She just woke up feeling completely refreshed this particular morning as if she went for a summer swim, she took her brush as usual and a fast bath, then she got ready to head to the hospital, this time around Mr Simeon helped her with transport fare and snack tip. she rushed off to the tricycle park, where she boarded one at fifty naira to the hospital. As she came into the hospital, she found two other pretty girls, who looks same age as her, one was on a Ghanian weave and tailored fitted gown and the other had a wig, fair complexioned and wore a jean skirt and a blouse. Another gent sat close to them, too indulged in his phone while the two others caught up. Trin at that moment assumed them to be her cos. She made for them and they exchanged pleasantries, they confirmed her speculations and briefed her on their stories each but the guy who she walk through thorn to know his name as Scott, was so recessive, He's set some invisible social barrier from any other person and Trin basically had no problem with that because if she wasn't just trying to be nice, she barely have time for herself not to talk of another. Dr Lucy this time was been so diplomatic, she called them in one after the other and had them fill some forms, do a documentary video and later, she made them do same as a team.
Later they went home and after three days, each of them got a message that the scheduled trip was to take place in two days time that they should be all prepared. it was much of an activity for trin's family as they bought new travel bags and clothes. Trin was literally on her nerve ends now, she was so calm before but as the date drew closer, she realized how vulnerable she was, she couldn't get a hold of herself, till her parents talked to her, she was still fidgeting all over and kept on saying "what if I blow it mom?" with tears in her eyes, her parents gave her reasons to know that she's faced more challenges squarely than any other kid they've known and they're not saying that because she's their ward. They made her believe that she's more than what she give herself credit for. She got calm though her heart kept on throbbing uncontrollably. This was the first time in her life she got confronted with raw fear and she knew that this was a turning point.
The D-day came and the hospital's bus was at their home before 8am in the morning, they haven't slept much the previous night in edged anticipation so that parked their stuff and put it in the boot, they got all in and the other testimonials who were on the same course with Trin were surprised to see her and her family in the car, they whispered that she might be considering living in the states, though they obviously don't see the means to make that happen financially. Trin completed their row with Scott sitting in their immediate back row, face bent to his phone. Trin joined their conversations but they weren't too pleased to have her but they pretended and their awkward chat kicked off in shallow talks, they talked until they got to the airport, Trin couldn't believe her eyes, it was so magnificent and beautiful, though it was no Zaha Hadid project but this beats her expectations of Nigeria. the sweet feminine voice in the airport dished out instructions at intervals till after they've submitted their flight documents for verification, got seated as Trin took the window seat and the flight took off as they've fastened their seat belts and after the craft was in the sky, they were instructed to ease up. Trin was so happy, she could look out and see the little images of Nigeria, rooftops of almost every structure, to her, this was an overview effect. Destiny wasn't too comfortable, she'd gripped her mom's hand at take off and currently she complained to her mom that she wanted to ease herself, her mom signalled to the vivacious smartly dressed air hostess who took trin by the hand to the toilet, she puked till her content and wiped her mouth with her face towel then came back and sat beside her mother with a face all red, her mom asked "is everything OK sweetie?" she nodded and said that there was no problem betraying her gestural expression. the flight continued for 15hrs and 38mins and they only had one stop, the night time was so beautiful as Trin will always reach out to the binoculars in her front desk and use it to peep at the shimmering lights of great nations, she couldn't miss a thing because it was not in her nature to.
The flight finally landed at Baltimore international airport USA. They got alighted when the stairs unfolded into the ground, this environment was so alien to these Nigerians and Trin can only relate with her Hollywood movies. The hospital's computerized navy blue hiace bus was parked at the extreme as the hospital's representative stands and signals them towards him with a smile, they acclaimed their possessions from the carriage and moved towards the gentleman, with a dark hair, in suits looking like one of the gents in men in black, he's white from every aspect with light blue eyeballs. He shakes hands with Dr Lucy and shakes the four participants, He acknowledged Mr and Mrs Simeon and particularly took a likeness to Brian who he carried around to Brian's delight. they later parted ways, as Mr and Mrs Simeon hugged trin, Mr Damian the young gent in what looks Like his late twenties gave Brian his card and asked him to call him, anytime, any day, Brian was so happy as she went to kaima who patted him in the head gently and swept him into the taxi, Mr and Mrs Simeon, Brian, kaima and Destiny took this yellow taxi and zoomed off to their hotel reservation in wait of Dr Lucy as they waved bye to Lucy and the others. Tears blurred trin's vision but she immediately concealed it with her handkerchief by wiping it off. They later got into the hiace which drove them through the beautiful city of Baltimore to where Mr Damian has made known to them as 1800 Orleans's street, Baltimore, Maryland, MD21287, USA. They alighted and as they were making for their bags, they were saved the stress by the hospital attendants who to care of that and took them to their reserved guest quarters, trin realized that it was a million miles from that of the hospital she got quarantined in Lagos, she thought to herself; 'this is united states for you', the glasses opened up before she could reach any door and closes behind her and the ones that didn't open, their guide Mr Damian unlocked with his pass card as Dr Lucy went to the what Trin thinks is the management section to clear herself and give a feedback on her project. they got checked into this amazing glassy, state of the art section of this ultra modern futuristic facility tagged 'guests' and they made themselves comfortable with the beautifully furnished paraphernalia. Scott made for the socket, switched it on and plugged in his phone with his charger.
