My Fruit Salad Girl

When I finished buying some provisions, fruit salad tickled my Brian. And I have this one habit of being uncomfortable whenever I deny my self anything, be it National assembly game or state Assembly. Just anything, but here it was just fruit salad.

There were up to three fruit sellers in that roll and none of them had fruit salad. On their tables and Barrow, you see groundnut, sliced and unsliced water melon, cucumber, pawpaw and pineapple.

"Uncle Bia goteme m, uncle come and buy from me" the youngest of the beautiful girls fought for my hands. Imagine that, she won already.

I was at first lost in abject indecision on who to buy from. Three of them took their bathe at omala river. They are beautiful, neat and friendly. That's the things I consider before I buy certain things. They all claimed to know what I want.

"Uncle ama m ive ichoro. I have what you're looking for"

(That was exactly her dialect, they all must be Nsukka indigenes)

Finally I decided to patronize the first one, just because of her open teeth. It caught me. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

"What I actually want to buy is fruit salad" I said.

"Aaaaah, uncle..."

"I'm Ben, Dear. You can call me Mr. Ben" I cut her short, albeit I tried to sound very romantic.

"Sorry uncle Ben. I don't have it. But you can buy pineapple and watermelon; they are Sweet. You will like it".

"Where can I get it?"

At arrival of the place she directed me to; I saw only an old woman hosting a long queue of fruit salad customers (you can as well Christen it league of fruit Nations). She talked and laughed hilariously as she sliced the fruits.

Hia hia hia hia ho ho ho chimo. Ijekwome ebee. Hia hia hia, uwa mooooooooooo

That's the way she laughed.

Offense number 1, I said in my mind. Her saliva would be entering the salad and I didn't want saliva fruit salad.

 She was also using her bare hands and her knife was tied with a rubber which made it look like that of my grandfather, who was said to be a palm wine tapper 😂. To make the matter worse, she cleaned her hands with a towel which looked dirty in all due respect.

Many were buying, but I couldn't. Yet I needed the salad and what to do became a problem. I have never done one before.

One thing came to my mind, and that was learning from the woman and doing it at the girl's place. I learn so fast and indeed within some jiffy minutes, I learnt how to do fruit salad.

I went back to the open teeth girl and asked if she was ready to grow her business. She indeed has business spirit. She agreed and if she had nagged, I would quickly deny her the opportunity.

"Watch your hands and utensils. Bring watermelon, groundnut, pineapple, cucumber and pawpaw. 50 naira each" I said.

I washed my hands and began to slice. She patiently watched and attended to her customers also.

"Please rush to that provision store and get me a condensed milk. Bring back my three hundred naira balance oh"

I went inside a restaurant and purchased plastic plate for #30, although the foil one is #10. She poured the sliced fruits inside the plate as I opened the condensed milk. I divided the condensed milk into five ( remember I purchased it at the rate of #200, and I needed to make a profit of #50).

"One condensed milk for one plate of fruit salad. Most people like adding the milk to their taste, so just tie it in nylon and package"

"Then how much will I sell?" she asked and I was happy to hear that.

"The woman sold #350 shaa. It cost us  #250 plus #100 condensed milk to produce two plates of salad.  Three hundred and fifty naira divided into two should be #175. It cost #175 to produce one plate of fruit salad. You pay for this space, your energy, las las. Sell #300. With that, you might be able to pull some customers out from the other side"

"Won't the woman be angry?" She asked and I was shocked.

"Angry for what? Is her father the owner of this market. Abeg one person can not be selling fruit salad here and be doing shakala. Start today and next time you see me, just remeber that you owe me a kiss" I said and she laughed.

She thanked me and I left.

As I no fit teach for free, we made a deal. She will be giving me #50 discount each time I come. She agreed and I left.

The next time I passed through her shop, people circled her table. I counted and it was fifteen persons. I took the picture gently, before someone would slap my head, thinking i had some sinister intentions. #300 times fifteen should be #4500. It cost 2550 to prepare the 15 plates and her gain is #1950. Just by extending her business, she earned more. Guess how many plates she sell each day, do the calculation and tell me later. The girl nah oloye🏃‍♂🏃‍♂🏃‍♂

She saw me passing, got shocked and tried calling me but I pretended as if we haven't mate before and disappeared. If she had caught me, she might publicly catapult Ben, the student politician with a kiss.

Me no want someone dashing me fruit salad and kiss for market biko 😂🤣😂🤣

I love giving people good ideas. Seeing market women progress in their business is what I love doing always. I do that because I have a mother who is still in market, working hard to support her family. Whenever I returns back and discover a new business wish suites what she sell, I force her to expand. Most often, I purchase those goods with my cash and disturb her daily for refund.

If you can in any way help a business grow, do that right away.

In this long race Dear, I shall be counting on you for we all know that success is sacrosanct.

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