Yaron Mama

Episode 17

It's been 3 weeks since Folake and Fa'ad started going out, the holiday was already in play. Her IT placement was in a pharmaceutical company in Kaduna which was somewhat close to school, so Fa'ad could drop by from time to time to check up on her. Folake had been getting some cryptic messages from an unknown number for some days now. From the messages, surely Fa'ad didn't terminate his last relationship well because the girl kept saying 'Leave my boyfriend alone'. She wasn't the type to get scared by this kind of messages, she had complained to Fa'ad over the messages, he explained everything to her and reassured her that he didn't have anything to do with her anymore and he was going to handle it.

Dai'ba's IT placement was in Kano which was like a 2-hour drive from school, she had an aunt who leaves there, so accommodation wasn't a problem. She had always wanted to go to Kano, she heard it was much like Lagos but with better traffic and the incumbent governor was revamping the state. Asma'u was somewhat happy about the IT placements of both Folake and Dai'ba, at least the girls could drop by from time to time to check up on them. It could have been worst, Dai'ba would have been in Lagos and Folake in Ilorin. Asma'u couldn't imagine 6 months alone with Zibu. She knew it was just going to be filled with fights and quarrels, and she wasn't ready for that.

The holidays was going well for Nino, although school was boring and also the town too but he liked the serenity that enveloped the town especially in the mornings. He made sure he kept constant communication with Asma'u, he didn't want her to feel insecure in anyway. Before she left for the break, they had a big fight because Nino still didn't bulge into the idea of going home for the holiday. At some point Dai'ba tried her luck too but all to no avail, he just wanted to be away from home all alone.

He was starting to understand that insecurity was one of Asma'u' problem, he made sure he reassured her every time she started acting up. The evenings were the best part of his day during the holidays, especially when he goes to school to stroll around, he would talk to himself all through, there was this satisfaction he derived from it. At some point he was starting to think he was Schizophrenic. Nino was discovering a new perspective to life. He had read somewhere on the Internet that if you want to increase your knowledge in life, hang out with children or older people. So, some evenings he would go to the popular market to meet his new friend he just made, Bashar a fruit seller. They'd hang out and talk, Bashar would tell him stories about himself when he was younger, they'd talk about the politics of Nigeria, Islam, the world, women and at times education.

There was this particular evening he went to hang out with Bashar. He was attending to a customer who came to buy cucumbers and watermelons.

'Adamu' Bashar called out

'Na'am' Nino shifted his focus from his phone to Bashar

'me zaka yi bayan ka kamala digiri(degree) dinka?' Bashar asked

'toh, sai shirin digiri(degree) na masters' Nino said

'inka gama wancan kuma fa?' Bashar asked again

'sai na fara neman aiki' Nino replied

Bashar looked at him with so much awe on his face, he couldn't believe someone this bright could also be this clueless at the same time. He had really developed fondness towards Nino, he took him as a son, so advising him was like a must for him.

'Ka taba tunanin harkan kasuwanci ko harkan noma?' Bashar asked him

'a'a' Nino kept on pressing his phone

'dukan wa'annan ilmi da kake tarawa, da zaka iya sasu acikin harkan kasuwanci, daka san Allah da girma yake' Bashar said as he stood up to sell to another customer

Nino shifted his focus from his phone to where Bashar was standing, He sat on the mat speechless, he had never really thought of being a business man, maybe not now that he was still young, he put his phone in his pocket.