The Girl in the Choir

The day was alive with a flurry of activities and the market quaked with this life. Oji quickened her steps as she struggled to keep up with the guy in front of her who was a load bearer and had on his barrow all her money's worth. Oji while struggling to match his pace skimmed the passer-by beside her who was walking very closely to her, she was suspicious of every single person in this market, not after she had learnt her lesson the hard way. Oji had set off to the market with great expectations, but her expectations fell short of what she actually experienced in the market. No sooner had she stepped in to start her usual purchase than she was met by a young boy of barely twelve years old in ragged clothing's and with two different pairs of dirty slippers worn on equally dirty legs. He looked very untidy and exuded an amazing energy for a child his age, that alone could have arose suspicion in her, but the Oji of then couldn't care less. She shook off the boy's dirty hands which he had place on her dress in a bid to solicit her patronage, as she bade him to lift her stuff into his wheel barrow. The energy she had once noticed in the young lad tripled as he worked mechanically now, lifting and placing the items in a haste that she felt he might damage her goods. "jiri nwayo now" , do you want to break the items before I take them home. The young lad in response to her outburst shouted "aaah, Omo Ibo no vex, you sabi say time na money, I wan do this sharp sharp make I go find another work. If I too tey for one work hunger go kill me". He was done putting the items in the wheel barrow and after hassling over the price, he settled for a 'fair price' of five hundred Naira after lamenting that Oji had cheated him of his fair price. She laughed inwardly, the boy must have seemed little but he was street smart. The proposed job only cost two hundred and on a fair bargain could be slashed by fifty naira. The price having been concluded, the young lad set off with his load as he shouted uzo uzo uzo!!! and sped off with the barrow towering with goods twice his height and which was no doubt heavy for a child his age, but he surprised Oji as not only did he not succumb to the weights pressure, but he managed a run despite it's weight, and so the race began. The boy drove the barrow with so much vigour that people cleared the road for fear of sustaining an injury. Barrow pushers were not one to be patient and as such incomers simply cleared off the road on sight of them. Oji ran after the boy, of whom she remembered had worn a red shirt and so she made her way in the crowd of people who had come to the Ogbete Market, chasing her load bearer. The swarming people in the market seemed only to give way to the barrow pushers and once an exit had been created for the problematic hustlers, the crowd enclosed to a tight pack of swarming people as the women whose goods were carried struggled to meet up with them. This was the usual drill in the market and the crowd grew even thicker during the Christmas celebrations. Oji followed the boy's back diligently and once when she got swallowed by the crowd and made her way out again, the lad was no where to be found. He had disappeared and so did her goods. She stood speechless with eyes scanning the environ for the familiar red shirt. Her legs began walking briskly towards their supposed destination hoping perhaps that the boy had made his way there before her and at the same time praying silently that her fears that the boy had actually made away with her goods will never come true. As she arrived the destination, her heart skipped a bit when she sighted a young lad in a bright red shirt, she broke into a short race as she made her way to him and pulled him by the shirt. The boy turned to see who has interrupted the 'udala' fruit which he had been enjoying. He broke into a smile showing his dentition as he recognized the face which currently looked like one who had seen a ghost. She heaved a sigh of relief as she saw her goods sitting pretty right next to the boy, she muttered a sincere prayer to God for this quick miracle.The boy read through her expression and let out a cackle"Aunty you fear, no worry I no dey carry pesin goods run, my name na Adamu pipl here dey call me Saint Adamu" he boasted. Oji was ten worlds away from him and only registered his last words and smiled "Saint ke, I think say na Muslim you be", she gave him a surprised look at which the boy responded shyly. The agreement had earlier been for him to take the goods to the park where she was to board a 'Keke' as tricycles were popularly called to her house, but time had the boy pushing his barrow down her street path, he was doing so sluggishly as they chatted away. Oji must have forgotten her earlier fears concerning the boy as she stopped in front of a gate and pointed" that's my house". The boy nodded in recognition and pushed the weight into the compound which the gate enclosed and began off loading the items on Oji's verandah with a vigour at par with that which he had displayed previously. Oji watched him and a thought crossed her mind which she shook off immediately, unconsciously shaking her head in the process. The lad raised himself from his once stooped position pouring out the tomato water in his barrow, in an intentionally slow manner, hoping that the kind young lady would read his mind and that he didn't have to bring it up to her. Oji smiled mischievously, all the while aware of the young boy's act. "You want your money ba, the young boy nodded in response, she smiled even wider, opened her bag, fished out two notes and handed it over to him. The boy had begun"Aunty I no get change oooh, na just now I dey comot for work. " I tell you say I want change, she snapped back, feigning annoyance. The boy shocked at the two thousand naira notes handed over to him smiled widely and muttered a string of inaudible 'thank you's' as he spun.around and left the compound, hitting his feet on a stone as he made for the gate, all the while aware of the eye which was by now staring holes into his back. Oji giggled lightly and began packing her items into the kitchen whilst reminiscing on the day. She didn't forget to mentally note to look for the lad again when next she made it to the market The next day was today, three weeks after and she was viciously scanning the market for the boy. Her memory of him had grown faint, that she only hoped on the familiar instinct when she got to meet him. She scanned the market for him as she moved from shop to shop making her purchases and put off from contacting any other barrow pushers with the hope that the boy might pass by. She waited and waited and with no sight of him, waved one of the many others to carry her goods. After the bargaining of the price, the new guy, who was about twenty years old and was neater in appearance than Adamu set off to placing her goods in the barrow. As she stood waiting for him, she felt a sting of guilt, one which she knew couldn't be helped, some people were just so irreplaceable and this young lad was sure one of them. The new guy broke off into their usual race and she marched up to his pace painstakingly, all the while her mind filled with thoughts of 'Saint Adamu'.