But she did not stop.
She could not.
She lifted the crust to her mouth.
It was dry, sour—but it was food.
Her eyes watered as she chewed.
This was not the life she had dreamed of.
But this was the life she had.
She reached for a plastic spoon sticking out of another discarded pack. The food was oily and cold—fried rice mixed with pepper stew and bones.
With trembling hands, she scooped a spoonful and brought it to her lips.
Then another.
Then another.
Her mind drifted far from the present.
Back to years ago—cooking yam for her son in their tiny one-room house in Nsukka, watching him eat and laugh with oil smeared on his cheeks, bathing him, singing to him.
Until the accident.
Until the hospital.
Until they said he was gone.
Her tears mixed with the dirt on her face.
A young trader walked by and paused.
“Mama, why are you doing this? Where is your child?”
Sarah did not look up.
“I had one long ago.”
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