It was one blazing afternoon—the sun felt like it had melted into my skin, my clothes were damp from the sweltering heat, my head was so hot that it began banging, almost like it was going to fall off. I had just come back from the market with my mom, after she had haggled prices with the market sellers, made various stops to greet one person or the other.
"Mummy Chike! This cow tail is too expensive now, I’m your regular customer and yet you don’t give me fair prices." My mom had said to the woman she often bought cow meat from.
We ended up staying at the market for hours and when it was finally time for us to leave, I was happy. On getting home, I took a cold bath and slept for a good amount of time; soon it was dinner time so my mom woke me up.
We were having fufu and efo riro soup (my dad’s favourite), my mom then cleared her throat, she said she had something important to tell us about Adanna. Adanna is from my mom’s village, she helped my grandparents whenever they needed someone to run little errands, she also helped us whenever we were at the village.
She was twenty-four years old then, older than my siblings and I, and was respectful—this made my mom develop a soft spot for her and decided to help her.
"I’m thinking of bringing Adanna to the city to stay with us, I want to help her, she’s a good girl. That way, I can send her to the university since her parents can’t afford it."
I was taken aback for a moment because my mom wasn’t the type to let just anyone come to our house, let alone live with us.
"Okay mummy, it’s a good thing you want to help her. She really needs it" I responded.
My dad just nodded, my mom had discussed it with him already.
"Okay, I’ll discuss it with her and see if she wants to come" My mom said.
"I don’t think she will refuse sha" My sister added.
"Still I have to ask her first, I can’t just bundle a grown-up to the city" My mom replied.
We finished our dinner and went to bed. The next day, my mom called Adanna’s parents telling them that she wanted to bring their daughter to the city, she spoke to Adanna too. They were so happy, they blessed and thanked my mom, Adanna was the happiest of all.
The following week, Adanna arrived to our house in the evening with a hopeful smile, shy and grateful. She slept comfortably in one of the spare rooms and was up before 7am, sweeping the house and arranging.
The noise woke me up. "Why are you sweeping so early, are you going somewhere?" I asked still struggling to get my balance as I still felt sleepy.
"I wake up early in the village to do house chores, go back to sleep" She replied.
Later in the day, my mom took Adanna to get a JAMB form in preparation for admission into the university by April. Her joy knew no bounds—weeks later, she wrote the exam, passed and got into the university. She went from home since it was a stone’s throw.
After a while, my belongings began disappearing, my wristwatch, my trousers, my shirts and money—I could smell a rat. None of my siblings wore the size of my clothes, my mom and dad weren’t even in the question, so what really was happening? I didn’t want to point fingers just yet, I wanted to be sure.
One Friday morning, I had gone out to buy akara and pap for breakfast, when I got home the front door was wide open; so I just walked in. As I dropped the things in the kitchen, my mom asked me to call Adanna.
"Have you seen Adanna? Call her for me" My mom said.
I then began searching for Adanna but couldn’t find her.
"Where did she go to? Let me just give her a call" I mumbled.
As I went to my room to take my phone, I saw Adanna folding some of my clothes into the bag she normally carried to school. My heart thumped, my blood froze.
"What are you doing with my clothes?" I asked quietly.
Her mouth opened "I wanted to wash them" She stammered.
"But those are clean clothes" I replied.
My mom and father walked up to the scene, Adanna hung her head in shame.
"I treated you like family and this is how you repay me? My mother asked, her face sorrowful.
It turned out that she had been stealing my clothes and money to give her boyfriend in school.
Adanna was sent back to the village some days later, my mom was heartbroken but firm, her trust had been broken. I sometimes wonder if she learnt her lesson afterwards or became worse.
After that, we learned that sometimes even good intentions can be betrayed.
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