Chapter Six - A Small Beginning

The sound of a metal gate scraping against the ground woke Tiara.

She opened her eyes slowly.

For a few seconds, she stared at the ceiling without knowing where she was.

Then she remembered.

Ikeja.

The journey.

The danfo.

The people staring at her.

And the ₦1,700 she had spent from the ₦2,000 she had saved.

Tiara sat up and looked around the small room.

Her bag was beside the mattress. Her clothes were folded on top of it, and the few belongings she had brought from home were still exactly where she had left them.

She rubbed her face.

Everything felt unfamiliar.

Even the silence was different.

She was used to waking up to the sounds of her siblings moving around the house. Someone arguing. Someone laughing. Her father's voice from somewhere in the compound.

Now, there was only the sound of people outside.

Tiara sighed and got up.

A knock came at the door.

“Tiara.”

Mama Bose.

She opened the door.

Mama Bose stood outside with a bowl in her hand.

“You're awake.”

“Yes, ma.”

“Good. Eat.”

Tiara collected the bowl.

“Thank you.”

Mama Bose looked at her.

“You're welcome. And don't sit there thinking about your problems until the food gets cold.”

Tiara blinked.

“I wasn't thinking about my problems.”

Mama Bose raised an eyebrow.

“Your face was doing the thinking for you.”

Tiara looked away.

Mama Bose walked off.

“Eat.”

Tiara stared after her.

“Okay.”

She shut the door.

---

When Tiara came outside after eating, Mama Bose was already arranging clothes in the shop.

The shop was small but packed with different kinds of clothing. Dresses hung from a metal rod, while folded clothes filled the shelves along the wall.

Mama Bose pointed at a pile.

“Fold those.”

Tiara picked up the first dress.

“Like this?”

Mama Bose glanced at it.

“No.”

Tiara frowned.

“What did I do?”

“You folded it like you were angry with it.”

Tiara looked at the dress.

“I wasn't angry.”

“Then why did you fold it like that?”

Tiara sighed.

“Maybe the dress offended me.”

Mama Bose stared at her.

Then she laughed.

“Ah. So you have jokes.”

“Sometimes.”

“Good. You'll need them. Customers will test your patience.”

Tiara looked at her.

“I'm already seeing that.”

Mama Bose nodded.

“Then you're learning.”

Tiara folded the dress again.

This time, Mama Bose approved.

“Better.”

---

By midday, Tiara had begun to understand how the shop worked.

Some customers came in, looked around and left.

Some asked for prices before immediately complaining.

One woman spent almost ten minutes examining a dress before saying she didn't like the colour.

Another asked for a discount before even deciding what she wanted.

Tiara watched her leave.

“Did she come to buy clothes or just waste our time?”

Mama Bose laughed.

“Don't worry. You'll meet worse.”

“Worse than her?”

“Much worse.”

Tiara shook her head.

“People are funny.”

“You're only saying that because you haven't started dealing with them properly.”

A customer walked in.

She picked up a dress.

“How much?”

“Three thousand five hundred,” Mama Bose said.

The woman frowned.

“Three thousand?”

“Five hundred.”

“Ah-ah. Reduce it.”

Mama Bose handed the dress to Tiara.

“Talk to her.”

Tiara looked at the woman.

“Three thousand five hundred.”

“Two thousand.”

Tiara almost laughed.

“Ma, that's too low.”

The woman crossed her arms.

“Why? Is it gold?”

Tiara looked at the dress.

“No, but it's not two thousand either.”

Mama Bose turned her face away.

Tiara noticed the smile she was trying to hide.

The woman eventually increased her offer.

They bargained for a while before settling on three thousand two hundred.

After the woman left, Tiara looked at Mama Bose.

“You almost laughed.”

“I didn't.”

“You did.”

“I was coughing.”

Tiara stared at her.

“You're a terrible liar.”

Mama Bose laughed.

“You're learning quickly.”

Tiara smiled.

For the first time since leaving home, she felt almost normal.

No one was asking about her pregnancy.

No one was staring at her.

She was simply Tiara, standing in a clothing shop and arguing with a customer over three hundred naira.

It felt good.

---

Later that afternoon, business slowed.

Tiara sat outside the shop, resting her back against the wall.

Her feet were beginning to ache.

Mama Bose came out and sat beside her.

“You're tired?”

“A little.”

“You'll get used to it.”

Tiara nodded.

For a while, they watched people passing by.

Then Mama Bose spoke.

“You don’t stay around here?”

Mama Bose casually asked while filing her nails.

Tiara looked hesitant 

“No.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“You don't know anybody here.”

Tiara smiled faintly.

“That's true.”

Mama Bose looked ahead.

“How did you find this place?”

Tiara hesitated.

“I was looking for somewhere to work.”

“And you just walked around?”

“Yes.”

“Doing what?”

“Asking.”

Mama Bose turned to her.

“And nobody asked you to leave?”

Tiara gave her a look.

“Almost everybody did.”

Mama Bose laughed.

“Then why didn't you leave?”

“I needed work.”

“And you came here?”

Tiara nodded.

“I saw the clothes and asked if you needed help.”

Mama Bose was quiet.

Then she said, “You were lucky.”

Tiara looked at her.

“Maybe.”

Mama Bose shrugged.

“Don't depend on luck too much.”

Tiara didn't answer.

She looked across the road instead.

A bus stopped briefly before moving again.

People came and went.

She still felt like an outsider.

But perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing.

Nobody here knew her story.

Nobody knew the family she had left behind.

Nobody knew why she had come.

For now, that was enough.

Mama Bose stood.

“Come inside.”

Tiara looked up.

“Why?”

“There are clothes to arrange.”

Tiara groaned.

“Again?”

Mama Bose smiled.

“You thought you came here to rest?”

Tiara got up reluctantly.

“I should have known.”

Mama Bose walked back into the shop.

“You should have.”

Tiara followed her.

And for the first time since she left home, she wasn't sure what tomorrow would bring.

But she knew where she would wake up.

She knew what she would do.

And for now, that was enough.