im baaaaackkkk! and i have a REASON for not updating. so dont hate me! reasons at the end. so... enjoy!
Destination: Unknown
by: stripedpolkadots
chapter one: Taylor's Story
"YABA YABA YABA YABA!!"
Taylor Ogunwole pushed her way through the crowds to the beckoning okado-man.
"How much to Adekunle sa?"
The man looked her up and down and grinned. "Ah… for you miss… 300 naira."
Taylor rolled her eyes and began to walk away. A hand grabbed her arm. Taylor quickly yanked it away. She turned to the man. "What now?"
The man revved his engine. "Madam, I go take you a Adekunle now fa 200 naira."
Taylor fingered her peeling purse. That would leave her only 75 naira for dinner. Well… she could always get them Endomin again. She would be fine with fufu… again.
She saw another woman eyeing the 200 N okado, and she quickly sat on the back. "Okay sa, I'm going to 431 Old Graveyard Road."
The okado nodded. "Wetin dey go, I know tha place."
Clutching her purse to her chest, Taylor suppressed a cough as the motorcycle went straight into the exhaust fume path of a nearby lorry. She took a deep breath and tuned out the pounding sounds of the far-stretching, everlasting traffic jam.
Soon they were nearing the Third Miracle Bridge. Taylor sighed as she looked across the glistening water to Victoria Island.
Victoria Island was a large island off the coast that was connected to the mainland by the Third Mainland Bridge. Mainly the rich inhabited it: governors, football players, and Nollywood stars.
"Madam? Madam? MADAM?"
Taylor awoke from her daydream. She got off the bike, stretched, and reached into her purse. Sighing, she pulled out 200 N.
The man took it, put it into his belly pouch, and looked up. "How come you dey pay me no 300 N?"
Taylor took a step back. "Ah ah now?! You said 200 N to go to Adekunle!"
The man shrugged. "Traffic be dey much today. Ah me no expect traffic. Petrol be dey much naira. You have now pay afa me petrol."
Taylor took another step away from the man. "Ah now sa, you said 200. I only have 200 with me now."
The man lurched forward and grabbed her bag. "Why you lie? I fa know you getta money! Pay me my money witch!"
Taylor tried to grab her bag. "Let go! I shall scream sa! Let me go NOW!" With that last word, she wrenched her bag away from the man's grasp. Throwing the 200 naira at the man, she turned and raced down the path that led to her home. The man shouted after her, and even revved his engine, but he didn't dare start down the dark and dangerous looking path that Taylor had gone down- just as Taylor had known he wouldn't. Still, she kept a wary eye out. Most of the people on this street were kind, and in just as an unfortunate situation as herself, but she also knew there were many on the street who had long forgotten their Christian or Moslem upbringing and since turned to deplorable acts to get money.
She reached the door of her apartment and knocked quickly. She heard footsteps thudding down the hall, then Rachel's soft voice.
"Who's there?"
"Rachel, its me."
"Taylor?"
"Yeah."
Rachel opened the door. She had 17-month Joka on her arm and Taylor could see Faith peeking out of the door.
Rachel ushered Taylor in, looked out behind her, and slammed and locked the door. She turned and faced Taylor. Taylor took Joka from Rachel's arm and felt his diaper. A little wet, but it would last.
Rachel crossed her arms. "You were gone a week this time." She said accusingly.
Taylor carried Joka down the hall and patted three-year-old Faith on the head. She turned to Rachel over her shoulder. "Yeah. Ehcual le to you to."
Rachel looked down and gave a quick almost kneel, but didn't stop following Taylor. "You were gone a week."
Taylor turned. Now Rachel sounded more hurt than angry. She saw ten-year-old Oye in the hall ahead of her. She called the boy over to her. When he arrived, she passed Joka off to him. She then took Rachel's hand and led her to the kitchen. While she searched hopefully for a potato or even a yam, she looked at Rachel.
The younger girl had her hands folded on the table in front of her, and was looking down.
