CHINA TORI

I’m pained. No, this one will take time to heal. I’m not interested in the many interpretations different people might want to give this. I just know I was getting really attached to the place. I remember telling a friend two days ago that I really don’t spend much on food and he wouldn’t believe me. But it is true. These guys are the reason I think cooking in Surulere is more expensive than buying. Out here and with two hundred naira you will eat to your stomach’s content. And as for the quality of the food, it was straight up home food.

Igbo people. These guys have the acumen for business. Wherever they find themselves, they pick up shovels and don’t stop digging until they find gold. They always find ways to do things better than others because extra from them means extra cash from customers.

No, I’m in deep pains. But then I’m thankful for one thing. I’m grateful to the universe for allowing me meet them before they left. It would, surely, have been heart-wrenching for me to go there one day and find them gone. Yea, it would have killed me. Imagine my pain when I walked to my favorite food spot and found their roof missing. Gift, the sweet little attendant was standing in open air and serving customers. And it crossed my mind that she might have done this the whole day – the sun and all.

Wait, don’t take my word for it. Gift is not so sweet neither is she little – I sometimes feel she is too big for her age. Never smiling and ever ready to spit fire at anyone who provoked her, Gift stands at an intimidating six foot plus. It is must be her own way of dealing with the many mad people that come to the stall every day.

I used to think she didn’t attend a school so I pitied her. But one day, I went for a morning chop and didn’t find her. Turns out I have been visiting only in the evenings all this while. Looking at her, she should not be more than 17, but there she stands, day in day out, with her bulk attending to all and sundry with a face that never fails her.

Sometimes, she is nice to me and at some other times, she really did not care. The one time she was constantly nice was when she thought I was going to become a famous actress. She definitely wanted to be on my good side when that happened. So she made the effort. That was when I was in film school. Yes, it was in 2017 that I first met them.

Two years plus now, we have been family – at least in my head, and they are moving? What happens to all the customers they have gained? What becomes of people like me? Dang! I asked Gift why they were leaving and she said the owner of the house to which the stall is attached has asked them to leave. Big head. After all these years, he suddenly wants them out. “Wait, he?” “Ehen”. “China, why label the person a he?” “Because I think a woman would be nicer. At least, she would give them a month notice and they will in turn, notify us. Men are just so mean”. Lol. I’m not sure I remember the house owner’s gender but I have no doubts it would be a man.

So there you have it; the singular reason for this big hole in my heart. Now, I have to start thinking of setting up a kitchen in this “my current situation”. It doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do but I have run out of options. Say I go out to look for another vendor… What? Test how many before I settle for one? E go hard. But setting up the kitchen is even harder. Heaven why?!

Image: City Pulse

10/3/20