I got there but neither Austin nor any of his fellow apprentices was there. I only saw his boss. The shop was a big grocery store where practically all kinds of groceries and household needs was sold. I had peeped into the shop and wanted to hang around while I wait for Austin, but the man seated at a corner inside the shop had seen me peep. He stood up and came towards me. I thought maybe he probably thought I wanted to buy something, I would have loved to leave it that way, except I had no money to make a purchase. I also did not want him to know that I had come looking for Austin so as not to put him in trouble.
“Nnne, what do you want?” he asked.
“Erm, erm, palm oil. You don’t have.” I blabbed.
“Calm down my dear, I don’t sell palm oil. But I can show you where you can get it.”
He stood up and came to meet me outside the shop. I had only seen him from afar in the past whenever I came to see Austin, but I had never been up close with him. He wore a pair of black trousers and a white and blue striped shirt. I didn’t realize he was this tall. Almost as tall as my father, but he had a protruding belly which peeped from the spaces between the shirt’s buttons.
“My dear, you are very fine o. I know you now. I know you always come here looking for Austin. I have always looked at you from afar. I like you.”
“Hum, sir, please I need to go now.” I answered.
“Mbano, don’t go. You see, Austin and the other boys have gone to the market to get new stock. They just left and it will take them some time to be back. Come in and sit down. I will not disturb you.” He said as he pulled me in gently.
I don’t know why I could not resist, but I remember thinking: ‘if only my father held and pulled me like this.” And that was it. I followed him into the shop and the next thing I knew, I was sitting on his lap. He caressed and rubbed my back and buttocks. I smiled and saw my father’s face everytime I looked at him. After what seemed like an hour of touching me everywhere accessible, and me smiling all the way while we talked about nothing in particular:
“You know what? I want to see you soon, in a place more private. I don’t want people coming and meeting us like this. It has been quiet here because I put up the ‘CLOSED’ sign.
"When can you see me?” He asked.
I was surprised he had closed the shop just to be with me. More important was the fact that I had heard of many cases of rape, but this man did not even attempt to rape me. I enjoyed the attention so much. Even Austin didn’t pay much attention to me. It’s not as if I was still a virgin anyway, so what did I have to lose?
“I just completed my senior school certificate exams, so I am free. I can see you anytime you want. The only thing is that I might be leaving this area very soon.”
“Leave kwa? No o, I need to see you soon. Can I see you tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow is fine.” I answered.
We made arrangements on where I would meet him and as I was about to leave, he gave me three hundred naira and told me to pick whatever I needed in the shop. I took a pack of pasta and a sachet of tomato puree. I was overjoyed. I was going to cook a feast without my father’s input. The money he gave me was more than enough to pay for the valedictory service in my school.
“How can you pick just that? Don’t you rub cream? Do you have bathing soap?”
How my heart leaped for joy. I was in heaven. Me, soap, cream, roll on, perfume, powder, more pasta, biscuits, beverage, milk and much more. This was all so alien to me. I had not applied cream for years. I only managed to beg Mama Halima for shea butter and I made do with the soda soap we used in washing plates for bathing. I knew I had arrived, and even thought of a proposition for my father.
I hummed my favourite song as I went home with a spring in my steps, carrying two large shopping bags with both hands. I was officially a big girl now.
When I got home, I quickly put the shopping bags inside the iron box, popularly known as portmanteau, in which I put all my personal effect to hide them from my father’s prying eyes. I cooked and ate to my satisfaction that night and I was fast asleep by the time he got back from work.
He woke me up by calling out my name loudly. He never touched me for any reason.
“Won’t you get up and cook for me?” He snapped.
“You are welcome sir. What do you want me to cook?”
“Rice and plantain.”
“But there is no plantain in the house sir.” I mumbled, half asleep.
“Then you buy.” He replied.
That was I when looked at the grandfather’s clock. It was 10 pm already.
“You are late today, it is 10pm. The plantain seller would have gone home.
“Yes, I am late and I know it is your handiwork. I am late because my second cab that is driven by someone else had a major fault today, and as if that was not enough, the security guards that work at the petrol station where I normally park both cars refused to allow me to park them tonight. They said the new management had told them not to give room for such any longer.” He explained.
I knew he was really unhappy for him to have told me this much.
“I have always told you to bring your cabs home. There is enough parking space for more than six cars inn this house and only two cars are always parked there.”
“Shut up, what do you know? You expect me to bring my cabs home so that all my wicked neighbours can plan and kill me abi? Mtcheeew. May I not fall into the trap of the enemy, no matter who they are. Go and cook rice for me.
“Ok sir.” I answered and did as I was told.
Àdùnní
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