"Ok o. We see you later. It's 5pm already, bread
should be out of the oven by now. We can't be late to the bakery.
Chichi, let's go."
They both leave for the bakery.
"What would you like to eat, Tonia?" Damilola asks her.
"Anything you give me is fine. But wait, I need to ask you a question. What are you doing here?"
"What sort of question is that? I live here in case you haven't noticed." Damilola was visibly irritated.
"Don't be annoyed, with the way you dress and spend money each time you
came home, I didn't expect to meet you in this kind if condition. It
also seems like you live with those other girls in this room."
"Hehehe." Damilola claps her hands.
"You don't know anything, Lagos is not an easy place, we hustle day and night just to make ends meet. But I can't come to the village and tell you all that.
I didn't expect anyone to be so stupid as to actually come
to Lagos in search of me."
"But you said I could come and stay with you if I wanted the good life." Tonia replied, looking lost.
"Ok o, I hear you. But you need to know it's not a bed of roses here.
We work really hard for little money.
However, it is still better than
wasting away in the village."
"So what happens to me now? Can I stay? Can I get a job too? Can I live with you?" Tonia pleads.
"You are lucky two of our roommates moved out.
One moved in with her
boyfriend while the other one travelled out of the country. So, there's
space for you since its just three of us. You'll be the fourth. That's
if you can cope o."
Tonia kneels down to thank her friend.
"Thank you, I will do my best. If I can't cope, I'll go back home, and who knows? I might travel out like one of your former roommates." She said, smiling.
"Hmm. Na true. You go travel out too." Damilola responded, sarcastically.
"Here's how it goes: we have day jobs, Chichi and I work as cleaners in
a hospital, while Biola is a waiter in a restaurant.
We hawk bread
during our free times. For instance, when Chi chi and I are on morning
duty at the hospital, we hawk in the evening; but when we are on night
or afternoon duty, we hawk in the morning or afternoon depending on how
convenient it is for us."
"Hmm hmm. But why do you need to hawk
when you have steady jobs? Besides, as an OND holder, I don't think it
befits you and I o."
"Madam OND holder, do you know the number of
graduates walking all over Lagos jobless? And as for the day jobs, we
get paid as low as twenty thousand naira.
Do you think that is enough to
get our bills paid? All we can do is work hard now and better ourselves
while doing that."
"Na wa o! I thought Lagos was a land of opportunities. It is pure suffering." Tonia laments.
"Yes, it is suffering but we have to be positive. I've saved enough to
go for my HND program, now I'm looking for a job that would make my
weekends free so that I'll have time for part time lectures.
Biola is
starting her training to become a professional hairdresser next month.
It's only Chichi that hasn't made up her mind what she wants to do. So,
you see we won't be cleaners or hawkers forever."
________________________________________
________________________________________
It's been two months since Tonia arrived Lagos, and things are actually
worse than she thought. She has not been able to hold down a steady
job.
Biola helped her secure a job in the same restaurant she
works but Tonia was sacked less than two weeks into the job because when
a customer asked her to fetch her some toothpicks, she asked the woman
if she was crippled and couldn't get them herself.
Coincidentally, the woman was actually crippled and the wife of the restaurant owner.
That happened almost one month ago, so she has been hawking full time since then.
"Damilola, I'm tired of this hawking. They keep calling me "bread,
bread" as if I'm a loaf of bread. These Lagos people are rude o." She
lamented.
"And what has what they call you got to do with the
money you're making. You better face your work. I miss my weekend
earning from hawking because of my schooling.
And what is this I hear,
about you asking for the price of clothes and shoes from Emeka? Have I
not told you I'll take you to Katangowa market when you have enough
money?"
"I heard they sell okirika there, something somebody has
worn before. God forbid. I no fit. Besides, Emeka has promised to sell
to me on credit and at a fair price."
"You are so funny. Emeka
that sells inferior stuff at triple the market value. I pity you. You
better calm down."
Damilola is irritated at her pride and foolishness.
"I won't buy much from him then. But that Kata whatever is out of the
question. Abi na all those used clothes and shoes you dey wear come
villa?" She teases Damilola.
"No vex, Madam I come Lagos, just
remember your bills for the month before you start shopping. You've
hawked bread for one month straight now, So you have no excuse."
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
"One of my friends told me about the new eatery on the main road, she
says they need waiters and cleaners." Chichi said to the girls one
Sunday evening.
Sunday were "no hawking" days for the girls as
most bakeries do not produce on sundays and they also take the time to
rest and get prepared for another week.
"Ehn ehn, Tonia, how far? Are you interested?" Damilola asks her.
"I am, if the pay is good and the work hours reasonable."
"See this one, some people would give up their legs to get this kind of
job. I'm asking because my friend's elder brother is the manager and in
charge of employing people.
So if you are interested and won't disgrace
me like you did to Biola at the restaurant, I can tell him."
"Ok. Ok. I will do. But you need to stop blaming me for something I knew
nothing about. How was I to know the woman was crippled?" Tonia
responds defensively.
"The fact remains that it was wrong of you to speak to a customer like that. Your mouth is too sharp." Chichi retorts.
Tonia eventually got the job with the eatery and surprisingly, she
behaved herself there. But that didn't stop her from informing all who
cared to listen that she was from a rich family and her parents were
planning to open a bigger eatery for her, So they wanted her to get some
experience and learn to relate with "the little people".
#fiction
#girlchild
#girlchild
All rights reserved
Written By Tolulope Fakayode-Faniran
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