“Oh Noooo!”
Cynthia exclaimed and put her hands on her head.
“What?”
“I need to
go and see Chidinma today.”
“Is that
why you are shouting as if something just happened to you?”
“I just
remembered that today is Monday and I am supposed to collect something from
her.”
Cynthia
got her phone and dialed Chidinma’s number.
“I will leave
you and go then,” Mabel
“No
problem. When I am done seeing her, I will call you to know where you are.”
“Ok.”
Chidinma’s
number was not reachable. After several tries, Cynthia dropped the phone.
“Just send
her an SMS,” Mabel advised. “She will get it whenever her phone becomes
reachable.”
Cynthia
sent the SMS. Few minutes later Cynthia’s phone rang. It was Chidinma. She picked.
They talked for a while and she hung up.
“She said
she will be in her room by 12noon,” Cynthia said.
“Ok.”
They ate breakfast and Mabel went
to freshen up. When she was done, she lay on the couch in the parlour, watching
a movie on her phone. From time to time, her phone would ring. Mostly, it was
her colleagues from the office. She answered the ones she wanted and ignored
the ones she didn’t want to. Even the ones she answered, she did not speak
much. She just reassured them that she was fine.
“Have you
spoken with Glory, Miriam and Oge since yesterday?” Cynthia asked her.
“We have
been chatting. It’s better for me that way.”
“Ok. Let me
check whether I will see any ripe mango outside,” Cynthia said and went towards
the door.
“You have
not changed,” Mabel teased her.
“As if you
will not eat if I get,” Cynthia answered, laughed and left.
After a while, she came back.
“All these
children in this yard sef,” she lamented. “They will not let the mango rest.”
“No more
mango on the tree?”
“They have
plucked all the ripe ones close to the ground. The remaining ones are on top of
the tree.”
“You didn’t
climb the tree?” Mabel asked laughing.
“You are
funny. So I will fall down because of mango. I used a stick I saw there but it
was not long enough to reach them.”
“You should
have asked Chuka to help you na.”
“Which
Chuka?”
“Your new…”
“He is not
my new anything o.”
“I thought
something is going on.”
“There is
nothing going on o.”
“Cynthia,
you know we don’t hide things from each other.”
“Seriously,
there is nothing going on.”
“Are you
serious?” Mabel asked. “Because I saw the way you were looking at him
yesterday.”
She
laughed.
“Ooohm stop na. He is not my type joor.”
“But he
likes you.”
“He has
been applying o but I am not interested. I only use him whenever I need help,
just like yesterday.”
“Hope you
don’t ask for help in the other one?”
They
laughed.
“You are
not serious,” Cynthia said and sat opposite Mabel. “You are not going yet?”
“To where?”
“I thought
you said you were going to your house, then to see Mrs Biodun?”
“Yes I
will. I want to get to the house when all the neighbours must have left for
work or school.”
“It’s true.
So they will not be asking stupid questions.”
“And you
know I am supposed to go to work today. So if they see me in the house, they
will start sniffing.”
“Ok.”
Mabel spent another 2 hours in the
house. She finished watching the movie as she talked with Cynthia. When it was
11:00, Cynthia called her attention.
“Is it not
yet time to go?” she asked. “Remember I have to meet Chidinma by 12pm. So I need
to start getting ready.”
“It is
true.”
Mabel
got ready to leave.
“Won’t you
wait for me so we will leave together?” Cynthia asked her, still looking for
what to wear.
“We are not
going in the same direction na,” Mabel replied.
“Ok.”
“Don’t
forget to call me when you are ready to come so you know whether I am in the
house or not.”
“Okay. I
will”
She
left, boarded a taxi and left for her house. Cynthia got dressed too and left
the house to go and see Chidinma.
When
Mabel got to her compound, everywhere was quiet. There was no one in the
compound. She just saw distant neighbours on the road, waved at them and walked
in.
“Thank
God,” she said as she looked around and walked briskly to the staircase.
As she got to the first floor,
on her way to the second floor where she lived, a door opened.
(...to be continued...)
Nedu Isaac
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