After Nneka's father almost loses his life and farm, her mother mysteriously vanishes. She then moves to Lagos to live with her grandmother, but she soon finds there's more to her grandmother's life than she knows.
While hawking, she meets a boy...
Mama never stopped thinking about her first mission with Landlady. In the kitchen, she soaked garri and dissolved sugar in it before sprinkling some groundnut on the top. Three minutes later, Mama walked into the room with a small blue ceramic bowl of soaked garri and groundnut. Nneka dragged the small wooden table in front of them. "Nna, I noticed that you have been working very hard. Keep it up, you hear?" Nneka beamed.
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The garri Mama prepared.
For five weeks, she sold almost thrice the number of goods she used to. Her profit doubled. She kept over twenty thousand naira for herself, hidden from Mama's eagle eyes. She earned a total of one hundred and sixty-six thousand, nine hundred naira; with some change on the side. Mama pocketed the money, and Nneka never saw it again. She hoped Mama would try to supplement her own earnings, but she ignored her as usual.
"Mama, please don't finish the garri. I haven't even eaten five spoons yet." A small lump of garri sat comfortably on Mama's cheek. Instead of going to her regular garri seller, she went to Iya Yemi's shop. She bought the garri and a big black nylon bag of raw groundnut. As she walked out of her shop, Mama swiped some sachets of Milo hanging from the door. She emptied the Milo powder in her mouth on the way home. "I will eat what I bought. Who asked you not to eat fast? is it because you're seeing that handsome man act?" Nneka blushed as a handsome man flashed on the screen, pretending to beat another man while obnoxious punching sounds echoed.
They finished the bowl of garri in no time. Mama stood up and walked to the kitchen door. Nneka promptly changed the channel to the news. The news logo just finished. Nneka noticed the headlines were unusually dark. She increased the volume, so Mama would hear. Nneka heard the distinct sound of a ceramic plate banging on the metal sink. A few beads of sweat poured down her forehead.
'Woman found guilty of killing school teacher for rice!'
'Young man abducted ten weeks ago found in his uncle's house, lavender perfume found in his bag!'
'Man finds charm in his bag, says his wife planted it there!'
Nneka remembered an incident from thirty weeks ago. Mama Agnes opened a black suitcase she dragged from a secret spot in the walls of her room. She locked her door and refused to let Nneka in. A phone call sent Mama flying out of her room. She rushed out in her outing clothes, but she locked the door before leaving. Nneka threw a small marble at her feet, so she slipped, and the key slipped from her hands.
Mama picked up a key on the floor and ran out. In front of their house, an okada man waited for her at the gate. When she was sure Mama zoomed off, Nneka picked the real key and swiftly unlocked the door. She quickly opened the door and went straight for the suitcase. The suitcase had four sections to it, and each section had a lock of its own. All parts were locked except one, the topmost corner at the left. She opened it and found a large bottle.
A purple sticker reading 'Lavender Perfume Mist...fresh, fragrant, and beautiful. It also keeps skin glowing.'caught her attention.Nneka noticed right away that the color of the liquid was a sickly greenish-yellow, and its smell resembled shit mixed with methylated spirit. A drop of the liquid touched her dress, and immediately the area turned brown and dissolved. Nneka jammed the bottle back in the box, making sure to leave everything as she found it, then she left the room. She slid the key next to the door and went to pound yam in the kitchen.
That was thirty weeks ago. About twenty-one weeks later, Nneka overheard Mama on the phone. She mentioned something about a 'lavender perfume from a black suitcase.' On the screen, they put up a picture of the student's bag, her books, and the bottle of perfume. Nneka almost fainted. Mama walked out of the kitchen with a strained smile and a peeled orange in her hand. "Nna, that's enough television for now. Go and sleep." Nneka snatched the orange and speed-walked to her room. As soon as her head touched her pillow, she fell into a deep slumber.
Nneka found herself selling biscuits and meat pies in Victoria Island. She and some other hawker girls lined up on the streets to sell their wares. The street was busy, as many cars and pedestrians passed through the road to get to different places.
A stout girl in a blue crop top and a tiny pleated white skirt walked up to her. "See, you better not take my customers o! They like new girls like you, and I don't like the way your knicker is short." Nneka wore her hair in a white beanie, a long-sleeved purple shirt, and a pair of white jeans short that sat in the middle of her thighs. "Is it me that will tell the customers to buy my wares?" The girl hissed and farted on Nneka as she ran to a customer.
Nneka would not have it with this girl. She dropped her basket on the floor and yanked the girl's skirt. The girl tripped and fell on a hawker boy. He squeezed her chest before running off into a corner. One girl beside them already called the other girls. The girl in the blue top packed her things and ran away. Nneka left the area not long after, as the girls were beginning to get annoying. She reached her limit when a girl tried to steal her money. She slapped the girl and tore her shirt before running away.
Dusk approached quicker than Nneka expected. She walked for ten minutes before she saw BadGyal Bilkis talking to one of her friends, Destiny. They stood in front of a fruit vendor's stall, a long wooden table with a red canopy. A thick bush decorating the entrance to the house behind them was a perfect cover. Nneka crouched behind the bush and picked up a two-hundred naira note lying on the floor. The girls didn't notice her presence.
Destiny was ugly on the outside and the inside. Her gap teeth, acne scars, tiny lips, and bushy eyebrows made it hard for anyone to take her seriously. She always put on makeup while hawking to try to attract more men. Rumors said that her mother was much uglier than her, and Destiny's father ran off after they made love the first time. He was later spotted with a more beautiful and more successful woman and already had three children with her.
"I don't know much about Nneka, honestly. I would have told you what I knew. She just dey disappear anyhow like say na spirit." Bilkis scratched her head, then rummage her pocket for something. She pushed the object in Destiny's hands and cupped her cheeks.
"See, next time you see her, take her out and pour this in her drink. Make sure there are plenty of boys there, especially university boys. Take them to a hotel and take videos. This should be enough to disgrace her for the rest of her life." Bilkis never joked with ruining people's lives. Nneka understood their exchange in Yoruba. She left the area without the girls noticing.
Destiny had serious beef with Nneka. They usually hawked on the same road. One time, Destiny hit on a cute boy she saw hawking USB cords. She walked over to the boy and tried to chat with him. Her stomach growled and groaned, and her butt felt very tight. She hadn't even said a word when Nneka pointed to her while yelling. Her cream shorts were stained with brown sludge. She was pressed, and Nneka's scream shocked her into emptying her stomach.
The boy dashed her heart into pieces. He threw a pack of tissues at her before running to another girl. The girl kissed him on the lips. She tried to run away but her slipper cut. It flew in a gutter and she fell on her butt. The fall made a loud sploshing sound. She managed to scramble away from the street, the mocking laughter, and the humiliation she suffered. Soon the hawker girls gave her the nickname 'Brown Bumbum.' The boy always made sure to talk about her with anybody who cared to listen. Most of her friends used this incident to humiliate her when she got the chance.
Nneka walked home with a smug smile and an evil plot in her head.
After a while of writing short chapters, I bring to you a longer chapter! It took a while to get this storyline straight and to figure out how to highlight and introduce the items in Landlady's black suitcase! We also have a new character, and I wonder what Bilkis and Destiny are plotting for Nneka! Stay tuned, vote, stay safe, and I would love to hear your opinion in the comments!~
