“I wish I knew how to speak Hausa” Chinwe thought to herself. She watched as the short girl in the ugly red weave-on spoke with Abdul and Usman, thereby communicating better with them, than she ever could with her speaking English fluently and theirs being broken.
She acted like it didn’t matter, and turned to face what was happening on the stage.
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It was one of the social nights on camp. It was supposed to be the fun part of the three weeks in the NYSC camp, apart from the times spent in mamii market, but it was really boring to Chinwe. The only reason she attended was because of Abdul... oh, and Usman, since they walked together most times.
So it was disheartening that she had to watch the boring display of cultural dance of a rival platoon. Chinwe watched, with a side glance, as the girl communicated with them. She had to grudgingly change her view of the girl. She was short alright, but her weave-on was not ugly. Watching the girl, she also noticed that the girl knew the art of catching a guy’s attention, because none of the guys looked at her again since the girl’s arrival. She had even called Abdul, and he had directed her to where he sat. How did she even get his number?!
Realizing that she was getting worked up with jealousy, Chinwe decided that it was best she left. Maybe Abdul will ask her to stay, at least showing that he was still interested in her. Before she could think of an excuse to give, Abdul turned to her
‘Chinwe, we are coming. Let’s just get something.’
Before she could wrap her head around what was going on, the short girl led the way as Abdul, her Abdul, and Usman followed, to God-knows-where. Chinwe felt abandoned and insulted. She stood up and walked out of the hall, there was nothing more to do there.
Getting to the hostel, she chatted with her roommates, but her mind kept going back to Abdul and the short girl. Usman didn’t matter. At least not as much as Abdul. Finally, she gave herself an excuse as to why she should go back to the hall, Abdul may search for her when he returned to the hall. So chinwe found herself going back to the Multi-Purpose hall. Thank God she hadn’t taken off her tennis shoes yet.
Winding her way to where she had sat, she discovered that they had returned. She decided to sit behind them, hoping that the short girl would leave soon. Chinwe noticed that the girl had a takeaway pack in her hand. “Oh”, she thought, “They must have gotten her dinner. I won’t be surprised if that was why she sought Abdul out, for free food.” Just then, the girl turned back and saw her. Chinwe gave a feeble smile, acknowledging her. The girl said something in Hausa, making Abdul turn and face Chinwe.
‘Where did you go? I thought you had gone to sleep’ he asked
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Chinwe asked silently and angrily. ‘Not yet, but soon’ she said, hoping he’d ask her to wait, and give her his attention again.
No such luck.
‘Okay’ he said, ‘You are already feeling sleepy sef’ he concluded in his heavily accented broken English which Chinwe had come to like.
Chinwe took his words as her cue to leave. She stood up. ‘Alright then, Abdulazeez, I will see you later. Usman, goodnight.’ Nodding to the short red-haired girl, she took her leave. Accepting defeat.
Few days later after Abdul was hers again, Chinwe was chatting happily with him when she saw the redhead again. Preparing herself for disappointment, Chinwe was already thinking of an excuse to give to take her leave, but she was shocked when the girl just walked past, and Abdul acted like no one passed.
“What just happened?” Chinwe asked herself. She decided to wait for time to tell her the story. She kept talking to Abdul, happy that she had him to herself, and that the redhead didn’t put asunder.
It was a colorful carnival, and Chinwe didn’t want the day to end, but it was getting darker. As she stood chatting with Abdul while they waited for Usman, they saw another member of their platoon, Maris.
‘Maris, Maris, where is your girlfriend?’ Abdul joked
Chinwe quickly joined in the joke. ‘Oh! So Maris you got a girlfriend and didn’t tell me?’
‘Don’t mind Abdul.’ Maris laughed.
‘He has a girlfriend. That short girl in our platoon’
‘Abdul, there are many short girls in our platoon.’ I replied
‘This girl’, he said, fishing out her picture from his phone. I was surprised. The said girl, was the short redhead!
‘That is YOUR girlfriend!’ I exclaimed
‘What? God forbid! This ant? She can’t be my girlfriend.’
Chinwe could barely control her happiness, but she succeeded in concealing it. ‘So what’s her picture doing in your phone?’ she asked, half serious.
‘Does that make her my girlfriend? Is this my girlfriend’, he asked, showing Chinwe her own picture on his phone.
‘Okay o. but calling her an ant is harsh’ Maris had since left them
As they walked to her hostel Chinwe wondered again what happened between Abdul and the redhead.
It was campfire night, and the platoon members had to sit together, even if they were rivals. Chinwe sat down between Seun, her best friend on camp, and Ayo, her suitor and Abdul’s rival on camp. She kept looking for Abdul, his phone was switched off, she had found a way to get his number.
She saw Usman. ‘Where is Abdul?’ she asked, to the annoyance of Ayo, but she didn’t care.
‘Queen Chinwe!’ someone called. Only Abdul called her that. ‘I have been looking for you!’ she exclaimed, showing her pleasure on seeing him. He came to where she sat. Ayo was obviously hurt. She felt bad, and promised herself that she will make it up to him, but Abdul was her crush.
She wondered, again, what happened between Abdul and the redhead as she was seated quite close to them, but Abdul didn’t even acknowledge her, only Usman spoke to her. Chinwe decided to ask Abdul what happened when the time was right.
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Camp was over, Abdul had redeployed, and Chinwe was preparing to travel back home. They were chatting on Whatsapp, when slowly the truth came out.
The redhead had used Abdul and Usman as her meal ticket on camp, and in the process, following different guys, annoying Abdul.
Chinwe learnt that all she had needed to do to win in the competition with the redhead was to be herself. Her independent, honest self. She also learnt that though she had thought that there was the issue of language barrier between her and Abdul, thinking that the redhead had an advantage, being honest broke down every barrier between her and Abdul. He called her a queen, and called the lady who could speak his language, he called an ant.
Chinwe learnt a great lesson from the funny experience. Barriers can be broken when we are our best selves. Everyone like associating with honest people, no matter the race, country, tribe or language.
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Honesty is the same everywhere... a virtue.
Being true to oneself in different situations is key