junior girls with torn sandals and slippers gathered around the shoemaker who came to campus once a week; girls gossiped while waiting for the hairdressers to make their hair; at the bottom of the hill, some girls bought snacks from the convenience store; even the kulusors still walked backwards and made perfect round holes in the dusty sand.
I sat alone on a bench in the middle of all these people, under one of the cashew trees, meditating the way dad taught me to on the Math, Physics, and Chemistry I’d just finished studying in my class for the past two hours. Occasionally I lost focus and my mind wandered. I felt my throat and tongue get wet when I thought of my mom’s Jellof rice and chicken.
At other times I was distracted by the three JSS 1 girls who played ten ten a stone throw away from me. I wondered how two of the girls managed to fall far behind the leader –a thin girl, who wore a severely oversized pink checkered dress and had a protruded back skull (ogo) — despite her obvious left leg, left leg, and right leg pattern.
I closed my eyes and tried to return to my mediation, but the noise from their loudly clapped hands and vigorously stomped feet hindered me from doing so. I sat up on the bench and after 5 minutes of contemplation, I walked back to my class, envious of the other girls who could afford to spend their weekends however they pleased.
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