FED UP!

(…continued…)

When there was nothing more to say, her mother said she wanted to go to bed.

  “Is it not too early?” Mabel asked her.

  “I am feeling sleepy. Moreover, I need to wake up very early in the morning.”

  “Ok. We have not yet prayed.”

  “I didn’t forget. Bring a bible let us do so now.”

  “Should I call Cynthia?”

  “No. Leave her to rest. We will put her in prayer.”

                Mabel got the bible, put off the television and sat down. They sang worship songs for a while, Mabel read scriptures her mother quoted and they prayed. Her mother concluded with a heartfelt plea to God to help her children weather the storm. When they were done, Mabel made sure all the doors were properly locked while her mother made sure the pots in the kitchen were properly covered and went to her room.

Mabel lay on the couch in the parlour and switched on her ‘data’ to surf the internet. She received many chat messages. She went through them and replied the ones she wanted to. Some of her chat friends wanted to engage her in a chat but she dismissed them and engaged only Margret and Glory. They wanted to get updated on what had happened since the last time they communicated. Mabel told them what they wanted to know, they jonsed and chatted for a while till Mabel began feeling sleepy. She bared them goodnight and switched off her data. She went into the room. Cynthia was fast asleep, spread out in the middle of the bed.

  “Ooohm, how do I push you now?” Mabel said a bit frustrated.

                She thought about nudging Cynthia but she didn’t want to wake her up. She touched her neck in order to know whether she was having fever, but she was not. She stood for a while wondering what to do to create more space for herself on the bed. She decided to manage and squeeze herself in the little space available on the bed.

  “Bad posture even while sleeping,” She lamented. “Mcheew.”

                Mabel lay like that for a while but she was not comfortable. Then she decided to lie on the floor. She got a small foam they rolled up and kept in the wardrobe. She spread it on the floor and lay. She soon fell asleep. She did not have any nightmare that night.

                In the middle of the night, Mabel was woken up by a tap on her shoulder. She opened her eye. It was Cynthia.

  “What are you doing on the ground?” Cynthia asked her.

  “Ehh?” Mabel asked, still feeling sleepy.

  “Why are you not on the bed?”

                Mabel rubbed her eye.

  “You were sleeping on all the bed.”

  “Is that why you left me alone on the bed? You would have woken me up na?”

  “I didn’t want to wake you and you will not be able to sleep again.”

  “Oh ok.”

  “I don’t want to do nurse work in the middle of the night.”

  “Thanks for your consideration. Now come up to the bed.”

  “It is almost morning. I am comfortable here.”

  “No. Come up. You will not disturb me.”

                Their mother came into the room.

  “What is the talk about?” she asked. “Any problem?”

                They were startled by here question as they didn’t hear her enter their room.

  “Mummy you are still awake?” Cynthia asked her.

  “How did you know that we were talking?”

  “When you become a mother you will know. Is there a problem?”

  “No problem. I woke up and saw Mabel lying on the floor.”

  “Why on the floor?”

  “Cynthia occupied the whole bed and I didn’t want to wake her.”

  “Cynthia, you should be the one lying on the floor to rest your back.”

  “Not today. From tomorrow.”

  “Ok. Let me go back to bed since there is no problem.”

  “Goodnight.”

                Their mother went back to her room. Mabel got up from the floor and rolled up the foam.

  “Leave the foam on the floor,” Cynthia told her. “Tomorrow you can put it back in the wardrobe.”

  “Let me make sure it will not trip someone in the morning.”

                Mabel shifted the rolled up foam to the wall and lay on the bed beside Cynthia.

  “Are you still feeling how you were feeling yesterday?” Mabel asked her.

  “Not really.”

                They slept off.

                In the morning, it was their mother who woke them up. She did not tap them. She just opened the window so the ray of the sun will enter the room and smart their eyes. Mabel was the direct person to be hit by the ray so she was the first to stir.

  “Good morning mum.”

  “Morning dear,” he mother replied. “You people don’t want to wake up?”

  “Is it not too early to wake up? Why are you already dressed for work?”

  “Do you know what time it is?”

  “What?”

  “Almost 9am.”

  “What!” Mabel shouted and sat up in the bed.

(…to be continued…)

-Chinedu Isaac