Mabel looked around the sitting room but did not see
it.
“Let me try flashing it,” her
mother suggested.
“Ok,” Mabel said. “While you
are doing that, let me check my handbag in the room.”
Mabel went into
the room and soon came out with her phone.
“It is switched off,” she
said.
“Battery low?” her mother
asked her.
“Yes, the battery does not
last very long.”
“Why didn’t you remember to charge
it since you came back? You know we can’t trust NEPA people.”
“It totally escaped my mind.”
“I don’t blame you my dear.
You have been stressed lately, both physically and emotionally.”
“As if you know. It has not
been easy at all.”
“All will be well.”
Mabel got her
charger and plugged her phone. Then she sat and flipped channels in search of
which station was giving the news that her mother wanted to watch. As she was
doing it, NEPA took the light.
“Ooohm,” she lamented.
“They will still bring it back,”
her mother said.
Barely two
minutes after the power outage, there was a knock on their door.
“Who is it?” their mother
asked.
“It is me,” they heard a male
voice reply.
“That sounds like Chuka,”
Mabel said as she went to answer the door.
“What is he looking for by
this time?” her mother asked in a low tone.
When Mabel opened
the door, she met Chuka.
“How is Cynthia?” he asked a
bit breathless.
“Did you run?” Mabel asked him.
“Answer me na?” he said,
smiling like a kid whose secret had just been exposed.
“She is sleeping.”
“No need putting on the
generator then.”
“There is need.”
“How will she know I was the
one that put it on?”
“When she wakes up I will tell
her that it was you that put it on.”
“No it will not carry weight.
I will prefer doing it when she is awake.”
“Please.”
Chuka put his
hands akimbo and thought for a while. Then he agreed and went to the backyard
where the generator was.
“Please come with a torch
light,” he said to Mabel as he went.
“Ok,” Mabel replied.
Mabel got torchlight
and went to meet him at the backyard.
“Did the generator go off by
itself last night?” he asked her.
“No. Cynthia put it off.”
“I need to check the level of
fuel and oil left.”
As he tried to
check, NEPA brought back the light.
“Up NEPA,” Mabel said,
excitedly.
“Wasted effort,” Chuka
lamented. “Chai.”
“At least it saved you the
stress of looking for what to do and even going to buy fuel if there is none.”
“I would have done it gladly
as long as Cynthia would be happy.”
“Eiyaa. Thanks for trying.”
“No problem. I will still see
her tomorrow.”
“Sure you will.”
“Please tell Cynthia I tried to put on the generator
for her o.”
“I will.”
Mabel briskly
went back inside to plug her phone to charge while Chuka covered the generator
and went back home. She met her mother with her phone and charger, trying to
plug it to charge.
“Mummy what are you doing?”
she asked.
“All these new phones,” her
mother said. “How do you plug it? Where is the mouth?”
“Don’t worry,” Mabel said,
laughing. “Let me do it myself.”
Mabel plugged in
the phone, confirmed it was charging and sat down.
“Children of nowadays and big
big phones,” her mother said.
“It is called civilization,”
Mabel said. “You are still ancient.”
“I agree. As long as I can
make calls and send text messages with the one I have, I am okay.”
“You need to be taking clear
pictures and browsing.”
“Not for me.”
“Mummy you need to upgrade o.
Some of your mates are doing Skype sef.”
“Which one is sky? They can
enter airplane all they want. I entered it in those days.”
Mabel burst into
laughter.
“Mummy you will not cease to amaze
me,” She said. “Skype has nothing to do with flying airplane.”
“My dear don’t bother yourself
o,” her mother said laughing too. “There is nothing you will explain now that I
will understand. So just forget about it.”
“Ok o.”
Mabel put on the
TV.
“There is no reasonable film
for us to watch now,” she said.
“There is this new season film
everybody is watching now,” her mother said. “I even forgot to buy it.”
“I will bring movies from my
house tomorrow.”
“Nollywood movies or seasonal
movies?”
“Some good home videos, not
all these rubbish people are acting. Then one seasonal movie I have not yet
finished.”
“Ok. Help me check the local
stations whether anyone is doing something interesting.”
Mabel flipped
through the channels. She did not see any program she liked so she just left it
at a station that was doing a News roundup.
“Did you lock the door?” her
mother asked her.
“I forgot,” Mabel replied. “I
will do that now.”
“Don’t worry.”
Her mother got
up, locked the door and went towards the room.
“Are you going to sleep?”
Mabel asked her.
“No,” her mother replied. “Let
me check on Cynthia.”
“We have not finished
discussing o.”
“About?”
“About finding a solution to
the issue at hand.”
“Ok. I am coming out
immediately.”
(...to be continued...)
Nedu Isaac
No comments:
Post a Comment