MAIDEN ✔️

Chapter Four.

Ayyah Buzu is a fulani woman. Born into the family of Nomads and was married to a very nice Nomad called Sani. Ayyah and her late husband Sani have toured the whole Nigeria in search of grazing lands for their herds. At 16, a year after her marriage to Sani, she gave birth to Haidar, the apple of their eyes. She had to remain in a forest in the central part of Nigeria where he would go in search of food for them in neighboring villages. Sani had been a very devoted husband and a father, though they weren't blessed with another child before Sani passed on, he had been the best supporter to Ayyah.. Ayyah decided to go back home to her family, she had had enough touring and wanted to settle down so her son doesn't have to be cattle rarer like her, she wanted him to have a life, get married and settle down in a home. Besides, the forests were no longer safe as they used to be. She had sold off half the cattle when Sani had fallen ill, the other half had been when they were moving. 

On their way back to Sokoto, they had witnessed Aisha's rather gory accident. Ayyah had screamed, covering her eyes with her palms. Not until they heard little Zarah’s wail. Haidar had dumped the clothes he was carrying running off to the scene. His mother followed suit, after rescuing the little girl, Aisha could not be saved. They ran back as fast as they could, seeing the fire was already starting to consume the place. As they ran, the car exploded with a loud bang. They knew there and there that the little girl’s mother is no more. The tank drivers were at the other end of the road, so they had not seen Ayyah and Haidar as they were also trying to run for their lives. Ayah urged Haidar to quickly leave the scene so they did not see them.

"Mama, why didn't we take this child to the police? Her father might be looking for her, '' Ayyah's 14 year-old son said, staring at his mother questioningly. They had gone more than three miles away from the accident scene with Zarah who was already fast asleep, after wailing for almost a mile. Ayyah had stuffed Zarah in an Ankara pouch attached to the donkey they had mounted their clothes on. Haidar noticed his mother was in fact threading further away from the town instead of waiting for the authorities, he could only guess what his mother wanted to do with the child. “You’re not saying anything, what are you going to do with a child? '' he had added, stopping.

"Haidar, things happen for a reason, I don't think it's mere coincidence we happened to be on that route when they had that accident" Ayyah said with her thick buzu accent. "I've always wanted a baby girl, but after you, I couldn't conceive again. So let me have this one. Rabbi(God) gave her to me Haidar '' she said, smiling sweetly. Haidar has never seen his mother this happy after his father's death. He looked at the little kid sleeping peacefully. It won't harm them to keep this pretty baby, but what would they tell his uncle, and what if the parents of the child track them down. Voicing out his thoughts won't change her mind so he did not bother trying to say anything again, because she isn’t the type to back down once she’s made up her mind.

It took three days for them to get to Sokoto. Zarah would wake up, cry a little then go back to sleep. She'd call for her mummy at times. On the third day she didn't cry at all. Instead she would smile and laugh at baby jokes Haidar kept cracking. Ayyah had already written a letter to her relatives about building a house for her and her son, they had affirmed seeing the letter that's why she and Haidar had started their journey back home. On the third day they arrived in Sokoto, Haidar became nervous. 

"What will we tell people when they ask where you got her from, you and I both know Baba died years ago" Haidar reasoned with his mother again. 

"We'll tell them I got married and divorced. Anything contrary to this story will make them treat her badly. They would frustrate my little baby and I wouldn't want anyone maltreating her or saying something bad to her" she stated sternly with a frown. Haidar nodded. It's obvious they will be doing this.