" Hello Everyone, we are currently headed to our garage at Bayelsa State. If you are going to alight the bus, then please signify by pressing the alight button. The alight button is the red button above the glass cup handles. That is the handle addressed by my fellow attendant a while ago. "Please open up the plastic cover by sliding it sideways and click on the red button to signify now ", an attendant's voice echoed from the speakers.
James had already slept off, but thankfully, the voice was loud enough to draw him out of the dreamland.
" Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm " yawned dizzy James, who had just woken up. " What was the announcement? " he muttered. Though the sound of the speaker did wake him, he was too dizzy to understand what was announced.
' I need to ask somebody ' he thought. He turned to the closest person, who was the arrogant boy. On seeing his face, James immediately shook his head. He knew better than to invite trouble.
Having no choice, he stood up a bit, stretching his body to the seat at the front.
" Good afternoon ma " James greeted. The person being greeted was a middle-aged woman seated on the seat at James's front.
" Good afternoon, how may I help you? " she asked.
" Ma, it seems an announcement was made just now. The thing is, I was asleep when it was made. "Please could you tell me what the announcement was? " replied James.
" Ohhhh, that. They announced that they would soon arrive at their bus park at Bayelsa, so those who would like to alight the bus should click on the alight button. "The alight button is the red button above your glass cup handle. '' The woman explained in details.
" Thank you, Ma " he said.
After taking his seat, James opened up the plastic cover, the one shielding the red button, and pressed the button.
Not long after, James could feel the car quit its motion. An attendant walked out of their reserve and opened the exit door of the bus, after which a few other attendants went down the bus.
After the few attendants left, a new set of attendants walked out, moving to various seats through the tracking device on their hands. The device used was basically for tracking where the red buttons were pressed. The sophisticated level of the bus brand was the main reason why a lot of people love traveling on it.
The receipts of the passengers who pressed the red button were rechecked. After confirmation of no problems, the passengers were allowed to alight the bus.
They were also told to take the receipts to the boot of the bus and pass them on to the attendants there. That was the only way their luggage would be released to them.
James did exactly as he was told, went off the bus and then went to the boot.
There was a slightly long queue there, so James had no choice but to join the queue from the back.
Thankfully, the queue didn't last long since every passenger coordinated themselves well. Not long after, it was James' turn, and he too followed the procedures.
One of the attendants, out of goodwill, asked the passengers where they were headed before they left, and directed them to where they would see vehicles headed in that direction.
James' load was fairly heavy, being only a single box and a bag carried on his back. This brought a sense of joy to him as the place the attendant directed him to was a bit far.
He strolled to the park at a neither too quick nor too slow pace, to avoid getting tired quickly.
On reaching the place, he could hear different voices shouting the names of different locations to lure passengers to their bus.
" Otuoke, Otuoke, Otuoke " James finally heard the name he was waiting to hear. He immediately walked in that direction and found its source.
The voice belonged to a slightly aged man who was still very vibrant since he could continuously run to people he saw with luggage on the road to lure them into entering his bus.
The man caught sight of James, and on seeing that James was walking directly towards him, he was assured he was a passenger, and so even though James was a few steps away, he still ran towards him.
He quickly snatched James' box from his hands in an attempt to take it to the boot while directing him to the seat beside the driver's seat, but James forcefully stopped and requested his box back. He claimed he would rather hold it.
Seeing James' firm reaction, the man knew he wouldn't be able to convince James otherwise, and so he let him be.
" Never mind, just get on the bus " he said.