Mama Ngozi's shop was the only place in the whole street that sold cold drinks that were actually cold, Everybody knew this, so when NEPA decided to take light for the third day in a row, her freezer stopped working, and by Wednesday evening, her Coke and Fanta were as warm as bathwater, nobody wanted to hear it, they still came, dropped their money, and grumbled like it was her fault the whole country's power supply was a joke.
Tobi didn't care about any of that though, he was not there for drinks, he was there to apologize to Amara, who worked behind the counter three days a week to help her aunty, and who had not looked at him properly in two weeks.
So It started over something small, the kind of small that only becomes big because two stubborn people refuse to let it die, Tobi had made a joke about her braids in front of her friends, something about how they made her head look like a Christmas tree, and everyone laughed, including him, too loud, too long, Amara didn't find it funny, She left without saying goodbye that night, and since then, every "good morning" he sent got left on read.
He stood outside the shop for a good five minutes before he even walked in, He kept rehearsing what to say in his head, but every version sounded stupid once he imagined saying it out loud, eventually he just walked in, because standing outside a provision store for too long attracts attention, and the last thing he needed was Mama Ngozi asking him wetin he dey find for her shop front since morning.
Amara saw him and immediately busied herself arranging sachets of milk that were already arranged.
"Amara," he said.
"We are closing soon," she replied, not looking up.
"I know. I just... I wanted to say sorry, For the Christmas tree thing,
It wasn't funny and I should not have said it, especially not in front of everybody like that."
She kept arranging the milk sachets, slower now.
"You embarrassed me," she said. "In front of Blessing and Chidinma, you know how they can be."
"I know, I wasn't thinking, I just wanted to make people laugh and I didn't think about how it would land on you."
"That is the problem, you never think about how things land on me."
That one stung more than he expected, because it was not really about the braids anymore, and he knew it, he leaned against the counter, careful not to knock over the biscuits stacked by the till.
"You're right," he said. "I don't think enough before I talk, My mother has been telling me this since I was small and I still haven't learned, but I'm learning now, slowly, and I really am sorry, not just because you are upset, but because I actually like your braids, I liked them before I made that stupid joke."
For the first time since he walked in, she looked at him properly.
"You are lucky today is Wednesday," she said, "If it was Sunday after church, ehn, I would have dealt with you mercilessly."
He laughed, relieved, because that meant she was not really angry anymore, or at least not angry enough to keep pretending, Outside, NEPA finally brought light back, and somewhere down the street, someone's generator that had been groaning all evening went quiet at last. Small mercies, all in one evening.
"Buy something before you go," Amara said, "since you are disturbing my aunty's shop."
He bought a warm Fanta and drank it anyway.
Image gotten from Chatgpt
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