Iya Tobi wanted her back at the Ikeja store. She didn’t know why she had not fought to get a position in one of the bigger stores. The woman was practically at her mercy and it would have been a way to twist Iya Tobi’s hands but the bigger stores did not need a part-time staff. They only needed her to take account of stock and sales and  to report back to Iya Tobi.

She bounded up the staircase and came to a stop at the white door. There was a new sales girl, Sekemi, Iya Tobi had said.

Romola walked into the store.

Two fair arms wrapped around her neck. “Romola.”

‘Sunbo? What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been waiting for you. Do you know this foolish girl would not allow me to sit inside?” Sunbo untangled herself from Romola.

A skinny girl with long all-back braids reaching her waist and dressed in a white three-quarter sleeve shirt and black skirt came to them. “Are you Romola?”

Sunbo spun, turning to the girl. “Yes, and she’s my sister. Like I’ve been telling you since.”

“Hi,  you must be Sekemi.” Romola tried to shake the girl’s hand.

She wasn’t really a girl. They looked about the same age.

Sekemi’s brows narrowed as she stared down at Romola’s hand. “Won’t you wash your hands, there is Corona. And is this girl your sister?”

“Which corona? Where is the Corona?” Sunbo yelled.

“Calm down.” Romola pulled her sister outside the store and closed the door behind them.

The light from the sun warmed them as she walked to the sanitizer fixture bolted to the wall. The bottle was full. Fuller than it had ever been when Rosemary was in charge of refiling it. She sanitized her hands then turned to Sunbo.

“What are you doing here and why haven’t you been picking my calls?”

“I didn’t want anybody to reach me. But I’m here to see you.”

“Why didn’t you come to the house? Why didn’t you call?”

“Is not like you will answer me.”

Romola propped her hands on her waist. Sunbo looked slimmer than she remembered. Her shoulders popped out and the shape of her eyes sockets were pronounced.

“Oya, what do you want?”

“Food! I’m starving. I came here to look for you yesterday and that rat would not allow me to enter. See how she is black like the back of Iya Basirat’s pot.”

“I don’t work here during the week.”

Sunbo’s opened her palm. “Why? Did they fire you? Are they replacing you with that girl?”

“No. No. I got something else to do.”

“A new job? Is it the one you were talking about? How much are they paying you again?”

Romola returned to the store with Sunbo behind her. She didn’t want to tell Sunbo how much she earned. Not yet, at least. Her sister would nag her until she drained all the money in her account.

“Why did you come here for food?”

“If I come to the house, you will say you don’t have food, that you have eaten at work, so I came to the wok.”

“That’s not true.” Romola walked down the middle aisle to the checkout table where Sekemi stood furiously punching numbers on a calculator.

“Okay, I came there yesterday when I didn’t find you here but, that your roommate, that Igbo one— I don’t like the way she was looking at me. As if I was begging her to let me stay in the room.”

Romola’s smiled as her eyes caught the colour coded arrangement of the objects on the shelves. Everything arranged by colour and size. She liked it. It seemed like Sekemi would be an asset for Iya Tobi after all.

“You always have problems with everybody.”

“It’s not my fault. Don’t worry, when I blow, they will come to me.”

Romola sat on the high stool behind the table and turned to Sunbo. “How is Maami doing?”

Sunbo refused to meet her gaze.  “She’s doing fine.”

“And her face?” Romola hoped the swollen part of the face had averted to normal so that her mother could see properly through her left eye.

“What happened to her face?”
“Sunbo.” Romola’s eyes widened. “Her eyes.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t been at home for like two weeks now. What happened to her eyes?”

Romola glanced at Sekemi. She didn’t trust the girl enough to have family conversations around her. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been dancing. They postponed our performance to next week.”

Sekemi looked in their direction. “Excuse me, you are supposed to be working not gisting.”

Romola watched Sunbo eye Sekemi. “Mind your business. She’s doing customer relations, Oversabi.”

*I-too-know*

“Ssh.” Romola placed her index finger against her lips. “Why are you still dancing?”

Sunbo propped her hips against the counter and stared at her sharp glossy black nails. “I already spent the money I collected.”

“All of it?”

“Spent every last shingbain” Sunbo drew circles on the table with her fingers. Her eyes followed the pattern of her hands as she turned her head left and right to a rhythm only she heard. “I tried to find another dancer but all the good ones were too expensive and the other ones dance like crayfish with K-leg. So, I decided to dance by myself and keep my full money.”

“You? Dance?” Romola threw her head back in laughter.

She’d missed Sunbo and her ambitious ideas. If only her dad didn’t cause them to fight so often and money wasn’t so hard to come by, she would have considered finding a place close to her house for Sunbo to stay.

“Yes na. I can dance.” Sunbo stared at her with bright brown eyes.

Romola edged back into the chair. Her eyes caught Sekemi arranging another shelf. She didn’t need to bother. Most customers didn’t visit that shelf.

