“Up NEPA,” Mabel said,
excitedly.
“Kai, wasted effort,” Chuka
lamented.
“At least it saved you the
stress of looking for what to do and even going to buy fuel if there is none.”
“I would have done it gladly,
as long as Cynthia would be happy.”
“Eiyaa. Thanks for trying.”
“No problem. I will still see
her tomorrow.”
“Sure you will.”
“Please tell Cynthia I tried to put the gen
for her o.”
“I will.”
Mabel briskly
went back inside to plug her phone back while Chuka covered the generator and went
back home. She met her mother with her phone and charger, trying to plug it.
“Mummy what are you doing?”
she asked.
“All these new age phones,”
her mother said. “How do you plug it? Where is the mouth?”
“Don’t worry,” Mabel said,
laughing. “Let me do it myself.”
“Oo. Children and big big
phones.”
“It is called civilization.
You are still ancient.”
“I agree. As long as I can
make calls and send SMS with the one I have, I am okay.”
“You need to be taking clear
pictures and browsing.”
“Not for me.”
“You need to upgrade o. Some
of your mates are doing Skype sef.”
“Which one is sky? They can
enter aeroplane all they want. I entered it in those days.”
“Mummy you will not cease to
amaze me,” Mabel laughed. “Skype has nothing to do with flying airplane. It is
an online application.”
“English. There is nothing you
will explain now that I will understand. So just forget about it.”
“Ok.”
Mabel plugged her
phone, confirmed it was charging and sat down.
“There is no reasonable film
for us to watch now,” she said.
“There is this new season film
everybody is watching now. I even forgot to buy it.”
“I will bring movies from my
house tomorrow.”
“Home videos?”
“Yes. Some good home videos, not
all these rubbish people are acting. Then one season film I have not yet
finished.”
“Check the local stations,
whether anyone is doing something interesting.”
Mabel flipped
through the channels. She did not see any program she liked so she just left it
at a station that was doing a soap opera.
“Did you lock the door?” her
mother asked her.
“I forgot. I will do that now.”
“Don’t worry.”
Her mother got
up, locked the door and went towards the room.
“Are you going to sleep?”
Mabel asked her.
“No. Let me check on Cynthia.”
“We have not finished
discussing o.”
“About?”
“About finding a solution to
the issue at hand.”
“Ok. I am coming out
immediately.”
She checked
Cynthia who was still fast asleep, killed mosquito on her body as softly as she
could so as not to wake her up, and then went to the kitchen. She dished food
and went back to the sitting room with her plate of food.
“You have not yet eaten?”
Mabel asked her.
“No.”
“So you are still doing this
thing you always do.”
“What is it?”
“You don’t eat until we eat.”
“Yes o. You girls come first o.”
“When you checked Cynthia, was
she having fever?”
“I think so.”
“Let me check.”
Mabel went into
the room and touched Cynthia and came back.
“She is not having fever,” she
told her mum. “She can’t have fever after taking the drugs.”
“But her body was a bit hot.”
“She is sweating. I just
opened the window a bit.”
“Ok.”
Mabel checked her
phone. It had charged enough to be put on. She put it on. As soon as the phone
finished booting, she received several messages. Most of them were unsolicited bulk
messages.
“All these messages from these
four and five digit numbers sef,” she said. “Who told them I am interested in
what they are saying?”
“My dear I thought it was just
me that receive those messages o,” her mother said.
“It’s not only you.”
“How did they get our
numbers?”
“I wonder.”
She deleted them
and then read the ones from people she knew. She stood for a while replying the
messages.
“You will not allow the phone
to charge,” her mother said.
“Let me reply the messages now
I have the time,” Mabel replied.
“Then sit down and do it.”
“I am almost done.”
When Mabel was through,
she sat beside her mother.
“You have not yet finished
your food?”
“What am I rushing it for? Is
there any competition going on?”
They laughed.
“So, about what we were
discussing,” Her mother said when she was through eating.
“Hold on let me drop the plate
in the kitchen.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just
help me get some fruits from the fridge.”
Mabel went to the
fridge and brought out two peeled oranges. She also poured drinking water in a
cup for her.
“Let me get knife for you in
the kitchen,” she said.
“What happened to my teeth?”
her mother asked. “Don’t worry. I will use my teeth.”
“Mummy, you have refused to
upgrade o. you are still doing local things.”
Her mother cut
the orange with her teeth and ate the flesh. When she was done, she dropped the
waste in the plate and drank the cup of water Mabel had poured for her.
“Back to what we were
discussing,” she told Mabel.
They suddenly
heard noise in the room.
(...to be continued...)
-Chinedu Isaac
No comments:
Post a Comment