She literally ran into the mall, clutching her teddy bear and giggled excitedly. Her mother, whose age I mentally put at between 36 to 39 called out unsuccessfully, as the little girl ran towards the cosmetics stand; where I was window-shopping.
“Cherish stop running, you’ll fall” she called out.
“I will not fall mummy, I am not a baby” came the melodious voice and my attention was caught, my eyes in turn trapped.
What endeared me to this little girl who later became my friend though, was not only her cute dress nor her pretty long hair held in a bun, but her vivacious aura. She got the entire place lit up by her innocent and child-like warmth. Much as I like to mind my business I wanted to know this little girl, something about her took me down memory lane.
“Hi Cherish”! I said flashing the smiles I reserve exclusively for moments like this.
“Who told you my name”? She asked in between giggles, patting her pink colour teddy bear.
“Nobody” I said, squatting down to level up with her.
“So do you know my mummy’s name”? She asked.
“If I care to I would” I answered, but her face has suddenly contoured into a frown.
By this time her mum whom on a closer look I noticed was pregnant simply smiled and made her way to the clothing shelf, leaving her daughter and I to familiarise. For a moment it felt like she had known that I was just as harmless as they come.
“So what’s your own name”? She asked, brushing my hair backwards; I was charmed!
“Amara” I said.
“Is that all the name you have”? She continued, this time her frown had eased into an indifferent look while holding tenaciously to her teddy bear.
“Jessica” I said
“That’s it”?
“No, Idika Orji” I read out.
“Your names are not plenty. Mine in alphabetical order are, Adaeze, Cherish, Kimberly, Rita, Wunmi, Sochima” she ran through the names in one breath.
My world! This child shouldn’t be anything more than 5 years, but she already has a personality, one that intimidates too.
“My Daddy gave me Adaeze and Cherish, can you guess who gave me the rest”? She asked giggling, her lovely pure white bulging eyes squinting in an endearing manner.
“emmm…I stuttered, adjusting my glasses”
“Do you care to know”? She asked.
“Sure, why not” I blurted, not everyone who walked into a mall shops anyway, i could jolly well spend the time with this ‘fire cracker’ of a kid.
“Then it shouldn’t be hard” she said with a hint of mischief. At that moment I began to catch on, I simply loved where she was going with that witty statement.
Smart Alec!
I wanted to get to know this new friend of mine a lot more, it didn’t matter that I had already resolved not to exceed an hour in the mall, as I didn’t want to pay the extra vehicle parking fee. She took me down memory lane, leaving me with a concussion of feelings. Growing up, I was that child who everyone complained had adult mannerism. Some even believed I had an outright composition of grannies. I in turn caved in to that school of thought; if it was random accusations then pointers were there to corroborate them. For instance, I had already grown conspicuous grey hair as early as 7 years; the woman who makes my hair weekly then, and also lived at the end of our street, would spend over 20 minutes plucking out the new set of grey I accrued weekly before commencing with plaiting them. As a child, I just loathed playing or hanging with my age mates, if I knew what boring meant at that age it would have been easier for me to appreciate why. When I was in primary 1, should be 6 years or thereabouts, I asked my elder sister, sister Ikodiya how our parents gave birth to me and she babbled over a non-answer; apparently was befuddled by my question, one too many. I got to find out anyways.
Cherish, this new friend of mine, brought my childhood memory flooding up my subconciousness. The difference would have to be that perhaps i was not as lively as she is.
“Go ahead aunty Amara” the voice said, jerking me out of my reverie. This one means business o.
“owkay. Your daddy gave you Adaeze and Cherish you said”? I asked
“Exactly” she said. Where do these post millennial children get their confidence from sef? I muttered to myself.
Well, I had to wear my game face, push is coming to shove.This kid just got me hell-bent on trying to give a good account of myself; aunty must not misrepresent herself, else I could pass for an agbaya. I instantly switched to my quantitative aptitude mode. If her daddy gave her Adaeze and Cherish that means he is of Ibo extraction, considering the fact that the surname is Sochima. There’s a wunmi in her list of names, which presupposes that there’s a hint of Yoruba in that lineage, perhaps the mother is the Yoruba. But the lady I saw tugging behind her daughter looked anything but Yoruba, if anything she looked ibo; when have you ever seen ‘ I am yoruba’ written on anyone’s face? I asked myself. The wife is the Yoruba period, I concluded. And Kimberly? Well, if the woman I saw walk into the mall with lovely Cherish is actually in her 30’s, that means it’s not outrageous to assume she could be one of the many modern ladies hit by the kim Kardashian epidemic-moreover, she looked quite trendy, so…
“Your mummy gave you Wunmi and Kimberly” I said, searching her eyes for a tad bit of clue; she remained expressionless, betraying no emotions whatsoever, this one has to be a dynamite o.
