It was a new day with the scorching sun reflecting and hitting hard on the faces of the sellers and buyers in the market. You could hear the sellers calling out the "hajiyas" and "iyan matas" like they always do , as part of their market strategies *or so they thought * to get people to by buy from them.
Hannan squeezed her way through the unending crowd with leather bags of food stuff, her long hijab almost covering her legs making her stumble on it . She was almost feeling dizzy, trying to meet up with today's errand from Mama.
Just before she left the vegetables section , she heard a call from a distance not so far .. "Hajiya Hannan, won't you come and buy flour and sugar today? or are we fighting?" he said laughing at his harmless joke .
It was Mallam Iro the flour and sugar seller whose stall was at the very end of the vegetable section. He stalled his shop near his very good friend's shop Mallam Ali , who sells spinach and tomatoes .
Hannan turned to the direction the voice was coming from and walked towards him. *of course she wouldn't answer the old man from a distance *She respected him like her own father. "Good afternoon Mallam Iro, no not today , I don't have money on me to buy flour .. as it is now things have been hard ever since the government demanded that road sellers should vacate it for the benefit of the society .. you know how harsh they can be , they destroyed the little we were selling and left us with nothing so I've paused the business till Allah comes around for us." She sighed.
"Subhanallah, don't worry Hannan , Allah would come through for you. You can have these sack of flour , some yeast , baking powder , eggs and sugar from me. You can always tell people in your neighborhood about the pancakes or hawk it around or even come to the market and sell them ."
Hannan wore a confused face as to wether he was giving her the items on credit or expecting her to pay for them immediately. Mallam Iro noticed the fear on her face and recalled he didn't make himself quiet clear .
"Oh dear, You don't have to pay me Hannan. You've been a good girl and you deserve them . Please don't say no... let me help in my own little way." She couldn't protest the old man's offering. Hannan collected them with misty eyes and thanked Mallam Iro . She loaded them in a keke napep and went home .
She thought of her life and the shambles it came with and how Allah has always paved a way out for her. She sighed while closing her eyes , letting her farfetched thoughts swirl trough her head.
Hannan paid the napep man and was about to enter the house. Just at the very front of the house, which was made out of bricks and a cream paint that was falling , a little girl came crying in a cream dress that was stained from sand dirts, begging for food.
"Please ma'am , I need food , I haven't eaten the whole of today. Please give me food." Cried the little girl .
Hannan looked at the poor girl with teary eyes She knew how it felt to go days without food in ones tummy and she had a twitch in her heart seeing the little girl cry and beg for good . Hannan rushed to drop the bags that were dangling from her hands inside the house and came out to bring the little girl in.
"Mama I just met her outside crying and begging for food, she's too innocent to be going through this.. she doesn't even know where her parents are." Hannan said paying attention to the little girl while answering her mother who asked about the girl.
"But what irresponsible person leaves his little kid to be walking around begging for food? poverty should not let one be this careless.! Subhanallah." Mallama Aisha said, in a scurfing and disgusted tone.
Mallama Aisha looked at her daughter as she took the girl in , washed her and gave her the remaining tuwo and baobab soup that was left from the morning breakfast they had. She thanked Allah for giving her a daughter whose heart was big enough to even accommodate and help others even in trying times.
Nafisa came in with a pot of water which she filled from the well just 2 minutes away from their house.
" A'a, Adda Hannan, who is this little guest of ours ?." She told her how she met the girl and Nafisa felt for her. She came and sat next to the girl as If trying to have a conversation with her. "Where do you live my dear?." Asked Nafisa. But the little girl was engrossed in her tuwo miyan kuka that she didn't reply her until she finished eating . "I don't know." replied the girl. Nafisa looked at the girl smiling "*atleast Adda Hannan was the reason some lost , homeless ,hungry princess ate today *
The little girl ate to her heart's content and washed her hands. She ran to where Hannan was washing cloths in the courtyard and hugged her. Not minding the suds that were glued to her hands , Hannan did the same and kissed the girl's forehead.
"Assalama alaikum"
"Wa alaikumu salam"
"Good evening , I don't mean to interrupt you but please have you by any chance seen a little girl near your house, she's my daughter, I've been worried sick looking for her all over the area."
Hannan looked towards the mat the girl was sleeping and looked back at the woman who was backing a baby boy. She looked quiet young , probably in her late 20s, dressed in a faded Ankara wrapper and blouse with a big black veil draped around her. It was obvious the woman didn't have it all, but that doesn't give one the gateway to be careless with someone's life , your child's life. Atleast if anything , that life is wealth itself.
"if that is your daughter then I'm sorry , you are undeserving of a child.. what responsible mother leaves her kid to roam around begging for food ? What if she was kidnapped or God forbid fell into the hands of heartless men ? Then what ? You would cry after the damage has been done and be left with a forever till you die scare? She said with so much pain, pain you could feel echoing through her voice.
The woman ran to the girl and hugged her so tight with tears rolling from her eyes , as if to say a reaction that triggered from the thoughts that Hannan said.
"I know I'm at fault and you can call me names but I didn't even realize when she left my side. I was trying to get us food from the bean cake seller who offered to give me free food but she was long gone before I could blink an eye. We are poor and begging is the only means I have to put food in our mouths. I don't know where her father is ever since he decided to he got tired of the poor life and left us alone."
Oh God, it felt as it the floor should divide into two so she could bury herself right that minute. She felt so guilty and embarrassed accusing a woman, a mother of being careless and undeserving of a child . How dare she call her undeserving? Did she even walk a mile in her shoes ? Hannan couldn't talk. She cried her eyes out and asked the woman to forgive her realizing how her striking accusations must have hurt the woman.
She cooked the evening meal and served everyone in the courtyard where they usually sit and eat . No one ate dinner separately. It was more or less like a little tradition in their little house where everyone caught up and shared the day's activities.
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Salam Alaikum my lovely readers. This is something I've been working on and a little comment and like goes a long way. I'd try my best to be coherent as I can be and also make it worthy of your time. Do follow up as we try to unravel the curtains.
