Mabel
rushed and took her phone from her mother.
“What happened?” she
asked.
“When I told her you
were not around,” her mother said. “She said something about smoke in your
apartment.”
“Is your flat on
fire?” Cynthia asked.
“Hey God,” Mabel
exclaimed as she dialed Mama Risi.
When the call connected, her phone
tripped off.
“Ooohm battery empty,”
she said, frustrated.
“Let’s start the generator
so you can charge your phone and call her.” Cynthia suggested.
“There is no time
for that.” their mother said. “Come and use my phone.”
Mabel and her mother rushed into
the house while Cynthia hurriedly tried to pour the fuel into the generator and
put it on.
“Do you have her
number?” Mabel asked as she took her mother’s phone.
“You mean Mama
Risi?” her mother asked her.
“Yes.”
“Yes I do. I had to
save it in case I try reaching you and it is not possible, I can get to her to
reach you.”
“Ok.”
Mabel dialed Mama Risi’s number. She
got the voice prompt saying the number was not reachable. While she was dialing
again, Cynthia came in, holding her lower back.
“What is wrong?” her
mother asked her.
“I poured the fuel in
the generator and tried drawing it,” she said. “Then the back pain came.”
“Sorry my dear,” her
mother said, rubbing her back.
“Thank you,” she said
and turned to Mabel, “Have you gotten mama Risi?”
“Not yet o,” Mabel
replied. “I hope nothing is happening to my apartment.”
“Let it not be arson
by Kemi o.”
“I pray.”
She
kept trying the number but kept getting the same response.
“Let me go and put
on the generator so I can charge my phone and call her with it,” Mabel said. “Mummy’s
phone always has network issues.”
“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,” Mabel 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 told her.
She cut
the call, moved a distance away from the generator and redialed. It connected.
“Mama Risi what were
you saying about smoke in my house?” she asked, worried.
Mama
Risi sounded surprised and asked when she said anything about smoke in her
apartment.
“When you called
earlier,” Mabel told her. “My mother said you talked about smoke in my flat as
the reason why you were calling me,” Mabel said.
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,” Mabel said
and sighed. “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?” Mabel asked.
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. “Thank God nothing happened.”
It
began drizzling so their mother made sure the generator was properly covered
from the rain. Then they went inside. Mabel and Cynthia plugged their phones to
charge while their mother went to the kitchen to prepare food.
“Mummy let me make
the Garri,” Mabel said. “Don’t stress yourself.”
“You have not had
your bath,” her mother said. “So you are not needed in the kitchen.”
“Ok o.”
“Moreover, you need
to rest because of the dizziness.”
“Ok.”
Cynthia
made to go to the kitchen but her mother stopped her.
“No bathing, no
kitchen work,” her mother said.
“Mummy, when did you
bath?” Cynthia asked, smiling.
“When you went to
get fuel.”
“Ok oo.”
“You think I am you
that needs begging to bath in the night.”
“I bath every night
now o.”
“I remember those
days I begged you to bath.”
“Washing my hand and
face was enough then,” Cynthia said laughing.
“After the dust,
sweat and germs on your skin, you need a full body bath o.”
“True.”
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.
“It is not as bad as
it was yesterday,” Mabel replied.
“There was no
emotionally stressful incident today. That’s why.”
“I guess so.”
“But you have drugs
to take.”
“Not much. Doctor
Obi said I just need to eat well and rest well.”
“Ok.”
They
ate, said their prayers, talked for a while and slept, after putting off the
generator. That night, they didn’t have any bad experience.
Very early in the morning, 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?” she
asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Your phone has been
beeping since. Whoever is calling has called more than 15 times.”
“Did you check who
it was?”
“No.”
Mabel reached
for her phone and checked. She saw 21 missed calls and a text message from
Segun. She quickly sat up.
(...to be continued)
Nedu Isaac
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