Ndidi and Nkechi became inseparable friends. They always went to hawk together and came back in the evening together. They encouraged each other, always talking about a bright future ahead of them, not knowing when and how that would be.
Another person Ndidi met in the hawking environment was Jude, a boy a bit older than them. He was a hawker of bottled water and bottled drinks. He was a good boy but was always moody and on his own. Nkechi was the only person he related with freely. Ndidi asked and got to know from Nkechi that he was an orphan. He had lost his parents to HIV. He was not a carrier of the virus because his parents were not infected at the time of his conception. It was few years before then that the calamity came upon him. He had made up his mind not to remain in the village but to seek greener pasture in the city. He got to the city few months before Ndidi came into the scene and slept in motor parks. He started with selling pure water and gradually moved up to selling bottled drinks he carried in a basket. His manner of sales was risky as he had to run alongside moving vehicles on the highway. He didn’t have much choice as the vehicles were too much in a hurry to stop for the passengers to calmly buy what they wanted. The exposure to the hazards of street hawking almost took his life one day. He was hawking in his usual manner when a vehicle trying to avoid another one swerved and ran into him. It knocked him unconscious with some broken bones. He was helped by good Samaritans and rushed to hospital by the driver of the vehicle that knocked him down. The man paid his bills and took care of him till he got better. The man found out from Jude about his life and was moved with compassion and decided to take him in and train him through school. Jude didn’t bother taking him to the village as there was no well wisher to see in the village to inform. He was the only child of his parents and his relatives had dealt with him, taking over the little property that belonged to his parents. Thus, Jude went to stay with the man and his sons who were older than Jude in another town in the same state. He told his fellow hawkers who wished him well.
Ndidi’s promotion examination result was excellent. She rejoiced. However, her joy was short lived when her aunty told her that she couldn’t afford sponsoring her and Ebere in secondary school at the same time and so she had to drop while Ebere continued. She wept. She remained sad for some days.
She thought of going back to the village but couldn’t muster the courage to tell her aunty. Whenever she saw her former classmates preparing to resume school, she would wish she were they.
“If daddy and uncle had not died, I would also be preparing for school,’ she thought at times.
When her former classmates got to know about her plight, they comforted her the much they could. Nkechi did all she could to comfort her best friend. Ebere and his siblings also did their best to cheer her up. Only her aunty showed no empathy. She sent her to hawk as usual, and scolded her at the slightest opportunity.
Few weeks after, Ndidi no longer felt bad. She helped Ebere in his preparation for school. When school resumed, she helped him iron his school uniforms, pack his books and so on, with joy.
However, her joyful disposition was short lived as her aunty who couldn’t hide her annoyance anymore scolded her one morning with such hatred that she left to hawk, crying.
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(c)2015.Chinedu Isaac
