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As Nene walked out of the room into the outer part of the compound, she met a line of about 3 people holding old buckets by the aluminum makeshift bathroom outside.
Oh No,not again, she grimaced. Standing to wait for people to bath before she had hers was quite frustrating every day. This was one of the reasons she always went late to school apart from the quick morning hawking.
Aunty Ngozi was the first person on the que. She was a gossip but she was nice. Nene moved towards her in a bid to beg her to allow her quickly bath for 3 minutes. As she edged closer to Aunty Ngozi, the man in the middle stared at her in disgust. He knew what she wanted to do. " Hey, Nene mind yourself o. I have work this morning. No jus delay me. Better go back " he spat at her with his forehead creased.
Nene quickly raised both hands clasped together to beg him. "Papa Emeka, abeg, biko, I'm going to school this morning pls Sah"
He just scoffed but his facial expression showed that he agreed. Aunty Ngozi was listening in on their conversation and she pitied Nene. Poor girl, she had to hawk in the mornings and still go late to school, then come back in the evening to hawk yams in Berger market.
"Ndo o, Nene go baf, but do fast o. I get person nails to do this morning" she obliged. She was a hairdresser and doubled as a nail technician, in a small shop at Berger market.
The last woman on the line was just starring at the trio with irritation. Her name was Madam Ubong, an AkwaIbom woman. Mama Pelumi didn't hold a torch to her when it came to trouble making.
"So, I'm invisible abi? Nene I don turn ghost! You think say u fit just come here and jump into the bathroom just like that? You no get sense" she began.
Aunty Ngozi turned to her, "Mama Afam, abeg no vex, let this girl bath quickly. She dey go school"
"No me I no get children wey dey go school na, abi? Ngozi ur brain don shift. So because say una be Igbo, una think say una fit use Igbo sense for me? Na lie!" She fired back.
Just then, Paul, a young lazy guy who did nothing but play bet all day, stepped out of the bathroom. His wet Dunlop slippers made "cricri cricri" sound as he walked past them. He wasn't interested in the morning drama.
Aunty Ngozi ordered Nene to go and have her bath and the young girl quickly ran into the spirogyra infested bathroom before Madam Ubong could get to her. Outside the aluminum makeshift door, she could hear Aunty Ngozi and Madam Ubong exchanging words.
"Ashawooo useless thing, u talk say na hair you dey make, bet na man u dey nack"
"Mama Afam, abeg, mind yourself, no be me talk say make you dey barren for 15 years"
A shout was heard. Obviously those words touched Madam Ubong's soul. Nene almost laughed in the bathroom as she scrubbed her body, but she held her breathe.
"Ngozi me? Barren? Me? Ngozi, you wey don do abortion 12 times. Abortion scissors don chop all your womb finish" Madam Ubong fired back.
"Make una stop this nonsense abeg" came Papa Emeka's Voice. The shouting died down. Nene quickly poured the last scoop of water on her body and hastily tied her wrapper then stepped out.
Aunty Ngozi's face was red, she was so angry, she just passed Nene and banged the bathroom door behind her.
Madam Ubong laughed "Spoil the door o. You don spoil your womb finish, na innocent door you wan spoil join"
Nene bit her lips in anger as she went to her room. She wished she could beat up that woman. In her mind, she had given the troublesome woman a smack down more than 7 times.
As she parted the worn out faded blue curtain, she met her mother arranging the plantains into a polybag. She was going to roast them by the road side on Odozi street, Berger, later on, in the mid morning.
"Neneeee do fast. You don late o" her mother chided. She nodded and quickly got dressed for school. By 8:30 she was through. Still late. Nene tucked 100 naira note into her skirt pocket and bade her mother good bye.
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"Hey...move to that side" a teacher ordered to the late comers at the school gate. Nene joined about 15 other students to move to the right.
"Oya, begin to use your knee to crawl to that place and come back. Do it 5 times" he pointed to five feet before them. Nene almost cried in frustration . Her knees were full of blisters from these punishments. With hot tears threatening to drop from her eyes, she went down on her knees and started the excruciating crawl.
Oh God, when will things get better?
She questioned as she turned back to crawl for the second time.
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