The Ilorin Shock Episode 4

Episode Four: Car or Kaa?

By now, I was trying my best to blend in.

I listened more.

I talked less.

I watched how they did things before opening my mouth.

Or so I thought.

Then came the day I washed clothes.

Simple task, right?

Wrong.

After washing, I carried my wet clothes and asked calmly,

“Please, where should I spread them?”

They answered casually,

“Go and spread it inside car.”

😳

I paused.

Inside car?

I asked again, just to be sure I heard well.

“Sorry… where?”

“Car.”

My brain shut down.

What kind of car allows clothes spreading inside? Was this Ilorin version of luxury? I walked outside, scanning everywhere left, right, front, back.

No car.

Not even tyre.

I came back inside.

“I didn’t see any car,” I said.

They looked at me like I was the strange one.

“There is a car behind the house,” one of them said. “You will see a door. Enter. You’ll see it.”

Okay… behind the house.

I went again.

I entered the compound they described.

All I saw was bike.

No car.

I stood there confused, clothes dripping water, sweat joining the wash. I went back again.

Still, they sent me back the same direction.

At this point, I started thinking maybe our teacher had gone out with his car. So I reasoned with myself If he carried his car and left the house, where do I want to see car?

I wandered to my teacher’s second house.

Still nothing.

Now frustration joined confusion.

I was walking up and down like a lost goat, asking myself questions nobody could answer. Finally, one of their kids returned and saw me standing there with my clothes and my confusion.

“What are you looking for?” he asked.

“Car,” I replied seriously.

He laughed small and said, “Follow me.”

He took me to the same place I had passed several times. He opened a small door and pointed.

“There. That is the car.”

I looked.

😐

It wasn’t a car.

It was a kaa the wooden clothes-spreading shed.

My heart sank.

I spread my clothes quietly, pretending nothing happened. But when I got back inside…

Laughter.

Full laughter.

They laughed until tears came out.

“Ah ah! Omo Oyo!”

“You were looking for motor!”

“It is kaa, not car!”

That was the day I learned a powerful lesson:

Same spelling.

Different meaning.

Different world.

That night, as I lay down, I laughed at myself too. Because if I didn’t laugh, I might cry. Ilorin was teaching me slowly sometimes with pain, sometimes with laughter but always with lessons.

And I knew for sure now…

This place was going to change me.

To be continued… Episode 5