“What?”
“I need to
go and see Chidinma in the afternoon.”
“Is that
why you are shouting as if something just happened to you?”
“I just
remembered that today is Monday and I am supposed to collect something from
her.”
Cynthia
brought out her phone from her thigh pocket and dialed Chidinma’s number.
“I will
leave without you then.”
“When I am
through, I will call you to know where you are.”
“Ok.”
Chidinma’s
number was not reachable. After several tries, she dropped the phone.
“Just send
her an SMS,” Mabel advised. “She will get it whenever her phone becomes
reachable.”
Cynthia
sent the SMS. Few minutes later Cynthia’s phone rang. It was Chidinma. They
talked for a while and she hung up.
“She said
she will be around by 11/12,” Cynthia said.
“Ok.”
They ate breakfast and Mabel went
to freshen up. When she was done, she lay on the couch in the parlour, watching
a movie on her phone. From time to time, her phone would ring. Mostly, it was
her colleagues from the office. She answered the ones she wanted and ignored
the ones she didn’t want to. Even the ones she answered, she did not speak
much. She just reassured them that she was doing fine.
“Have you
spoken with Glory, Miriam and Oge since yesterday?” Cynthia asked her.
“We have
been chatting. It’s better for me that way.”
“Ok.”
Cynthia
went outside the house to check whether there was any ripe mango.
“You have
not changed,” Mabel teased her.
“As if you
will not eat if I get,” Cynthia answered, laughed and left.
After a while, Cynthia came back.
“All these
children in this yard,” she lamented. “they will not let the mango rest.”
“You didn’t
climb the tree?” Mabel asked laughing.
“You are
funny. It is only the long stick that I used.”
“You should
have asked Chuka.”
“Which
Chuka?”
“Your new…”
“There is
nothing going on o.”
They
laughed.
“Are you
serious?” Mabel asked. “Because I saw the way you were looking at him
yesterday.”
“He is not
my type joor.”
“But I think
he likes you.”
“He has
been applying o but am not interested. I only use him whenever I need help,
just like yesterday.”
“Hope you
don’t ask for help in the other one?”
They
laughed.
“You are
not serious,” Cynthia said and sat opposite Mabel. “You are not going yet?”
“To where?”
“I thought
you said you were going to your house, then to see Mrs Biodun?”
“Yes I will.
I want to get to the house when all the neighbours must have left for work or
school.”
“It’s true.
So they will not be asking stupid questions.
“And you
know I am supposed to go to work today. So if they see me in the house, they
will start sniffing.”
“Ok.”
Mabel spent another 2 hours in the
house. She finished watching the movie as she chatted with Cynthia. When it was
11:20, Cynthia called her attention.
“Remember I
have to meet Chidinma by 12pm.”
“It is
true.”
Mabel
got ready to leave.
“You will
not wait so we will leave together?” Cynthia asked her.
“We are not
going in the same direction na.”
“Ok.”
“Don’t
forget to call me when you are ready to come,”
“Okay. I
will”
She
left, boarded a taxi and left for her house. Cynthia got dressed too and left
the house to go and see Chidinma.
When
Mabel got to her compound, everywhere was quiet. There was no one in the
compound. Just distant neighbours she saw on the road, who she just waved at and
walked in.
“Thank
God,” she said as she looked around and walked briskly to the staircase.
As she got to the first floor,
on her way to the second floor where she lives, a door opened.
(...to be continued...)
-Chinedu Isaac
No comments:
Post a Comment