Nkiru was an obvious fashion disaster. You didn't want to be caught up in something serious when she walked past, because it would be impossible to control the pangs of laughter that would be waiting to erupt. It was that bad. Sometimes, I ask myself how we got so close as friends, because I was nothing like her. Several attempts to get her to up her fashion game had proved abortive. Somehow, her fate had been decided, especially because she was raised by the most conservative parents.
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As the forward and liberal fashionista that I was, I was ready to go extra miles to help Nkiru. With the way she dressed, I could bet she would be single till fifty. It was difficult to tell where her hips or butt were situated. Her clothes always had so much allowance that someone could possibly make another attire out if it. At all times, her gowns got to her ankle level.
This morning, I was busy trying to fix the last lines of an assignment that I was carrying out at the last minute, only for my Nkiru to walk in and there was no inspiration left in me to continue. I sized her and a sudden irritation started burning inside me.
“ Babe, seriously? What is this na?” I asked, sounding very upset.
For a while, she looked at me confused about what I had asked her.
“ Look at how you're dressed, is today some cultural exhibition day?”
“ May, don't sound like this na. You know I can't dress otherwise while I'm still my father's daughter.” She said, almost crying.
At this point, I knew I had to save her from the destruction her parents were about to lead her to.
“It's Tammy shopping day tomorrow, and you're coming with me” I had told Nkiru.
“ Really? I've heard so much about the place and would love to be there.” Nkiru expressed with so much excitement.
“8:00am tomorrow, we'll go there and I'll get you something befitting”
The entire night, I literally watched Nkiru toss on her bed. She would wake up to ask what the time was. She was so excited that the other girls in the room teased her, calling her “JJC”
As early as possible, we were at the market. We almost arrived at the same time with the security personnel who opened the market gates. Arriving at Tammy market late was a disaster, because of the kind of crowd always found at the market. It was best to be among the early birds there. I wanted to get the best clothes for her, so we had to make sure we stopped at stalls with first grade clothes, and not those ones that were all faded and worn out.
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The crowd at the market started getting out of hand just like I had anticipated. I had asked my friend Nkiru to select from a bale with bright coloured gowns I was certain had really nice things, while I tried to withdraw money from the closest ATM machine in the market.
I had only been gone for a few minutes, only to meet chaos at the spot where my friend was. I was surprised to see this part of Nkiru I had never known.
“ I took this dress first o, and I won't leave it” Nkiru said aggressively
“ It's a lie! You won't have this dress,” The other lady yelled at the top of her voice.
I watched and was speechless for a while. The owner of the bale immediately snatched the dress from both of them and asked them to leave. That was how I dragged my friend and asked that we stop by another shed.
The market had become filled with people selling and buying. The noise around was deafening. The bad part was bodies rubbing against others, while everyone acted like they had lost their patience. After the scene, Nkiru was quiet as we tried to get to another shed. I refused to ask her what had transpired. I knew we would have a lot of time in the hostel to discuss that.
We had barely got anything in the market when my friend began to complain of hunger. Luckily, we found a young boy hawking hot moi moi, and we called him to get some. We ate as quickly as possible, so we could continue with our shopping.
Just when we had arrived another shed selecting gowns, Nkiru’s face began to look pale.
“ Babe, I want to use the toilet”
“What! In this market?”
“ I think I have a running stomach,” She said, looking desperate.
She was already sweating from her head and breathing very fast. I had to rush her behind a shop with some rooms people use to ease themselves. The place didn't look good at all, but at this point, she was left with no choice. She ran in immediately. She stayed a while, only to come out looking like she had returned from a battle.
“I want to go home.” She said to me
“No, na! We haven't bought anything” I said, trying to persuade her.
Nkiru won't even listen to me. She made for her phone to book a ride we could take home, only to meet the shock of her life. She searched her entire bag trying to see if the phone was stuck in a corner. Over and again, she couldn't find it. The phone was gone! Nkiru became extremely restless and began to shed tears.
We visited all the sheds we had stopped by to see if she must have left the phone there, all to no avail. At this point, she just asked that we leave the market. Her eyes were red the entire journey home. She wouldn't even say a word to me. I was soaked in guilt the entire time. I had caused this. Only if I had let her, she would never have visited the market.
From exchanging words and almost fighting, to diarrhoea, and worse off, a stolen phone, all from one shopping experience. It was an experience to remember. Throughout our days in the university, we remembered our visit to the market amidst laughter, because it was definitely one to remember.
I think while she was busy dragging the cloth with the other person, the thief took advantage of that opportunity. I am sorry about that. I hope her fashion improved somewhere down the line.
Seriously if you will ask me, these types of days are always difficult to forget easily
Sorry to hear that she lost her phone while shopping. But glad you guys experienced so much during that period.