LAHADI (SUNDAY)

Chapter Seventeen

Who's excited?! I know I am!

•••

Lami dipped her kosai into some yaji by the side of her plate and pushed it whole into her mouth. She puffed out hot air because the kosai was too hot.

"Lami..." Sadiya said, with a warning in her voice.

Lami flushed in embarrassment,she straightened her spine and sat upright, then she folded her legs. She said her Bismillah just in case her mother asked her if she had said her basmallah,she had forgotten if she had said it the first time or not. She didn't want to lie when her mother does ask.

"When are you going out?" Sadiya asked.

"After I'm done with my chores. You said you wanted some things?" Lami replied only after she had finished chewing the kosai and gulped it down with hot pap. Delicious.

"Oh Good. I need some kayan miya for tonight's soup. We're running out."

Ever since they had brought a fridge a year after they've moved, Sadiya stored all the vegetables she could into it. She loved it,like the third child she never had.

Lami liked the fridge too, it was so tall and warm and she loved how it hummed with electricity when it's on. The buzzing felt like it moved from the fridge to her and it settled deep within her gut whenever she hugged it. (She only does it at night or when there's no one in sight though). It brought her comfort that only home could also, it could store more than a week vegetables which meant Lami won't be going in errands as much as she did before. The fridge was a truly a friend.

Lami took her time in eating her kasai da Koko. It was a meal that was a breakfast icon, a legend itself. Only stupid people rush while eating it. Lami knew she wasn't stupid, that was why she took her sweet time to savor the taste the combo make in her mouth before she swallowed.

"Will you hurry up and get up!" Sadiya smacked the back of her head.

Okay, she might be a bit stupid but she's not as stupid as people who don't appreciate Koko da kosai.

•••

"Please put it in a bigger bag." Lami requested the man. She wanted to fit everything she had brought into the bag because the several bags she held were digging into her fingers.

"Okay, Hajiya." The man laughed as he put the school sandals she had brought into a bigger bag. He held out the bag and she took it.

Lami put the rest of the things she bought into the bag and sighed in relief when the pressure on her fingers vanished.

"Maybe I'll buy some Dan tamatsitsi from that shop." Lami grinned as she turned into the direction of the said shop.

"I'll have two," that way her mother won't scold her for spending money her money.

"Hey, I'll have some lemon plus for N50." A lady smiled and handed out a N500.

"Sure, but there's no change." the shop keeper handed out Lami her change.

"Musty, would you like anything, the man said there's no change." The lady turned back and Lami followed curiously followed her gaze.