It is as usual, the morning was at its early hours and the time is 4 a.m in the city of Lagos where surplus in demand is a thing and people who want to buy much more of the product than its availability in the market will always turn up.
Mother always did bread bookings the day before the production and had to go pick it very early in the morning to avoid the large queue that comes with 8am sales.
She woke my elder brother, Nkem who always walks her up to the bakery on the second street not only as her guard but also to help in transporting the products.
That day, they carried their Wooden bread boards which were firmly positioned between their arms, and embarked on the daily obtaining of bread that was supposed to be sold during the day.
Getting to a particular point in the street after chatting and dialoguing galore, there came a small pedestrian bridge which stretched across a canal that linked the two streets that lay on opposite sides.
Although, the canal cuts through the area and divides both streets, the bridge provides a simple and safe short crossing path for the residents.
It is designed mainly for people on foot so it looks narrow and not strong enough for cars or bicycles.
Mother and brother Nkem walked carefully and moved to the other street as this gentle structure ‘ the bridge’ made itself an important everyday pathway connecting the communities and making movement easier despite the water barrier.
After mother and brother Nkem collected a hundred loaves of bread from the bakery and arranged them on the wooden bread board neatly, orderly, and in a space-efficient manner which they usually carry on their heads daily back home.
On their way back home around 5 a.m., they went to the bridge and my mother saw a person who used a familiar wrapper with a color pattern to cover up his or her body and face.
“ Anyone can have such material, " Mother soliloquizes.
As the movement came closer, my mother confirmed it was a female who was muttering words to herself and was walking quietly on the tip of her toes. As she walked closer, a cold breeze blew mother and she felt goosebumps all over her body.
“Are you feeling what I am feeling “ mother asked.
“ Yes, mother, sudden cold, and goosebumps” brother Nkem replied.
“ This person is not an ordinary human being, " my mother uttered.
“ I don't understand” Brother Nkem replied.
Mother held his hand and dragged him closer beside her and said silently, “ Maybe she is a ghost or a gnome”
Brother Nkem started shaking immediately he heard the ghost or gnome news and my mother told him to calm down because he should not forget that there was bread on his head so they stood beside the entrance of the bridge to allow the forthcoming person to pass.
As the woman passed still murmuring and tiptoeing, minding her own business without looking at them, or did as if my mother and brother Nkem even existed standing there?
A huge force held my mother and she couldn't be able to talk or move. Although, she has a foggy brain, the wrapper's familiarity never left her mind.
After the strange woman passed, Mother remembered that the wrapper looked exactly like the one on Eliza’s body, a lady who lived beside our house who passed away shortly after medical complications related to pregnancy termination a day before and chills ran down my mother's spine.
“ Can this be Eliza” Mother asked Brother Nkem as they watched the woman walking away in her abnormal manner.
All of a sudden, the strange woman stopped as if she heard her name and looked back.
“ It is Eliza, ooo !!,” Mother screamed and she and brother Nkem ran at the top of their speed across the bridge, and ninety-five percent of the loaves of bread scattered on the bridge and in the canal.
Mother came back home twenty minutes after brother Nkem had arrived who said nothing but shivers in fear only.
When mother came back and calmed down, she told us about the story of Eliza’s ghost and since that day, mother often reported seeing different ghosts that some will talk to her and after they left is when she will come back to her sense but she would remember all their discussions and even see their back walking in distance speed and melting with the crowd while others will just show their face.
But for brother Nkem, he never reported seeing anything after then so I thought mother had a supernatural power of seeing ghosts only if they wanted to be seen.
Great story