Princess

A narrative… Wanderings of a lost boy

Princess!
1
I hopped out of the taxi and made my way to the side walk. There was a traffic jam and I reckoned I’d rather walk the rest of the distance to the bus station. It wasn’t exactly a side walk since my country doesn’t have many of those. We practically share the roads with the cars. So in effect it was that part of the main road that wasn’t used by the cars often. The lack of constant use of those sides had made it a lot more sandy compared to the middle part of the road. So we all (drivers and pedestrians) had agreed on the demarcations, and we seldom crossed each other’s paths. Occasionally though, you would have some impatient drivers honk at you in their bid to evade traffic.
So I stepped out of the taxi – not in any kind of style whatsoever. I wore a brown African Shirt with trousers and a pair of African slippers. Shirt wasn’t tucked in I should add (for the sake of the readers who might not exactly know that many of our African wears are designed that way). My bag was strapped singly to my right shoulder and I held on to it with my right hand. My left hand held on to my phone which had been connected to my earpiece as I made my way to the trotro station (A trotro is a public bus system that can get you virtually everywhere you need to go to in this country).
In the meantime I was stuck in thoughts. Medical school was passing by quite swiftly. Just a moment ago I was in my first year and now I’m in my fifth. We now resided permanently in the teaching hospital with a Students hostel available for lectures and accommodation. On some days and on weekends however, I could afford to go home since I live in the same city I school in. I nodded and smiled to myself; “It’ll all soon be over man, very soon.”
At the trotro station, a mate (the bus conductor) stood by the trotro (the bus) and kept shouting “Tafo, 4-Miles… Tafo, 4-miles.” That was to attract people towards the bus and to get them filled as soon as possible. The “Tafo, 4-miles” is the name of the place I had to get to. There were times when you would get to the station during rush hours and meet serpentine human queues that would teach you vital lessons in patience, perseverance and the need to stand up for your rights! You just might not exactly understand what I mean till you experience it. Trust me, it’s a “beautiful” experience.
…
2
A few moments later I found myself in the right back position (shouts to the football fans) of the trotro. I made myself comfortable and tilted my body against the inner part of the bus. I placed my right leg on the metallic elevation inside of the bus that accommodates the right tyre below (you just might have to sit in a trotro to know exactly what I mean). I got my phone and hit on the “play” button to chill off with some music while I waited for the bus to get full. I didn’t pay particular attention to who was boarding at what time… So long as it was filled and I had the chance to finally get home. By the time I raised my head again, the bus was almost full and needed only 2 people to fill it up (more like 2 more seats to be filled – trotro fares are based on how many seats are filled and not how many people sit in there. So if two people manage to share a seat, they are still charged as one person). People to occupy the seat on my left – more like the centre back position and the seat in front of that one.
That’s when I saw a very cute little girl climb up into the bus with her friend. They were both in orange coloured school uniforms – fairly clean for the end of the day, and of the same age I suppose. They had an aura of joy surrounding them and they talked excitedly while making their way into the bus. End of the day, happy times… I supposed they spent some few minutes jollying about in school before setting off. They held on to a pack of plantain chips with some salty flakes and crumbs of the chips smeared around their lips and stuck in-between their teeth.
I watched on as they made their way into the trotro. They would most definitely have to share a seat. Among the two seats left, the one on my left would’ve been the best. See, the other seat isn’t one that extends to the full horizontal stretch of the bus because by design, they have to create a path between the seats to allow for those moving to the back to do so. This notwithstanding, those seats would still have to take 3 people – just like the back seat which I was on. But it was on that very seat that they decided to settle on. As they sat down (two girls each with a school bag) – with all the clumsiness it brings, it was more than obvious that they wouldn’t fit there. So I asked them to come sit beside me – between myself and the middle aged woman on the far left side. They obliged and moved there. Soon after, a young man filled the very last seat and we were set to leave.
My experience on this day was with these two girls. Before I go on, let me tell you a little about them – as much as I know.
…
3
The first was Princess (I’ll tell you about how I got to know her name later) and the second we will call Princess’ friend. They should both be about 8 or 9 years old… I didn’t spend as much time on the bus with Princess’ friend so I can’t make as much of a vivid description of her as I would of Princess. But with the short time I spent with them, one thing was clear about Princess’ friend – she was of more modest means than Princess was. Her clothes were older and looked worn out and her shoes looked like she didn’t have many of those to wear alternatively on different days. Her hair was short – not braided and she had lost two of her top front teeth. But these are the very things that caught me. Her parents had put in a lot of effort to put her in a good school. Her clothes, though not new we’re still fairly clean and properly ironed and her shoes were still well kept and polished. She was a lovely character of her own, always smiling and displaying the gap in her gum supposed to be filled with two incisors – Heartwarming!
