Short Story: Nigeria, the beautiful...

Her eyes feasted upon the paintings that graced the wall, a wall that held bitter memories for her, a wall whose sight provoked the formation of tears in her tender and innocent eyes. It was upon this wall that her parents were killed the hard way, in one of the excruciating ethno-religious conflict that occured in her country. That was a score ago, and the battle with the thought had led her away from Nigeria, to find peace in the cold hands of the uncertain. In the land of the skyscrappers, she sought to find love beneath the silky skin of the whiteman. But, all her attempts to divorce herself from reality had only succeeded in compounding her woes. With a conviction that transcends all doubts, she returned home. Her straying imaginations that were trapped on the paintings upon the wall were led back to reality by the taxi driver that flaunted his trade just outside the airport. Dressed in an attire that betrayed his occupation, the taxi driver with immense politeness led her into the car. She marvelled at this courtesy that came from one that was suppossed to be rash. As he drove her to her destination with panache, she was amazed at how the country had changed. From a land she once knew as a haven for everything that was bad, it had now become an el dorado. She wondered at the good roads, the cleanliess of the streets, the orderliness in which the pedestrians conducted themselves, the lighting everywhere. She wondered if her eyes were decieving her, if those sily imaginations were playing pranks on her again. As if the taxi driver was reading her thoughts, he assured her that things had changed in the country since the new transition in governance. As she came off the taxi, the bright sun of Lagos poured it's richness upon her ponytail hair and the fresh air that was once an illussion in the country greeted her tired body. Now, with a resolve that beats scepticism, a will made of stern and a conviction that shocks pessimism, she was poised to be part of the change in her nation, Nigeria, the beautiful!