The tension was ever-increasing. But the calm with which Uriah Kwabena Mensah also known as Kobby Stone controlled himself could only be achieved by someone like him, a promising cadet member in his school.  But even in this current situation he was really finding it hard keeping up appearances. With such a pretty girl sitting beside him he couldn’t afford to mess up this chance.

“Oh chaley,” he said, under his breath, with slight fear as he sighed slightly. Then he started daydreaming about all the things that could go wrong.  Just then, Pius Nii Nartey-Nettey also known as Poyo turned in his seat to look at Kobby and check on how far his ‘homeboy’ had gone with his ‘ronnings.’ But Poyo was quite taken aback by the look on Kobby’s face. Poyo wondered for a second or two and went back to his wonderful chat with Rosemond who was a few inches to his right.

They were all on an STC bus travelling to Cape Coast from Tema. School had reopened and they were on their way to school for another term.  Kobby and Poyo were in the same school, Adisadel College whiles Rosemond was a student of Wesley Girls High School and Mabel, who was sitting by Kobby , a student of Ghana National College.

In Kobby’s daydream he remembered the bus driver’s stone face as he sort of warned everyone on the bus that he would not stop on the way for anything until they got to the proper checkpoint. The checkpoint is a local restaurant with a car park where STC buses normally stopped for people stretch their bodies, walk around a bit, buy a thing or two, or take a piss.

The tension in Kobby’s bladder had grown so intense that he hardly concentrated on the pleasant conversation he started with Mabel way back in Tema before everyone got on the bus.

“Ehn, ehn? What…what were you saying?” Kobby spoke with anxiety all over his face.
Mabel turned as she spoke to Kobby, “You are not listening to me, are you?” But the look on Kobby’s face switched her almost-angry state to sudden concern. “Are you ok?”
“Me? Yes..No.” Kobby stuttered. Mabel frowned slightly then looked outside the window to engage her mind in something more interesting.

Kobby noticed Mabel was losing interest so he turned subtly to steal a glance at Mabel’s face. At that moment he saw a little girl walking along the road carrying a bucket of water which spilled a little. The scene made him almost piss on himself. He twitched then Mabel shrieked and gave him a stern look. “Sorry,” Kobby said quickly as Mabel looked outside the window again.

They were about half an hour away from the checkpoint and Kobby couldn’t contain it anymore. “Driver…Driver!” Kobby shouted as he almost lost grip on his clenched bladder. Almost everybody in the front seats turned to look at him, including Poyo. “Stop the bus…Please, stop the bus!  I dey beg waaa!” Surprisingly the driver slowed down and the bus eventually stopped.

“What dey go on for there?” the driver asked angrily. “E be me,” Kobby replied. Just then an elderly man spoke up, “School boy, speak proper English.” Kobby pretended he didn’t hear that as he continued, “Driver,I dey beg waaa I dey wan piss for the bush inside.” Amazingly the driver said, “Ah, wey you no tell since. You this boy paaa!”

Just as the driver opened the door for Kobby to get off the bus, people in the front seat suddenly got up to also go take a piss; the elderly man who had reprimanded Kobby earlier was amongst them. Rosemond, had also gotten off her seat next to Poyo.

“Herh! So you people all dey wan piss? Wey you dey sit down like that? Ei,Ghana fuoor!” Kobby shouted with a hint of laughter.