But Princess! Something about Princess – her looks, her demeanour, her calmness, innocence, cuteness… something about her just spoke to me. I looked intently at her and wondered if that’s how the little sister I always wished I had would have looked like. She was quite fleshy and chubby for her age… but not overweight… Then she was dark – uniformly dark. The exact shade of dark I just can’t seem to place… but so intricate and perfect that I don’t see any artist’s brush replicate the hue with any colour combinations. Her eyes were medium sized and the sclera as white as snow. She had her hair pulled back and tied – unrelaxed, intensely dark coloured, thick, kinky African hair which I’m sure she had a hard time managing… but looking beautiful on her nonetheless. With the look of a very well-groomed little girl who would be the teachers’ favourite and her parents’ pride.
I smiled to myself as I watched them settle down and start conversing excitedly. I wasn’t exactly following what it was that they spoke about as I could do little but admire the innocence, purity and open hearted friendship and bond that existed between two very young souls. The good days… Before the backbiting and jealousy accompanying many adult friendships that exist now set in… I could vaguely hope it would never happen to them.
…
4
The car started moving in no time and I took my mind off them to do some reading on my phone. It was quite a smooth ride as my ears and mind quickly switched off from the noise the trotro’s engine produced.
Barely 5 minutes after we had set off, Princess called out : “Mate!” the bus conductor turned to look at her as I also raised my head to see what was happening. I couldn’t think of a reason why she would need the Mate’s help. But then she said in twi that someone would get down right there. I wondered why she would board this bus if she would only get down after such a short while. You know, the bus system here is such that, for some places you’d go to, there are fixed prices no matter where you would get down. So if you planned on travelling such a short distance, you’d rather pick a trotro that was going such a short distance or one that wouldn’t be going so far from there so you get to pay less (I really hope I haven’t confused anyone).
Okay, so let’s go on with our story…
The Mate hit the roof of the trotro to signal to the driver that someone would get down there. Princess didn’t get down, her friend did. It finally made sense to me. Princess had paid the fare and her friend had perched for the short distance so she could save money. Or probably because she didn’t have enough money to pay. Actually, I could only speculate. But whatever it was, it was a smart move by the little girls. As she got down, she walked towards the window where I was seated and shouted across the window, across me, toward her friend. “Princess!!!” (That’s how I got to know her name). They exchanged an extremely warm, sincere smile and waved each other till the trotro started moving again, and kept waving at each other till they were pretty out of sight.
I couldn’t help but put up a very warm smile as I looked toward Princess. She smiled back innocently and my heart was warmed even more.
I looked back on my phone screen and continued my reading as my smile gently faded off.
…
5
Approximately 10 minutes later, Princess started to sing! The intricate melody her voice produced was so captivating that I immediately quit reading, looked at her and started smiling again. As she looked up at me and noticed I was staring at her, she covered her face in umm… (I don’t know what expression to give to that feeling in between shyness and embarrassment) but yes in that, and stopped singing. I smiled again and asked her to continue singing and that I liked it. She smiled shyly and started again, though a lot lower in tone than the previous. I couldn’t take my eyes off her so I kept looking at her while she sang in glee. The song she was singing ended after about a minute and half and she didn’t move to another song right afterwards. Then I decided to talk to her for a short while. I first asked which class she was in and she told me class 3. Then in the middle of trying to tell her I was in her school for my nursery and kindergarten, she respectfully signalled that she had to call the Mate. Her shout wasn’t so loud so I helped call the Mate for her. Then she asked that she get down there.
She looked at me once again, smiled and waved at me saying: “bye bye.” I smiled back and waved at her nodding in acknowledgement of her words. I helped her strap her bag to her back and she made her way out of the trotro. As the trotro moved, she looked in my direction and waved again. I gave her a wide smile, and waved at her…
…
…
…
As the trotro moved on, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about this little girl. Princess! Princess!
It was the first time I had met her, and probably it would be the last time I’d see her. In my heart, in my mind, I prayed she would grow with the innocence, kindness, and beauty she had. That she would grow up to be a true Princess.

-De-Graft, 6th January 2019