The room had a nice window blind, a queen-sized bed and dim energy bulb, the LG 86inches LED TV was mounted at the wall in the right side of the door judging from within. the remote control placed in the curvaceous centre table. The girls were trying to settle into this expensive set up. Trin kept her bag in the Vatican owned looking wardrobe and went into the bath tub to take her bath, there she met a confused her battling as to how to deal with the arrays of Colognes, creams, solid and liquid soaps and towels in front of the simply crafted mirror and the jacuzzi so clean that her legs stained it immediately she got inside, she thought she's making a mess of things on arrival, so she uses water to rinse the death off, She realized that it'll take her years to adapt to this lifestyle if she really wanted it like her mind always claimed. She turned on the hot water section and the cold one as well so she got an even mixture of both, the water was warm now and she relaxed in and bathed for longer than she's ever done in her life. Amanda the fair girl amidst them came to check on her once to see of she was still there and seeing her in the pool smiled and called her "village girl" in a humorous manner and they laughed so hard. Later she got a towel from the ones hanged in the horizontal polished silver steel and wiped her body dry, the towel was so silky like a cats fur and scented like lilies in paradise. She applied one of the creams and it melted into her skin like ice cream to a baby's tongue, later she used the cologne and was feeling immaculate. She went and sat on the water soft cushion in the sitting room which also had their beds in it, wide and so comfortable, she changed the CNN Channel to the hospital's channel and what greeted their faces was the upcoming interactive section between them and their hosts which was tagged 'introduction', its was going to take place in two hours time and even Scott seemed jerked out of his phone. Their moods stiffened as they went one after the other to wash off before Dr Lucy came into their rooms to check on how they were doing, she was pleased to find the orderly arrangement they made with their properties. She then asked who changed the channel to the hospital's channel and Trin indicated, she said that she's going to be the first to face the introductory interview because the channel stuff was a test of curiosity which was set by the hospital, they were hoping to know which one of them used their faculties the most and luckily for her, she's selected. Trin didn't see this as a luck but a burdensome punishment for her untainted curiosity that has landed her into hot soup. Dr Lucy asked them to be calm and take their times to analyse and answer the questions the hospital had for them because as simplistic as they may sound, there's always an ulterior motive behind them Luke the curiosity test. They needn't a soothsayer to tell them of the truism of what she just said. She left as they rushed together like some high school baseball team to discuss the fate of their opposition. This time around, Scott was involved in the discussion because as calm as he appeared, he was nerve wrecked and trying to put his mood in check but as he said: "this shit is bout' to get real" in an American ascent and the girls bursted out in laughter.
In exactly two hours from the time, the news about the interview got broadcasted as prompted by trin's stopwatch, Dr Lucy came in to take them to the interview room. Trin on her way continued to deliberate in her mind that these people were 'no nonsense' kind of people and were sure to tell them that they've outgrown the African time syndrome and as they got to the almost empty room except a long glass table with a couple set of mics tailored to each seating and CCTV cameras, as the participants seated, Dr Lucy stood outside the glass window as a black man in his early fifties dressed in white lab coat, a black tie, nice hair cut. to trin he looked like black james bond or the black version of yaweh ib her out of body experience. He came into the room with two other women who came from behind that were on grey suits and carried files and iPads on their hands. As they came inside the room, trin and her cos stood up in acknowledgement and the man gesticulated them to sit down, saying: "sit". And they sat, then the man and the two women beside him sat down as well facing trin and her cos but with only the man sitting in what looked like the executive seat. he brought gestured to one of the women, this one was blond and Trin immediately noticed that she had double piercing on her ears as she handed a device to the man, who took it from her, placed it on the table and just like the holographic projectors always shown in SciFi movies, it projected the day's menu to the tinted glass side of the room which was adjacent to the man for his easy viewing as well as the others. He then looked at every of his guests faces and said; " Pardon my manners everyone, my name is doctor Ben Carson, am a neurosurgeon here at Hopkins and I and my wife decided to run this research about metaphysical experiences starting from the most scientific which is out of body experience and with you guys I hope we'll hit a milestone having read a briefing of your stories but except for one miss trinity Simeon amongst you who for some reasons she left undisclosed decided not to reveal her first hand account of her story " at this juncture, trin's stomach churned, Dr Carson paused for a while, looked at every of their faces again and continued " this project is sponsored so you tell us all about your experience and what you think of the whole encounter you had without reservations, this day is not about me but you so without wasting much time, let's hop right into you introducing yourselves" with that he sat and took his bottled water and had a sip, trin quickly recalled the channel test and knew that she was going to be taking the lead in everything from their side that day so she said stood up and said "my name is Trinity Simeon" and at saying that Dr Carson dropped his water bottle on the table and widened his eyes to savour the face of this controversial young lady in his memory, she noticed his mood rise, she slowly took her gaze away but to her surprise, she saw a projected imagery sentences made by the holographic projector, the question was "state your age, your nationality is known to be Nigerian, so state your political stand, your self generated identity and fancied accomplishment" she