Chapter 1 THE SASSY REWANI

THE SASSY REWANI - WRITTEN BY CHISOM IWUCHUKWU

Rewani Adejola, hurriedly had to prepare her mom's breakfast before stepping out for work. she works as a Sales Attendant in a grocery store quite distant from the slum she domiciled, in Lagos, Nigeria. Alfredo Mart, the grocery store where Rewani worked was located in Ogun State, Nigeria and she had to wake up as early as 5 A.M inorder to get ready to reach the train station at 6 P.M, when the cheapest tickets were sold, so she could reach her workplace before 8.PM - which was the resumption time.

Her boss, MR Chika Ekile, being very hostile and draconian, never failed to deduct at least ₦1,000 from his staff' salaries each day any of them came late. He had a total staff of 10 at Alfredo Mart, with the least and poorly paid being Rewani, because she barely had any qualifications. Her salary was a paltry sum of ₦35,000 per month, so couldn't afford reach her work place late because of the penalty attached to that!!!

Madam Yemisi Adejola, Rewani's mum, almost lost her life and that of her baby while giving birth in a nearby clinic because she had no money to visit the hospital. Her husband, Badejo Adejola, died on Rewani' 3rd birthday to cancer and since then, the full responsibility of providing, nurturing, looking after Rewani rested on her shoulders. She strived, did all manner of brown collar jobs just to send her only child to school. Rewani' dream right from childhood had always been to become medical doctor. That dream was aborted as early as her 1st year in medical school when her old aged mother who was paying her school bills, suffered glaucoma which resulted into blindness because it was misdiagnosed. With that ordeal staring Rewani at 19 years old, she had to drop out of medical school, find a job, and now fend for herself and her blind mom.

Finding just a job not to talk of a well paying one was an arduous task for Rewani. Her lack of the necessary qualifications automatically ruled her out of many jobs. The other available jobs required her to sleep with the superior before she was granted one. At 19years old, she was already a full formed lady. She was extremely beautiful, sassy, and the cynosure of all eyes. She could walk down the streets of the Ghetto she domiciled without getting numerous cat-calls. The undeniable beauty she possessed was a gift and a curse.

After another unsuccessful job interview, she came back crying profusely. Her job hunting was already in third month, with no headway!! The wailings were loud that it woke her mom from a deep sleep. "What's the problem? did you hurt yourself?" Madam Yemisi asked." No, not at all", Rewani replied. "Then why exactly are you crying" she inquired. Uhm, uhmmm...... She then proceeded into crying further like a petulant child whose favourite candy has been taken away!! At that juncture, she was then summoned by her mother