Tony sat at the front of his house - an apartment he shared with his friend, Alex - chilling out at the early hour of a Sunday evening as a result of the interruption of electrical power leaving the whole town in a total blackout. It's the same everywhere in Nigeria, he wouldn't expect any difference from Sokoto.
His hand skipped from button to bottom on the keypad of his android phone and his face glued to the screen in undivided focus, he had no intention to lose again.
"Buy your sweet groundnut," a distant call from a familiar voice made him look up toward the direction of the voice. "GAME-OVER, YOU LOSE," that annoying pre-programmed voice called out from his phone the umpteenth time. Who cares?
He was now preoccupied by the sound of the very familiar voice. Even though now the voice was promoting groundnut instead of the usual soft drink he was familiar with, he would recognize that voice anywhere in the world, even if suddenly awoken from sleep. That's Miriam's of course.
Tony was really amazed by her action some days back. He never would have thought that a child of her age would display such a high level of discipline and dignity. Whoever that mommy Rashidat was, she has done well in imparting discipline to the child.
He was worried though, this child, Miriam was too hard working for his comfort. On Mondays to Saturdays, she hawks soft drinks then groundnuts on Sundays? When does she rest or do other things children do?
Heavily ladened with the responsibility of an adult, she was forced to become one at a very tender age. Not even given the opportunity to have a taste of childhood. Surely, fate is not fair.
"Buy your sweet groundnut!" The call grew louder as she drew nearer.
"Miriam, come over." He called out to her beckoning with his hands. To which, she responded with a smile and walked over to meet him.
I can see that I am making progress in cracking down her wall, he thought smiling.
.
"So, Miriam, how are you today?"
"I am fine oh."
"I can see you've come a long way, your groundnuts are almost finished."
"Yes oh, market is good today."
A short silence ensued and then he spoke again. "Miriam, who is Mma Rashidat?"
At the mention of that name, a beautiful smile lit up her face as she sat upright, eager to start explaining. For sure whoever the woman is, she adores her a lot, He thought.
"Mma Rashidat is the mother of my friends, Musa and Rashidat. They are my best friends apart from Amed. Do you know that she bought a dictionary and diary for me?" The radiance of her smile was enough to bright up an entire community.
"Wow! She did that?"
"Yes oh, she bought it for me when I told her that I love to be a journalist. She also said I should come to their house every Friday after prayers in the Mosque so that I can study with Musa and Rashidat. She makes sure we don't play too much and mark our work after we finish our assignment."
"That sounds like an amazing person."
"Yes oh. She is the only person that supported me when I said I want to be a journalist. She always said that I should not let anything stop me from following my dream.
"That I should always believe in myself, that no matter what happened, if I don't give up, Allah will find a way to make my dream come through."
"Wow! She is a good woman."
She nodded her head. "Yes oh."
"Miriam, how old are you?" He asked.
She looked directly into his eyes, "You like to know my age very much?"
"Yes, I would love to." He nodded, "that's if it does not make you uncomfortable."
She always wanted to keep her wall up because she promised Mrs. Abubakar that she would always do so but she couldn't anymore. She had revealed so much to him already and she felt propelled by an invisible force to keep on.
Yes, Mrs. Abubakar admonished her to stay away from men, not that she fully understood why but she trusted her judgement but there was something about Tony that made her feel free, comfortable and safe. Deep within, she had this sense of tranquility and conviction that she was in the right hand.
As much as the logical part of her brain is screaming for her to keep her wall up to honor Mrs. Abubakar, she had no more will power to hold the wall together anymore because a certain dark skinned young man, with very dark shining lowly cut with sporty wave had broken down the wall with acts of kindness and had paralyzed her resistance with genuine care and concern - well, speaking about genuine care, that's how she felt anyway.
"I will turn eleven in a few months time," she found herself saying against her better judgement.
This encouraged him to ask further, "Where are your parents?"
"I stay with my father but my mother. . ." She shrugged, "well, I don't know oh."
"What happened to her?"
"She left us when I was a baby." Frowning, she added, "Uncle Tony, why are you asking me all this many many questions?"
"Well, nothing much, I was just wondering why a young intelligent girl like you would be hawking every day, when you should be in school?"
Her momentary silence and the sudden change in mood made him realize that he had poked on a sensitive spot so he quickly added, "see Miriam, sorry if I am making you uncomfortable, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."
With her gaze on the load pad on her lap which she'd been playing with subconsciously for a while, she stated, "My father is poor, I stopped going to school three years ago, when I was in basic three and started hawking to support the family."
"Wow! You stopped schooling in basic three yet you can speak English so well?" He asked with eyes almost dropped out.
Like something cast with the radiance of the sun, her face suddenly lit up and her spirit was lifted. The optimism that was emanating from her at this point could be felt.
"I love going to school oh. I always dream to be a journalist," she said dreamily as she reminisced her moment with a brilliant smile playing on her lip.
