Orange headscarf, kohl-lined eyes, high‑up cheeks, bright white teeth. She walked into the frame as I was taking a photo out the car window.

Aunty Lydia was just pulling into our usual spot at the market car park, and the girl came and lowered her head pan by the car next to us: a great silver bowl full of Blankson’s Electricals carrier bags, with their unmistakable green-and-blue logo. The very sight of that logo made the Blankson boys pop up before my eyes like genies from a bottle.

“Are you waiting for angels to come and carry you out of the car?” snapped Aunty, blowing my vision away like a puff of smoke.

Gifty and I opened our doors in unison—mine at the front, hers at the back—and stepped out into the pungent dustiness of the car park. I wiped sweat off my forehead, unstuck my clammy skirt behind me, and slammed my door. Another hectic day in Makola Market.

As we unloaded Aunty’s goods from the trunk, the porter girl looked over at us, a bag dangling from either hand.

Gifty was staring, and I could see she was hoping Aunty would call the girl to carry our bags to the shop.

“It’s all your fault, Abena,” she hissed as we trotted, loaded down, behind Aunty, weaving our way between vegetable stalls. “Now there’s two of us, she thinks we can carry everything ourselves.”

I turned around and walked backward for a few paces to take discreet photos of the crowd. A human wave of colour and energy, rolling toward me. Market Vista. That would make a cool tag. The girl was back there somewhere, orange headscarf bobbing up and

down.

When we got to the shop, I flicked quickly through my photos. I’d been getting carried away and needed to free up space on my phone. I scrolled to the one of her. Porter Girl, I thought, or Kayayoo. But she wasn’t even fully in focus because I’d meant to get a shot of the car park when I took it. My finger hovered over the delete button. Something in her face held me back.

An intensity.

That was it, I thought, seeing it again a few hours later. It was uncanny how soon our paths had crossed again given the size of the market. Aunty had sent me to call a porter for a customer, and as soon as I stepped out of the shop, there she was.