HER LAST WISH Chapter 80

(Moremi)

Zeemah Writes 📝

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“Stop crying na! Ahn” Dammy said to Amina for the third time.

“Nawa o” Emeka smiled, exchanging a look with Dan.

“Why are you smiling, you can see the thing is paining her and you’re smiling. You’re mumu o” Dammy hissed.

It’s few days after Dammy’s uncle got arrested and they were seated in the compound after returning from the cybercafé where Dammy went to register for the scholarship and then Amina discovered the ticket for the concert has been sold out.

She sniffed, glaring at the piggybank on her laps. Her money for the concert is finally complete only for the ticket to get sold out. There’s no how she would attend the concert anymore, something she’s been fantasizing about for months.

“He might host another concert this year though” Layla said, shrugging.
“It’s this one I want to attend, his other concerts for the year might be in other countries. Which money do I have to be flying to another country for concert” Amina sniffed again.

“Aunty Amina, mummy said you should come and take Kunu for you and your friends” Amina’s brother said.
“Better get out from here. Kunu koh Kunu ni” Amina hissed.
“See mouth.” Dammy batted her eyelids at Amina before turning to her brother. “Habeeb, don’t mind her jare. Bring the Kunu for us, she’s the one that doesn’t want. Don’t bring her own”

“Okay” Habeeb hurried away.

“I swear this thing is paining me,” Amina frowned. “I can even throw this kolo (piggybank) away sef with all the money inside!”
“Bring it, lemme help you and throw it away, I know the perfect place to throw it o” Dammy said and laughed when Amina rolled her eyes at her.

“Wait o, why are you people not consoling her. You all know how much this concert meant to her, abi” Dammy sighed, a brow raised.

“Dan, should I?” Emeka asked, almost grinning.
Dan smiled and nodded.

“Well, Dan got a VIP ticket for all of us for the concert. He got it since last week” Emeka announced, staring at Amina.

“Ehn! Is a lie” Dammy’s eyes widened.
“Of course it’s a lie. Emeka that like whyning somebody. I’m not in the mood for your play this afternoon o” Amina frowned, tapping the piggybank on her laps.

Layla laughed, bringing out the tickets.
Amina was yet to see it as her head was down.
“What na!” She half yelled when Dammy tapped her a little too hard, her eyes not leaving the tickets in Layla’s hands.
Amina tried not to scream after tracing Dammy’s gaze, she got on her feet immediately, not caring to pick her piggybank.

“Jesus! I swear it’s true. Amina, the tickets are real!” Dammy said.
Amina’s blinked and her face lit up, this time she screamed, jumping into Dan’s arms.
They chuckled.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“C’mon, I felt It won’t be bad if we all have a really nice time together before we leave”

“I can’t believe this! Me? VIP ticket! To my favorite artiste concert! I might even get to touch him! Oh My God, someone slap me please” Amina has her palm over her mouth.
“Get out jhoor!” She rolled her eyes at Dammy who almost slapped her.

“Ahn, what? You said somebody should slap you. What am I here for then?”
“Ode, you should know I was only excited, but really? I have a VIP ticket. Wow! Thank you, Dan!”
“Dan, this is amazing. Thanks so much.” Dammy paused. “No wonder you guys were smiling. Ah” She shook her head.

Layla chuckled.

“I’m really grateful but isn’t it too expensive. VIP ticket! For all of us, even if I save my food money for a year, I’m not sure i can afford the VIP ticket for myself alone not to talk of five people” Amina said.
“It’s cool. Not expensive at all” Dan smiled.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, just forget about that. Let’s discuss other things” Dan smiled.

“Habeeb bring my Kunu too o” Amina shouted loudly.

***

The Balogun market is one long stretch of streets filled with so much noise and many people.

It felt to Dan and Layla like it was another city of its own; The horn of cars, bleating of goats, different loudspeakers booming with different songs.
Mosque and church stood side by side — ‘Allah hu Akbar’ and ‘praise the Lord’ vibrating from each loudspeaker.

There were bells of food sellers. Men, women, children selling different things. Some women were seated under colorful umbrellas, others walked with trays on their heads.

People looked like millions of tiny ants, moving along a path.

The buildings to their right and left were covered with cloth items hanging from the window.
There were sign boards for churches and mosques, and herb medicines and many other advertisements.

Amina was trying to say something to them but a loud speaker from above is swallowing her words with an announcement neither Dan or Layla could understand until it was announced in pidgin; it’s about a strong herb medicine to cure manhood problem.
They exchanged glances and laughed.

They continued following Amina’s lead, going slowly and pressing into different people, perceiving different odors.

“Oyinbo, follow me. I get original jeans, e no dey fade!” Layla snatched her hand from the man.

They walked by different stalls, drivers cussed at one another and the horns from the vehicles was almost deafening.

“It’s so crazy here” Dan shouted so Layla could hear him over the noise.
“Yeah, but I love it!” she shouted back, smiling. This experience is like none other, she found it greatly fascinating.
“Same here!” Dan shouted back.

Fel and Rylan had asked them to get Ankara fabrics for them as well after seeing the picture of the ones Aunt Esther sew for them.
It suited them really well and has become their church outfit.

