The first jingle came from the door.
It was a small sound, almost shy, the kind you could miss if you weren’t listening closely, the brass bell tied to the wooden door of Baba Kola’s provision shop shook as Ayo stepped inside.
“Ah, Ayo!” Baba Kola said, looking up from where he was counting coins behind the counter. “You don come early today.”
Ayo smiled. “Mama send me. She say make I buy rice before people finish am.”
Baba Kola chuckled lightly and turned back to his big tray of coins, so as he scooped them up into a small tin, they jingled very loudly, the metal knocking against the metal tin, sharp and cheerful, To Ayo, that sound always meant one thing that the shop was alive and active.
Outside, december sun hung lazily over the street, christmas was close and you could so feel it in the air, even in the way children ran around with torn slippers and big smiles, in the way the aunties and mothers did argue loudly at the market, and in the jingling sounds that followed the season.
Then across the street, a group of children dragged empty paint cans that they tied with strings, and some were beating them like drums.
“Jin-jin-jin!” one of them shouted, shaking a string of bottle caps.
“Omo.... Una no go break somebody ear?” a woman yelled from her balcony.
The children laughed and ran off their play direction, their laughter mixed with the jinglings of the metal and plastic behind them.
Inside the shop, Baba Kola poured rice into a nylon bag.
“You dey hear that sound?” he asked suddenly.
Ayo nodded. “The children?”
“No,” Baba Kola said softly, He tapped the tin of coins, Jingle, jingle. “This one.”
Ayo watched him, Baba Kola had owned the shop for over twenty years, People said he could tell how good business was just by the sound of his coins.
“When coins dey jingle well,” Baba Kola continued, “it means hope still dey.”
Ayo did not fully understand, but he nodded anyway, then later that evening, the church bell began to ring.
Dong Dong Dong.....
The deep sound rolled through the whole neighborhood, it was very steady and calm as usual, people who were supposed to attend carol service that evening, began getting ready, the children rushed in their different homes to change their clothes.
Then in the small compound behind the church, Sister Miriam was tying little bells to the edge of the choir members robes.
“Make sure say dem no fall,” she warned.
“They won’t,” Joseph replied, lifting one robe, he shook it slightly, smiling as the bells jingled, “ Omo, sister , E sound nice.”
“That sound,” Sister Miriam said, pausing, “na joy be that, even people wey get problem go feel am.”
Joseph nodded, he knew she was right, His own father had been sick all year, money had been tight, some days, Joseph felt like the weight of the world rested on his chest.l, But whenever the bells rang in church, something inside him loosened.
As night fell, another type of jingle took over the street.
A woman walked slowly, her anklets ringing softly with every step, She was an old woman, she was slightly bent forward, also carrying a tray of groundnuts on her head.
“Groundnut! Fresh Sweet groundnut here!” she called.
A young man sitting outside his house looked up, and said , “Mama, how much?”
She smiled, and the anklets jingled again as she stopped, “For you, na last price be that".
He laughed quietly and then reached his hand into his pocket, he pulled out his old wallet, he started counting the coins,he counted them in his palm.
Also, somewhere down the road, a small boy froze....
“ Sade did you just hear that?” Tunde whispered, gripping his little sister’s arm.
“Hear what na?” Sade asked confused.
“That sound na , you listen closely,” he said, eyes wide, “Like bells.”
Sade rolled her eyes, “Abeg.... Na church bell or somebody key dey make noise"
But Tunde shook his head, “No o, This one is different joor,”
From above, faint and playful, came the soft jingle of tiny bells, carried by the night breeze.
Tunde’s heart raced, “Sade… Do you know if it's Santa?”
She laughed so hard she had to hold her stomach, “Which Santa? Toooor.... Santa dey Nigeria?”
And before Tunde could reply, the sound had already faded,it was now replaced by the sounds of the hum of a nearby generators and also distant laughter coming from houses away
It was Christmas morning soon, the whole street woke up to really loud music, and laughter from people in their shops and there was more jingling than they have ever heard
Door keys jingled as doors were being opened, plates jingled as food was served,then the coins jingled in the pockets of children as they ran errands, the church bells jingled in towers, louder and happier than before.
Baba Kola stood in his shop entrance , watching the street just come alive, he shook his tin of coins gently....
Jingle, He smiled.
Because you know as long as something still jingled, bells, coins, laughter, it meant life was still moving on.
Image Is Generated With Meta AI