I Know My Mother👩🏽(IKMM)✅

Market

A phone rang loudly in the crowded bus. A stocky man with a huge potbelly answered the call quietly. Everyone else didn't seem to care or just didn't have the energy to rebuke the man. Nneka's grandmother, Mama Agnes was going to the market to buy ingredients for preparing beans and egusi soup. She was in a small yellow bus, a danfo, which were very common around the city.

The driver of the bud has clearly taken the time to take care of the bus. Though old, the walls, windows, and seats were well kept and clean. Mama resented how some danfo drivers refused to maintain their own buses well. The last bus she was in was filthy! The walls were peeling, the floor of the bus was nailed down with wooden planks so as to cover up the unsightly holes, the air conditioner was broken, and there were no seats! Wooden benches were nailed to the floor of the bus, which they had to sit on. It didn't help that the weather was stifling hot, which meant that people would be sweaty and irritable.

All through the ride the bus stunk of sweat and was very uncomfortable. Some of the other passengers were chatting loudly at the back of the bus. Vans with speakers secured on the roof were blaring out advertisements, music or political propaganda. They sped past a line of young girls and boys hawking groundnut, biscuits and drinks, and the large buildings with huge signs advertising models and clothes. Mama longed for some company or some form of interaction.

A small hand tapped on her arm. It was a young girl sitting next to her. Her mother was on her left side, holding what seemed to be her little brother. The girl held an opened pack of cream crackers in her hand and offered one. Agnes smiled softly and took one. Her mother was beaming at her, proud of her behavior. The girl was equally happy as her mother would reward her later. The baby cooed and smiled an adorable toothless grin. Everyone seemed happy at that moment. That was the last interaction she had with anyone on the bus before she arrived at her destination: Opolu Market.

Mama Agnes, Nneka's grandmother, was a very shrewd woman. She always sent Nneka to the farther, busier roads to shelter so that there would be little chance of them running into each other. The Goodness Church had sent seventy thousand naira to her account, so she could buy three bottles of Baba Jide's special poison while still supporting herself. There was a tinge of guilt within her when she accepted the money. Nneka wanted to go to school, and that money would have been more than enough for her to pay for her school fees. However, the mad man's sister was her boss. It was better to be unjust to her granddaughter rather than offend her boss. They saw the entrance of the market sometime later, and soon they finally arrived.

Mama Agnes struggled to get down from the bus. the door was filled with passengers trying to rush out of the bus. Where they were going, she didn't know. It always pissed her off when she saw youth trying to take advantage of her because of her old age. One young boy jostled her while calling someone on his phone. Mama Agnes glared at him and muttered a curse. Maybe if he fell down on the muddy ground he would be more humble. Despite her old age, she walked as fast as the youth in the crowd she followed. Her speed was admired and ridiculed by some of the crowd. "Old woman, dey walk fast fast as if her husband dey look for her." "Ah! Mama, you wan run race!?" She ignored them and kept walking.

It took her some time before she found the woman she was looking for. Her shoes had been dirtied by the muddy ground. Nneka would have to help her wash the shoes when she got home. "Customa! Myake shuar you go come back, ko?" Hajiya was beaming while counting a thick wad of naira notes in her hand. A filthy frayed toothpick sat between a huge gap between her front teeth. Mama could recognize that thick Hausa accent and high pitched voice anywhere. Hajiya Aisha Adamu was selling some tomatoes and onions in her stall. The stall was obviously in need of repairs. It was a wooden shack with corrugated iron sheet roofing. The roof had a few holes with rusted edges. The whole place smelt damp and the smell of rotting tomato juices offended Mama Agnes. "At least she should wash the table, ah!" She muttered to another elderly woman standing next to her. The woman nodded at her then walked into the crowd of people walking on the market road.