They also needed to get other stuff for everyone as they would be leaving the country soon.

Amina and Dammy also needed to get some beautiful wears for the concert. Emeka tagged along not sure if he was going to get anything or not.

They turned into a street and the crowd wasn’t as much.
Layla felt like she could finally breath. The street is filled with people selling clothe fabrics, colorful beads, bags, t-shirts…

“We have everything you want, which one should I bring?” A man asked Dammy with a smile spreading across his face.
“I no dey buy!” She yelled after he almost started pulling her.

“Alhaja, you no buy designer t-shirt, e go fit you well well” Another man said, smiling as he spread a t-shirt in front of Amina’s face.
She walked past him and finally, turned into a stall with a wall of colorful folded Ankara fabrics neatly arranged from the ceiling to the floor.

“Good afternoon èyin okomi (my darlings), what do you want to help us and buy. We have New Satin, ABC Wax, Woodin, and so many others. Anyone you want is here” The woman said, smiling at them.

“Oya, Dan, you guys should check around, you’ll surely see the ones you like here” Amina said.
“I’ll leave it to Layla” Dan said, sitting beside Emeka on the bench the woman pulled out for them.
He was on his feet in seconds after Layla called him to check out a fabric.

“Isn’t it stunning?” Her eyes lit up.
“Exactly, even more than ours. Should we go for this?”
“We definitely should. They would love this”

“See this one, latest” The woman pulled out a folded brown and pink patterned Ankara fabric, patted it before pressing it into Layla’s hands.
“It’s original o, wash and wash, it will not change color”

“I think we already saw the one we like” Dan said.
They showed it to the woman and told her the number of yards they want.

“For you people, I will sell ten yards eleven thousand, sit down, lemme pack it inside nylon for you” The woman smiled.

“Ah, mummy. Eleven thousand is too much o. sell it for us for five thousand” Amina got to her feet.
“Seven thousand last price” The woman said, frowning as she packed it into the nylon.
“Let’s take it five thousand five hundred” Amina said.
“This Ankara is original, I can’t sell it for that price”

“Mummy, we’re your children o, if you sell it for us for that price, we’ll surely come back another day and buy more from you. We came very far under this hot sun, collect five- five from us” Amina haggled.

The woman sigh, “Put five hundred. I’m just selling it for you like that ni o, so you can come back another day”

Amina exchanged glances with Dan and Layla and they nodded, smiling.

They went further into the market to buy more things and by the time they were done, their hands were filled with shopping bags.

***

“This is so nice. Wow” Dan smiled, chewing the fifth piece of skewered pieces of grilled and peppered meat.

“Suya is very sweet o, I wonder why it didn’t even cross our minds to allow you guys eat it since the time you’ve been here.” Amina said.
“I’m glad it finally crossed your mind” Layla said.

“Emeka, let’s go buy more, it’s almost finished” Dan said.
“You guys should sha come back on time for Grandma’s night tale” Dammy said after them.

~~
“My parents are never going to allow me go to a concert overnight, how are we going to do it?” Amina sighed, slowly chewing the piece of suya in her cheek.

“So, you knew they won’t allow you and you went ahead to even save up your food money for it. Ah” Dammy shook her head.
“I thought I was going to use tahajjud to cover up but now they cancelled it. They just ruined someone’s plan” Amina hissed.
“What’s tahajjud?” Dan asked. asked.
“It’s just like night vigil for Muslims, prayer throughout the night”
“Oh”

“Hm, come to think of it. Even if my Mum allows me, my Dad is never going to o” Emeka’s eyebrows pulled together.
“It would be a struggle making Aunt Esther allow us spend the night in a place she’s not able to watch over us” Layla sighed softly, wondering why they never even thought about it.

“Seems I’m the only free one” Dammy said.

“How about we just tell them and persuade them to allow us go” Dan suggested.
“Hm” Amina chuckled. “That’s never going to work for my parents, even if I crawl on my knees and beg them for hours, they’ll never allow me”
“Same here o, it’ll even make things worse. They’ll start monitoring my every movement” Emeka shook his head.

“Let’s think, what can we do? The concert is in less than a week’s time” Layla said.

“I think I might have a plan” Amina pressed her lips together and they switched their gazes to her.

“How about we tell them we want to spend the night with Dammy, that she’s been scared to sleep alone since her uncle got arrested? My parents are definitely not going to deny me that”

“Is that going to work? How come she hasn’t been scared to sleep alone until that night? It’s even going to make my Dad suspicious” Emeka said.

“We can just say she’s been having nightmares” Layla said.

“Or we all want to pray together overnight for her scholarship?” Amina shut one of her eyes.

“Grandma have want to start the story o” David came to inform them before scurrying away.

“Let’s continue tomorrow, I’m sure we will come up with a perfect plan” Dan said.

“Why are you carrying the remaining suya ehn!” Dammy slapped Emeka at the back of his neck.
“Yeh!” He rubbed the spot with a frown on his face.

