PHONE

It's Saturday meaning its "hang out in Nora's room day', I smile determined to push all thoughts of my dream/memory out of my mind, after a quick bath I head downstairs to greet my parents.

Mum is already in the kitchen cooking unripe plantain porridge, [why can't we all just drink a simple cup of tea with slices of bread and be done with it?], I sigh and join her in the kitchen.

Dad is relaxed on his favourite couch watching a movie on tv. For some reason, news on a Saturday doesn't just seem right. Mum goes semi – crazy whenever she's in the kitchen cooking and me and Nora aren't there. She says nothing about Chidi or Ebube's absence though, like what the hell happened to gender equality?

"Look at the time you're waking up", her back is to me so I frown a little and poke my head in the parlour to check the time, it's just a little after 10am. [She's complaining about me when my sister and brothers aren't even awake yet?]

"It's not like you stayed awake to read your book or do any assignment. In those days we wake up by 5 to go to the farm….", I tuned out at that point because it seems she has forgotten that I actually went to school yesterday and Saturday is a day of freaking rest.

She does have a point on the reading part though because test week at school is coming up on the second week of November just before the mid-term break, it's the final week of October now.

Test week is a week for just test only, no classes or school activites. I hate tests. I prefer exams because there are objectives before the main theory questions. I can use those to calm myself down. Tests do not have objectives so it's just like throwing me into a den of lions without warning.

Sensing that my mom is about to finsh her sermon I tune back in , "...you guys should read oh, I want you to get the 1st position at the end of the term." I barely manage to hold my snort in. My mother still doesn't understand that I am an average.

Ever since primary school when I and my brother were little, we always got the 1st, 2nd or 3rd position in the class every term. Back then things were a whole lot easier, but right now it is just not okay. After mumbling a small 'okay', I put the diced plantains in the pot and add some water.

That's going to take a while so I head upstairs to see what my lazy siblings are actually doing. I poke my head in my sister's room first because she's supposed to be suffering downstairs with me.

I poke my head in her room and fake a really loud and noisy gasp. The bitch is actually awake! And using her phone at that! Her back is to me so she turns and gives me a satisfied smile.

"So have you finished cooking?" "See this lazy thing, I am going to snitch", I say, slightly peeved.

"Please go, then if mummy calls me I'll just pretend as if I'm sleeping", she chuckles. She hasn't had her bath yet so I don't expect her to come down until the food is done. I roll my eyes and blow out a breath, leaving her room.

Next I poke my head in Ebube's room, he's still sleeping, as expected. When I check Chidi's room, it's the same story with Ebube. I shake my head and head back downstairs.

"Eze ihi ura"(Igbo for kings of sleep), I mutter to myself. When I enter the kitchen, mum is adding spices into the pot together with snails and fish that was boiled earlier.

When she covers the pot I comfortably head back to Nora's room because from that point she doesn't mind if I'm not there. Once inside, I drop down heavily on her bed,

"What are you doing here again? I don't want mummy to know that I'm awake oh", she says seriously, I smile,

"Don't worry, she won't know, lazy girl." She turns and continues whatever she's doing on her phone. I stand up from her bed and wander to the bedside table.

It's a small like a counter, but wooden with three drawers. I open the first one and start rifling through, but there's nothing of interest to me. "What are you looking for?" Nora says,

"I don't know, anything". I open the second drawer and on top there's a white carton cut into the shape of a heart with a birthday message written on it, underneath that is a small pink bear holding a small heart.

"So you've gotten birthday gift before?." She turns to see what I'm talking about, "Oh, yes. Since when I was in SS2".

"Heh, I haven't gotten any birthday gifts." [How would I though?]I laugh dryly and Nora gives me a funny look like I'm crazy. Beside the teddy there was long notebook, "scrap-book" was written on the front page.

I flip through the few pages with writings

and it's mainly cut-outs from newspapers with jokes underneath them. She must've gotten bored and stopped pasting. I replaced the book back and rifled some more but nothing else was there.

On opening the third drawer, at first glance all I could see was useless junk. I search some more and underneath all the old chargers and useless shit I find a fucking phone!

Third time really is the charm. "Hey! Nora!! Is this phone working?!" She was about going into the bathroom to take her bath. After thinking for a while she says, "I think so. Plug It and see if it will charge."

I had never been so happy to obey a command. I plug it immediately with her charger and the sign of a battery filling up shows on the screen, i sigh with relief.

After a while when I couldn't wait anymore, I turn it on. It's actually working! Sure there's no sim card or memory card but I can at least download games and watch movies on it, and maybe even chat but mum can't find out about that part.

****************************************

After the phone battery was full, I went to pester Chidi for a few movies because Nora didn't have any on her laptop at the moment. Right now I'm currently "borrowing" Wi-Fi from an unknown neighbour with no password. I already downloaded a few games as quickly as I could before the neighbour switches it off.

I downloaded minion rush because it looked good and it was from the movie, Despicable me, then Dead shot, a zombie shooting game and a brain teaser game, Braindom.

It sucked that I couldn't download the good games that required internet to be played. No sim card meant no data and no internet.

My sister who was already dressed turns to me and asks, "See this girl, who said you could use the phone?" when I turn to look at her, she flashes me an evil smile,

"Why now?! You're not using it and you even have a new phone!"

"Yeah, yeah, you can use it, but it has issues sha, and it lags." "Anyhow it is, a lagging phone is better than no phone at all", she laughs. "I'll be back. Let me go and make Ebube jealous!" I grin and dash to his room.