Amina held on tightly to her father's arm. The man’s thick muscles made her hands hurt. She dared not to protest. “You must always hold on to my arm. The market is not a playground. You can easily get hurt, robbed, or worse still, beaten. Be sure to always be by my side”. Her father would always caution. “Here, hold this bag of oranges and wait here in front of Mallam Jafar’s shop. I will get some meat from the butcher”. Her father spoke firmly as he nodded toward Jafar the shop owner.
Amina clutched the bag to her chest looking around the market. Buyers and sellers alike bargaining prices, merchants dropping off supplies, and young pick-up boys waiting to move the wares of buyers. The chattering and bustling overwhelmed Amina as she stood there like a spectator. Her eyes then darted to a group of young boys in the corner. They were whispering without taking their eyes off her.
Before Amina could decipher what was happening, one of the boys had walked briskly towards her and snatched her bag of oranges. Amina staggered and almost fell to the ground. She became filled with rage. She went after the boy stamping her feet in the mud as she pushed through people in the market. Amina stopped abruptly when she saw an old woman use her walking stick to trip the boy. Her cane sent the boy and the bag of oranges straight to the ground. The woman then used it to knock on the boy’s head. “I'm sorry. My friends and I are very hungry”. The boy muttered while shielding his head with his palms.
Amina got there in time to pick up her bag of oranges- some of which had rolled all over the place. “Amina! You had only one job-to wait. What are you doing on the ground of the market?”
“Baba a boy snatched my bag and this woman helped me”. Amina raised her head to look but didn't find the old woman anywhere. She then looked to a corner and saw a hooded figure disappearing from the crowd.
“What woman Amina? Pickup those oranges and let's go home”. Her father furrowed his forehead into a frown. On their way home, Amina asked clutching her father's arms. “Baba! Do you believe that guardians exist?”
“Why so Amina?”
“Mama used to tell me that there are stars on earth. She said to me,’ Amina, whenever you feel helpless, look up to the skies. The stars will protect you. I believe her. The old woman from the market was the same one who helped me find Sina the other day. I knew it was her when I saw that black hood. She brought Sina to the river and just like that, I couldn't find her. She had disappeared”. Amina raised her head to look at her father. He was deep in thought.
“Listen Amina. The only Star I know on earth was your mother. She lit up our worlds and I know she's watching over us”. Amina’s father tapped her shoulders gently. They both smiled affectionately.
Later that evening, Amina sat on a wet stone by the river. She had brought Sina, her favorite calf to draw in some water late in the evening. It was the last part of her chores as a farm girl. Quietly, she listen to the soft puddles of the water accompanied by Sina's gentle gulps. The matching sounds always calmed her spirits.
The night was quiet and dark except for the twinkling stars that filled the sky. Most nights, Amina would sit and count the stars as she waited on Sina. It was her moment of bliss. That night, Amina noticed there were more stars in the sky. Patches of them. She was amazed. There were two stars directly beneath where Amina sat. Amina lifted her head and looked intently, she thought they were hovering around her. One star had less luster than the other.
Amina then began to notice something strange. The stars began to hit on each other violently. “Huh. Look, Sina. Are they fighting?”
Amina steadied her gaze. She watched the brighter star receive a hit that shot it with the speed of light straight from the sky to the bushes. Amina's eyes widened. She was petrified for a moment. She stood contemplating what to do next. “Should I call baba? No! He would not believe it”.
Amina started to walk towards the bush path. She could see very dim light emanating through some foliage. Amina got closer and knelt near the star. The light from it was pulsating. “Wow. A star”. Amina gasped. She slowly picked it off the ground. It filled up her frail hands. The star felt so cold and fragile. Amina noticed one of its left spikes had almost been severed. Quickly she got some gum Arabic from a nearby acacia tree and patched it together. “This would work”, she whispered.
After setting Sina in her shelter together with the other cows, Amina snuck into her bedroom with the star. She barely slept that night. Occasionally she would peek at the star beneath her pillow. It was getting warmer by the hour. An hour later, Amina peeked at the star, this time the star began to dematerialize into the smallest star dust packed together. Amina watched in awe as the particles ascended and light engulfed her entire bedroom. Then instantly, the particles moved like waves through her window straight to the sky. Amina watched as the particles materialized back into a star and positioned themselves.
Amina thought she saw the light sparkle twice like a wink. She took a deep long breath. Amina wasn't afraid. She felt a kind of surge she couldn't explain through her entire body. Peacefully, she went back to bed. The next day at the farm, Amina sat alone in a shed thinking about all that had happened the previous night. Lost in thoughts, she looked far ahead. She could see a figure. When she looked closer, Amina recognized the black hood. It was the hooded old woman watching her from a distance.
Determined to speak to her, Amina raced so hard. “Please stop. I want to talk to you”. The woman couldn't walk any faster. Amina had caught up with her. She looked down and noticed that the old lady was limping on her left leg.
“Who are you and how did you get hurt?” Amina demanded still trying to catch her breath.
“Sometimes, when evil comes lurking around our loved ones. We have to fight to protect them”. The woman's voice was calm like the waves.
“Wait! Is that gum Arabic on your foot?
“There!” the old woman pointed and before Amina could turn back around, only stardust lingered in the air.
