MARKET STREET
210 Words
The bus doors opened. Hot air hit Zahra’s face.
`Market Street.`
She stepped down slow.
Dust. People. Noise.
Stalls lined both sides of the road.
Cloth. Food. Shoes.
Every face looked at her once, then away.
Amara held her arm.
`Stay close,` she said.
Boma looked at the card.
`Aunty Ngozi sells cloth here.`
`Blue wrapper. Red stall.`
Zahra’s heart beat hard.
Blue wrapper. Red stall.
She moved through the crowd.
Old women sat by baskets.
Young girls sold water.
None had her eyes.
None had her name.
`Ngozi?` Zahra tried.
No one turned.
`Ngozi?` louder.
A woman by cloth paused.
`No Ngozi here today.`
Zahra felt cold.
Amara squeezed her hand.
`We ask again.`
Boma pointed left.
`Red stall. That one.`
Zahra looked up.
Red cloth. Blue wrapper on a stand.
A woman was not there.
But a girl was.
Young. Quiet.
She held a paper.
Zahra froze.
The paper looked like hers.
The search had just begun.The girl looked up slow.
Her eyes were wide.
`Are you looking for someone?` she asked.
Zahra could not speak.
She just nodded.
Amara stepped forward.
`A woman named Ngozi.`
`Blue wrapper. Red stall.`
The girl stared at the paper.
`My mother has this cloth.`
Zahra’s breath stopped.
Hope felt too big.
- Writer
