Chapter 21: Chapter 21

The March morning sun did not seem so happy. It was furnace hot- attempting to roast my fair skin black.

I stood at the junction waiting for Keke under that hot sun. Early in the morning, it was always difficult to get Keke Napep around my neighbourhood. If one finally came around, they did not like to go to my work area because of the distance. They seemed like people afraid of working for money because I understood the distance and I paid accordingly.

The body lotion I applied was conflicting matters more. I kept dabbing my face with a white handkerchief till it was all wet and stained with the brown powder I applied that morning. There was a gutter behind me and for a split strange second, I considered sitting at the edge. I watched as a Keke approached and immediately sped off when I mentioned the address of my work place.

Unable to find an empty Keke I hugged my hand bag to my chest, moving from feet to feet. A car rolled down then. It was a white 'Honda' I knew belonged to one of the people I shared a building with.  He always washed his car in the morning. I do not if the tongue just hated to be caged.  He was also the major competitor in playing loud music in the yard.

His windows rolled down slowly. "Where, baby? "

Baby? I hated the way it sounded coming from him. He seemed to talk with his tongue in between his teeth.

I told him my destination, rather gratefully and he asked me to 'hop in'.

Wisdom!!! My heart cried. He was the one that left me in position to be accepting rides by the road side even if it is from my neighbor. I could actually accept from anyone. The sun could get anyone that desperate.

"I was washing the car when you left," he said, then bent very close to the steering, watching the road through the glass with his tongue stuck on his lips. I shook my head and looked out through the window.

"I see no man coming to ya."

He was still in his position, paying attention to the road like he was playing a video game. Maybe if he had looked at me I would have given him a smile because I did not know a reply that would suit his statement.

"Why don't I come over the weekend or you come over to my flat. We could get to know each other more."

He took my silence for a negative!

The guts! Unimaginable. Because he was giving me a ride?

"I have a man," I stated.

He licked his lips then sent his tongue inside and I was grateful. I was actually getting worried.

"I have never seen him but that's alright," he said without looking at me.

I sighed softly, looking out through the window. I was not ready for any neighbourly advance. I should have rejected the ride even but I did not want to spend the whole day on the road. I was not close to any of my neighbors and in that way, nobody had anything to say about me.

I pointed to where he could pack just outside my work building then I hurriedly got down, saying thank you. He must have been saying something before Tunde came out, calling,

"My lady!"

He had to nod and drive off. Maybe Tunde passed as my man. He was indeed a fine man.

"I wanted to say good morning but it feels like, noon," I said.

He laughed. "You should reset your watch or better still change the battery. "

I jabbed him on the chest before climbing up the stairs.

"Come down later, will you ! " he shouted after me.

"Yes and lower your voice! " I shouted back.

There was a customer waiting for me in the shop, one brought by an older customer. The new customer was a younger woman, could have been  in her twenties, probably my age. The other woman  was more advanced in age, looked fifty or in that range. I listened as she described what she wanted then I brought out a drawing pad and sketched it.

"Yes, that's it! " The older woman said.

I looked at the younger one and urged her to look at the sketch. She nodded after looking at it.

She pointed to the hand. "You have to make the flare rich."

I nodded. "A picture would be better still. Don't you have a picture?"

"She thinks up styles but she's a poor artist," the older woman explained.

The younger woman nodded. "I just can't draw even to save my own life."

I do not know if she intended a joke but everyone in the room laughed.

"It's for my bridal train. I want like twenty gowns," she said.

I never took on these sort of contracts but it seemed my other customers were angry with me, or they found a new place to make their dresses. They had not come since my return. With lesser work on the table, I was considering it. I needed money.

"It depends on when you want it," I told her.

"Soon. Very soon. I actually wanted to buy gowns but my Aunty told me of you. "

I thought of the gain but mostly the pain my poor legs would go through and the fatigue. I was in for shedding a lot of fat. The pay just had no choice but to be worth it.

I negotiated a price with them- which was no trouble. They seemed ready to spend money.

They left, handing over the big 'Ghana must go ' that was used to pack the Poly materials for the dresses. She did not also forget to state that she could not bear disappointment in any form. Nobody could actually.

I could imagine what my night would look like, sleeping on the machine in the guest room. I held my head in my hands as I thought of how to readjust my schedule. I could work from anywhere but since Tunde came, I always wanted to go down and see him when at work. It was what I did again. I went down to see him.

"You are going to be getting a lot of ride offers," he said, setting aside the drawing pad he was sketching on.

I shrugged.  "It's actually hard to get Keke to work from my side."

He stepped out from behind his desk. He pulled a stool and sat facing me where I sat on the leather padded bench in his office.

"Let's bargain, " he said.

"Mmm. Go ahead."

He reached out and picked his magazine from his desk then he placed it in my hand. "I will pick you every morning and drop you off after work and in return, you will make a cloth here for me."

I laughed. "Tunde, I told you I don't make male clothes."

"Oh really? " He kept his head slanted and his eyes narrowed as if he was thinking.

"Really," I replied.

"I know you can do whatever you set your mind to do."

I nodded. "I can."

I left him and stood to see what he did with his other room. The only thought that crossed my mind was, "Landlord will kill this one, " and I ended up voicing it.

"What? " Tunde asked, standing behind me.

I stepped in properly into the room. There were paintings hanging on the wall and some piled on the floor, abstract paintings, portraits, landscape. On the floor were cups of paint, canvass brushes of varying sizes, a bucket of water on one side, paint stains splattered on the poor tile and the worst were the paintings on the wall as if he was attempting to make the room multicolored.

"I'll be long gone before he steps in here," he said.

"You don't know that man. You will have to repaint here. You really messed it up."

"You don't know me too," he said.

I turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Outlaw?"

He shrugged. "Your landlord got nothing on me."

"I see."

I walked closer to an abstract painting that looked like a woman carrying a baby on her back then on her head was a basin bearing males  and females of different sizes.

"A mother, " he said, "I won a competition with the replica."

"Oh," I said, stooping to see the name he signed his work with. "Tunde Obilor," I pronounced carefully- a wonderful meeting of different tribes. "Tunde Obilor," I said, standing up to face him.

"Nice to meet you , and you are? "

I laughed. "Akomas. Nene Akomas."

He was leaning on the wall with his legs crossed in front of him, smiling at me. His dark handsome face lit up the more as he stared at me. I was uncomfortable. If I had been sitting I would have been more composed and I would not be more interested  in the collar of my shirt that I was now adjusting and readjusting. I was a grown woman, yet I turned twelve under his gaze.