Jollof Love

4 - Taste of the Unknown

Folarin rolled his shoulders, the ache in his wrist festering the more he moved. Reggie bumped into something, and he gave a groan from the back seat.

"Sorry," Reggie apologized.

"You are still a terrible driver," Tayo said from the passenger's seat.

"The word you are looking for is careful." Reggie corrected.

"I think I dislocated something." Folarin said from the backseat. "No, I am sure I dislocated something."

It had been Reggie's idea to climb the hill two days after Adam's graduation. The rest of the entourage and Reggie's parents had returned to Lagos, and the three friends had stayed behind, touring the cities, meeting new people, buying mementos like tourists. Tayo found their food exciting and full of flavours, and everything tasted wrong in one way or the other in Folarin's mouth.

"This beef is splendid," Tayo would say.

"It's terrible. The flavours didn't penetrate past the skin. Who eats roasted meat without marinating it?" Folarin would say.

"Did you have that chicken pie? I loved how buttery it tasted," Tayo would say.

"It was a disaster wrapped in flour," Folarin would say. "No balance, potatoes were softer than pap. Chicken was suspicious."

And when the last day of their stay had arrived, hill climbing seemed to be the best suggestion Reggie brought forth, since Folarin had been moody that the "fun" he expected wasn't happening.

And so, that fine morning when people were opening stalls and rushing to work, three of them wore their gym shoes, and took the bus down to the hills Reggie had found on Google maps. They climbed with their hands, and Folarin was revived, the adrenaline awakening him from the slumber of the past days.

And that was until he held a spot, slipped, and fell.

Thankfully, there were some levelled ground, and even though he had admitted he was okay, and their trip was cut short, the throbbing pain on his wrist got worse when they arrived Lagos.

"We have to take Ant Man here to the hospital oo," Tayo said. A car whizzed past them, and they saw the angry eyes of the driver.

"He wasn't called Ant Man because he was a climber, dummy," Folarin said.

"Do I look like I care?" Tayo shot back. "Reggie, please let me drive this car. My lecturer who was 60 plus drove faster than you."

"I'm sticking to the speed limit," Reggie said, checking the speed meter. "Just a little under."

"On this Lagos road? Guy, park this car. I could use the driving. I need to do some cardio." Tayo said.

"Driving isn't cardio," Reggie said.

"Riding a bike is, and it's the same thing. Both carry you to your destination," Tayo grinned.

Folarin decided he was going to sit out that conversation. He had a brain that he couldn't muddle in such dumbness.

Minutes later, after much persistence and argument, Reggie was forced to park and exchange seats with Tayo. The journey felt like someone was driving an actual car and not pulling one along the road.

Much, much later, they arrived at the hospital, and Folarin walked out with a cast around his left hand, and he didn't look at too pleased.

"Don't take that off it you know what's good for you," Reggie warned.

"It feels exaggerated," Folarin stated.

"Do you want to say bye bye to your culinary career before it even began?" Tayo asked.