“What!” Mabel shouted and sat
up on the bed.
Cynthia stirred
and opened her eyes.
“Mummy good morning,” she
greeted.
“Morning,” her mother replied.
“How are you feeling?”
“I am fine.”
Mabel got her
phone and confirmed the time her mother had told her.
“We slept too long,” she said.
“You need the rest,” their
mother said. “I have done all the morning chores.”
“Why did you bother yourself
doing everything when I am here?”
“I came in severally to check
if you are awake but you were sleeping peacefully. I didn’t want to bother
you.”
“You mean you washed the
plates I forgot to wash last night?”
“Yes.”
“You swept everywhere?”
“Yes. I also mopped the
kitchen and toilet.”
“You wouldn’t have bothered
yourself. I would have done them whenever I wake up.”
“Who does them when two of you
are not around?”
“But we are around.”
“Don’t worry yourself. Your
breakfast is on the kitchen table.”
“Breakfast too?” Cynthia
asked.
“Yes,” their mother replied.
“And it’s your favorite.”
“You are the best mummy in the
whole world,” Cynthia said.
“Thank you.”
Mabel yawned and
said to her mother, “You need to start going so you won’t get to the office
late.”
“I am leaving now,” her mother
said going towards the door. “Take care of Cynthia.”
“I will.”
As their mother got to the room door, she turned and
asked Mabel, “Are you going out today?”
“I don’t have plans to go out
unless something comes up,” Mabel said getting up from the bed and following
her.
“Ok.”
Cynthia followed
Mabel to see their mother off to the door. They said goodbye as she left. Chuka
was outside and heard them biding their mother good bye so he left what he was
doing and came to them.
“Your love is coming,” Mabel
told Cynthia and smiled.
“Who even told me to come out
this morning?” Cynthia asked rhetorically. “I will just go inside now.”
“You will do no such thing. He
has seen you already. So wait and see him.”
Chuka came close
and exchanged pleasantries with Mabel. Then he asked Cynthia how she was
faring. She answered him as casually as she could. Mabel went inside and left
them standing at the door. When Chuka had exhausted all he wanted to ask, he
still stood there thinking what next to ask to keep the conversation going. Cynthia
on her part kept wondering how to dismiss him without appearing rude.
“Should I come in?” Chuka
blurted out.
Cynthia was taken
aback. She didn’t expect that question.
“Huh?” she said. “I thought
you were busy with something?”
“It can wait,” Chuka said. “You
are more important to me than any other thing.”
“I need to do some things now,
take my drugs and rest.”
“I will come later then.”
“Ok oo.”
Chuka left shyly.
Cynthia went back in and met Mabel eavesdropping.
“What were you listening to?”
she asked Mabel, laughing.
“Love nwantinti,” Mabel said laughing.
“I don’t like him. Period.”
“Then let him know so he will
stop trying.”
“That will be cruel of me to
just shatter his hopes like that.”
“It will not. Every man
deserves to know the truth about how a lady feels about him.”
“Even if I like him, what will
I be doing with him now? He is not ready for marriage any time soon and I don’t
want any boyfriend.”
“Yea yea…”
“Leave me joor.”
They laughed and
went to the kitchen.
“Won’t you brush before
eating?” Mabel asked Cynthia.
“Who said I am eating now?”
Cynthia asked. “Let me see the breakfast mummy kept for us.”
They saw two
plates of food already covered. Cynthia was the first to open hers.
“Yam and sauce,” she said.
“Nice.”
“Mum is such a darling,” Mabel
said “As if she knew what I wanted to eat.”
“Me too.”
“But you are not feeling fine
and you are on drugs. You are not supposed to have appetite for food like this.
I can help you”
“Story for simbi. Even if I have to eat it through my nose, I must
eat this yam and sauce.”
Mabel covered her
own plate and turned to leave.
“Let me freshen up,” she said.
“I counted my yam o. Don’t even remove anything from it.”
They laughed.
Nedu Isaac
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