Finally Taylor gave up on the hopeless search and sat down on the floor. The other two chairs were far to small for her, and it was simply easier for her to get up without squeezing out of the table.
She took Rachel's hands in her own. "Come on now, you know Madam had a party planned. Bisi was not able to make it and I had to work her time. Madam has promised to add the extra time to my paycheck though."
Rachel made a face and Taylor had to laugh along with her. The thought of Madam paying more than a single naira what was required was a laughable thought.
When Taylor felt a drop of moisture on her hand, she looked up, surprised. Rachel was… crying?
She was. Taylor was still confused when Rachel looked up, a new determination in her eyes. "I have it. I will get a job."
Taylor laughed, and Rachel frowned. "What is so funny?"
Taylor shrugged. "Oh, you just really seemed to think I'd let you quit your education to get a job." She said the last word with a sneer.
Rachel dropped her hands and pointed at Taylor accusingly. "You quit school to get a job."
Taylor began to count on her fingers. "One. I quit uni. That's quite different than tenth year. Two. I was 19. You are 15. Three. I had no choice when the orphanage closed. You have no choice but to stay in school. Four. I already had enough credits to graduate, and even better grades then the seniors. And five…. er… because I said so!"
Rachel slammed her hands down on the table. "Taylor, I know you see how ridiculous this is! How much money do you have?"
Taylor gave the smaller girl the evil eye, but Rachel didn't back down. "How much?"
Taylor sighed. "If we divide it carefully, we have 300 naira a day and 100 extra."
Rachel threw up her hands. "You got 1000 N for one WEEK of work! Come on Taylor, you're intelligent! You know how unreasonable this is!"
Taylor stood up from the table. "Taye, Kende! Come here!" She waited by the door as the twins came rushing down. As always, Taye was ahead of her brother. Taylor reached into her purse and pulled out the 100 N bill. She handed the money to Kende. Although Taye was more likely to get a better deal, it was smarter to let Kende hold the money. Taye was flighty, and had a history of buying sweets with any money she was given. And Kende was far to shy to bargain for a reasonable price on anything. But Taylor didn't mind. They were only six after all, and were unaware of the true bleakness of their situation.
Taylor bent down to their level. She looked Taye in the eye.
"Endomin. That's all. Get two chicken and a beef. Ok? Just Endomin."
Taye shifted. "But we are so thirsty. I want buy Fanta! We want Fanta!"
Kende stuck a toothpick in his mouth and nodded along with his sister. If there was anything that Kende would beg for, it was orange Fanta.
Taylor felt a pang in her chest. Children so young, yet they asked for so little. Swallowing hard, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, we don't have money for any Fan-"
"They can use my Endomin money to get one Fanta to share."
Taylor looked up. Twelve-year-old Yemi was in the door, her five year old sister Buki holding on to her skirt and thirteen-year-old Jide standing behind her, a book in his hand. Taylor had to stifle a small smile. Jide was in love with Yemi, but the girl was oblivious. She cared about little else than her sister and the other children.
Still almost smiling, Taylor shook her head. "No, there is nothing more for you to eat other then Endomin. There is barely enough fufu left for me and Rachel."
Yemi shrugged and patted the twins on the head as she left, followed closely by the ever-present Jide.
Taye opened her mouth to protest again, but Taylor patted her on the back and ushered both twins out the door.
"Taylor, we need to-"
Taylor interrupted. "Rachel, where is Ayodele?"
Rachel, angry at being interrupted, shrugged. "I don't know, I saw him with that Iyapo boy. Modupe was with him."
Taylor dropped her purse. "Iyapo? They are with Iyapo and his gang?"
Rachel frowned. "I wouldn't exactly call it a gang…"
"Rachel, they are under suspicion for killing two men! And one a government official!"
