As Amara walked away from the pastor's house, she kept hissing in annoyance.
"Mumu me. Ha! Amara, you are a mumu girl," Amara muttered to herself, her heart boiling with anger as she walked away.
After walking for some minutes, she bit her forefinger. She stopped and turned back, looking in the direction she had walked from.
"I should have told this woman my mind. I shouldn't have left that way. I was supposed to give her a piece of my mind and forget that she is a pastor's wife. Who pastor wife help? Shey na her husband God call? She nuh be God anointed. Lai lai! She nuh fit be God anointed," Amara told herself, glaring at the road that led to the woman's house.
"Abi make I go back go tell her my mind?" Amara asked herself, feeling very tempted to unleash all her pent-up frustration on the woman.
She sighed deeply when she felt an hunger pang, and then she rubbed her stomach, "Na who done chop belleful Dey quarel. Thank you," she told her stomach.
Thinking about the distance she would need to trek back under this harmattan sun to exert her energy quarreling with the woman and then trekking back once again to the next place she was going to clean, she decided not to waste what little energy she had.
"Pastor's wife One, Amara Zero," she told herself as she continued walking again.
"Not everybody pastor's wives is born again sha," she told herself.
The harmattan sun beat down heavily on her as she walked, and soon enough, she put the incident with the woman behind her.
It didn't take long before thoughts drifted back to the situation with her family, and her heart raced when she remembered that there was no other way for her to get money.
She was still deliberating on it when she arrived at the other lady whose house she cleaned twice a week. But not for free. The lady paid her twenty thousand naira monthly to clean her house.
By the time she arrived at the woman's house, her throat and lips were parched, and even her legs were looking white and dry.
The woman opened the veranda gate and smiled at her warmly, "Amara, this one, you're early today. I hope everything is fine."
"Good afternoon, ma. Sorry I didn't call to let you know I will be coming early today," Amara apologized, smiling at the lady as she walked in.
"It's fine. But why are you sweating so profusely? And why are your legs so dusty?" She asked when she observed Amara's state as they entered inside.
Amara smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry. I trekked. I didn't have transport…"
"Wait. Is your house not in that area I dropped you off the other time?" The lady asked, snapping her fingers. Amara nodded.
"You trekked all that distance?" She asked with wide eyes.
"I actually trekked from my house to somewhere else to work, then trekked from there to here," Amara explained, thinking that would calm her.
"Ah! Why didn't you just call to say you didn't have tfare? Or maybe you should have taken Keke drop…"
"Keke drop ke. I don't have that money," Amara said quickly.
"I would have paid. I don't like this one bit. See how unkempt you look. And you're a fine girl o. See your fair fine skin is looking dark," she said, and Amara smiled.
"I'm fine, ma. Thank you," she said, thinking the lady was saying this so she could deduct it from her next payment. And then she paused when something occurred to her.
Maybe she could ask the lady for an advance payment. "Actually, can I talk to you about something?" Amara asked, and the lady nodded.
"Sure. But wait, let me get you something to drink first. If not that you're the one cleaning the house, I won't let you enter my house with this dirty body o. Make sure you shower in the guestroom before leaving. Don't be falling hand. You're a fine girl," the lady said as she went into the kitchen to get Amara a can of Coke.
Amara smiled as she waited in the living room, thinking about how nice the lady was.
"Sit down. Shey if you dirty the seat it is still you that will clean it? Sit down," she said, laughing as she offered Amara the can of coke.
"Thank you, ma," Amara said as she lowered herself to her seat.
Amara opened her mouth to talk, but the lady pointed at the can, "Drink first. That sun outside is strong."
"Thank you, ma," Amara said again before reluctantly opening the can.
She would have preferred to keep the Coke in her bag and buy a biscuit or bread to go with it later, making it her meal for the day. Drinking Coke like this was a waste.
Her stomach churned with nerves as she raised it to her lips and sipped from it. She hoped the woman wouldn't urge her to finish it so that she could keep the remaining one and look for an empty can to pour it inside.
After taking a sip, she set it aside and faced the lady who was busy pressing her phone. "Ma…"
"I'm listening," the lady urged Amara as she set down her phone and focused on her.
Amara hesitated for a moment, her heart beating fast, "I don't know how this will sound. I'm sorry in advance if this will offend you, but can you please pay me in advance? Things are very hard for my family right now. My mother has breast cancer, and my younger ones are down with malaria and typhoid. They don't even have food to eat. Because of the cancer my mother can't go to farm as before. I'm the only one they're depending on because my father is dead, and even me, I don't have anything," Amara said and watched as the lady's brows pulled together.
"Only you all these problems?" She asked, her face soft with compassion.
Amara sighed, "Na so I see am."
"What will twenty thousand naira do? Or are you asking me to pay in advance for ten years? Because twenty thousand won't go anywhere. Ordinary malaria and typhoid medicine sef the money is gone," she said, and Amara sighed.
"At least I will see something to send them today," she explained.
"And after you send it, what about you? You know what? I don't have money like that, but I won't give you a salary advance," she said as she picked up her phone.
Amara looked at her, wondering how much she would give her then if she couldn't pay her the twenty thousand in advance.
Amara's China torchlight phone vibrated, and the message tone rang out, making the lady jump.
"Amara! This your phone is always giving me a heart attack!" She said with a laugh.
Amara didn't laugh back. Her eyes were wide with surprise when she saw it was an alert from her bank. The lady had sent her hundred thousand Naira.
"Haaaaa!" Amara screamed as she fell to her knees. "God bless you, ma. Thank you, ma. I promise I will work and work and work until your house begs me to leave it alone."
The lady laughed, "What's that. Stand up, my friend. There is no need for this. This isn't an advance. You're a very hardworking girl. Just do what you can do with this," the lady said, but Amara was not listening.
She had broken into an uncontrollable sob. So, God still loved her like this? She mused, relieved that she would be able to send enough money home and have little breathing space for the time being.
"Amara, stand up and stop crying," the lady said softly.
"You don't know what you have done for me. If you knew. Ah! If nuh be say to die hard I for done commit suicide," she said, and the lady shook her head, torn between amusement and sympathy.
"Don't say that. Everything will be fine," she said, and Amara brushed her tears off as she sat up.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you something," the lady said, and Amara looked up at her.
"What is it, ma?"
"Hm. I don't know how to say this. But seeing how things are difficult for you right now, maybe I should. You know you're a fine girl, right?" She asked, and Amara nodded.
Was that the question she wanted to ask her?
"There are other ways to make money. Leave all these suffer head work for ugly girls that are not fine like you," she advised.
"I didn't go to university, so I can only do all these kinds of jobs. I don't have a degree…"
"Forget degree. I didn't go to university, too. Look at me well. Can you tell?" She asked, and Amara's jaw dropped as she shook her head, surprised by what she was hearing.
"Good. See, in this life, we that life is hard for like this, have to use what we have to get what we want. That is the reason God created us fine like this. So that we won't lose entirely. There are men that will pay thousands of dollars just to touch you small," she said, and Amara pulled back instinctively, taken aback by that.
Was she suggesting prostitution?