in Cubicle: Good Evening, Ma.
Me: (Handing my boarding pass to him): Good evening, Sah.
Man (scrutinizing my BP, then handing it back to me): Madam, this flight is going to Accra.
Me: Accra? I’m going to Dakar.
Man: Madam, Flight P47770 to Abidjan, Dakar and Banjul has been delayed for three hours. You didn’t hear the announcement?
Me (thinking, but not uttering): How could I have? With that your croaky public address system.
Me (Looking confused): No, I didn’t.
Man (Looking over my shoulder): Ma, you’re holding up the queue.
Me: (Turning to my companions): This is not our flight o. Let’s go back to the restaurant.
Air Cote D’Ivoire and ASKY fly to Dakar out of Abuja. We all live in Abuja. We chose Air Peace (despite the inconvenience of having to first fly to Lagos) because people told us that Air Peace was better than the other two. Alas, it appeared that the sample we used for our ‘research’ was defective.
The restaurant had closed by the time we got there, so we walked back to the general waiting area. Luckily, we found four (uncomfortable) seats close together.
Eventually, sha, we boarded. At Abidjan, some passengers disembarked, and others started boarding. I looked at the people coming in. There’s this blackness of skin that’s so beautiful. You see it a lot amongst the Senegalese (South Sudan people too). Melanin not only protects us from harmful UV rays, but it also beautifies us. And it’s true: Black don’t Crack.
Two hours later, we landed in Dakar, where my proficiency in the French language would be tested.
To be continued….
