There was nothing pleasant about the way mama looked this morning. Her looks screamed tiredness and frustration. The once pretty face that got men all over her some years before, had been replaced with a wrinkled, tired face with dark patches from the sun, as she laboured tirelessly in the community market, just to make enough to take care of the needs at home.
Source
She was tired of life, and the frustration that had known her name since Baami passed was deep. To make things worse, Sefi, her only daughter, didn't act like one whose mother had been through hell just to give her a life she could be proud of tomorrow. She constantly threw caution to the wind.
Mama was waiting for the carpenter down the road to sell the last thing that was was good enough to be bought, just to have enough money for Sefi’s acceptance fee into the university. Only if the person she was doing all of this was worth the stress, she would rest in peace knowing she would reap sometime soon. Sefi was carefree. The most nonchalant and indifferent person ever. She took nothing serious: not academics, or even family. Mama only did what she had to, because she had promised Baami that she would take care of Sefi before he died.
“Madam, these chairs no fresh again o”( The seats are no longer of quality) the local carpenter had said
“Kofo, biko, help me. You know I really need this money” mama pleaded
“I'll try o, but the money won't be a lot”
Kofo struggled to get the seats out of the house with the help of one of his boys. The seats weren't exactly in the best form. Some of it began to reveal the old foam and pieces of fabric that had been used to pad it. As they struggled to take the seat out, Sefi walked in, without even taking notice of the people outside.
“Mama, well-done o!” She said, greeting without any attention to mama, whom she greeted
“Come back here,” mama managed to call her.
Mama looked at her with a very sad look as if to shed tears, but she wouldn't, because she had promised herself not to shed a single tear for a girl who didn't deserve it. There was so much she wanted to say, but her silence would be better off at that moment, because her words could make things worse. Her continued silence while she stared at Sefi and nodded at intervals, made Sefi hiss and walk away.
Source
Sefi stood by the East Way park early that morning with a big bag that seemed she had fit in the belongings of an entire community. Mama was a giver, and regardless of how undeserving Sefi may have been, she made sure she had enough to possibly feed the entire campus.She tried to drag the bag along with her as an oncoming bus where the conductor shouted “Agbo”approached her. She knew she couldn't waste time in entering the bus, as the drivers of these buses had been stripped of patience at birth, so it wasn't in their nature to display it.
She immediately grabbed her bag and jumped in. She was the last passenger to get on the bus. The conductor immediately asked for money, but she pretended she didn't hear.
“Give me your money, jhor!” the conductor screamed
Sefi in her typical way ignored him. How was she to pay when she hadn't got to her destination? She thought. She had always stayed in her village, and was unaware of how things worked uptown. The conductor fiercely shook her as if to dislocate her shoulder, only for her to violently fling the hand bag in her hand across his face. The bus broke into chaos.The bus engine suddenly halted, and the driver made his way out turning to the entrance to throw Sefi out, and thereafter tried to pacify the conductor whose eyes had swollen greatly from the blow it received from Sefi's bag.
This morning was one of Sefi's lazy moments. On her way to her lecture, she met Ogoni, who was from the same village as her. They were not friends, so Sefi never saw the need to engage in any conversation with her. As Ogoni saw Sefi, she made hurried steps towards Sefi, who pretended she didn't see her, but she was too close to be ignored.
“Oh! Sefi, I'm sorry about your mom” She said with so much pity.
“What about my mom?” Sefi asked, looking confused.
“You didn't hear?” Mama passed two nights ago”
Sefi's hand became cold and numb, while her body began to shake. She wanted to cry, but didn't know how to. She wasn't used to showing emotions, but for the first time in a long while, a tear dropped. She tried to wipe it off, but more of it flooded her cheeks. How come no one bothered to tell her? She was pained. She and her mother weren't in the best place, but at this point she knew she was all alone in the world- no mother, no father.
Weeks after the funeral, Sefi sat alone outside her hostel, staring at the hostel path for so long that she didn't notice when her roommates passed, or hear them call her to excuse them. She had been like this for days, pensive and withdrawn. She lost the energy to cook up trouble of any sort. She sat confused, wondering how she was going to fend for herself. She knew she couldn't go back to the village. There was nothing there for her. Her father's brothers had taken over the house after mama’s death. She had to pull up her socks, or drown in misery for life. She had a plan.
Of course, the only thing she loved doing was cooking. She loved food, so she was always the one preparing meals at home. This was the only time mama commended her, because her meals were usually tasty. She began to sell food to people around her, in the hostel and even in the lecture halls after lectures. Initially, people hesitated to patronise because they wanted to steer clear of Sefi's troubles, but when they noticed there was something different about her, adding to the fact that her meals were mouthwatering, they became regulars. With this, she could meet basic needs and even pay her fees.
As bad as it was that she was alone in the world, mama's death had beaten her into a responsible person. She herself would sit and just begin to smile, remembering how she had been, and how her life has eventually become.
show must go on...
That's it
Sometimes good things are drawn from sad moments. It is a shame she lost mama before she came to her senses.
Life can be that way at times
I believe everything happens for a reason
Sure!