Rachel began to look uneasy. "I didn't know, Dupe just asked if he could go with Ayo to Iyapo's place! I didn't think… I just…"
Taylor started for the door. "When the twins get back, cook the Endomin for everyone, leave Ayo's and Dupe's plate warm, I'm going to go get them-"
"Go get who?"
With a joyful cry, Taylor scooped the nine-year-old Dupe in her arms, avoiding the toothpick in his mouth, and ignoring his protests. When she set him down, she turned to face eleven-year-old Ayo, who at least had the decency to look somewhat ashamed.
She yanked the toothpick from his mouth. "What did I tell you about these toothpicks? You are setting a bad example! First Dupe, now even Kende has got this stick in his mouth!"
Ayo shrugged, and Taylor changed the subject. "And what's this I hear about you hanging out with Iyapo's gang?"
Ayo shrugged. "Iyapo invited me over the day before yesterday. I no want be rude, so I go. And it no be bad place, so I let Dupe follow wit me this time."
Taylor's eyes popped. "This time? How many times has there been?!"
"Only four or five…"
Before Taylor could explode, the twins came back with the noodles. Taylor took the noodles off there hands and told them to gather the other children. Rachel began making the fufu and the boys escaped to outside.
Ten minutes later, Taylor was placing bowls on the table. The unspiced noodles she'd feed to Joka, Faith's small plate, the twins, Buki, Oye and Dupe's healthy portions, and Ayo, Yemi, and Jide's slightly smaller ones. She called them to eat, ignoring Rachel's numerous hints that their conversation on her quitting school wasn't over.
When Joka was fed and the children were eating, Taylor finally took her place on the doorstep to eat her own food. The plain fufu was dry and tasteless, but it was food. As long as the children had food to eat, she was content.
so i havent been able to update because of loads of reasons. i think one of the main ones is :( my friends mom died in Iraq late september :( and her dad died ages ago in some other army thing about six seven years ago, so now she's moved to virginia to live with her aunt and uncle (whos on a tour of Afghanistan right now) but it was a really sudden move, she had to uproot everything in a month, so i was helping out a friend on that front.
other reasons: first report card of the year teachers trying to get as many grades in the gradebook as possible. ive been homework SWAMPED. and i just took the PSAt, so yea. basketball, and ive been troll-sitting even MORE than usual.
but those are just the reasons the updates splooshed fer a while.
OH!
okado- motorcyle taxi-guy
naira- currency
yaba- HUGE/BUSY/CROWDED market street. the traffic is AWFUL.
third mainland bridge- busiest bridge in africa.
victoria island- belair of lagos
"echual le"- welcome. i dunno if thats the total correct spelling tho. eh-koo-ah-lay
"ogunwole"- oh-goon-woh-lay
"joka"- joh-kah ; 'feeds on honors, loved by many'
"ayodele"- eye-oh-dell-ay ; 'happiness returns home'
"modupe"- mo-doo-pay ; 'gratefulness'
"iyapo"- ee-yah-po ; many hard situations (which is weird cuz my mom's name is iyaBo, which means 'mother has come')
"taye"- tie-yay ; taken from 'Taiyewo' or 'taiwo' which means older twin (i have two cousins name taye or taiwo, a boy and a girl)
"kende"- ken-day ; taken from 'Kehinde' which means younger twin (i also have two kende cousins, both boys)
"yemi"- yeh-me ; usually short for opeyemi (my name!) which means 'i am meant to be grateful' or adeyemi which means 'the crown fits me'
"oye"- oh-yay ; taken from 'oluoye' which means 'almighty god'
"buki"- boo-kee, buu-kee ; taken from 'bukola'
"jide"- jee-day ; usually taken from 'babajide' which means 'father has returned home', (both iyabo and jide are usually used for eldest children only)
ok. thats all. just thought u might wanna know some background stuff. i might do that for the others too. idk yet tho...
mmk... PLEASE REVEIW! PLEASE! and pray 4 all the soldiers everywhere por favor. REVEIW REVIEW REVIEW!!
3 luv, stripedpolkadots