After a decade in Houston, armed with her luggage and the confidence of someone who believed she remembered how things worked in Nigeria, Chioma drove calmly to shop at a supermarket.
Her confidence lasted for about five minutes.
Painted on a wall in scraggly lettering beside the entrance were two words. No Parking.
She slowed down as a conversation she had with her friend, Steve, a few months earlier flashed back. “Okay, I understand this one,” she murmured, driving past the supermarket entrance to park her car beneath a mango tree.
“You know my building in Lagos was almost sold by strangers,” Steve had told her. She chuckled thinking it was a joke.
“Sold? How does somebody sell another person's building?”
“That was the problem. The strange men claimed they had been authorised to sell and the buyers believed them because there was no sign on the building saying, “This House Is Not For Sale”.
Chioma stared at her friend. “You're joking.”
“I wish I was. Thanks to my neighbour who alerted my solicitor to the dubious arrangement. Apparently people thought the absence of the sign meant any building or house can be sold by vendors.”
Now standing outside the supermarket, Chioma turned when a man called her. “Madam, you cannot park under the mango tree.”
She pointed to the writing on the wall, confused. “It says no parking here but nothing of such on or around the tree.”
“You can park here but not beneath the tree,” he replied, frowning. “This sign is not to be taken literally. Please, come and move your car.”
“For ten years, I've been following signs. Today, my country has taught me not to trust one.”
The man grinned, realising from her accent that she recently returned from the US. “You could have asked someone first before parking.”
She thanked him and moved her car from the tree area to park elsewhere, promising herself to be more careful. Perhaps the real sign was not ‘no parking’ but ‘ask somebody first.’
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "no parking".
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