Source - Meta AI
"Jọgun, ma wo ọkunrin yẹn.(Stop looking at that man)" Mama quietly dragged me close to her. "This place is a very big place. You should be close to me every second. I don't have the strength to look for a missing child."
It all began when I was playing a card game with a neighbor. My mum would always take me along when going to the small market within our area. She has never taken me to the market she gets stuffs every Saturday. Saturdays are always exciting to me. Mama would make special delicacies, and I'd be asked to choose whatever I want to eat.
One exciting thing about going to the market with Mama is that she must buy something for me when we are done with what we are doing.
"See, Emma. We will not buy anything until we are sure that all the items I have in mind have been bought." Mama quietly whispered into my ear when we left the gate.
I stared at her. In my mind, I was like, "Ah! I better go back and continue my game, than going with you to the market and suffer for nothing."
"My friend, stop staring at me." She opened the taxi which had stopped to carry us. "Enter, let's go. At least we must get buns while coming back."
I smiled at her, but I didn't say anything. You know what I said to myself, right? "Let it not be what I'm thinking. Haha!"
I do visit the market with Mama all the time. There is something about her that I don't like. It's funny but I don't like it. The way Mama negotiates.
"Madam!" She quietly took the stock fish in front of her. She probably wanted to know the one best for her soup.
The woman was attending to a customer. Mama would never be patient.
"Madam! I'd leave o. I don't have time to waste." She dropped the stock fish she was holding.
I stared at her. "Mama. She is attending to someone."
Mama hissed at me. "Don't you know we should be managing our time. I would have to cook and still attend choir practice." She picked the stock fish again.
The seller tried her best to show her the ones she thought would be best for Mama. But she had other plans. She picked the best stock fish there.
"How much is this one?" He gazed at it, as if she isn't satisfied with the size.
"Just #6,000, ma." She smiled at Mama.
Mama squeezed her face immediately. "#6,000? That is too much for me to pay." She looked at me. "Emma, is this not the same stock fish we bought #3,000 last Saturday?"
I didn't even bother looking at her face. "I can't remember, Mama." I smiled in my heart. I don't know if she wants to close down the woman's shop. Haha.
"I don't want to waste time here. Will you sell for #4,000? I'm even telling you #4,000 because I want to get other things." Mama pulled me close to whispere in my eye.
"You better watch and see how I negotiate with these seller. Unless you're not interested in the buns I talked about." She turned back to the woman.
Mama bought the stock fish after several minutes of negotiation at #4,800. It was funny, how she was adding #100 naira to the #4,000 before the woman agreed to sell at #4,800.
We bought other things we needed. It was time to buy the last thing which takes more of the time, meat. Mama would always want to get the best, at a cheap price. She doesn't care how how it would take her to negotiate before getting what she wants, but she would surely get it.
"Who dey here?! (Who is selling?"
Mama would always use pidgin English when speaking to the meat sellers. She says they sell at higher prices to those that speaks good English. "They would increase their prices if you don't act like an illiterate." Mama said to me.
I watched closely as she negotiated with the man. One thing about Mama is that she would not ask the price of the goods till she gets the one she likes. She kept raising the meats one of the other until she got a sizable meat of her choice. She smiled as she raised it for me to see.
"This one will take care of our soup and stew at once. Your faher likes this part of the meat." She turns to the seller. "Oga, how much is this meat?"
The man smiles at her. He knows who she is, anyway. "Mama nah just 25k. (Mama, it is just #25,000)"
Mama squeezed her face. "See, if you don't want to sell your meat tell me. Why woul you call such amount for me?"
I actually expected that speech.
"I can pay #18,000. My money has already finished. Please sell at that price, I need to rush home." She picks the meat again.
SOURCE : META AI
After all set and done, Mama finally bought every single thing she needed for soup and stew. And she bought buns for me when we entered the taxi to head home. I never liked how Mama wastes her time on negotiation, but I loved the fact that she saves money for Papa.
Papa does not negotiate, and he complains any time he goes to the market. But Mama was always exceptional.
THE END
This brought a smile to my face. Mama's market adventures are peak Nigerian mom behaviour - her negotiation goes is elite. I could literally see her voice and see those dramatic facial expressions, especially when she squeezed her face at the price. And that line about speaking pidgin to avoid "English tax"? Facts 😅😅. Emma's inner thoughts made it even funnier - silently judging but still hoping for the buns in the end.
Loved the blend of humor, culture, and that sweet love that shows even in mama's dramatic ways
Thank you very much for this review.
This was actually me in the story. I went to the market several times with my mum when I was growing up. I could never stop accepting my buns bribe. Our mother's understands how to manage the little money our father's do give to them.
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I loved this story. I think it's easy to identify with it. All mothers or fathers behave like this when they go to the market. I remember my father used to do it too and he always got his prices lowered because he knew how to bargain. Thanks for bringing back the memories. Regards
Thank you very much ma'am. Indeed the memories can never leave. These days, I want to be bringing back memories we've far forgotten.
hello @mrprinxcee. Just a short note to draw to your attention that whilst you may submit as many stories to the community as you wish, we do not have the available resources to curate them all. In general, we believe it is far better for authors to spend more time focusing on a few quality pieces than on quantity, and so we recommend that authors try to restrict themselves to two entries per week: one for each writing prompt. This story is your 5th Ink Well submission in the last 7 days.
Thank yoi very much for the information.
I have a question.
Since I've already written more than i should in a week, does it mean that I'd not have to write again for next week prompt?