I love pickup trucks. Leave it at Hilux because we’ve been taught to be content. So, we love what we can afford. Well, secondhand Hilux pickup trucks. Make sure it’s not any of the models after 2010 else sleep won’t be all we will be losing. Add weight to the list.
Dad had always wanted a Tundra. That one that looks like Optimus Prime. Everyone knew he wanted it. His friends. The church. Well, every minister that was posted to our parish. He attended all the special services because of that. After 3 years of affirmation, it came.
But my dad hates pickup trucks now.
Early one Monday morning, Udochi was getting ready for school. My dad was up to get the engine ready. He loved to take his grandchild to school. He woke up jolly as always. “Udochi, ọ sago alu?” as he walked to his Tundra. Smiles beaming. Fine, black man looking at an answered prayer. His shorts were tight that morning. He never liked that. It never made him feel good. He had gained weight. Then he would dash his foot against a stone.
His Optimus Prime greeted him. As always, he’d try to drive around the compound, checking for balance, sound and a host of other things even though Chike had taken care of that earlier on.
“Kpooo!” He got down. He had tried running over a stone. But wetin be stone for where Tundra dey? He was looking at a leakage. Tire is soiled now. We all heard the sound. I came out to tell my dad that Udochi wasn’t inside. “Amam.”
It was that morning that I realized that the human head can actually burst up. We gathered Udochi’s brains and got ready for burial. Udochi was hiding behind one of the tires.
He doesn’t drive anymore. None drives a pickup truck anymore.
And so, today we remember. We remember that Udochi died to the crushing power of dad’s beloved Tundra. The very truck he waited and prayed for 3 years to have. A Tundra for his first grandchild. Life is a give-and-take, yeah? I don’t know.
2 comments
Had goosebumps reading this😱
Thank you. I’ll take it to be a compliment.