Chapter 3: Abuja to Lagos

A week had passed and aunty Regina and her family were still staying with us. They were supposed to stay for a week or two during this third semester holiday. Her husband was a school principal so he had to go back early before the next session was to begin.

I was beginning to get used to Felicia and her addiction to her phone. It was like everywhere she went; she went with her phone.

Yesterday when she was going down the staircase she slipped and fell. Luckily for her, she was already close to the ground when she slipped so she was not hurt but her mother scolded her and threatened to take away her phone.

This morning we had breakfast together, mom had already set the table, we were having bread and tea. Felicia picked up the hot water flask to pour some of it in her cup but the girl wasn't even looking at the cup so it overfilled and started to pour on the ground.

She didn't even notice until the water started to splash on her leg. I looked at the expression on mom's face and it was priceless. She looked like she was restraining herself from giving Felicia a much-needed flogging.

Which was not surprising, mom was a fervent follower of the bible verse 'spare the rod and spoil the child' In other words, act foolish and I beat the foolishness out of you. (In Nigeria, disciplining children by whipping them is not bad, as long as you don't take it too far).

We were all waiting for aunty Regina or her husband to scold her but the both of them kept quiet. Not a word! If it had been me, CJ or Nenye our parents would have given us an earful.

After breakfast dad went to work, he was a lawyer and he had his own law firm. Mom was the branch manager of a microfinance bank here in Abuja but, she wasn't going to work today because she was on leave.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. CJ went out with his friends to play basketball and mom and aunty Regina went out to get some foodstuff together, while her husband said that he had some things to do in Federal secretariat (a place in Abuja). I was downstairs watching TV when Chidera came to join me.

"Hey, can I ask you a question," She said.

"Yeah what's up," I replied.

"Does Nenye hate me or that's just how she is to everybody," she asked.

The girl looked uncomfortable, I think she was even scared like as if Nenye was going to appear from nowhere and catch her talking about her.

I shook my head and replied, "No, she doesn't hate you, it just takes her some time to get used to someone and the fact that she has to share her room with you is not even helping matters, but I assure you she doesn't hate you."

It's not everybody that can handle Nenye and her attitude. Getting her to be nice to you was like trying to defeat the boss level of a video game, it was very hard. I can remember when we were still kids and we were living in a smaller house. Nenye and I had to share a room.

For three years Nenye dominated the room, she had rules that I had to follow and it didn't help that she liked a well-arranged room and I tend to be a little messy sometimes. But we still managed to find a common ground and made things work out. The common ground being that I was scared of her and she became scary when she was angry.

"I hope you're right, she just told me that she will punish me by chopping off my fingers the next time I leave the bed unmade."

Oh how I pitied this poor girl. I will not be surprised if Nenye actually punished her, maybe not by chopping off her fingers but by doing something scary but not physically threatening. I resisted the urge to laugh at her terrified expression and said.

"Don't worry just remember to make the bed next time," I advised.

It was now four o'clock and mom and aunty Regina were back. Apparently, they had gone to buy the ingredients to cook Oha soup (an Igbo soup) we were going to eat Garri (a Nigerian food made with cassava) and soup (that is the Oha soup).

When both of them entered the kitchen they started to reminisce of those days when they still lived in their parents' house and cooked together for the family.

When the food was ready mom asked me to call everyone down to eat, I went upstairs to Nenye's room to call her, then I went to my room to get Felicia and finally to CJ'S room but then I remembered that he still wasn't back from playing basketball.

Dad came back from work, so did aunty Regina's husband and the two joined us to have dinner but CJ was nowhere to be found. Mom tried calling him but his number was not going.

"Chizaram, where did your brother, say he was going to?" she asked using my full name, I could tell that she was beginning to get worried.

"He said that he was going to play basketball," I replied.

"When did he leave?" Dad asked.

"This afternoon, he left with some of his friends."

Immediately I said that someone kicked me under the table. It was Nenye. I put two and two together and realized that wherever CJ had gone, he had told Nenye and probably asked her to cover for him.

"Then why is he not back yet? You can't tell me that he's still playing basketball even up till now," dad said.

"Chinenye do you know where your brother went to?" mom asked Nenye.

Nenye gave her an innocent look and said.

"Whatever do you mean Mother?"

She used a fake British accent to ask that question and I fought the urge to smile. Both of them were definitely up to something. I then stood up to say thank you to my parents for the food. That's when CJ walked into the house.

Everyone turned to him eager to know what was going to happen next.

And then I woke up from my dream...

Just kidding, CJ walked in with a big parcel in his hand.

"Young man where do you think you're coming from," Dad asked.

"CJ What happened to your phone, why was it not going," Mom added.

"Mom, Dad, I'm terribly sorry for making you worry, I just had to get this from the post office," He said.

"What is in it?" Mom asked.

"It's just something me, Nenye and Zaram got for you as a gift," He said and handed the parcel to the both of them.

"Happy Anniversary," He said.

Dad was speechless, mom was pleasantly surprised and I...well despite feeling a little left out from the whole thing was impressed. For the first time, CJ and Nenye joined forces to actually do good.

Those two only joined forces when they wanted one to cover for the other. Like when CJ went to a party that his classmate had thrown or when Nenye and Vicky snuck out in the middle of the night only to come back early in the morning the next day.

After dinner, we all gathered in the living room. I then said to Nenye, "That surprise was really good but why didn't you guys include me."

"Come on Babe you know why," she replied.

"Actually I don't."

"If we had included you, you would have had to lie to mom and dad and you suck at lying remember?" She said.

"I do?" I asked. She looked at me like I had said something really stupid.

"Zaram you hate lying, and there was no way that mom and dad were not going to ask you and besides they trust you, why break that trust."

"By the way since I had to cover for you in paying for the gift, you owe me," She finished and stood up to go to her room.

I watched her go and sighed to myself, she did have a point.

That night aunty Regina's husband mentioned that he was needed in the school that he was working for and that they would have to leave in two days' time. I almost leapt for joy at the news, finally, I would soon have my room all to myself again.

Chidera looked relieved and Felicia, well Felicia was on her phone, as usual.

The next day, they booked a flight and the day after that they travelled back to Lagos and I finally said Bye to Felicia.