We live in a three bedroom flat in a compound where the boy's quarter is occupied by our neighbor, a single lady nurse who goes by the name Halima.
Miss Halima our neighbor is a fair, average height woman in her late thirties or so I thought.

The first time I met miss Halima,she seemed like a nice person to me which of no doubt is a good person but we all know that human beings will forever be flawed and miss Halima is not an exemption.

Miss Halima is a sanguine by temperament if I studied correctly.
She is noisy, emotional, friendly,funny and sometimes very annoying.
I remember one time  our parents travelled, leaving I and my sister alone at home.
We woke up early,every  morning to sweep the whole compound and even outside the compound because there were lots of dried leaves falling from the sycamore tree in the front yard.
One morning,we slept and slept until the sun was out,then Aunty Halima knocked our window, asking us to come out and sweep specifically calling my younger sister's name in a commanding tone.
My sister got upset,so she bluntly said that she wasn't going to sweep anything.
She knew clearly that Aunty Halima heard her.
To cut the story short,we heard the gist from our neighbors that Aunty Halima said"we are naughty."Hearing that from an outsider was not pleasant.
Imagine doing something everyday and because you didn't do that thing for one day,it's a big deal?why.
Sweeping is not a problem besides we were younger but why the shouting?
Young kids don't like it when they are forced or commanded to do something.
It makes them really angry and they won't do what you want besides if they do it,it might be grudgingly.

Aunty Halima is a senior nurse working with the Federal Government.
She is rich, and facially attractive.
I mean she is a senior lady.sometimes,I wonder why she's not married yet.
I mean, she's got it all so…..I can't phantom why.
Not to snoop but she became my business when she started stopping me from having a good night sleep.
I used to wonder why she told my mother that we don't sleep early because we spent the night watching movies from our laptop which was seized later by our Dad prior to her report.
What was her business anyways?

After our laptop was seized,we started to sleep early that's after exhausting the gist we had for the day.
One fateful night I heard our neighbor going out of her apartment to open the gate for someone at about what time?
Twelve mid night.I felt do annoyed because our gate is very loud…. like can't someone just unlock it in peace without it making a loud kwa kwa sound?
I was surprised that I was the only one awaken by the sound.
I stood by the window to see what was happening and,I saw a man coming into the compound.
He was tip toeing so I laughed.
It looked funny to see an elderly man tip toeing into someone's compound,an evidence to prove that what ever he was doing or going to do was wrong.

Forgive me for being a gossip but the man looked married.
He looked like someone in his mid forties, perhaps a  married Doctor according to my assumption.
They both walked into her apartment and I went back to sleep although my sleep was cut short when I heard loud moaning from,I guess we both know.
Are they for real right now?
I felt embarrassed and disgusted at the same time.
Who does that, in a compound with a family having children?hmm
I was pissed so, I put on my earphones to block them out, went round the house to make sure everyone was sleeping,then went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat.
This kept happening on and on until started counting different cars, different men coming into our compound most nights.
I didn't tell anyone about it besides it's non of my business.
Now I know why my dad dislikes her so much.
My Dad will not even let us touch her broom….ha ha ha funny man.
He would come into the house asking our mum"why would someone use a cream that will make his/her skin to look like crocodile? like the flesh wants to separate itself from the bone?"
He referred to our neighbor because her skin looked that way maybe due to reaction from a body lotion or cream.
Who cares?

Anytime I saw her,I wondered if…well,if….I don't even understand it at all.
Adults are as well complicated as teenagers.
One thing I like about our neighbor is that she cared.real or fake,I don't know but she showed concern for my family.I got to notice that she loves her family so much that she could spend a month salary to buy things just to send to her mum and siblings in the village.
Family remains family after all.

One more thing I learnt not to do,was to piss Aunty Halima because the day you do, your ear will not hear word in that compound.
She knows how to sing if you know what I mean.