Greetings, everyone! 🙌
I have a market close to my street where I usually buy my food items, but the issue is that it's a very small market, and they don't sell all foodstuffs, especially meat; it's only fish that's available.
This particular day, tired of eating fish, I decided to make a dish with meat. Where do I get meat? I must go to the big market, which is a bit far from me, and I'll spend nothing less than 600 naira to and fro.
I needed to eat meat by all means, so I boarded a bike to the market. I got there and began to move to and fro, searching for a reasonable place to buy meat since I don't have a fixed customer. I was still moving when I saw one of my clients; he owns a space in the market. After greeting, he asked what I wanted to buy, and I told him it's meat. He pointed at a spot not far from where we were. Okay, I left him and walked down, not knowing he was following me as he was leaving the market already to drop some goods at home.
"Oreva, treat my guy well," he said to the lady selling meat and left us.
"How much do you want to buy?" The lady asked with a tightened face, which surprised me; she wasn't happy that, among all the meat spots, I came to her stand.
"Anyways, the person that brought me here already told you to sell for me well. I don't need to haggle with you, just give me 1,000 naira worth of meat," I replied with a smiling face, hoping she would be attracted and play along because she's a very young lady and shouldn't be behaving like a 60-year-old woman tired of life.
"Okay, 1,000 naira it is," she picked up her curved knife, used it to drag some meats on the table closer to her, and began to 'cheap' cut the meat. Her face was still tightened, not showing any brightness. At that moment, I thought maybe she had just been heartbroken by her boyfriend, as heartbreak is very common and can happen anytime.
I watched her cut the meat, and in a jiffy, she was done and handed me the meat in a black nylon.
"This? You mean this is 1,000 naira? No way, I can't take this. This is way too small compared to what I used to buy," I picked the meat and began to lament.
I expected her to say something, at least a plea that things are costly, but instead, she plugged in her black earpiece on her left ear and threw her face away to the right. I dropped the meat back on her table, insisting she adds a bit more, but this girl gave me a deaf ear.
She didn't give me that attention, and before my presence, she began to Facebook.
Jeeeez! I became very mad; I was boiling, and there was nothing I could do because I had already given her money. I wanted to cause a scene, but no, I'm a guy and should keep it cool. I collected the meat and left the space.
I didn't vow never to buy from her spot again; it was the heaven, the earth, and the oxygen in the air that did that for me. And she knew that whenever she sees me in that market, she can't call me to come buy from her.
Thanks for reading
This is my entry to Hivenaija prompt of the week
Image used is mine