"Beep, beep, beep," my phone's alarm rang as I stretched to snooze it so I could rest a little more since I did not sleep until past midnight because I was preparing for a test. "An extra minute of sleep can make you miss the test, and I hope you know you are miles away from school." I asked myself, helping to remember I was not in my hostel but in my uncle's house where I had spent the weekend, which means I had to wake up early and prepare if I really wanted to meet up with the test, which was scheduled for 8 a.m.
image is mine.
I rushed downstairs only to see the whole family set to say their morning prayers; they did not want to wake me up since my uncle knew I had little or no sleep at all but did not know my alarm had done the favors. I quickly joined them, and they made the prayers as snappy as they could so I could leave for school. It was a very cold morning, and I would not advise even an enemy to bath with cold water, so I entered the kitchen to boil some water I could bath with. I turned on the gas, and right before my eyes, a few minutes later, the blue flames died down; the gas had just finished.
"Why now and why today of all days?" I muttered filled with guilt because, what would my uncle's wife say? I started to feel like I was the reason their gas got exhausted, wishing I just bathed with cold water like I always do and saved myself the type of feeling I got after the gas got exhausted.
"Don't worry, I knew the gas would finish one of these days but did not expect it to be today." I heard a voice say at the entrance of the kitchen and turned only to see my uncle's wife. That coming from her was a relief as I was thinking about how to break the news, and she was my problem as my uncle and I always get along so I could handle him and tell him whatever, but she was a nutcase.
She saying that got me energized, and I rushed back upstairs to take a bath with the cold water I was avoiding to come in contact with earlier, and it was not as bad as I thought.
"Kachi, wait for me to prepare as well, so I can drop you off at school and then from there go to work." My uncle said as he rushed to prepare.
I sat on the cushion in the sitting room, shaking my legs and looking at my watch while I waited for him, and truth be told, waiting for my uncle was my first mistake, as he took a lot of my time and came out at around 10 minutes past 7 and I had a test by 8am; this simply means I had 50 minutes left to beat the lecturer to the class, as Nigerian lecturers would want to exercise power on you with every given opportunity, so the only way to avoid that is by not giving them the opportunity to exercise that power.
"Honey, please, you and Kachi should leave with the cylinder so you can fill it on your way back. You see, we could not prepare breakfast because the gas got exhausted and we are out of cereals." My uncle's wife said as we were about leaving, causing more delays.
"If you knew you wanted us to leave with the cylinder, you should have said earlier, so I will just put it in the car before now and not delay me even more." I muttered as I went to the back of the house to grab the cylinder.
"You know I will not be back until evening? What will you guys use to cook before then?" My uncle asked
"Don't worry, we will get kerosene from Chika's shop once he opens." His wife responded
"Uncle, just leave all these lovey-dovey things and get me to school or let me go on my own." I kept saying it in my head while his wife wanted to keep the conversation going.
Finally we zoomed off only to hit a congested road on our way to my school. They said a truck fell, and at that moment I looked at my wristwatch again, and this time around I had only 15 minutes left. The road was as tight as a clamshell, no way out of and no way my uncle's car would be able to move either forward or backwards, so I had to step down and walk past the cause of the traffic and then board a tricycle to school.
"Today has been from one temptation to another. I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed because, What is all these?" I asked myself as I waved for the tricycle driver to stop, while trying to board it, my phone rang.
"Hey kachi, where are you? The course rep said whoever misses this test will have to do well in exams as there won't be any make-up test." My coursemate Dera said over the phone
"Is the lecturer there? I asked, feeling all worried and knowing the chances of me meeting up just got slimmer.
"Not yet; better hurry up." He said as he hung up.
I finally got to school and rushed to the test venue only to find the doors locked as the lecturer stepped in a few minutes before my arrival. We pleaded, but the lecturer was not willing to let us in. We watched from the window as those who came on time took the test.
"Indeed, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed because there is no other explanation. I am so done for the day." I said to myself as I headed to my hostel to sleep, and maybe that way I will feel better.