True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about but few have seen
-François, Div de la Rachefoucauld-
(Maxims)
I switched my attention to my phone as the stylist worked on my hair.
So long as I was on the island, I always did my hair with Maggie. I call her Maggie instead of Doyin becuase of how we met.
I was at the market, particularly Lagos Island. I was done with my cloth shopping and was on my way to the car park where my car was with my bags full of clothes in both hands.
Once I arrived at my spot, I opened my car and hurled the bags all into the trunk.
Just then, I remembered I needed a few kitchen supplies.
I could always buy all I needed from any of the supermarkets around home but since I was already at the Island, I figured I could just get them there. The market is one of the biggest anyway… there's basically nothing you can't get there and they're better priced too.
I might also stumble on something extra I'd like to take home with me apart from the ones on my short list.
Having been to this market so many times, I was able to cut through the crowd like a knife navigating my way purposefully to the section of the market where I would get what I wanted.
When I stopped at my usual stall, the shopkeeper with whom I was close buddies was arguing with another customer.
It was Maggie.
They were arguing over a piece of Maggi cube. Maggie was wondering aloud to the shopkeeper as to why the pack of Maggi cubes had increased in it's price.
Fortunately, the shopkeeper who's a guy happens to be very good natured and hardly ever loses his cool even with annoying customers.
He just sat there and tried to pacify Maggie with claims that the decrease in value of naira to dollar was behind the hike in price (a famous excuse among market sellers) but Maggie would have none of it.
By chance it was a less patient shopkeeper, he or she would've given her a dressing down probably in some native language, most preferably Yoruba and asked why she couldn't just switch to a less expensive brand of seasoning like Terra cube instead of fussing pointlessly over something that was neither of their faults. Who has time for unnecessary stress biko.
But Baba Kayode wasn't like that.
As for me, the scene was too hilarious, maybe because I wasn't in a rush… because if I was, this would be a different story entirely. Anyway, back to the scene; Maggie kept on raking.
Her annoyance wasn't necessarily towards the dear shopkeeper, Baba Kayode, but towards the Nigerian government whom she claimed was too incompetent to work on their economy.
Why would Maggi increase in price for God's sake?
This widens the gap between the rich and the poor becuase definitely, some people wouldn't be able to afford Maggi anymore, she continued to tirelessly explain to the innocent and confused shopkeeper. He was only trying to make profit and here he was getting a harsh scolding for it. Oh dear!
He then turned his pleading eyes to me for help. Even though I badly wanted to continue watching the scene, I had to step in. I tapped the plump lady gently and tried to calm her down.
As a drama queen myself, I knew how best to massage her ego. I nodded to her arguments and chipped in a word or two in support (thank God I try to keep myself updated too) and very soon, I had her conversing with me like we were best of friends. Then we connected.
