FED UP!

(…continued…)

When they got to their backyard, their mother hurriedly came out holding Mabel’s phone.

  “Mama Risi called,” she said anxiously.

  “Did you pick?” Mabel asked her, dropping the fuel can. “Any problem?”

  “She kept calling so I picked. There is problem o.”            

  “What happened?”

  “When I told her you were not around, she said something about smoke in your flat.”

  “Is your flat on fire?” Cynthia asked as Mabel rushed and took the phone from her mother. She dialed Mama Risi. When it connected, her phone tripped off.

  “Ooohm battery empty,” she said.

  “Let’s start the gen so you can charge your phone.” Cynthia suggested.

  “There may not be time for that.” their mother said. “Come and use my phone.”

                Mabel and her mother rushed into the house while Cynthia hurriedly tried to start the generator. Mabel took her mother’s phone and dialed Mama Risi’s number. She was told that the number was not reachable. While she was trying again, Cynthia came in, holding her back.

  “What is wrong?” her mother asked her.

  “I poured the fuel and tried started the gen, then the back pain.”

  “Sorry my dear.” She rubbed Cynthia’s back.

  “Mhm.” She turned to Mabel, “Have you gotten mama Risi.”

  “Not yet o,” Mabel said hysterically. “I hope nothing is happening to my flat.”

  “Let it not be arson by Kemi o.”

  “I pray.”

                She kept trying the number but kept getting the same response.

  “Let us try and put on the generator so I can charge my phone and call her with it,” Mabel said.

  “Give me the phone let me keep trying,” her mother said.

                She handed over the phone to her mother and rushed outside to start the generator. As soon as she started it, her mother came out with the phone.

  “It has connected,” her mother said, coming towards her.

  “Mummy stay away from the generator,” she said as she rushed to her mother and took the phone. She spoke with Mama Risi but the line was not clear. Mama Risi kept saying “hello, hello.”

  “Go far from the generator,” her mother said.

                She cut the call, moved a distance away from the generator and redialed. It connected.

  “Mama Risi what are you saying about smoke in my house,” she asked hysterically.

                Mama Risi sounded surprised and asked when she said anything about smoke in her flat.

  “When you called earlier, my mother said you spoke about smoke in my flat as the reason why you were calling me.”

                Mama Risi was quiet for a while and then burst into laughter. She told Mabel that she had finished asking her mother after her and forgot to cut the call. Then she shouted to her daughter to bring down what she was frying so the smoke will not enter Mabel’s flat.

  “Kai. And I was thinking my flat is on fire.”

                Mama Risi reassured her that there was no problem.

  “Did you notice any more strange movement?”

                Mama Risi told her she did not. After talking for a while, she hung up.

  “What did she say?” her mother and Cynthia asked her when she hung up.

  “She said she was telling her daughter to bring down what she was frying so the smoke will not enter my flat.”

  “Mcheew.” Cynthia hissed. “Imagine the panic she caused.

  “It is my fault,” their mother said. “I did not hear well.”

  “It is ok,” Mabel said and went in. “At least nothing happened.”

                It began drizzling so their mother made sure the generator was properly covered from the rain. They went inside. Mabel and Cynthia plugged their phones to the charger while their mother went to the kitchen to prepare food.

  “Mummy let me make the eba,” Mabel said. “Don’t stress yourself.”

  “You have not had your bath so you are not needed in the kitchen.”

  “Ok o.”

  “Mummy when did you bath?” Cynthia asked.

  “When you went to get fuel.”

  “Ok oo.”

  “You think I am you that needs begging to bath in the night.”

  “Washing my hand is enough o.”

  “After the dust and the germs, you need a full body bath o.”

  “Ok ma.”

                Their mother prepared the food while Mabel and Cynthia took turns bathing. When Mabel was done bathing, she helped her mother dish the food.

  “Are you still feeling the dizziness? Her mother asked her.

  “Not as bad as yesterday.”

  “Ok. But you have drugs to take.”

  “Not much. I just need to eat well and rest well.”

  “Ok.”

                That night, they didn’t have any bad experience. They ate, said their prayers and slept peacefully. It was very early in the morning that Mabel’s phone began to ring. She was feeling very sleepy then so she silenced it without checking who was calling and went back to sleep.

  “Wake up,” she heard Cynthia tell her much later.

                She opened her eyes. It was broad daylight.

  “What is it?”

  “You have 21 missed calls.”

  “From who?”

 “I did not check.”

                Mabel got up, rubbed her eye and checked her phone. The call was from Segun’s phone. She also saw a message from the same line.

(…to be continued…)

-©2015.Chinedu Isaac