FED UP!

(…continued…)

                Ejike looked at Mabel who shrugged.

  “As long as your mum is around…”

  “Mabel is that you?” their mother asked from inside the house.

  “Yes mum,” Mabel replied. “Good evening.”

  “Ehe,” her mother said looking out through the window.

                Ejike greeted her.

  “How are you my dear?” she asked him.

  “Fine ma.”

  “Mummy meet Ejike, my former course mate,” Mabel introduced him.

  “Why is he standing outside?” she asked. “Bring him in.”

  “I won’t be long ma,” Ejike said. “I should be on my way.”

  “Is that how people of your generation now visit?”

                Ejike looked at Mabel and she shrugged again.

  “Come in if she said you should,” she said.

                Mabel led the way and Ejike followed her into the sitting room.

  “I am coming,” Cynthia said to Chuka and also went inside.

  “Cynthia please help me keep those things well,” Mabel told her, pointing at the nylon bag Ejike was carrying.

                Cynthia took them from him and went into the room.

  “She likes me,” Ejike whispered to Mabel when Cynthia was out of earshot.

  “Don’t count on that. She is naturally a nice and easy going person.”

  “Even your mother too likes me.”

  “Don’t conclude on that also. She is in the kitchen now. Who knows whether it is hot water she is coming out with?”

                Ejike moved towards the door.

  “I am kidding,” Mabel said, laughing.

  “Better be kidding o.”

  “Please sit.”

                He sat and Mabel sat on a separate chair.

  “Sorry about the hotness here,” Mabel said when he brought out his handky and wiped his face.

  “It is ok.”

  “You are already used to cool places na, as a big boy.”

  “Am telling you. But I can manage let’s see if light will come.”

  “Our transformer is bad so don’t expect light anytime soon.”

  “You don’t have a generator?”

                Mabel did not answer. Her mother came out to the sitting room and asked what Ejike wanted to take.

  “Nothing ma.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes ma. I am ok.”

                She wanted to stay a little with them and ‘interrogate’ him but Mabel gave her a look and she went out to the backyard.

  “You just saved me from the interview of my life,” Ejike said to Mabel.

  “Oh you noticed,” Mabel asked, laughing.

  “Yes o. In these situations, I am as alert as a cockroach.”

                Cynthia came out to the parlour.

  “What were you doing inside since that time?” Mabel asked her, laughing.

  “I was keeping them well na.”

  “I counted everything o.”

                Cynthia laughed. She hung around for a while, not doing anything in particular.

  “Shebi Chuka is waiting for you outside?” Mabel asked her.

  “I know.”

                She opened the door and left.

  “Let me leave now,” Ejike said and got up.

  “You are going after her?” Mabel teased him.

  “Not at all. I have a very busy evening today. I abandoned my guys because I wanted to see how you are doing.”

  “That’s nice of you.”

  “Tell you mum that I am leaving.”

                Mabel shouted to her mother that Ejike was leaving. She shouted back her goodbye. Ejike went outside. Mabel went out with him. They saw Cynthia standing and looking around.

  “Where is Chuka?” Mabel asked.

  “I don’t know,” Cynthia replied. “I came out and saw the bench empty. Even the drink and biscuit are not there.”

  “You kept him waiting and he left angrily.”

  “I think so. Let me look around for him.”

                When Cynthia went to look for Chuka, Ejike opened his hands expecting a hug from Mabel.

  “Come to papa. Come give me a hug.”

  “Taa. You have had enough hug for one month.”

                They laughed and Ejike turned to leave.

  “I will call you any day I am free,” Ejike said.

  “Ok. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate.”

                While Ejike was leaving, he made sure to pass close to where Cynthia was standing. He made sure to hold her hand as she told him ‘goodbye’.  Cynthia chuckled and withdrew her hand. He looked back at Mabel who gave him a hand signal to leave. He waved at her, went to his car and drove off. Cynthia continued her search for Chuka while Mabel went back into the house. She met her mother standing in the centre of the parlour with arms akimbo.

  “Tell me about him,” her mother said to her.

  “Let me undress first na,” Mabel said and went towards the room, laughing.

  “Be telling me as you are undressing,” her mother said and followed her.

                As Mabel changed cloths, she told her mother about Ejike.

  “So there is nothing going on right?” her mother asked her when she was through.

  “Nothing from my end. He seems to like me though.”

  “I think he likes Cynthia instead.”

  “Who told you?”

  “I saw the way he was looking at her. I can recognize that look anyday.”

                While they were talking, Cynthia barged in on them looking like someone who had just seen a ghost.

  “What is it?” Mabel asked her.

 “Chuka….it is chukka oo.” Cynthia managed to say and gave them a hand signal to follow her. Then she rushed out.

                Mabel and her mother went after her. Cynthia ran outside and to Chuka’s apartment. She pushed the door and went in. They went in with her. When they got in, what they saw shocked them.

(…to be continued…)

-©2015.Chinedu Isaac