QUICK RECAP:
Libreville Airport. Bellview Airlines. LBV-LOS. Martin. Man Friday. Flight delayed. Cameroon Airlines. LBV-DLA. Refuelling stop. €400 deal. African prison. Your passport please!
CHAPTER FIVE:
The embarkation!
So I counted and handed over the agreed amount, which left me rather light, I must say. I also handed over my passport with a feeling of emptiness. There are moments in your life when, irrespective of how smart you believe you are, you have to trust someone blindly.
Frank looked around to make sure he was not being watched by anyone, and with a swift movement, reentered the office building through a small door. I lit up another cigarette, and started wondering what I should say, if someone walked by and asked me, what I was doing there. I couldn’t come across a solid, reasonable answer.
Frank took about seven mins to return, and I let a huge sigh of relief when I saw his tall figure emerge out of the push-door. I realised at that point, that deep inside me, I did have a fear, that I might not see him again in my life. He hurriedly handed me my passport and I quickly browsed through it, to make sure my photo and my name were still the same.
“Page dix-sept!” (Page seventeen) he blurted out, and I immediately turned that page and found an exit rubber stamp from immigration. Frank quickly explained to me that the Chief Immigration Office had no record of that stamp, so it was not safe to hang around the office area any longer. It was now time to head to the aircraft that was almost finishing the process of refuelling.
We walked briskly towards the airplane and I spotted Frank’s partner-in-aid Landry, who seemed to have blended in well with the unsuspecting people involved in the refuelling process. Responsible partner!
Frank asked me to wait there, some fifteen meters away, as he approached the handful of people ahead of us. I noticed that one of the gentlemen standing there was the pilot, as Frank shook his hand and exchanged some pleasantries. Soon, both of them turned and looked towards me, so I concluded that I was being introduced as the passenger that he had to be responsible for, from this point.
I also spotted a somewhat furtive movement, that I was pretty sure, meant there was some cash changing hands. Welcome to the team, Captain!
A few seconds later, I saw the Pilot and Frank, with their faces beaming with joy, wave at me as they signalled me to join them. I waved back at them and started dragging my trolley bag, as I walked towards them. Frank made a proper introduction to the pilot, who shook my hand with a warm smile and muttered some French phrases, two of which were particularly pleasing to hear, “enchanté” (nice to meet you) and “ne vous inquiétez pas” (don’t worry). All the right words you want to hear from the guy who will fly you into a new country… illegally!
The pilot personally escorted me to the airplane, and like a proud father at his daughter’s wedding, bowed and gestured me to board it. As I walked up the flight of stairs into the cabin, I felt a tremendous sense of achievement at finding a way out of this uncertainty, that had paralysed me a little while back. I had a wide grin on my face and I couldn’t wait to narrate this story to all my friends and colleagues over the next few days. But of course, getting out of Libreville was only the first chapter of the story, and there were many more challenges to be expected, but why not celebrate these little achievements?
I stepped into the dimly lit cabin of a Boeing 757, with a particularly mouldy smell, as a smiling Air Hostess greeted me. I pondered over the fact that I did not have a boarding pass and therefore, no seat number assigned to me. I guess my hesitation showed, and the hostess quickly lowered her voice and explained
“This is a free seating flight Sir, please feel free to sit anywhere”.
I looked around to find about twenty odd passengers, some of them fast asleep, as I caught a few pairs of eyes following me as I walked down the aisle.
I chose a window seat towards the end of the cabin, placed my bag in the overhead bin, seated myself and let out a deep breath, as I stared out of the glass window. A quick glance at my wristwatch showed there were still seven mins to 12 noon!
