I Should Have Listened
It's hard for me to take, but I had no choice other than to believe instead of having a serious argument with my husband.
I'm someone who is involved in petty trading. I buy my goods in bulk and from different customers. Not only that, but I'm the type who has a fear of losing her money, so it's always hard for me to trust someone, especially when it comes to money. My husband just has the luck of trusting people and would not and has not for once failed him. Although they haven't failed me because I have not tried them in my life,
A customer who has been consistent in buying goods from me and even on credit sometimes happens to have a brother in a town very close to the border where goods are sold at a lower price than here. He had told me before, but I don't have any interest in giving my money to anyone, not even talking about the aspect of taking risks. I told him I was not ready to buy any items. I also told him that I'm comfortable buying from here. Likewise, I called my husband just to discuss the issue with him, but in the end, what he told me was not what I was expecting. He said I should send it to him because things over there are always cheaper than where I am.
I could not wait to finish the call; instead, I aborted it immediately. I was not ready to give my money as a giveaway to someone I barely knew.
He said I should try it and send the money. I resisted. He said all would be well, but I was not ready to listen to any of those words. I asked him a question: “What if the money gets lost in the air? Will you be able to pay me back?”
He said I should just send him the money. “Nothing will happen to your money. I'm confident of it." He was so bold to have related the issue, just as if he had known the person from home.
After some serious efforts put in by my husband just for me to send the payment to the boy, I decided to ask him to send his account number. The way he answered made me nervous. I was not in good agreement with the way he answered. I had to call my husband again and tell him how the boy answered me in a way that seemed suspicious. He said I shouldn't worry; “send the money to him.” Just as if he has known this boy before now.
I sent the money to him, and finally, he traveled. On getting to the town, he called me and said he was in the market, where he would get the items. This gave me a little confidence.
I kept calling him just for updates; although my calls would sound annoying, I never mind.
On the third day that he was supposed to come back, I tried to call, but his number was switched off. I kept trying but switched off. This got me angry. I called my husband in anger and told him what I was facing. I even asked him to send my money to me, but his reply got me even more angry. “I never agreed to pay you the money.” What! I was boiling inside of me without patience. When it was an hour later, my husband called just to confirm if his number had started going through, but I answered “no.” He said, “Don't worry, he will come home.” “And if he did not," I was expecting a word from my husband, and he finally said, “I will pay you the money." My mind calmed down, but it was not yet balanced.
It was not until ten minutes after I dropped the call that the boy called me to say that he was at the park. “I'm looking for a rickshaw that can convey your goods to your shop in a few minutes from now. My mind was just like a quenched fire that was burning a full house.
Within a few minutes, I saw a rickshaw approaching and immediately adjusted, as I was sure it was him coming. The rickshaw passed by my shop without dropping and was even empty.
My mind rose again. “I hope this boy is not lying to me that he has got to that park,” I said to myself.
The second rickshaw I saw was also empty. The third one passed by, and the fourth passed by without seeing a sign of him. I lost myself in thoughts again until a rickshaw got to my shop with my loads of goods. This was when my mind was stable.
We offloaded, and I got him something tangible just for him to be happy. The difference in price was indeed clear and high. After that day, he was the one helping me buy goods from that town close to the border.
hi @abigail04 thank you for sharing a story from your life in The Ink Well. How fortuitous that you managed to find a cheaper source of stock. That must have been quite the internal struggle to overcome your lack of trust in someone new. I happen to think you were wise in being cautious, as sadly not everyone in the world has good intentions.
A couple of pointers:
Your writing would flow better if you used a grammar checker like Google docs to check and edit your grammar and punctuation before you publish. Some sentences are confusing due to the lack of punctuation. eg:
The above would flow better and remove ambiguity as to whether the word sometimes belongs with buying credit. or the brother. In the latter situation it would make no sense, but this reading is therefore jarring for the reader.
It should be rewritten like this:
A customer who has been consistent in buying goods from me, and even on credit sometimes, happens to have a brother in a town very close to the border where goods are sold at a lower price than here.
Then:
You tell us that the way he answered made you nervous, but as a storyteller, you would do better to show us through dialogue and the senses. What did he say? How did he sound? How did it make you feel? What sensations did you have in your body? Check out this resource from The Ink Well on Show don't tell if you want to look at improving this aspect of your writing.
Thank goodness he was not a scum. I understand how difficult it is to trust a stranger with your money. But they say sometimes you have to take risk to succeed in life.