The Reciprocity of of Kindness

               The Reciprocity of Kindness

                        (a short story)

                    By Lene Ododomu

Madam Beatrice is a good cook, well known at Suleja, Niger state. The name of her restaurant is "God's Favoured Restaurant" which is located along Kaduna road, Suleja, where customers will come everyday to buy food from dawn till sunset. Even at night, she finds it difficult to rest because customers will keep on coming.

Madam Beatrice is employed to cook for Access bank staffs and her good hand work of cooking and trustworthiness attracted the bank manager, Dr. Afolabi to award scholarship to her only daughter, Ada who was still in primary school but very brilliant.

Madam Beatrice divided herself into two. She will prepares the food for her shop and the one for the bank staffs at the same time. But she had a sales girl named Lara who is trusted and well behaved and she put her in charge of the restaurant. So Lara would be the one managing the affairs of the business until Madam Beatrice  returns from the bank service everyday in the afternoon.

One day, Madam Beatrice went to the market but surprised to see that the whole market women were discussing about her, saying that she is a woman favoured from heaven. Then some of them made a reference to PREDESTINATION (in the cycle of life or the rite passage of African cosmology in oral literature), that she was destined by God to impress people on earth with her cooking talent and that is what following her.

On the contrary, no one is expected to impress the whole people on earth no matter how good you prove to them. Despite the fact that Jesus Christ came to sacrifice himself for us and carried the liability of our burdens, still he was criticized by people who hated him like a rejected sacrifice. Madam Beatrice is praised by people, but still others hated her and said that her source of popularity or public notice  is suspicious. That she involves vodoos or charms to promote her cooking talent. She heard all these things from people but surprisingly ignors them. Her believe is that she is destined by God so that is what she is fulfilling on earth.

Madam Beatrice is a well devoted member of Anglican church at Suleja. There is no day that Rev. Smith would give the sermon without using her to cite an example for other women to emulate. She held the position as leader of Anglican Mothers Union (AMU), and there is no time the church would have mothers' day without having a good financial support  for the church projects from outsiders, especially the chairman of Tangidi local government, Hon. Mustapha Abrahim and it is through her. So she became the person in which the church looks unto.

Tony, Madam Beatrice younger brother travelled to Kaduna for a recruitment of Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA). Madam Beatrice became so happy when Tony breaks this news to her about his trip to Kaduna for the NDA recruitment. She used to call him on phone to know his well being everyday. But one day, she was disconnected from reaching out to him because he misplaced his phone. He was a complete stranger in Kaduna because he knows nobody there. He tried all he could to reach out to his sister, Madam Beatrice but all was no avail. So he became stranded and finds it difficult to survive in the strange land.

One day, a man came to  Madam Beatrice's restaurant and asked for help. He told her with a crying voice which almost shake down the sky, that he is stranded and was going to the East to meet with his family after being sacked from work in Abuja all because he challenged his boss for mismanagement of office.

Madam Beatrice became confused and finds herself in dilemma. She had the plan to help the young man but still confused by the evils happening in the society, especially Nigeria. She thought of a story that was told by her friend, that a man who was known for doing very well in his life gave money to a beggar. The result after given the money to the man was that, the beggar used the money for ritual and the giver became poor. After thought of this story, she became more confused and enslaved more by dilemma. 

However, a man came and told Madam Beatrice that the young man who is in need of her help met a crowd of people in the restaurant but did not ask for help from any of them. So he advised Madam Beatrice that she should render the help to the young man because God want to use it to test her faith. But the man added that she should pray before giving the money to the young man which she agreed and gave the young man a sum of N15,000. Then the young man thanked Madam Beatrice for saving his life and left. But before he leaves, she also asked Lara to give him enough food that would last him throughout his journey back home.

The day that this incident happened whereby the stranger came to Madam Beatrice for help, was the same day Tony done with his program and made up his mind to return to his sister's place at Suleja. Because he is stranded, his journey back home became very difficult. So he made up his mind by trekking from the NDA headquarters which is about 70 kilometers to Suleja road.

A pegeot car passed him while trekking on the road but stopped and reversed back to him. The driver asked Tony of where he was going and he replied by saying that he is going to Suleja but stranded, so he decided to trek down to the Suleja road and enter a car to his sister's restaurant who is by Kaduna road. The driver buried his voice in silence for about 15minutes before he responded to Tony. Then he asked for the description of the woman, so Tony described that she is dark in complexion, elegantly tall and moderate in size. The driver smiled because he had already knew that Tony was referring to Madam Beatrice, his best and regular customer.

At exactly 4:p.m. that day, Madam Beatrice was done with her sales for the day but saw a pegeot car parked outside her restaurant. She asked Lara to inform the customer that they have closed for the day. But she surprised to see that a man was struggling to come out of the car because he is tall, and he happened to be her brother, Tony. So they both ran to each other and embraced. She thanked the driver who brought him and he left.

After they settled down in the shop and provided food for Tony, he narrates how God used the unknown driver to help him when he was stranded at Kaduna. Immediately he rounded off with the  story, Madam Beatrice's mind returns back to the incident that happened in the afternoon and it's about how she helped the unknown young man that came to her for help..... because the incident happened in the same day when Tony was helped by another man on Kaduna road.

Madam Beatrice narrated the story to Tony , but he laughs and said: "What a paradox.......

Because you helped  that man, and in return  God used another man to help me too while stranded in the strange land. God used that to test your faith and you passed the test.......if not I would have trekked from Kaduna to Suleja without food because I had no money on me to even buy satchet water that would have sustained me a little, and it's about 150 kilometers journey. Life is indeed, a reciprocity of kindness. Then they both went home smiling and singing songs of praises.