“Hope you remember everything I asked you to buy?”
“Yes, ma,” I replied as I walked out of the living room.
I arrived at the market and went to the shop I usually buy food stuffs from. I was able to get some of the things I was asked to buy, but there were still some she didn’t have available.
“Sorry o my customer, I don’t have palm oil,” the woman said.
“What of fresh tomatoes?”
“Ah, someone just bought the last basket available.”
This was unlike her, because almost every time I go to her shop she has everything available I want to buy. There were still some other things I had to buy but I didn’t bother asking because I didn’t see it on the table where she normally kept them. And one thing I didn’t like when going out to buy a few items; especially foodstuffs, was going to one shop after another before I buy everything. Market women have this habit of scanning the contents in your nylon when you come to their shops after already buying from their neighbors. It’s like they feel you’re treating them as a plan B, like you should have come to their shop in the first place. Apart from that, I just didn’t like how they gaped at my nylon, when instead they should be looking at me.
But I had no choice, I had to check out another shop. I went over to another shop. Just as I predicted, the eyes of the woman in the shop was fixed on my nylon why she responded to me. It looked more like she was speaking with the nylon and not me.
“Give me a bottle of palm oil and two baskets of tomatoes.”
“Okay, customer,” she responded as she went in to get it.
“Also bring five balls of onions, the big size.”
“Oh, sorry customer. My onions have finished.”
I called out the other items; she had just one of them, and said the rest were not in stock. Phew. This meant I had to go to another shop. I collected the two items and paid her. I got to another shop and luckily I was able to get the remaining items. I reached for the money in my pocket to pay the woman. But on counting the money, the balance wasn’t adding up. The previous shops I had bought something from gave me complete change, so I knew the fault wasn’t from their end. I reached further to my pocket to see if there were some money left at the bottom. That’s when I realized there was a hole in my pocket. Crap!
Unlucky for me, the money I had was not able to pay for all that I had just bought, the balance wasn’t complete. I stood puzzled for about a minute, thrusting my hands in and out of my pockets, including the ones I knew I didn’t put any money inside.
“Aunty, is there any problem?”
“No, no. Everything is fine,” I replied, looking around on the ground.
I asked her to return a few things and paid her for the ones the money could accommodate and started retracing my steps. I kept my head down and was walking back to all the shops I had bought things from. I went back and forth for about six times, but no luck. I even asked people around if they saw any money, but who was I kidding, thinking if anyone would admit to seeing it.
The distance from the first store I had bought things from was quite far from the last one. And it wasn’t a straight road. Chances are someone saw the money and pocketed it. How could I be so careless? What was I going to tell my mom?
I didn’t have the courage to go home because I didn’t know how I was going to face my mom to tell her I couldn’t buy all that she asked me because the part of the money she gave fell down from my pocket. I kept walking to and fro, still hoping that somehow I would find the money. Perhaps, I wasn’t searching well. Or maybe the person who took it was still around somewhere, and seeing me walking up and down may have pity and return it back where he or she took it from. But I was just deceiving myself.It was starting to get dark. I spent over two hours on an errand that wasn’t supposed to take more than 30 minutes. There was nothing I could do. I had to face whatever it is that would be waiting for me at home after delivering the news to my mom.
While on my way home I just kept thinking of different ways I would tell my mom that she wouldn’t get mad. The further I drew close to the house, the lesser my confidence became. When I arrived at the front door, tears had already filled my eyes. I pulled over the curtain and found my mom sitting on the couch watching TV. The moment she sighted me with tears in my eyes she quickly got up, and rushed over to me.
“Rita, what’s the problem? What happened?” she inquired as she put both hands on my shoulders, then on my face, like she was worried that something bad had happened to me.
“After buying some of the foodstuffs, I went over to another shop to get the remaining because they didn’t have them,” I said, sobbing.
“And then? What happened?”
“On getting to the shop, I couldn’t find some of the money I put in my pocket. It had a hole.”
“And what happened after that?” she asked, looking more worried.
“I…I lost the money. And I couldn’t find it.”
She put her hands down from my face.
“Is that it?”“Yes, ma. I’m very sorry.”
She just hissed.
“So that’s why you are crying like this? As if something bad had happened to you.”
I didn’t know whether to feel safe or worried.
“My dear, go and drop those things in the kitchen and collect your food. You just got me worried for nothing,” she said as she returned to watching her TV.
Turned out I was entertaining fear for nothing. I was afraid of being dealt with, but my mom gave an unexpected reaction. Seeing me in tears had her worried that she didn’t even care if I had lost money she gave me. Her happiness was that nothing bad had happened to me.Later on, she told me to be more careful next time and I took correction. Sometimes, our parents can be a lot cooler than we think.
Images: AI
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