The distraction breaks my focus and without warning, the car lurched forward, bashing the Jeep right ahead. I was thrown forward violently.

You know how you wake up on those mornings with a bad feeling that you were going to have a bad day? You probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed or you even had a dream where your grand mother or your great grand mother appeared to warn you about an impending doom? You then plead the blood of Jesus; go about your day with extreme care and shine that your eye very well each time you have even the slightest altercation with a colleague at work.

Well… this wasn’t one of those mornings. I wish I could say it was but it wasn’t.

I wish I could say I had woken up that morning with a premonition about that fateful Tuesday but no, I had no inclination about anything.

I mean how often does one get a forewarning about a bad day, right? (Unless you have a special gift of telling the future, of course)

And so it happened that fateful Tuesday. I had woken up feeling so good with myself with a sense of gratitude to the unseen creator for being alive to see a new day. I remember humming a tune as I prepared for work that morning. Within minutes, I was ready. With one last look in the mirror, I stepped out of the house.

I inserted the key into the ignition and pulled the car nicely onto the main road. I headed towards the National Stadium, Surulere with the intention of linking the bridge just after Costain Bus stop.

I had been driving for about ten minutes when this Road Safety official flagged the vehicle ahead…then mine.

“Oga Good morning”

 “Good morning madam”

“Your Driver’s licence, please”

I swiftly brought out my wallet and handed over the licence. The Road Safety official, a smartly dressed lady, took her time to study it while I waited patiently.

“Oya, Oga park well”

I looked at her as she kept directing me to Park well.  At this point, my patience was beginning to wear out. I was running late for work.

“Madam what is the problem?”

“Your brake lights aren’t working.” She replied

“What?”

She continued. “Open the boot sir. I want to see your spare tire.”

I became confused as I confirmed what she just said.

How long have they been bad? I asked myself as I opened the boot.

She saw the spare, brought it out and bounced it on the ground, perhaps to be sure it wasn’t a flat spare.

“Can I see your fire extinguisher, please?”

In all the midst of the confusion, I couldn’t help but observe the ease and dexterity with which she conducted her duty.

I showed her the fire extinguisher and she looked at it for a while and returned it.

“Sir, you have violated the Road Safety codes by driving without brake lights thereby endangering your life and the lives of other drivers. You will be fined and given a maximum of seven days to pay or risk forfeiting not just your driver’s licence but also your vehicle licence as well.”

So saying, she stretched out and pulled off the vehicle licence sticker from the windscreen. Seizing both licences, she handed me the fine and explained how I was supposed to go about paying.

I shook my head as I got back into the car and started the engine, wondering how in God’s name the lights had gone bad without my knowing. My phone rang. A call from the office. The distraction breaks my focus and without warning, the car lurched forward, bashing the Jeep right ahead. I was thrown forward violently. I had forgotten to put on my seat belt.

“Blood of Jesus!!!” I exclaimed.

———-

Azubuike Osu is a dentist by training with a passion for writing. For more articles, do visit http://lawrenceosu.wordpress.com. All comments can be forwarded to [email protected] .

30 Days 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.