OH LIFE “I MUST SURVIVE” (EPISODE EIGHT)

STORY SERIES

…The kind woman whose name was Adia got busy. She covered Jarin up with her cloth. She removed her leather box, the bowls and other materials into her stall. She spoke gently to Tesa and she soon became calm. She brought Tesa some food, she told Tesa

that she was going to make arrangements and that Tesa should remain in her stall till she came back.

Adia took a taxi and went to the hospital. She reported the death of Jarin, the beggar. She however told the man in charge that she doesn't want Jarin to be buried like a beggar. She wanted a proper burial for her. Adia was told that I would cost her thirty naira to buy the grave and the wooden coffin.

Adia did not have all that money but she promised to pay. She also asked that Jarin’s body be removed to the mortuary, and kept there till the following day.

She returned to her stall to find Tesa sleeping on the mat. She walked in quietly and sat down. The women in the next stall looked at her strangely and would not talk to her. They had been laughing at her for all she did.

“Perhaps she is doing all these things in other to have all the dead beggar’s things,” said one of them. “She needs the rags because she too may soon become a beggar” answered the other. “You know she sells old and second hand clothes and old carvings. She can make some money out of the rags.”

Adia didn't hear them. Her problem was to find thirty naira before the following day. She was full of thoughts.

When she looked up, a white man was standing in front of her stall pointing to an old carving which was black and dirty. Adia took a piece of cloth and cleaned the carving. She handed it over to the white man who looked at it and seemed to like it. The two women in the next stall were looking on.

Adia could have sold the carving for two naira, but when the white man asked her the price she said thirty naira. It simply came out of her mouth because she had all the time been thinking about thirty naira.

She was surprised when the white man gave her thirty naira and did not even ask to pay less. The two women at the next stall were more surprised. They envied Adia.

Adia didn't understand how it happened but she was glad all the same. It was like magic.  Now she had the thirty naira. She went back to pay the thirty naira to the hospital. She was asked to come back the following morning at 10 o’clock for the burial.

Adia went home that night late. She was hoping to tell her husband all about Tesa and her dead mother but her husband had gone to bed, the other children too had gone to bed. She found a place on her bed for Tesa and they also slept.

When they woke up the following morning, Adia’s husband had gone out to work. The children were surprised to find a strange girl sharing their mother’s bed…to be continued on Saturday.

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