29 October 2025 @marinnewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2905: One More Recommendation.

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This is my post on #freewriters2905 #dailyprompt one more recommendation hosted by @marinnewest's. Ekaette’s fingers trembled over the cracked screen, the email from the scholarship committee glowing like a verdict. “One more recommendation,” it demanded. She had begged Professor Okon twice already; his last refusal still stung—“I’ve done enough for you, child.” The deadline loomed in six hours. She slipped into the night market, the air thick with pepper soup steam and diesel. Auntie Bassey, who sold ankara by the bolt, owed her nothing, yet Ekaette had once stayed past midnight helping her count change when arthritis crippled the woman’s hands. Now, Ekaette knelt beside the stall, voice low. “Auntie, one letter. Just say I’m stubborn enough to finish what I start.” Bassey squinted, then laughed, a sound like cracking palm nuts. “Stubborn? Girl, you’re a pest.” But she pulled out her phone, thumbs flying over a voice note that became a PDF by dawn. Ekaette uploaded it at 5:57 a.m., the file named “Bassey_Rec.pdf.” The confirmation ping arrived as the sun bled orange over the lagoon. She didn’t cry; she exhaled, the weight of Calabar’s red dust lifting from her shoulders. The scholarship wasn’t just escape—it was proof that favors, like seeds, sometimes grow in the least likely soil.