TÓDÙN

3

TODUN

I squeezed the sachet of water into my mouth trying to get the last drop of it as the seller handed me my change.

I finished the exam some few minutes ago and I must confess that I was feeling nervous and thirsty. I nervously walked out of the exam hall after clicking on the submit button and found myself buying two sachet of water which I finished in an instant.

I walked back to the road and entered a bus that would take me to the filling station where I worked. I was tightly squeezed between two fat women and the smell of the perspiration emitting from their body almost sent me vomiting. It was such a relief when the bus got to my destination and I alighted to feel the fresh air and see the smile plastered all over Bisi's face as I crossed the road to meet her.

She was attending to a customer who at my arrival, engaged her in a conversation not minding the look on her face that clearly dictated that she wasn't interested. I quickly went to the changing room, changed into my uniform and went back to meet her.

"How was the exam?" She asked me as she arranged the numerous naira notes she was holding properly and orderly.

"I did it there o and committed it to the hands of the Lord." I pointed to the sky and heaved a sigh.

"It is well, he will take absolute control."

"Amen." I sighed again while she looked at me and smiled.

"Why don't you want to take another JAMB?" I asked her anxiously.

"You know na, my parents can't afford to send me to school. I still have seven siblings and none of them have graduated." She answered me as tears dropped from her eyes.

"Don't worry ehn, God is in control." I stood up to attend to the customer that parked her car.

***

I got back home to meet my Mum counting the oranges from the buckets to the bigger bowl. I greeted her and went to the backyard to carry a stool. I placed the stool beside her and sat down explaining how the exam went to her.

She listened with rapt attention even though I knew that she didn't really understand most of the things I said. When she was done arranging, she picked the ones belonging to some of her buyers and I went to deliver it to them.

***

As I walked back home after my deliveries, Alani the son of the carpenter who has been asking me to date him met me on the way. He exposed his brownish teeth and talked about the same old topic. I ignored him and walked swiftly away from him.

Few metres away from home, I could hear Mama Chidera calling my Mum names and asking her to pay the money we owed her.

We used to buy food stuffs from Mama Chidera, not like it was a large scale buying but whenever we needed food she was the plug. She even gave it to us on credit whenever we didn't have enough money to pay her but recently we defaulted in paying.

I walked to the house briskly amidst the screams and greeted Mama Chidera but with no replies, instead she stared at me murderously

"And here is the daughter of this good for nothing debtor. Have I not tried ehn? Have I? For the past three months you two have been feeding on me. You are so ungrateful." She pointed to my Mum who watched her pensively.

I quickly went into the room and took my money from my trousers and added the money my Mum gave to me earlier in the day. I rushed back outside and gave Mama Chidera the sum of one thousand naira. She counted the money looked at my mother and kept it in her purse

"Just thank God, thank your God that you gave me the money today. I would have shown you pepper." She tied her wrapper tightly and cursed while the onlookers who were expecting exchange of blows disappeared into their homes in disappointment.

I followed my Mum who was already crying into the house. She cursed the day she was born silently and used the edge of her wrapper to dab her face. She stood up, went to the backyard and blew her nose.

"It is not her fault na, it is mine. If I had gone to school, gotten employed by a white man and owned an exotic car, she would not come to my house to speak all those nonsense." She burst into another round of tears.

"Mum that's enough, please don't cry." I tried pacifying her.

"I am not crying o, I am just embittered. Mi o de ni owo to to be ni o, gbese o wu emi na je."( I don't have any money up to that amount, I don't love owing people too) She blew her nose into her wrapper.

"I have paid her already, no need to worry." I rubbed her back and made my way to the kitchen.

***

Placing the basin containing the oranges on my head comfortably, I walked carefully and announced my arrival in the market. For a small scale seller like myself, we didn't own a stand or store in the market. So basically what I do is hawking.

"Omo olosan" (Orange seller). A middle aged woman called me. I walked to her and carefully placed the bowl on the floor and I watched her pick the one she wanted.

"How much you dey sell this ten?" She asked in pidgin English after counting ten fresh and ripe oranges into the tray.

"One hundred Naira ma." I replied as I rearranged the oranges to make the bowl settle comfortably on my head when I carry it.

"I am going to sell it again ni o, you will not reduce the amount?"

"My Mum told me to sell it hundred Naira ma." I used my Mum as a bait to persuade her into buying it. She lifted her bowl and poured the oranges back into my bowl.

"How much do you want to buy it?" I picked the orange back into her bowl.

"Make it eighty naira so that I will gain twenty naira." I bent slightly as a sign of respect and acceptance. She dipped her hand into the her purse and gave me seventy naira which I didn't take from her she then added ten naira.

"And you are sure that this osan is sweet like this?"(Osan meaning orange) She asked me as she dipped her hand into the bowl and chose another set of oranges.

After changing it several times and she then realized I was grumbling and feeling embarrassed she stopped. Her daughter helped me to place the bowl back on my head and I continued my journey round the market.

***

It had been two days after I wrote my exam. I have returned to my normal life of hawking and dispensing. Bisi was not around so I sat down under the shed with no one to talk to. I received a call from a former classmate about the results of the exam and on sending the required code to the prescribed number I was sent my JAMB score.

I almost fell off the chair as 262 stared back at me as my result. I beamed in happiness when I looked at the phone but my happiness was short-lived when the manager tapped me.

"Good afternoon sir." I bent slightly.

"Afternoon, what about what we talked about?" He looked at me sternly.

"I will get back to you about it sir."

"Imagine you will get back to me about it as if you have a choice. Just an advice, you better give up on going to school and make your stay here full time." He laughed wickedly and walked to his office without waiting for my reply.

If only he knew, if only he knew I will soon become a university undergraduate, I thought and used my hand to chase the housefly on the oranges.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Do you know, everyone has Alani, that guy in the neighborhood who wants to date you.🤣🤣🤣🤣

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