I arrived at the Monday market early in the morning. Before leaving home, I had dressed up my two younger siblings for school.
"Please, be good children in school. You know we are not more than this," I advised my siblings while seeing them off to school before walking a kilometer more to arrive at the market. I
was only 15 years old but life has placed parental responsibilities on my shoulders.
I started the day's work with top energy and enthusiasm.
"Mai barrow," a handsome man with a delicate curl and square jaw beckoned on me. The popular nickname given to the boys working with wheelbarrows in the market is Mai barrow.
I sped, with the wheelbarrow tyre bouncing on the rocky terrain, to get to him before my colleagues nearby - my competitors - would outsmart me to take the job.
"Good morning, Sir," I greeted him.
He was in a heated argument with Iya Ade, a popular yam seller.
"Good morning, my son. Thank God that you are here," Iya Ade responded to my greetings having noticed my presence before the man that I greeted.
"Madam, I can't cheat you. Your money is 17500 naira," the man in his mellifluous voice tried to convince the woman on the amount that he was to pay for the transaction.
"My son," Iya Ade turned her attention to me. "Please help me calculate this money. I sell my yam 3500 naira per five tubers. He purchased 25 tuners, is his money not 19500 naira?"
"17500 naira," I gave my answer after processing the question for a few seconds.
He turned to look at me again. He was dazzled with my speed of response.
My response was all that was required for Iya Ade to agree with him. She collected the money and signaled me to load the tubers of yam into my wheelbarrow.
I carefully positioned the 25th tuber, jacked up the handle of the wheelbarrow and off I left for the Jeep packed about 100 meters away.
It was a downward slope. Pushing turned to pulling in order to maintain balance. I was holding back the wheelbarrow to avoid crashing with it. It dictated the pace of my movement down the slope.
I applied greater force to halt the journey when I arrived at the car. I was panting heavily but I was happy that there was an improvement. I had fallen with loads several times when I started the work.
In another few minutes, the man arrived. He opened the boot of his car and I offloaded the tubers from the wheelbarrow into it.
"My name is Tade. Can I know your name?" He asked me while I was busy arranging the tubers of yam.
"My name is Bello."
"Why are you not in school today being Monday?"
I was surprised at the question. It's rare to see someone in such a position care for you beyond the service that you are rendering.
The question of why I am out of school is one of the questions that I don't like answering. Each time I was asked, it brought back a sour memory.
"It's my sad reality, Sir," I responded to him.
Sad reality? What do you mean?
"It's a long story." A heavy weight fell on my chest.
"However long it is, I am interested if you wouldn't mind. Let's sit down and have a chat," Tade opened the car's rear doors and we sat down. "Close your door," he said to me after closing his.
"I prefer it open Sir," I stuttered.
"You are being security conscious. A total stranger whose intention you never knew." He giggled.
Though he was partly right, I dispelled it.
"Not really, Sir. I wanted to keep sight of my wheelbarrow. They get lost everyday in this market."
"I was amazed at the speed with which you did that calculation at the old woman's yam stand. This brain should be in school. Why are you here?"
"I was preparing to register for my senior secondary school certificate examination when I lost my parents to a tragic accident. Left with two younger siblings, the only option I had is to strive to see us survive the aftermath. Aunties and Uncles promised heaven on earth at the funeral. Every such word ended there. We are left to our fate."
"How did you come up with the idea of working with a wheelbarrow at the market?"
"I have been seeing the boys do this at the market over the years. I never thought of seeing myself do the same, not even in my wildest imagination but it happened. When survival became difficult six months after our parents death, I started working with the wheelbarrow, which was bought by my father for domestic use."
My body wracked with an onslaught of sobs and tears. I covered my face with shaking hands.
"Take it easy on yourself. I know how painful it is to lose loved ones," Tade consoled me with his hand on my cheek to clean the tears. "Can I meet your siblings?"
"You are welcome any time you are willing to pay us a visit."
"The time is now." He fetched his phone from the car's dashboard and called his wife. "I will join you behind schedule. I need to attend to an issue here."
"Can we go?" He turned to me and asked. I nodded in affirmation.
We drove to my siblings' school to check on them. Our arrival coincided with the pupils' lunch break.
Aisha ran to hug me barefooted.
It wasn't a surprise. The shoe had been overused. Buying a new one was part of my budget for the day before my working hour was cut short by my new friend.
Umar, the youngest of us, barely got to where we were standing before reporting to me that his teacher had threatened to send him back home the following day for failure to pay school fees.
"Don't worry, I will talk to him to give me more time to raise the money. You won't be sent home."
I introduced them to Tade before we left the school. We proceeded home on his insistence.
"I am willing to know your house," he said to me before leaving the school.
We arrived home to the welcoming hands of Jack. Jack was seated under a tree in the compound. He was not just a dog but a friend and the chief security officer of the house. On sighting Tade, he started barking aggressively. Tade stepped back to get back into the car. I quickly waded into the encounter and Jack changed from barking to wagging his tail to welcome me back home.
"Bello, I won't be able to sit down. I am getting late for a meeting. My intention was to know you beyond the market and I think that has been achieved."
He reached for the car save and brought out a bundle of 500 naira notes.
"This is 50000 naira. This is for your today's wage at the market and a token for your siblings."
There was a sudden audible inhalation through my mouth.
"The whole of this for us?" I asked in my breathless voice.
"We have a very similar life trajectory. I will share my experience with you but it's not a story for today.
"Are you ready to go back to school?"
"My love for education is unquantifiable. If the social safety of my younger siblings is guaranteed, going back to school would be the happiest experience of my life so far," I responded.
"Consider everything catered for," he replied. He gave me his card and zoomed off.
My eyes were moving intermittently from the bundle of cash in my hand and the car until I lost sight of the latter.
I returned to the market to buy a new shoe for my sister. My brother's unpaid fees were cleared.
It was like a dream. Raising 50000 would have taken me two months to achieve.
Three days later, Tade came back with his wife.
My siblings and I were offered scholarships by their foundation up to the university level. The couples became our foster parents.
We began to live our dream.
Wow. I was already thinking if this is a true life story until I saw one of the tags "fiction". This is so beautiful story. Help came along the way. Wow. Tade must have been a philanthropist and generous man to offer such help especially to a stranger at first sight, then went ahead to offer you and your siblings scholarships. That was an amazing miracle.
What a beautiful story.
Tade was who we can tag as a God-sent. He came and wipe away the tears of the protagonist and his siblings. Thank you for stopping by. Cheers.
I felt this story, and it felt real.
The boy was indeed a good big brother, catering for his siblings needs. I am happy him and his siblings were able to live their dream.
Some happenings can make someone mature quickly more than his or her age. It was a sigh of relief that Tade came in to salvage the situation. Indeed, Bello was a good big brother.
It’s a pleasure to read a well structured, uplifting tale. You’ve done a great job with the prompt. However, you need to pay attention to the little errors that creep in if you don’t edit well—such as “packed” instead of “parked” :
Thank you @theinkwell. I appreciate.
Oh, that's very good. I am glad help came through for Tade. It is very hard to see things like this happen in our world.
It's very hard. Unfortunately we have children suffering is more severe magnitude.
Yes, unfortunately we do.