FED UP!

(…continued…)

Their mother got up and left. At the door, she turned and told Mabel, “We have not canceled the pregnancy test tomorrow, even though I think it is the incident with Segun and the others that triggered the stress and make you feel the way you are feeling now.”

  “Ok mum.”

  “Do you need me to help you?” Cynthia asked her mother.

  “No. Keep your sister company.”

  “I will be fine,” Mabel said. “Let me just try and sleep.”

  “Ok,” Cynthia said and stood up.

  “Don’t bother yourself,” their mother insisted. “I can handle it myself. Moreover, you are still on drugs and you don’t need to strain your back.”

  “Ok.”

                Cynthia sat back down. Their mother went into the kitchen.

  “Has the dizziness reduced?” She asked Mabel.

  “Yes it has.”

  “Thank God.”

  “What about you? Is the back pain still there?”

  “No. But it comes up whenever I lift something heavy or bend forward for a long time.”

  “Stop doing them till you are very fine na.”

  “No matter how I try not to, I still have to do them one way or the other. We don’t have a house help na.”

  “It’s true.”

Mabel fingered Cynthia’s hair.

  “You washed your hair well.”

  “Yes. Chidinma helped me do it.”

  “So the ajibo-forming girl can even wash hair like this?”

  “Don’t mind that girl. There is nothing she doesn’t know how to do. Just that her desire to belong is preventing her from using her gifts.”

  “Even salons can’t do it as good as this.”

  “She would have made my hair also, just that I was tired and it was getting late.”

  “Hmm. She has to start using her gifts o.”

  “She said she doesn’t want to suffer.”

  “Hmm.”

  “She said she might come again tomorrow and then do something temporary on my hair so I will manage until I am strong enough to go to the salon and sit for a long time.”

  “That’s nice of her.”

  “I just hope some guy will not call her and offer to take her out tomorrow.”

  “Well, if she doesn’t come to do it, then I will.”

  “Ok thanks.”

  “You are welcome. Ehe, check whether mummy needs help with anything.”

  “Ok.”

                Cynthia got up and went into the kitchen. She soon came back.

  “She doesn’t need help with anything,” she said.

  “Ok.”    

After a short while of silence, Cynthia asked Mabel, “What do you plan to do about this whole thing?”

  “Which one?”

  “The dizziness, the heartbreak, and so on.”

  “I will start with seeing Dr Obinna tomorrow.”

  “Ok. I just pray it is not what we are thinking.”

  “I am really scared.”

  “I know. We don’t need Mabel junior now.”

  “Especially with the same pattern as mummy.”

  “She will be heartbroken if it is what we are afraid it is.”

  “Very very.”

  “Whatever be the case, you will overcome it. You are stronger than all of us put together.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You will still see Pastor’s wife tomorrow right?”

  “Yes. That reminds me, I need to call her to confirm. Help me get my phone.”

  “Don’t you think it is late to call her now?” Cynthia asked as she went to get the phone from Mabel’s bag on the center table.

  “Ok. I will just send her an SMS.”

                Cynthia handed over the phone to Mabel and sat back down. Mabel checked her phone log and saw some missed calls from Coker and from an unsaved number. There was also an SMS from Coker. He wanted to know how she was doing. She replied the SMS and went on to send her pastor’s wife an SMS. Then she put on her data.

  “Maybe I need to google the symptoms of pregnancy,” Mabel whispered to Cynthia, looking at the kitchen door if her mother was standing there unawares.

  “You think it is a good idea?” Cynthia answered. “It will just make you edgy”

  “Abi.”

  “Why not leave it till you see Dr Obinna tomorrow and let the lab confirm for you.”

  “Ok.”

  “What you can do is find out ‘what you can do when your boyfriend breaks your heart.”

  “On the internet?” Mabel asked laughing.

  “Yes na. There is nothing you will not see in the internet o.”

  “Hmm. But they are just the opinions of people, not to be trusted.”

  “Exactly. But it will give you an idea, especially when you see how other people handled their own issues.”

  “I am not checking that one biko.”

                Mabel’s phone rang. It was her pastor’s wife. She answered and they exchanged pleasantries, asking after each other’s family. Her pastor’s wife confirmed the appointment with her the following day by 3 pm. She tried to get information from Mabel on what the matter was but Mabel insisted on telling her when they meet. When they were done talking, she hung up.

  “I didn’t know she would still be available on phone by this time,” Cynthia said.

  “It is not late yet na. By the way, they are shepherds of flocks like us. So they need to always be available for us.”

  “She is nice. She always calls back.”

  “Yes. Maybe because of how close we are.”

  “And how useful we are in the church.”

  “Yes.”

Cynthia yawned and asked, “What did you come back with? I am hungry.”

  “Check the nylon bag. I think there is juice there.”

Cynthia rummaged through the nylon bag containing the things Coker had bought for Mabel.

  “Did you get these things yourself?” Cynthia asked her.

  “Why do you ask?” Mabel replied.

  “This is not your type of juice, so I don’t think you bought it by yourself.”

  “Are you interested or not?”

  “Hmm. Mabel Mabel.”

  “What?”

  “Is this peace offering from Segun?”

  “God forbid. You think I will accept anything from him?”

  “Are you seeing someone else?”

  “Cynthia!”

  “Sorry. Something tells me you did not buy them yourself.”

                As Cynthia’s hands went through the nylon bag, she felt a paper. She reached in and brought it out. It was a complimentary-card-sized paper with a write-up.

  “Which one is this?” she said.

  “What’s that?” Mabel asked, looking up from her phone.

  “A note.”

  “What does it say?”

  “It says, ‘I am really worried about you. Please take good care of yourself. I care.’”

 

(…to be continued…)

-©2015. Chinedu Isaac