“Calm down na, do you want to wound him ni,” Amina said. “You too, where are you carrying the remaining suya to?”
“So, we can eat it while listening to the tale na” Emeka cleared his throat.
“Lie lie! Why were you na putting it inside your pocket?” Dammy batted her eyelid at him before snatching the nylon from his hand.

“So it won’t get cold before we get to the backyard na” Emeka mumbled, not meeting their gaze.
They chuckled.

“Amina, your boyfriend is a thief! He thought we’ve forgotten that suya is still remaining. See his face” Dammy threw one suya into her mouth.
“You sef you like food, out of everybody here, you’re the only one that remember that suya is still remaining. Sha lemme take one”
“I knew you would support him, comman take it, lemme see you”
“You people should tell Dammy o, gimme suya na! Is it your own!” Amina frowned.

Emeka cleared his throat and before anyone could blink, he was running off with the nylon of suya he just snatched from Dammy.

They ran after him, shouting and started laughing at some point.

***

“I hope I’m still able to find the meals in Las Vegas as enjoyable as the ones I’ve had here” Dan said to Layla as they had bean fritters and pap for breakfast.

Layla nodded, wearing a smile, trying hard to make no one notice how unhappy she is. These past few days, she’s been experiencing the symptoms more frequently and her hair is starting to fall off even without her touching it. She sweats so much even when the fan is on full blast and the sudden fatigue is now recurrent. The stretchmarks are starting to spread to her abdomen and she gets unnecessarily nervous.

“What I enjoy most with pap is Akara” Mr. Femi said.
“Exactly, nothing beats this” Dan picked another ball of bean fritters.
“I think I still prefer Ewa Agoyin (soft mashed beans and stew) with it though” Aunt Esther said.
“I like Ewa Agoyin as well but I prefer Akara with pap. Layla, what do you prefer with yours?” Dan asked.

“Huh?” Layla asked, hoping she didn’t look as lost as she felt.

“What do you prefer to have with pap?” Dan repeated.
“Oh, definitely Akara!” She smiled and Dan who noticed the strain in her smile asked if anything was wrong.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing. I’m fine” She said.
“Are you fine? You’re even looking sick. Abi you’re starting to miss everyone over there?” Mr. Femi smiled.
“I noticed she seems withdrawn sef, are you okay? Should we go to the hospital? How are you feeling?” Aunt Esther asked.
“C’mon,” Layla chuckled. “There’s nothing”
“Are you sure?” Dan asked.
“Of course, let’s eat fast, I can’t wait to visit your new house”

They were going to be visiting Aunt Esther and her husband’s new house in Ikoyi today and they would visit her father’s grave also.

Dan decided to let it go, thinking Layla was being that way because they’ll be visiting her father’s grave. He rubbed her hand and she smiled at him, her throat tightening with tears.

***

“I just hope your nose doesn’t bleed” Dammy said to Amina, who sniffed Kizz Daniel’s leather jacket for the umpteenth time.
She hadn’t let it out of her grip since she caught it at the concert last night, even while they slept in the hotel room, she held it close to her.

They were returning home in a cab at dawn, just so no one would suspect they were out during the night.

“He even touched my hand, I can’t believe this! My dream came through at last” Amina grinned. “He looked even more cute in person; my baby performed right in front of me. I even got his jacket; I’ll keep this till I die. Thanks, so much Dan, you and God made this possible for me” Amina’s face has refused to stop glowing since last night.
“Sha don’t start crying again” Dammy said. “Davido even came, I can’t believe I got to see him just like that. A dream come true. Wow” Dammy smiled.

“I greatly enjoyed their performance, I would definitely start attending more concerts from now” Dan nodded.
“It was mad fun, damn” Layla grinned. They had the greatest fun at the concert last night. It was the first concert she’s ever attended and she wasn’t disappointed. Even though her body now ached and her throat sore. She wondered how much Amina’s throat must be hurting when her own throat hurt this much.

Amina had almost screamed out her lungs when he appeared on the stage, they thought her lungs were going to fall out of her throat with how deafening her scream was when he touched her.

“You need to apply something on this your cheek o” Emeka said, worried as he examined Amina’s cheek.
Another crazy fan had scratched her on the cheek while they struggled for the jacket.
“Yeah, you should” Dan nodded.
“I will, all that matters to me is that I’m the one that finally got the jacket. Even if they scratched me all over the face, this jacket is worth it”
“I hope we’ll finally rest with hearing Kizz Daniel every time. Ah” Dammy sighed.
“My own problem is; Amina might start wearing this jacket everywhere she goes. God help us if she doesn’t even wear it to the toilet” Emeka said and they laughed.

They alighted from the cab and started walking home.

“Thank God! no one is outside” Emeka breathed in relief.
“Let’s quickly run inside before anyone sees us o” Dammy said.
“How are we sure there’s no one in the passage, let’s use style and check first abeg” Amina said.
“Who would be in the passage at this hour, we will just be wasting our time here, let’s go inside fast” Dammy said and they ran into the compound and then the passageway.

They almost screamed, and wished they could run back after colliding with Amina and Emeka’s Mum with Aunt Esther seated in the passageway and looking like they were waiting for them.

“Amina, where’s your hijab!” Her mother shouted.

………………

ZEEMAH.