immediately continued, "am going to be 21yrs of age by 28th of September and my political stand..., uhmm, I don't participate in politics consciously, my self generated identity is that am a universal entity not from a particular region, state, country, planet, or galaxy. My most fancied accomplishment is that of universal utopia" Dr Carson asked her to expel the obscurity in that by expatiating her state by her meaning of universal utopia, she said "I dream of a universe or multiverse where every conscious being is at peace with himself, the source and every other extension of reality. I want to witness no universal wars but competitions, I want to witness no real acrimony but drama induced for fun, because I am at enmity with ignorance and discrimination of any kind" Dr Carson was observing keenly at the level of all inclusiveness this young lady shouldered, he then said "I think I know now why you couldn't put your encounter down on a paper" with a smile in his face, everyone smiled as well and Trin sad down, looked to the glass window section where Dr Lucy stood and she gave her a thumbs up, trin was overjoyed by this approval. Scott was asked the same set of introductory questions and he answered in very cool manner and Dr Carson made a joke of powering him up with a 50kva generator and they laughed out this time around. Meanwhile the two other ladies have been writing down and recording with their iPads. Amanda and Nicole the other two girls introduced themselves as well excellently but though Dr Carson was trying to be involved but he wasn't as immersed as he was at trin's introduction. He later congratulated them when he got a call, greeted them goodbye for the moment and excused himself, the other ladies, told them that the next interview was going to take place at the hospitals most executive room, with the top intellects in the world so they should make their IQ razor sharp, they obliged to this development, at this point they were ready for anything that might come their way because for trin as she thought to herself that if she could come this far, she might as well stick till the end because she didn't come this far only with the intension of coming this far. The two ladies excused themselves and Dr Lucy came in and hugged them one after the other, saying that their composure was excellent and they made her proud, she promised to take them out for a treat that evening, before she walked them to their rooms and asked them to rehears their clearly thought out presentations because she knew that as bright as they are, that they had one up their sleeves already. They waved her off as she gestured and exclaimed: "yes!, yes!" as she walked through the passage way, trin smiled at her plight as she slowly pushed the door to an automatic lock. They were inside together now as they brought out a bottle of non alcoholic wine from the refrigerator to congratulate themselves and celebrate their first victory. Nicole will mimic Dr Carson's lines in the interview room and the rest laughed, they were cautious enough to check if their was any hidden cameras or listening device in their room but they were happy to see none. They laughed hard because the room was sound proof and Trin decided to call her parents as she signalled to her friends to tone it down, which they did. She took the telephone in the room and dialled the hotel they were in and the receptionist asked her to give her a minute to call and confirm her call and as she did, she waited a little bit and Trin called back right now, the receptionist gave the room's mobile number to trin and she put a call across, Brian picked it up and was so happy to hear trin's voice on the phone, he invited her mom who was watching a reality show on TV after answering to the receptionist some moments before that trin was on the phone. Her mom rushed over to take the call, she attentively and with full concern asked her about how things are going in the hospital and she told her everything was going smoother than she's ever expected. She briefed her about the impromptu interview that they excelled at and Mrs Simeon was super proud, Mrs Simeon went ahead and told her that they're going to take a four to five hours flight to Houston to see her parents, she expressed her fears about meeting them a and Trin assured her that everything was going to be fine. Mrs Simeon told her that her father had gone out that evening with destiny and kaima to take a permitted tour around the vicinity mainly to get accustomed to the place and for sightseeing. Trin laughed and said that its typically expected of her sisters so that they'll have some memories to take back to their peers at home. Mrs Simeon asked her if she's taken anything, she said yes and told her that Dr Lucy promised to take them out for dinner, her mom expressed heartfelt gratitude and appreciated the ultimate reality for blessing them with a personality like Dr Lucy. They ended the call after sharing some hearty verbal affection stimulation.
Then Scott asked trin "can we continue our noisemaking now?" trin nodded and they saturated the house with noise, they later quieted down, and everyone was now on their phones chatting their homies on their newly registered sim cards and Trin was chatting her closest buddy, Sarah, who just got the news of trin's departure. She said that she knew trin will come out in flying colors and her only plea is for trin not to forget her after she might have worn laurels of life, trin reminded her that if wealth could make her change till the extent of forgetting her pals from her humble beginnings that she don't need any of it, she went ahead to remind her of an African proverb that goes thus: "A chick never forgets that which sheltered it in rainy seasons" and "he who went up with a ladder shouldn't kick it down after he's reached to the top because he might need it on his way down". With these two adages she solidified her faith in her and stressed that she hasn't even qualified for anything yet but an introductory interview and Sarah affirmed that she was going to excel even if she went to another universe for the interview, trin said: "you're saying all these because am friend" and Sarah replied:"partially true but mostly because that's who you are". With that she begged to go to sleep early so as to be ready for whatever surprises their host might have the next day and with that she disconnected from the WiFi, looked around and noticed that everyone was asleep already and slept off too.