“What is it for?” she asked.
The old woman stepped closer, lowered her voice like she was handing Joy a secret that could change a life.
“If you need anything in this life, touch this pot three times… and whatever you need—anything at all—will be inside.”
Joy froze.
Her heart began to beat faster, not from fear alone, but from the sense that the world had just tilted.
“Mama… how is that possible?”
The old woman sighed, and suddenly she didn’t look weak at all. Her eyes were calm, serious, strong.
“My daughter, don’t ever tell anybody. If you talk, people will destroy you and they will destroy the gift. Keep helping people. Do good. Goodness is not for noise. It is for destiny.”
Joy nodded slowly, stunned.
“Yes, mama.”
She held the pot carefully to her chest and stepped toward the door, her mind spinning.
Then the old woman’s voice stopped her like a hook.
“My daughter… you can’t walk back home.”
Joy turned.
“Why, mama?”
“It’s dangerous. Wild animals are everywhere. Close your eyes.”
Joy hesitated. Everything about this morning had already gone beyond normal. But she obeyed. She held the pot tight and closed her eyes.
A soft breeze passed her face. Her stomach turned like when you stand up too fast.
Then the old woman spoke again.
“Open your eyes.”
Joy opened them and her body froze.
She was standing in her own small room. Her aunt’s house. Her mattress. Her window. The familiar smell of soap and dust. Normal life.
The white pot was still in her hands.
Joy sat down slowly because her knees could no longer carry her. Her heart hammered like a drum.
“No… no…” she whispered. “How?”
Before she could even breathe properly, the door slammed open.
Her aunt rushed in like a storm.
“Joy! So you did not go to school!”
Joy blinked, still half lost between worlds.
“Auntie—”
But her aunt didn’t let her speak.
“What are you doing in this house this morning? Are you now seeing men? Is that why you’re standing here confused like somebody that just came from somewhere?”
Joy’s throat tightened.
“No, auntie, I—”
“Shut up!” her aunt hissed. “Thank God I have not paid your school fees yet. Thank God! This useless girl wants to disgrace me!”
Joy tried to explain, voice shaking.
“I only helped an old woman and I got late.”
Her aunt laughed wickedly.
“Old woman. See story. Tomorrow it will be I helped a young man. Next tomorrow it will be I fell into someone’s bed.”
Joy stood there, tears burning, while insults poured over her like boiling water.
And inside her chest, fear and anger mixed like smoke.
The next morning, Joy walked to school again beside Tracy, but something had shifted. Tracy’s eyes were sharp with resentment.
“So you followed that witch old woman yesterday,” Tracy said. “You’re lucky she didn’t eat you.”
Joy kept her voice calm.
“There’s nothing wrong in helping people.”
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