by Naomi Lucas

She knew his shoes were tight. She knew it hurt but it was the only pair he had and until she could get another one, he had to wear them that way and here I was thinking the kid had a collection to choose from.

I love Ewa Agoyin with soft Agege bread *covers face*

The rest of you can pretend you don’t know what that means.

Okay… for those who seriously don’t it’s a simple meal of cooked beans and pepper and ginger fried in palm oil.

Seriously though, I wonder what happened because as a kid, all you needed to do to change my mood was tell me I had to eat beans but I guess the Ewa Agoyin lady deserves my devotion. Research has shown she has the best Ewa Agoyin since the recipe came from Togo. Forgive my digression.

I ordered for some Ewa Agoyin on this fateful day, and as she dished it out, I noticed a boy of about four, squatting a safe distance away.

“Who is that?” I asked her.
“He’s my son, I’m taking him to lesson” she responded.
I didn’t know she had a son. I looked closely. His face was streaked with tears.
“Why is he crying?” I asked her, genuinely concerned.
She smiled and told me the stubborn kid complained his shoes were too tight but by that time she was out of the house already.
“It’s a lie!” the boy squealed from a safe distance. “I told her at home but she refused to change it”
She smiled. Her body language told me her son was telling the truth.
I walked up to him and checked his feet. Half the length of his toes were on the floor and his shoe straps were digging into his ankles. Poor kid, I could see he was in pain.
I turned to his mum, “Madam, the shoe tight true true. Why you nor wear anoda one for am?”
“I don tell am say I go buy anoda one for am when I have the money” she said, upset.

And then it dawned on me. She knew his shoes were tight. She knew it hurt but it was the only pair he had and until she could get another one, he had to wear them that way and here I was thinking the kid had a collection to choose from.
“How much you need to buy anoda one?”
“Five hundred naira”
“Five hundred naira?” I was shocked. The kid was in that much pain because of five hundred naira?
I gave her the money and begged her to buy him another pair that same day. She promised she would.
I squatted beside her son and told him “Your mummy will buy another one for you today. If she doesn’t, come and report her to me on your way to lesson tomorrow. Oya get up and clean your eyes, big boys don’t cry.”
He got up smiling, wiped his face with the crook of his arm, tucked the money his mum handed to him in his pocket and muttered a thank you Aunty.

The next day she was at my gate again, I didn’t feel like Ewa Agoyin but as I called out to tell her, I heard a happy yell “Aunty good morning! My mummy bought the shoes for me.”
I went out to see ” Ah….nice. So no more pain now eh?”
He nodded vigorously. “She bought two shoes for me”
“Two whole shoes?” I asked surprised.
“Yes” He continued.
“Good for you. So you wear one today and the other one tomorrow…”
He nodded again.
I looked at his mum, she was genuinely amused.

I watched her walk on by as it drizzled. I knew I wasn’t eating Ewa Agoyin that day. As I turned away I heard him call out “Aunty, good morning.” At first I wondered where he was, then I saw him, covered by an over-sized umbrella, his shoes pink, wet and shiny; and his size. I looked underneath and there he was flashing his entire collection of milk teeth in the most heartwarming smile I ever saw.

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Naomi Lucas tweets from @msmaikasuwa

 

Read this article on Naomi’s Blog

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.