(...continued)
“What is
burning?” their mother asked and ran towards the kitchen.
“O my God!”
Cynthia exclaimed. “I forgot the leftover rice I was warming.”
“You were
thinking about Chuka,” Mabel teased her.
“Don’t mind
your sister.”
They
laughed. She brought the pot of rice down from the stove.
“This one
has condemned,” their mother said.
“I will
still scrape the top and eat,” Cynthia said.
“No you
will not,” her mother replied and took the pot to upturn the content into the
bin. Cynthia took the pot from her.
“It is not
good to waste food,” she said.
“So why did
you burn the food then?” Mabel said.
“Because I
was trying to put the generator on for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes na.”
“you are
funny.”
Their
mother opened the kitchen window very well so the smoke will diffuse.
“Cynthia
dish the food,” she said and left.
“Don’t
worry I will do it,” Mabel said
“I will
help you. Let’s do it together.”
After
eating, they spent the night gisting
and watching movies Cynthia had just borrowed.
“You see
why I don’t like watching these kind of movies,” Mabel said when one movie
finished. “You can tell how the movie will end.”
“I like them
like that,” her mother said.
“You should
be watching better things.”
“It is just
home video and news that we watch here,” Cynthia said. “We need cable TV.”
“Which
cable,” their mother said. “We need to be watching local news to know what is happening
around us.”
“That is
why you have a radio,” Cynthia said as she brought out the movie. “Should I put
another one?”
“It’s past
9,” her mum replied. “Try any local station let’s watch news.”
“Ooohm,”
Cynthia lamented and searched the local stations.
Mabel
switched on her phone and began to receive messages that were sent when it was
off. She read them and replied the ones she needed to. When she was done, she
surfed the internet. Cynthia watched the news with her mother and endured the
commentary her mother was running after each story.
“Mummy just
watch the news. All these things you are saying, they are not hearing you.”
“Leave me.
I must speak my mind.”
“You want
to change the world from inside your parlour. Take megaphone and go to government
house and shout your opinion.”
They
laughed.
“Yeye
girl.”
When
they were done with the news, Cynthia put another movie and they watched for a
while.
“It is
getting late,” Mabel said. “I should go to bed.”
“We will
pray together before we sleep.”
They
put off the TV and prayed together. Then Mabel went into the room she always
shared with Cynthia, their mother went into her room while Cynthia stayed back
in the parlour to finish the movie.
“Wash the
plates before you sleep,” Cynthia’s mother told her as she left the sitting
room.
“I have
done that.”
“Don’t fail
to put off the generator.”
“I will.”
“Ehe,” her mother came back into the parlour
“Oooohm.
What do you want to tell me to do now?”
“Nothing.
Never mind. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Mabel
thought she had overcome the pain of the heartbreak but that night, it surfaced
again.
(...to be continued..)
-Chinedu Isaac
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