Deborah

Episode 3

Deborah woke up much earlier than usually would; she was more determined than ever to make it, after helping her mother prepare the moi-moi, she stacked her plantains neatly in a tray and hurried out so she could get customers.

She stopped by Udi Street, to take breakfast, she was very hungry that morning, most times she hawked on an empty belly, so she could save more money; constant starvation had made her very slim. Today however, she stopped by the mai sha , and ordered for tea, akara and bread.

As she ate, a flock of ash pigeons suddenly flew towards her, startling her and making her to almost run. The Mai sha had to calm her down, telling her in poor pidgin that it was a sign of good luck for pigeons to fly near a person.

She gulped her tea hungrily and asked ‘ Mallam are you sure’?,

‘ gaskia wallahi , it is real, for my place for Kebbi, e dey give good luck’,

she smiled and paid him and took off and prayed for that luck to manifest and went quickly to the hawkers camp. A place by the road where they usually assembled to wait for customers.

At the camp, she noticed her friend Sara was not yet there. This was quite unusual as Sara would always be there just before she came. As she waited, she became apprehensive and wondered what had gone wrong.

As the morning sun was becoming more visible she became even more worried especially as she had no phone to make a call. She couldn’t talk to the other hawkers, they hated her for no reason. After she wacting patiently and her friend didn’t show up, she took giddy steps towards Papilo, the Popcorn hawker, he wasn’t friendly but neither was he harsh,

‘ good morning Papilo, abeg u don see Sara’?,
he eyed he for a minute and shook his head,

‘ she no go come work today, she dey sick’ another hawker supplied, she went back to her stool and made plans to visit her later, when she was done for the day.

As the Mai sha had said, she was truly lucky, she was able to sell all her chips, what excited her the most was a family of four children who bought 600 naira worth of plantain chips from her. The other hawkers had rallied around them advertising their goods but the family chose to buy from her.

She folded her wrapper neatly and placed the tray in the leather bag and was about to leave for Sara’s when Mama Labito accused her.

‘yeye girl, so you feel say jazz na d only way wey u go use to steal our customers, I go show u pepper for this place’,

Others joined calling her names, she cried and walked away silently and quickly as it was already dark. Her plan was to see Sara and return home; their bitterness couldn’t kill her joy, she had made some profit today, it would go away towards her secret savings for at least a diploma programme at the University. She was now more than confident that she would achieve her dreams.

You are reading Deborah – Episode Three
As she approached the route leading to Sara’s, she had a sense of evil and forbording. She shivered as she noticed that the street seemed unusually quiet, she became a bit frightened but walked on.

Suddenly she felt a hand cover her mouth, she screamed but her screams were muffled by the hand. Next thing she knew was that she was she was being dragged into the bushes by the side of the road. Just as sudden as he had grabbed her, her captor released her. He rummaged through her body quickly as if searching for something, then he put his hands inside her brassiere, as she tried struggling, she felt a heavy object crash on her legs and she screamed.

‘Pontus, stop am, no be wetin we come for’, another voice spoke harshly from the darkness. It was dark so she couldn’t see, ‘wey ur money, give us money and u go live here free’

‘oga abeg help me, I no get any money on me, please,’

The voice ignored her statement and asked the other person to search her bag, they quickly retrieved her little purse. They opened it and saw her money inside “I think say you talk say you no get money” said the voice. As she opened her mouth to plead, she felt a hard bang on her head, suddenly she saw a flash and then everything went soft as she felt herself falling to the ground.
Deborah – Episode Three

‘that’s a good decision you have made Ani darling’ Mrs Briggas was pleased her son had finally made the right decision, Morganna Esio was soon going to be her daughter in-law …

That was something to lighten up her mood after the dream she had, Ateri was there again, waving her goodbye. Ateri her savior, her long lost friend whom she couldn’t reconcile with …but she was gone now….gone with the wind and she would never return.

‘bro, don’t mind mom, take things slow, get to know her better, ain’t no turning back in African marriages’ Clarabella advised, Selene glared at her disapprovingly, she liked Morganna and couldn’t wait for her brother to be married to her,

‘why don’t you mind your own business’, Serene flared, Clara hissed and left the dining table, this made Aniebiet to chuckle

‘you girls are so dramatic, I am the one getting married here remember’?, he stared at his mother who looked quite confused, ‘ where is Andy?, he didn’t show up for breakfast’, Aniebiet smiled, he knew his cousin was banging a particular maid and didn’t need another breakfast, ‘ mum he will just be fine’
‘so can I start the planning for the engagement party’?, said his mum
He knew that even if he had said he didn’t want an engagement party a thousand times, his mom wouldn’t listen, so he simply nodded and ran off to take a shower, today was gonna be such a busy day for him.

He passed Andy’s room and shook his head, his cousin hadn’t repented. He remembered his days of banging all these maids, now he was grown and more responsible and was about to take up even more responsible stuff, he quickly dialled Morganna’s number to check on her,

‘hello baby, how are you’?,
she responded happily and he fixed a date with her so he cold propose. He was already feeling nervous, he was looking at a future with Morganna already and wondered what marriage wold be like.

Morgana shook her had as she dropped the phone and a sip of her drink while seating at the restaurant bar. Morganna had arranged a meeting with the boyfriend of her one-time best friend, who had betrayed her by sleeping with Aniebiet. Inemesit had claimed to be her friend but was cheating on her behind her back with Ani.

She had found this out from one of the house maids then who had seen them hang out in Ani’s room. It wasn’t once or twice but more than five times.

She shook her head, she had confronted her friend who blatantly denied feigning innocence, well she had gotten evidence, she had forgotten her undies at Aniebiet’s place and it proved useful. She was going to pay back, after all those years she couldn’t even apologize for her wrongdoing, and now she was asking for her help, she would definitely help her with the fashion show but she was sure going down to hell.

‘I have waited for twenty minutes for you, please where is the stuff I asked you for’? the man presented the parcel and in exchange collected a signed cheque.

‘disappear’ was all Morganna said to him and he watched the beauty put on her shades as she walked away, he wondered if he was right by revenging his ex, Inemesit who had cheated on him severally with Aniebiet Briggas, the rich guy on campus then, he remembered how she started acting funny, calling him a lowlife who wasn’t worthy of her.

In his agony, he had fallen for Morganna who had only used him as a pawn in her own game of revenge, she was paying her friend back in her own coin, apparently the coins weren’t enough. He took a deep breath and disappeared, he needed to leave town, what he had just given Morganna would ruin inemesit for a long time coming and she was the biggest fashion designer in the country, he had to run!