Min Qalb Part One Complete Hausa Novel

As she turned away, two grown young men who had been hiding came out. They covered his mouth, lifted him up, and carried him off. When they reached their car, they quickly opened it, threw him inside, and sped away, leaving the place.

By the time she got to their usual spot, Alhajiya took their water container, filled it, and hurried back. But when she arrived, she didn’t see Usman. She quickly set the container down and began searching everywhere, calling his name.

Until almost dawn she couldn’t find him. She came back and sat quietly, staring at their bag. For the first time in her life, after losing her grandmother, she had found someone she truly wanted to stay with her—to wander around together looking for food. She had grown very used to Usman. Even if they didn’t find anything to eat, they still had each other; their comfort was simply in keeping one another company and easing each other’s loneliness.

When morning came and the sun rose, she still didn’t find him. She went around all the places they usually begged together, but he was nowhere to be found. Hungry, tired, thirsty, and under the hot sun, she returned exhausted at night and lay down after drinking from their water container.

While asleep, she felt movement and noise around her. When she opened her eyes, she saw two men beside her. They dropped Usman there and quickly left.

She jumped up, saying, “Usman, where did you go?”

He didn’t move—he wasn’t even breathing visibly. She turned his face and tapped him, calling his name again and again, but he still didn’t move.

Thinking he was only asleep, she adjusted his position and lay down beside him, feeling relieved for the first time in her life because Usman had returned.

When daylight came, she got up. Usman still hadn’t woken. She went back to him and called his name. He opened his eyes and looked at her. His eyes were red, and his body was trembling violently. She became frightened seeing him like that and quickly asked:

“Usman, what’s wrong? Are you still hungry? Is your stomach still hurting?”

Slowly, with tears and a hoarse voice, he pointed to his backside and said,

“They did something to me there. It hurts so much.”

Then he burst into painful sobs, holding the spot from the intense suffering he’d endured where they had pinned him down and abused him.

Seeing the way he cried in agony made her cry too, especially when she saw blood on his trousers. She knew they had badly hurt him, even though she didn’t fully understand what they had done.

Soon a strong fever took over Usman. His body began to shiver uncontrollably. She panicked, held him, and they made their way into the market to beg.

As they entered the market, she heard a medicine seller with a loudspeaker saying,

“If your backside hurts and you can’t stand up after relieving yourself, come—we have your treatment.

If you feel like urinating but it doesn’t come out well, come—we have your medicine.”

Quickly she pulled Usman, who was walking bent over from pain and fever, toward the man. She pointed at the medicine and said,

“Give this one to Usman—his backside hurts.”

The medicine seller looked at her, then at Usman carefully. Chewing kola nut with his reddish teeth, he grinned and said,

“Bring money,” stretching out his hand.

They stared at his hand. She looked up at him and shook her head, showing she didn’t have any.

He laughed, then brought out a thousand-naira note and opened it to show them, saying,

“Go and get this or this amount and bring it. I’ll give you the medicine. Once he takes it, he’ll be fine.”

She looked at him, then at the money again. Finally, they turned away sadly and left the market.

For two days, Usman showed no improvement, and her own strength began to fail. So at night, hiding from people’s eyes, she sneaked into Alhajiya’s shop and stole the amount of money the medicine seller had shown them—three notes.

When she came out, they hid. By morning they went back to the market looking for the medicine seller. Soon they found him. She gave him all the money. Out of wickedness, he took all three thousand and only gave them two hundred naira in change along with the medicine. He also told them to buy pap (koko) and drink it with the medicine.

She used the two hundred to buy pap. Usman took the medicine and drank some. She finished the rest of the pap herself, her body trembling.

Usman was also very hungry, and with the pap and medicine they gained a bit of strength. Soon after, they went back into the market to beg.

That night she again had no choice but to steal money. By morning they bought pap again, and this time even bean cakes to eat with it.

Little by little, the theft began to show. At first Alhajiya didn’t realize money was being stolen, but eventually she noticed and began watching carefully to catch the thief.

Soon she caught them. She ordered that they be beaten severely until they nearly lost consciousness, and then she had them chased out of the entire neighborhood.

They ended up in a new area even more chaotic than the one they left. This place was full of thugs and addicts—people everywhere taking drugs. Soon they found an old abandoned school where they slept. The only advantage was that the school had a night guard, so they felt somewhat safer sleeping there.

On the sixth night in the new place, as they were returning late, two men blocked their path.

They quickly held each other’s hands and began stepping backward, because by now they had become more cautious.

One of the men grabbed Amatu forcefully and said,

“Hey, leave her—step away from here.”

The other tightened his grip on her and shook his head in refusal. The first man slapped him hard, making him cry out. They covered his mouth and restrained him, while the other dragged Amatu away and forced her down onto the ground.