Escape from Justice
I never thought I would be a fugitive from the law, but yet I am. It all began one fateful Sunday with the simple idea of going to the movies. My friends John and Pauline, both native Nigerians, swung by my hotel and picked me up to head to the theater. After the hello’s I ask what time the movie is going to start, and with a slight amount of hesitation, he says Hancock starts at 4PM. Checking the time, I point out that it was now 3:50PM, but from the way John sped out of the lot, it was apparent that he knew we were running late.
Over the next five minutes, John weaves in and out of traffic, cuts through intersections, and honks his way past pedestrians. We are making excellent time. In fact, we eventually pull up to the avenue where the theater is located, but that’s where the fun stops. All of a sudden, a cop steps into the road and blocks our way. A second later, two more cops are on the other side of the car and they are yelling for John to roll the window down. John politely ignores them. This lasts for all of about 30 seconds, during which John explains that this is a bad situation. We have clearly been targeted for extortion he says, and that we probably don’t have enough money between us to pay them off.
So after realizing the officers were not relenting, John turns his attention to them, but still refusing to roll down the glass. After many gestures and accusatory exchanges, John relents and cracks the window. John yells at the cops, saying that he did nothing wrong and to stop harassing us. But the cops yell back that the road we had just turned from was a one way street. We all turn around, and sure enough, there was a dusty sign with an arrow going in the opposite direction from which we came. As having been on this road yesterday, both me and John realized that between then and now, this road had become a one way. We certainly were not the only ones ignoring or not noticing this change, but we were the unlucky ones to get pulled over for it.
John becomes instantly more concerned once he realizes that they have him for an offense. He turns to us and tells us that they could charge him 50,000 Naira under the new traffic enforcement law, and that if we did not have that, we were screwed. Unfortunately we were all cash-strapped. Looking straight ahead, John proceeds to say under his breath, “I am going to have to do something crazy, are you okay with that?” Slightly shocked, I don’t say anything. Again John asks, “I am going to do something crazy, are you okay with that?” My adrenaline level kicks up a notch, and I take a look at the group of officers surrounding the cars, and notice that they are without their trademark AK-47’s. In the meantime, Pauline gives her consent. Reluctantly, I say “go for it.” John tells us to get ready, and then he puts the pedal to the metal. Next thing I know, we are speeding away from the side of the road, the cop in front and the cop on the right side are jumping out the way, and the cop on the left side is swinging at the side of the car with his baton. But it’s too late we are creating our own lane in traffic and speeding away. I fight the instinct to duck deep into the backseat, and instead look back through the window, to see our former captors losing ground in their chase after us.
Celebration lasted only about 20 seconds, because we soon realized we were heading in the opposite direction of the theatre. Somehow we were going to have to get back that way. Going back down that one way was not an option, so we eventually make it to a roundabout and turn around. This put us on the same road as the cops, but on the opposite side of the street, with a divider separating the two. Sensing the very real possibility of another encounter with these cops, John speed builds exponentially as we near the intersection. My hearts thumping, but I dare not look over, and we all let out a little yell of excitement as we rocket through the intersection. Quickly, John has to slam on the brakes because we are nearly running into the group of cars ahead of us, but we are safely through the gauntlet.
A minute or two later, we pull into the mall area and park. The time is only five past four, and all is well. We get in the mall and up to the ticket counter, and that’s when we notice the billboard. It says Hancock Showtimes: 3:00PM, 6:00PM, 9:00PM. All this trouble and the movie was not even showing. Refusing to let the trip be in vain, we get tickets to the Incredible Hulk instead which was showing at 5. All in all, it was a good time.
Over the next five minutes, John weaves in and out of traffic, cuts through intersections, and honks his way past pedestrians. We are making excellent time. In fact, we eventually pull up to the avenue where the theater is located, but that’s where the fun stops. All of a sudden, a cop steps into the road and blocks our way. A second later, two more cops are on the other side of the car and they are yelling for John to roll the window down. John politely ignores them. This lasts for all of about 30 seconds, during which John explains that this is a bad situation. We have clearly been targeted for extortion he says, and that we probably don’t have enough money between us to pay them off.
So after realizing the officers were not relenting, John turns his attention to them, but still refusing to roll down the glass. After many gestures and accusatory exchanges, John relents and cracks the window. John yells at the cops, saying that he did nothing wrong and to stop harassing us. But the cops yell back that the road we had just turned from was a one way street. We all turn around, and sure enough, there was a dusty sign with an arrow going in the opposite direction from which we came. As having been on this road yesterday, both me and John realized that between then and now, this road had become a one way. We certainly were not the only ones ignoring or not noticing this change, but we were the unlucky ones to get pulled over for it.
John becomes instantly more concerned once he realizes that they have him for an offense. He turns to us and tells us that they could charge him 50,000 Naira under the new traffic enforcement law, and that if we did not have that, we were screwed. Unfortunately we were all cash-strapped. Looking straight ahead, John proceeds to say under his breath, “I am going to have to do something crazy, are you okay with that?” Slightly shocked, I don’t say anything. Again John asks, “I am going to do something crazy, are you okay with that?” My adrenaline level kicks up a notch, and I take a look at the group of officers surrounding the cars, and notice that they are without their trademark AK-47’s. In the meantime, Pauline gives her consent. Reluctantly, I say “go for it.” John tells us to get ready, and then he puts the pedal to the metal. Next thing I know, we are speeding away from the side of the road, the cop in front and the cop on the right side are jumping out the way, and the cop on the left side is swinging at the side of the car with his baton. But it’s too late we are creating our own lane in traffic and speeding away. I fight the instinct to duck deep into the backseat, and instead look back through the window, to see our former captors losing ground in their chase after us.
Celebration lasted only about 20 seconds, because we soon realized we were heading in the opposite direction of the theatre. Somehow we were going to have to get back that way. Going back down that one way was not an option, so we eventually make it to a roundabout and turn around. This put us on the same road as the cops, but on the opposite side of the street, with a divider separating the two. Sensing the very real possibility of another encounter with these cops, John speed builds exponentially as we near the intersection. My hearts thumping, but I dare not look over, and we all let out a little yell of excitement as we rocket through the intersection. Quickly, John has to slam on the brakes because we are nearly running into the group of cars ahead of us, but we are safely through the gauntlet.
A minute or two later, we pull into the mall area and park. The time is only five past four, and all is well. We get in the mall and up to the ticket counter, and that’s when we notice the billboard. It says Hancock Showtimes: 3:00PM, 6:00PM, 9:00PM. All this trouble and the movie was not even showing. Refusing to let the trip be in vain, we get tickets to the Incredible Hulk instead which was showing at 5. All in all, it was a good time.
posted by Anthony Jackson at 7:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home