uncle's hug in nigeria

You step off the long flight and the hot air slaps your face, crowds running to cabs, hands passing money everywhere at once. Then your uncle is there, pulling you into a big hug before driving you through it all, the unfamiliar architecture, the police, the tolls, cars rushing and swerving past the roadside signs deep into the night. You greet the relatives, then let the tiredness take you into a long, needed nap, and it lives now as amber, vanilla and blood orange.