She turned back to face Sunbo. “What is the dance about? Let me give you a few tips before you go and embarrass me with K-leg dance.”

Sunbo raised her left shoulder towards her head then dropped it back immediately. “You that I asked you to come and dance and you refused. Don’t worry, you will see the video when it is out.”

“I thought it was a show?”

“We are also doing a video too.”

“All this for 80k?”

“Wo, you will see.”

Sekemi approached the table and Sunbo turned to her, squaring her shoulders. Sekemi stared past Sunbo to Romola. “Moromola, abi what do they call your name, if you are not going to work, let me know before I report you to Iya Tobi.”

“Just give me a few minutes.”

Sekemi sent a hard glare towards Sunbo before turning on her polished black flat shoes and walking away.

“See how she looks like primary school math’s teacher.”

“Sunbo, you and this your mouth ehn.”

“Is it not true? Who still wears shoes like those? See, if you leave me and her, it’s not all this mouth she is making, I will beat her and beat Iya Tobi and join.” Sunbo’s voice thinned as she mimicked Sekemi’s words. “Before I report you to IyaTobi.”

Romola struggled to keep the laughter in her stomach from bubbling out, knowing that Sekemi watched her with hawk eyes. She pulled her chair towards the computer system and turned it on to familiarize herself with the price tags for new goods. “Sunbo, I need you to get something—my passport— from the house.”

“No oh. I’m not going home.”

“Please now, you don’t have to stay long. Just drop it here and go.”

Sunbo knew where she had hid her belongings in the house. If her step father knew where her things were, he would sell them. She wished there was some other way to get the passport but after her expulsion, they blocked her access to the school portal; the only place where a digital version of her passport could be found.

“No. I just came here for food. If I go home, daddy will not let me leave.” Sunbo leaned closer to Romola’s listening ears. “You see this new girl, she used to carry everything on her head. I just wanted to collect some bread, egg and tea things but she won’t let me. If it was Rosemary, she would’ve packed everything for me since.”

Romola held her sister’s arm, grateful that Sekemi had taken such a move because there had been quite a number of unexpected monthly deduction from her purse because Sunbo came to ‘visit’ the store over the months. “She’s new and she doesn’t know you are my sister.”

“Yes, but does she have to be so rude? Making me stand outside because I’m not a” Sunbo made air quotes. “Paying customer. What does that mean?”

“When you blow you will find out.” Romola slid out of the seat, grabbed a nylon bag from the basket underneath her stool and walked to the bread aisle.

She placed two full loaves into the nylon and was walking towards the butter shelf when Sekemi manifested in front of her.

Sekemi pulled the bag out of her hands. “What do you think you are doing?”

Romola stared at Sekemi. The girl’s forehead barely reached the bottom of Romola’s nose.

Sunbo pushed Romola aside and stood, facing Sekemi. “You can see that she is packing food for me. Abi, that one too is only for paying customers?”

“You will have to pay for it.”

“Ehn, but have you seen anyone pay for something in a super market before they pick it up? Obviously not. So, give her back the bag.” Sunbo snatched the bag back, then picked a sardine can and placed it in the bag.

“Sekemi, I will pay for it. Just make a record of it and Iya Tobi can take the cash from my salary.”

Sekemi hissed, walking away. “Iya Tobi will hear about this.”

“Good, walk away.” Sunbo screamed at Sekemi before turning back to her sister with her bag. “Add plenty biscuit and milk inside this thing.”

“Sunbo, you need to be calming down sometimes.” Romola brought the sardine out of the bag and placed it on the shelf. She wasn’t going to blow all of her salary just because she wanted to feed her sister. There were other expenses to take care of, beside their mother had texted her saying she needed some money. “If I add extra biscuit, will you get my passport for me?”

“Romola na.” Sunbo stomped her feet.  “I can’t. If I don’t show up at the centre tomorrow, they will call police for me. We signed a contract.”

Romola held the bottom of her right ear. “Sunbo, Sunbo. I hope you know what you are doing?”

“I do.”

Sunbo spread her arms out and Romola walked into the hug.

Sunbo squeezed her sister. “I loveyoulove youloveyou so much.”

“Indeed. Or you like free food? Sha, give some of your money to mummy when you’re done.”

“I will. Thank you. Mwah.” Sunbo placed a peck on Romola’s powdered cheeks.

Then Sunbo went to the desk and dropped the content of the bag on the counter. “Oya, madam reporter, calculate everything fast fast.”

Romola smiled at her sister’s back. Sunbo could be so stubborn and vocal at times but she was still her sister. She had been one of her supporters when their mother left her. She couldn’t wait to get her away from the clutches of their evil father.

“Don’t forget the passport oh.”

Sunbo faced her, with a coy smile on her face. “You can’t make me do anything.”

Romola shook her head. She didn’t have to do anything. Need and poverty would send Sunbo running back to her.