Like someone broke out from a spell, she suddenly pulled out of her reverie. She zipped open her money bag and fished out two neatly folded newspapers having pen mark underlined vocabularies scattered all over its pages, a small pocket sized dictionary and a diary.
"I study with my friends everyday after I return from market and always read newspapers by myself. These are new ones," She said, unwrapping the newspaper one after the other for him to see. "I have some old ones at home too.
"I use the dictionary to check for the meaning of big big words. I also write in my diary everyday. I sometimes read to myself when I am alone, imagining that I am a journalist."
"Wow! You've got me speechless. You have a strong fighting spirit, I am really impressed."
A brief moment of silence passed.
"What if you have a sponsor, would you like to continue schooling?" Tony voiced his thoughts, breaking the silence.
Her face lit up with hope which disappeared as suddenly as it came and was replaced by a saddened expression. With her face downcast, she said, "I don't think my father will allow that because I am the one now taking care of the family ever since my older sister was married away three years ago."
She was fortunate not to be looking at him at the moment, otherwise, she would have been terrified by the sudden surface of the monstrous anger on his face threatening to find outward expression.
For an easy going person who rarely gets angry, this side of him sometimes surfaces and he dreaded its consequences. Over time, he had learned how to tame it but the mention of her father had the ability to effortlessly bring out the worst in him.
As a means of distraction, he asked, "how old is your elder sister now?"
"17 years."
He quickly made the calculation in his head. "Meaning she was 14 when she was married out?" He spat out, grinding his teeth.
"Yes," she affirmed nodding.
Calm down Tony, this anger at this moment can do nothing to help the situation. He kept repeating to himself over and over until his anger dissipated and was replaced with concern for her. He felt sorry for her, most especially as he didn't even know how to help.
*** *** ***
It's on Saturday. Miriam had hurried to the Abubakar's residence after sales intending to see her friends one more time before they left.
Her time with the family two Fridays ago was characterized by sadness and tears. The children cried so hard when Mrs. Abubaka broke the news to Miriam.
Sitting on the couch in her living room with Miriam, Musa and Rashidat flanking her on both sides, Mrs. Abubakar fought really hard to control her tears from falling as she let out the news that Mr. Abubakar, a staff of the ministry of works and housing had an impromptu transfer to Katsina State.
"Miriam, my husband has been transferred to Kastina State. It came suddenly, so we will be leaving to Kastina soon." Her voice croaked like someone that swallowed a hot yam. "Next week Saturday precisely."
"Mma, I don't understand oh. Are you people parking away?" Miriam asked in disbelief, one can see traces of uncertainty clearly in her charcoal black colored eyes as she stared at Mrs. Abubakar's face wishing for a 'no' as the answer.
Being unable to answer in word, Mrs. Abubaka nodded. She couldn't hold back her tears as she unlocked her gaze from Miriam's and bowed her head.
The eye they say is the window to the soul. What she saw in Miriam's eyes broke her. If she's given the ability and choice to change just one thing in her life, she would have chosen to undo this without thinking twice.
"Mma, are you people leaving me too?" Came the question that turned the living room to a flood of tears.
Miriam couldn't recollect how all four of them got locked in a warm embrace with her head on Mrs. Abubaka's blossom as she emptied the content of her eyes.
Miriam could barely sleep through the night, her tear soaked wrapper (her make-shift pillow) could attest to that.
They always leave. Her mother left when she was a baby. Her sister who swore to always protect her also left. The fact that she was married out without her choice does nothing to change the fact that her leaving left a void in Miriam's tender heart that nothing else could fill.
Her father whose duty it was to protect them had left them the moment he lost everything many years ago. Soaked in misery and depression, all to be seen in him was a shell of his former self having relinquished his fatherly role to her, his eleven years old daughter.
Her older brother, Belo. Oh! Belo. They were so closed back then. He'd been very angry with his father for not standing up for the family after he'd lost everything. When his father married her sister out three years back, he couldn't take it anymore and he too left her, his best person. He left her in pain without looking back even to this day.
And now, Musa and Rashidat were leaving too. Oh, it pains a lot.
The whole week was a long boring one for her as gloominess encased her once splendid demeanor. She virtually ran out of the Abubakar's resident feeling betrayed last Friday.
Having thought things over, the strong sense of guilt that overwhelmed her deep within and the hurt she felt inside made her miss meetings with the kids the entire week. She also missed her regular Friday meetings with the Abubakar family the day before.
She tried to fight back the tears that threatened to pour without success. Like an open floodgate, it flowed down her cheeks incessantly as she waved them farewell.
Musa and Rashidat were in no better condition as they waved back in tears from the back seat of the moving vehicle.
Amed just stood by her with red eyes allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder. Apart from the redness of his eyes, nothing gives away his emotions. Not even a single reaction. People deal with pains differently, I guest.
A/N: Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe and share if you like this chapters.
Comments (0)
See all