VALLEY:The Trials Of A Girl Orphan

CHAPTER 7

After Adura’s death, we got another shocking news. Five days after her death,
we woke up to the sound of a bulldozer. We rushed out of the house. The
contractor informed us that the house had been sold to a new owner and he
wished to change the structure of the building so he had to demolish it. Where
were we going to stay? Where would we start from? We packed the few clothes
and belonging that we had.
“Sweet corn! Buy your sweet corn!” A young girl of about eight said as she
walked pass us. Ewatomi, Olamiposi and I were seated in front of a closed stall. It
was very early in the morning so the owner was not around.
‘Where do we go from here?” Olamiposi said
“I am so confused. At first, Christmas decided to be a day of sorrow. Now, we
don’t even have a roof over our heads. Life just decided to be unfair to us.” I said
We eventually spent the night (and two more) on the road side.
The New Year came soon. It wasn’t so promising. All my dreams had been
washed down the drain. I remembered how I used to flaunt around in my white
lab coat hoping to be a medical doctor soon. We had gotten a one room
apartment. The landlord was an old drunk. The payment system was kind of
funny. We had to pay #200 every night before being allowed into the room. He
knew most of us always went to work in the morning so, by 6 pm, he would have
gotten an old chair in front of the house and sat on it sipping alcohol from his old
glass. We used to call him ‘Baba No-nonsense.’ He didn’t care about anyone. All
he wanted was to collect his full payment. Once you couldn’t pay, you had only
one option, to sleep outside.
I heard from Mama Biggie, the busy-body food vendor that Baba no nonsense
had been married twice. His first wife, Bimpe left him due to his excessive
drinking. Their marriage only lasted 3 years. His second wife, Kate, was a high
class girl who found it hard to live in a slum and ran away after 2 days. Since then,
he had decided not to get married ever again. To me, he was married to his
bottles of alcoholic drinks.Ewaoluwa started working as a laundry lady. She went around from house to
house and helped to do their laundry for petty change. Olamiposi was working as
a cleaner in a private school at Ikeja. I continued hawking biscuits. After each
day’s work, we used to meet at the old slum. At least, we were living somewhat
fine.
After some months, it seemed like things got better for Ewaoluwa and Olami.
Their plight was over. It happened to Ewa first. On a particular day, she got home
super joyous. She hugged Olami and me joyfully. She had gotten a job as a
housemaid for a rich family. One of her customers had introduced her to the rich
woman. The woman had offered her a job with a pay of twenty thousand naira
per month plus free accommodation and food. Two weeks after, Olami’s
proprietress also employed her as a personal messenger with a pay of fifteen
thousand naira. Olamiposi started living with her boss too. I was the only person
left at home during the week days. Olamiposi and Ewa used to visit during the
weekends. I was really happy about their breakthrough and I hoped that my time
of happiness comes soon too- I didn’t know I was in for a long ride.
******
The burbling sound of the water rushing out of the tap was appealing. The
whole environment was a beauty to behold. Beautiful flowers surrounded the
water sprinkler system in the middle of the compound. The aroma from the
kitchen showed that Ewaoluwa was cooking something tasty. The only thing I
didn’t find appealing was the barking of the lion-like dogs in the kennel.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting, Keyshia” Ewaoluwa said as she approached me
from the back door. She was dressed in a pink knee length gown and blue
slippers. She was carrying a plate of jollof rice.
“No problem, Ewa” I said yawning.
Ever since Ewa and Olami got their new jobs, their lives had changed so much.
They now wore good clothes and had beautiful hairstyles. Ewaoluwa even got an
android phone, even though, it was fairly used. It wasn’t like I was envious. I was
just hopeful. Ewa sat down beside me on the balcony.“How have you been? I brought you rice.” She said handing over the food to me.
“Ewa, thanks I am not really in the mood for food.”
“Keyshia, you have to eat. I bet you’ve been hawking in this hot sun since
morning.”
“Ok, I will eat. I didn’t go to hawk today. I have not been feeling too well. I
decided to rest today. Since it was boring at home and you’ve been inviting me
over for a long time now, I decided to pay you a visit.” I said as I started eating.
“Eeyah, sorry dear. You need to be careful. You shouldn’t fall ill oh. I am not ready
to lose another sister.” She said.
“I won’t fall ill, Ewa”
“Yes, I wanted to see you for something important. Take” She said as she brought
out a wad of cash.
“Ha! This is too much. What’s it for? Isn’t this your whole salary?”
“No, Keyshia. Actually, madam and Oga are very nice people, they give me tips
sometimes apart from my salary. I decided to save. I used a part of it to buy you
this phone.” She said as she brought out an android phone.
“Thanks, Ewa.”
“It’s no big deal. This is the remaining twenty thousand naira. I am giving you this
so you can start something tangible with it. From this, buy new clothes, get your
hair done and save up to start a business soon.” “Thank you, Ewa”
We chatted for a while. I left around 5pm. I wish my happiness lasted forever. On
my way back home, the cab I boarded was robbed. I gave up all the cash and even
my new phone. After the thieves left, everyone started wailing. I stood still as
tears rolled down my tears. I was deeply hurt. I just walked away as tears rolled
down my cheeks. I was almost hit by two cars. They hooted and cursed me but I
knew the curse I already carried was definitely more than that. Suddenly, I felt
someone touching me. I looked behind me and saw a young lady who was smiling
at me.“Hello, I am Joke” She said smiling
I was not in the mood for meeting people.
“Please, do I know you?” I answered trying not to sound harsh
“No, at all. I hope you do soon though. I can see you are worried. I am here to tell
you the solution to all your problems. I was just passing by when The Spirit of God
told me to speak to you. Jesus is the only solution to all of your problems. He
loves you very much and wants you to accept him as your Lord and Savior”
I was already bored with the talk. What exactly was she saying? My parents never
allowed us to miss church. They never stopped donating to church projects. What
did Jesus do to them? Kill them untimely? I was sure he wasn’t going to do
anything better for me. I was ready to put myself in more trouble. I was just
waiting for her to finish talking so that I could leave. As soon as I saw that she was
done talking, I started walking away
“Hey, wait!” She shouted
“Please just leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you. I am not interested in
whatever you have to say. Please leave me!” I shouted as tears dripped down my
cheeks. I didn’t wait for any reply. I walked away in tears.
The next morning, I visited Ewa again. Luckily, Olami was there too. We sat at
the gate chatting. I explained how the money was stolen to them.
“Ha! This is so sad” Olami said
“In fact, I am fed up.” I said as tears dripped down my cheeks.
“No, don’t cry, Keyshia. It’s nothing.” Ewa said.
“Ewa, you sacrificed a lot to do this for me and my ill luck got the better of me.” I
said.
“Don’t worry about that now, Keyshia.” Ewa said.
“I’ve made a decision. I am leaving Lagos tomorrow morning”
“What? Why? Where are you going?” Olami said.“Why? What good has Lagos brought me in the last two years? Nothing! I can’t
bear it anymore. I’ll be leaving for Ibadan.”
“Keyshia, who do you know in Ibadan? Where will you head to? Don’t be silly
now.” Ewa said.
“Wherever my legs take me. I need a change of environment. Please, I just have
to go.” I said.
They tried to convince me to stay but I was adamant. My mind was made up
already. We hugged and shed tears as we recollected our previous year together
and how we lost Aduragbemi. Olamiposi gave me a thousand naira. Ewa also gave
me two thousand naira. They wished me safe journey and hoped that we met
again joyfully. To protect that money, I trekked home that day.