“Post office!”, a voice shouted from the side street, jolting me from my thoughts and reminding me that I am indeed seated in a minibus, which I use to shuttle to and from work. It’s not even 7a.m. yet, and I am lost in thought.
“Your fare is 200 hundred naira," said the driver as the woman who just flagged the bus down got in.
I reflected on the fare, which had gone up to 300 hundred naira, increasing by a hundred percent from the previous one hundred and fifty naira, irrespective of the distance, and finally settling between two hundred naira and three hundred naira, depending on the distance. “This country is a mess," I thought out loud.
The rest of my trip to work was uneventful, as I found myself just thinking about my life, how long I would keep earning peanuts, and how I would escape this feeling—the feeling of being stuck. Since my workplace was a biscuit factory situated out of town, I took the time to appreciate the soft breeze hitting me through the window, the rustling of leaves, and the smell of the wet forest on either side of the road.
Before you wonder about who I am, I will introduce myself. My name is Sade Jackson. I am the youngest daughter of a family of five. I currently stay with my boyfriend, Akin, who works in the same town as I, and my family lives two hours’ drive away.
I alighted at the junction to my workplace while handling my fare of three hundred naira to the bus driver. I waited and watched the driver turn around to head back to town. Yep! My workplace is at the last bus stop. I sighed wearily, already feeling anxious about the next 12-hour shift.
I walked for about eight minutes to get to the factory gate, where I clocked in and searched for metal objects before heading in.
“Sade!”. I turned around and saw my only friend, Janet, running towards me from the factory entrance.
“Wait for me!” she said. I rolled my eyes and waited anyway.
“How far?” she asked me when she finally caught up with me.
“I am good. Did you sleep well?” I inquired, as she looked well rested as compared to the previous day when she was complaining about the stress of caring for her husband and three kids.
“I slept well. Very well, in fact. My husband had already made dinner and cleaned up before I arrived at home last night," she replied, smilingly.
“Oh really? That must be nice for a change," I said to her, giving her a soft punch on her shoulder.
“Of course, the only thing I did was eat, shower, and sleep," she said.
“Ah! Are you sure that that is all that happened? I know you very well, Janet," I teased.
“What do you mean?" she asked.
“I am very sure you had sex last night. Didn’t you? Why did you leave that part out?”
She blushed. “Well, it was just one time," she replied. I raised my left brow at her, questioningly.
“Okay! Okay! It was twice. Are you happy now?” she queried.
I laughed at her and warned her not to keep things from me ever again. “Your husband did those things for you to relax. Why can’t you just rest properly?”
“It can also be relaxing too," Janet replied defensively while I just kept on laughing. ”I hate you so much,” she added.
“I know," I replied in agreement.
“See you later," she says as we split up to go to our various work designations since we worked in different departments.
I sat down at my designated seat and set my mind to the task of packing up the biscuits in small packs.
Our supervisor came in about two hours later and made an announcement:
“Good morning, everyone. I have been asked to pass on information to you all. There are some developments at the company. We are downsizing because we are in debt and also experiencing a deficit. As such, we are letting go of about 30 percent of the staff because we cannot afford to pay you all at the end of the month. The names of the staff who are being retrenched have been placed on the general notice board, so you can proceed to check the board. That would be all.”
Most other women rushed out to go and check the board. But I couldn’t move. My vision got blurry, my heart was pounding, and I felt sick to my stomach, like I needed to go to the toilet immediately. My chest was hot, and I couldn’t breathe. Somewhere, my brain was screaming at me: ‘Sade! Breathe! Breathe!’. And I could hear my brain scream at me again: ‘One, two, breathe!’ and my body responded. When I finally got control of myself, I went outside to look at the notice board. It was one of the longest five-minute walk of my life.
‘I don’t want to go back home. I loved my freedom. I didn’t want to go back to my abusive parents, and I didn’t want to become a liability in my relationship. I liked the fact that I didn’t always have to ask my boyfriend for everything I needed. I was anxious. A large part of my life actually depended on a job that was paying me peanuts—isn’t that hilarious?’, I laughed mentally with joyless mirth.
The area around the notice board was a mess; some women were on the floor, crying, others comforting. I walked to the board and checked for my name under my department, and I didn’t see my name among those that would be retrenched. I held my breath and checked twice more to be triple sure, and I breathed out in relief when I realised that I wouldn’t be losing my job, at least not today. I checked for Janet’s name under her own department, and I found it. I was in shock because she was a jovial and hardworking person. ‘Looks like I am not losing my job, but I am losing my friend’, I thought to myself.
“I have to go look for her," I said out loud, and I ran to her department. I found her seated on her desk and went ahead to sit beside her and hold her hand.
“Why me?” she asked with tears in her eyes. The sight of this jovial Janet was heartbreaking, and there was nothing I could do for her. We weren’t even in the same department; otherwise, I would have given up my own position to her. Why? Because she has three kids to care for.
The rest of the day went by in a blur, and I was in a hurry to get home to my comfort zone. And when I got home, I told Akin what had happened while I was at work, how worried I was, and how Janet had lost her job. He comforted me until I went to sleep.
I woke up around 5 a.m. the next day as usual, to prepare for work, and I found my Akin staring at me.
“What? Good morning, babe," I greeted. “Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked worriedly.
“I should ask you that. Are you okay?” he asked me whilst looking at me with his gummy black eyes, which were slightly visible by the dimly lit lamp hanging by the window.
“I am fine," I replied.
“Are you sure, babe?” he asked again. “Just now you were talking in your sleep.”
“Really? I was?”
“Yes. Did you have a bad dream? Or a nightmare?”
I thought hard and couldn’t really recall anything. "Nope," I answered.
“Wow! You said ‘don’t let me go’ repeatedly, and you kept reaching out for something with both hands. It wasn’t long after that you woke up," he told me.
I was surprised, and my mood turned solemn afterwards. “I guess yesterday's events really affected me deeply.”
After a while, he said, “You know what?”
“What?”
“You should resign from your job today.”
"Oh, my God. Why?” I held my breath, unsure about what he could say next.
“Why? Because I need you to. It is time for you to get yourself a good skill that will pay you and give you some kind of security. I will pay for that skill and support you until you get a job with it.”
I was flabbergasted, I burst into tears. He held me and kept rocking me until I had the energy to get up, bathe, and go to work to resign. I felt a bit of hope in my heart and thought that maybe I had to take my life and choices more seriously; otherwise, it wouldn’t get better and I would keep feeling stuck.
“God bless Akin," I thought out loud. ‘Bless him well, indeed’, a voice reechoed in my head.