26/09/2026
There is this Strange Woman who came to where Elizabeth was selling roasted corn with her mom, and told her something strange!: “I want your daughter to carry my baby for me, I’ll give her 30 Million Naira!”.
EPISODE 2
As Elizabeth reached home, They dropped the buckets and empty cans.
“…30 Million Naira.
That single amount of money could change their miserable lives forever. It could buy a house, pay all debts, and put food on their table for years. But carrying a baby for a total stranger? What would people in their church say? What would the neighbors say when they saw her tummy growing big without a husband? She touched the small business card inside her pocket, feeling her heart beating heavily against her chest.
The next Morning, the landlord came. “Please before next Week, carry your miserable selves and leave my house, What is it? Are you the only Tenants in this house, why can’t you pày your house rent, it’s due since 3 months”
He did not even knock politely. He banged his heavy fists on their shaky wooden door, making both Elizabeth and her mother jump up in fear. Neighbors opened their doors to watch the shame and embarrassment.
“Big Zanny, You should know we don’t like owing people, one thing we hatè is debts, even though market is not that big, we do try to pay on time”
Elizabeth's mother begged him, holding her chest where the pain usually started whenever she was stressed.
“Please please please!!!, that’s not what I’m here for today, next week, I don’t know how you will do it”
Big Zanny shouted, pointing his dirty finger at them. "I am not running a fatherless charity house here! If I don't get my complete rent money by next week Monday, I will throw all your pots, beds, and clothes outside into the rain!"
When the landlord left angrily, Elizabeth had to hold her mother so she would not collapse on the floor.
Dad is dead. Only her younger brother and Elizabeth is faced with that corn business, and every week most times, she offers Catering services.
Her younger brother was sitting at home, crying every night because his friends were writing final school exams while he was sent away for unpaid fees.
She is even on Medications and all. Her Relatives are all on their own, facing their lives.
Whenever Elizabeth called her uncles or aunts to beg for a small loan to buy her mother's chest medicine, they would drop the call or tell her that things were tough for everybody. Nobody cared if they lived or died.
Elizabeth wiped the tears from her eyes and held her mother's trembling hands.
"Mummy, don't cry," Elizabeth whispered. "I will go out again today. I will look for work until I find something."
Elizabeth swore within herself that she’ll go out again to search for a job, continue her Job haunting.
She ironed her best white shirt and black skirt. From morning until late afternoon under the hot sun, Elizabeth walked from one street to another. She entered banks, private schools, supermarkets, and big company offices, begging to speak with managers.
"Do you have five years experience?" one manager asked her rudely without even looking at her face.
"Sir, I graduated with a Second Class Upper in Business Administration," Elizabeth explained patiently, holding out her certificate”
"We don't need certificates here, girl, we need experience," he replied, pushing her papers away.
Elizabeth pulled her papers back in anger and walked out in tears. Her feet were swollen and bleeding inside her cheap shoes.
By 5 PM, tired, hungry, and completely broken, she slowly walked back to their compound.
As she came back home , her mom gave her that thunderous Word, “At this point, Eliza, you have to do it!!, you’ll just hear her out, it’s nothing serious, you’ll just carry the baby, and we’ll be living in her house too, who knows”
Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks at the doorway. Her breath seized in her throat. She looked at her mother, who was holding the dirty white business card that she had secretly pulled out of Elizabeth's bag while she was out searching for a job.
“Excuse me mummy? It’s a prank right? Don’t tell me you really mean this?”
Her mother took two steps forward, her voice shaking with desperate emotion.
“Eliza, which other prank am I talking about? The landlady shouting at our door, is it a prank or what? The light bills and our younger brother education, is it a prank or what? It’s not a difficult work, who doesn’t get pregnant? That’s one of the reason you’re a Woman, if there’s any work attached to it, we won’t accept, but if it’s just carrying Prègnancy, then, it’s not a big deal”
Elizabeth opened her mouth in shock, “You’re unbelievable!”