“Go ahead” she said.
“Am I right”? I asked.
“Aunty just go right ahead” she answered, staring straight into my eyes. I was humbled.
“emm, Rita? I’m not quite sure but Sochima is your surname, right or right”? I asked, beaming a smile.
Cherish laughed and did a brief ballet dance for me; she equally gives entertainment value, awesome!
“You are not even a gypsy aunty” she said still laughing.
“But I never said I was” I cried.
“You shouldn’t have known my name if you were not one” she teased.
“Well that’s because I heard your mum call you Cherish” I said.
I was having a great time with Cherish, she made my worries vanish within that 30 minutes.
“Okay listen attentively aunty” she said.
I held my ears, an action we were held down to back in my primary school days.
“Why are you holding your ears naa” she said laughing unctrollably.
“Because I want to make sure that no information from this gypsy-buster little friend of mine, slips through the cracks” I answered, chuckling to myself.
It took me a while to notice Cherish’s mum standing right beside me carrying a bagful of shopped items. Isn’t ironical that I was already in the mall before this mother and daughter came, yet I hadn’t bought any single item. I had unconsciously preferred my moment with little Cherish above my shopping; need I say it was worth it?
“Alright Cherish mummy is done shopping” I said as I straightened up.
“Mummy give a minute please” she said, her mum and I burst into laughter; this little girl is just too cute.
“Do you know what a minute is”? Her mum taunted as we burst into another fit of laughter, but Cherish maintained a straight face, which cracked me up even more.
This little has gotten me charmed, I admitted to myself.
“Daddy gave me the pet name Cherish but mummy uses it only when she thinks I’m getting naughty and she wants to caution me” she said.
“Wao” I said and squatted right back to level up to her height.
“So you even know? This girl sef” her mum quipped still laughing.
“My birth name is Adaeze, still from daddy, Kimberly from mummy, Rita, from Aunty Rita daddy’s twin sister who is also my godmother. Wunmi from my paternal grand mum and sochima from maternal grandmum” she reeled on.
“Oh, I thought….
“Don’t think any more aunty. My surname is not Sochima, my surname is Udensi. Bye” she said, smiling mischievously as she walked to the exit and just like when they were coming in, her mum walked behind her armed with her signature smile.
My world! She is a handful but I had a good run with her regardless.
“Aunty here” she came back handing me a chocolate bar-one of my favourites.
“You are so sweet Adaeze, thanks darling” I gushed, genuinely moved by this little girl’s personality.
“How old are you Adaeze”? I shouted as they duo approached they exit door.
“I’ll be 5 on the 19th of July” she equally shouted across, her ‘byes’ drowning out as they strolled to the car park.
I would have been damned if I didn’t guess that she was a July baby, my birth month mate. You see, July born hardly escape my notice. There is this pulling force that draws me close to them. Their generosity is always sticking out. While I’m very proud that Adaeze, my witty 5 year old friend with intimidating personality is my birth month mate, I’m also scared she doesn’t grow into such a pathetic emotional being like myself, one of the most predominant traits of people born in July.
I spent a longer time at the mall, doing nothing close to shopping but enjoying the magical moment offered to me by my new friend, it was well worth it. Her parting gift got me emotional.
My encounter with Adaeze, a.k.a Cherish, brought a fresh re-awakening to my ‘touch a life’ crusade. However, sometimes it feels like you need all the money in the world to put a smile on a face; you actually don’t. My whip smart friend made me laugh genuinely in years, which definitely count for something. And her chocolate bar gift? Well, let’s just say that driving home had never been more fun.
PS: Don’t let anyone leave you feeling worse than they met you. If you can’t make them feel better, endeavour not to make them feel worse. Pass love around, it makes life easier.
Peace and love from me to you.
