Yellow Tales of a Nigerian Housemaid (completed)

Chapter Seventeen

My heart stopped beating!

I was staring blankly at the tiny pieces scattered all over the floor and without control, hot tears began flowing freely from my eyes. They splattered like drum beats wetting the floor. I slowly raised my bewildered face and caught Chizo grinning mockingly. I was afraid to look up at our teacher so I cast my eye on a hollow in the floor.

"Do you have anything to say Nneogo?" she asked

"I'm so sorry ma, it wasn't intentional" I pleaded.
"It's alright" she said almost immediately and my eyes lit up at that. I smiled happily. I looked at Chizo with a vicious smile and I could sense sudden disappointment on her face.
"Now get up both of you" She ordered and Chizo carefully placed her object on the floor. The sadness on her face glowed and I knew she was in pain. I felt for her.
We thanked her in unison and turned to leave but she had a better idea.
"You both won't go home together" she said. "Nneogo run along first, Chizo will come later".

I thanked her and raced off. I stopped by the phonebooth and put a call through to my dad to inform him of the water business I was being forced to undergo. I explained to him that it gives me no chance to study and that I hawk them on empty stomach. Dad was so bitter and promised to send a strict message across. To help buttress my desperation, I put a call through to my elder brother also. He was raging with anger and ended the call to register his complaints with dad. I guess my brother's call to dad rubbed in enough pressure that left him with no option than to put a call through to Mama immediately.

I got home to two very angry guardians.

I was very late from school and my dad had just banned their illegal business. They were furious. Aunty Oby was the first to speak.

"I don't care where you are coming from or how your dad got to know that you hawk sachets of water for me, but one thing is certain, you must finish the sales of all the bags I've booked. What am I going to do with them? Drink them? No way! Better decide happily to sell them all if not you will hate me forever!" she screamed at me and went upstairs.

Mama was unusually quiet. She was just staring into a blank space though her countenance disclosed easily that she wasn't happy. I walked up the stairs to a very angry aunt Oby waiting patiently for me.

"Change those clothes now and get out to sell my water! Your dad has no right! Nonsense! " she screamed.

I knew I could never object to her instructions lest I receive more pains. I quietly changed into a better clothe and left to her distributor's shop. I carefully arranged the sachets of water in my big rubber bowl and balanced it on my head. I walked out of the shop and made my way to the busy park.
"Buy pure water, your sweet water here" I sang as I maneuvered through the many buses loaded with travelling passengers.

"So you sell water too" I heard a familiar voice say from behind. I turned sharply to see who it was, and was astonished to see Chizo. I felt embarrassed!

"You know Mrs Ekema didn't want us to go home together because she knew I would fight you on our way. And she asked you to go first because she knew I would hang around to wait for you if I had gone before you! But what she didn't realize was that I know your route and would definitely come looking for you!" she bragged.
I didn't want to join issues with her so I moved away while still advertising my ware.
"pure water" Chizo would mimic my shouts as she trotted behind me. I couldn't take it anymore so I went into a tailor's shop and waited for her to leave.  She hung around for like an hour before signaling that she would deal with me the next day in school. I was glad that she had left but was also feeling very hungry now. My stomach was constantly twinging painfully and my legs shivered in numbness. My eyes were frail and my throat longed for water. I knew I hawked my aunt's sachet water but I was not allowed to have one no matter how thirsty I was. I began to cry.

"Pure water!  Pure water!!" I heard someone call. I jacked  my bowl and raced to the young lady.

"It's not as cold as I want" she said to me while looking around for another seller
"Please aunty buy from me" I said pleadingly. She looked down to face a little me with a worried smile.
"it's alright I will buy from you" she said.  I thanked her as she dipped her hand into the bowl to pick a sachet.
"Have you been crying?" she asked. I shook my head with a smile.
"A fly perched in my eyes" I lied. Surprisingly she began to laugh.
"You know when I was little I used to use that line. It's a popular one, try another" she said handing me a twenty naira note.
"I'm fine aunty" I said but my stomach kept bubbling to remind me it needed food. A streak of tears fell from my eyes again and with the back of my palm I wiped it off immediately.

"Now you will have to tell me why you are crying, who knows I might be of help" she said lovingly.
"I'm hungry, very hungry" I replied
"And where are your parents?  Your mum especially"
"At home" I said
"Is the one at home really your mum or your aunt?"
"My aunt"
She was quiet for sometime.
"How many sachets of water are remaining in your bowl" she asked
"Nineteen ma" I replied. I had only sold one, the one she just bought.
"And how much is it all?"
"It will be ninety five naira ma" my face had lit up, did she really want to buy all? 
She unzipped her purse and handed me a hundred naira note. I took it, I was still surprised.
"Gala! Gala!!" She shouted. A young boy approached with a mini carton of beef roll.
"Give her one" she instructed and he did as she said.
"I want soft drink, can you get one for me?" she said to the young boy while handing him a fifty naira note.
"Dem plenty, make I go check!" he replied in the popular pidgin English and sped off. Seconds later he was back with a hawker balancing a similar bowl filled with different brands of soft drinks on her head.
"Give her a bottle" The young lady said to her.
I was grinning in excitement. I thanked her so much as she paid the young girl.
"Oya make we commot" the driver said as he closed the door.
"What is your name?" my strange friend asked.
"Nneogo, my name is Nneogo" I replied with a mouth full of beef roll. She smiled as I hungrily drank from the bottle.
"I will look for you when next I come into town alright?" she said. I nodded and smiled boldly as their car made its way out of the park. I waved at her and she waved back with a beautiful smile.

My strange friend was gone!!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥💜💜💜💜♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Kindly vote if you did!

Have you ever done something nice for someone whom you know would never be able to repay you?

How did you feel afterwards?

Always put a smile on someone's face; always feed a hungry stomach, you can never imagine how hard you've touched their soul!!

And please check out my new story Mom Plus Three, it's a true story of my kids and I. It's humor and you'll love it. If you do, kindly leave a vote and comment, spread the word too. Thank you