Rays of scorching sun peeked through the holes and struck Hajiya's skin. Mama watched her adjust the sleeves of her abaya to cover up her skin. Her clothes were old and faded, and it looked like the dress she spotted her wearing three days ago at one of the mosques in town. Mama tried to look as friendly as possible. She didn't want anyone who knew her to see her being rude first and then go gossip behind her back.

"Hajiya! Na long time oo! How Alhaji? How your children?" Hajiya scowled at her and hissed, then spat out the toothpick. "Shegiya. Bastard. What do you wanted furom me?" Mama only glanced at the huge pyramid of onions and tomatoes. Flies swarmed around them, looking to taste the juices that stained the old wooden table of vegetables. An open metal lunchbox exposed Hajiya's recent meal: boiled rice with tomato stew and beef. The scanty rice grains and remnants of red oil had already dried on the metal surface. It was very disgusting; at least Hajiya could have covered it even if she didn't feel like washing it.

Hajiya swiftly bundled up a black polythene bag of tomatoes and onions and pushed them towards her. She belched loudly; her breath stunk of oil and onions which infuriated Mama. Mama's kind facade had long faded away. She returned the hiss with an even longer hiss and a curse, if not she wouldn't be ruder. Mama threw two old two-hundred naira notes on the old wooden table and then strutted away.

They were enemies since they met. One day some years ago, she was in the market when she saw Hajiya beating up her husband in the middle of the crowd. A young girl who looked like her daughter was pulling her arm while she slapped the man soundly. The girl was bawling loudly. The men rushed to separate them and luckily succeeded. A few elderly Muslim women took her aside and comforted her. Hajiya had accused her husband of sleeping around with other women. He had denied and they soon started fighting. He was very slim and light, and Hajiya was fat and heavy. They struggled for about three minutes before Hajiya straddled her husband and rained punches on him. Hajiya had just ridiculed herself by acting like an uneducated, unrestrained and narrow-minded woman.

The other women flung curses at her with great speed and accuracy. Mama Agnes soon started shouting at her, then Hajiya attacked her. Some men finally subdued Hajiya, but not without her hair getting dirty, her dress getting torn and her torn underwear being exposed to the crowd. She and her family suffered great humiliation after the incident. After that incident, Mama and Hajiya never got along.

She spent the rest of the afternoon haggling for egusi (melon) seeds, vegetable leaf, Maggi (cube spice) and crayfish. By the time she was done, it was already past twelve o'clock. She left the house at seven o'clock in the morning. She waited for a bus for forty minutes, and when she finally rode the bus she was in traffic for about two hours, and she spent about two hours shopping. She beckoned for a wheelbarrow driver to cart her wares to the main road so she could board a taxi.

The wheelbarrow driver was a pleasant man. Mama enjoyed his company during their short walk. The man's name was Bolaji and he was the eldest son in his family. Mama gave him a face cap from her huge leather bag, and he accepted it happily. They spent the walk talking about family, God, rice and American fashion. When they reached the road, Mama finally pulled over a taxi. She wasn't looking at Bolaji while he was stealing her groundnut and running away. When she looked back, she was shocked to find that 'Bolaji' had disappeared along with one bottle of her groundnuts. She was furious but she couldn't find him in the thick, busy crowd of people. The groundnut was expensive!

The taxi driver sneered at her while helping her load her goods into the boot of the car. His greedy eyes glanced at her huge leather bag. She reached into her bag and brought out her purse, then she gave him one hundred naira. Greed flashed in his eyes. You never trusted those Opolu Market wheelbarrow guys, even for the smallest second. The taxi driver drove like a mad man. He made sure to break all the traffic rules possible. He overtook in corners, sped in the slow lane, did not trafficate and made sure to stop smack in the middle of the road. None of that mattered to mama Agnes. As long as she arrived home early, in one piece, she would be fine.

They finally reached her destination. She paid him four hundred naira, with a two-hundred naira tip for his services. The man grinned at her while blessing her as he collected the money. She sneered at him in her heart. The front door was locked, so she used her key to open it. Soon after she got settled into the house and then began preparing their food.