There is a tailor named Mr. Isaac whose shop is directly opposite my salon in Maryland, and for two years, we have had an silent war over a single plastic stool.
The stool belongs to the suya seller who sets up by 6:00 PM, but during the day, it just sits in the corridor between our shops. It’s a blue, armless thing with one cracked leg that creaks whenever a heavy person sits on it.
Last month, during that heavy rain on a Tuesday, my client’s hair was still in the steamer when NEPA took the light.
The generator house was locked because my apprentice, Blessing, had taken the key to buy sachet water and got stuck under a canopy down the street.
I went outside to look for her, furious, and saw Mr. Isaac sitting on the blue stool, calmly eating boiled corn and listening to radio on his phone.
"Mr. Isaac," I said, standing under the eaves so the rain wouldn't catch my wig. "Did you see Blessing?"
He didn't even look up from his corn. "She's at Mama Caro's place. The rain is heavy."
"And you let her leave with the generator key?"
"Am I her father?" he asked softly, taking a very slow bite of the corn.
I looked at him. He looked at the rain. The radio was playing an old Ebenezer Obey song through a raspy speaker.
I didn't say anything else.
I just reached down, grabbed the spare red stool from inside my own shop, carried it outside, and sat directly across from him in the narrow corridor.
We sat there in silence for twenty minutes, two feet apart, watching the gutters overflow onto the pavement.
When Blessing finally ran back, wet to her knees and holding the key, Mr. Isaac looked at her, then looked at me, and said, "Your generator oil is low. It was making a strange sound yesterday."
Then he picked up his blue stool and went inside his shop. He didn't even offer me any corn.