Muna Was Here

Chapter 8 - Precious Stone

Finally, it's Saturday. Week One of school is over. That's crazy.

Well, unlike most people, Saturday isn't a day of rest for me. At all. I have to wake up by seven am to start the housework. I'm so happy that my parents aren't like the cliché African parents. Even though I do a little more than my brothers, my parents see to it that they always participate in housework. So Nnamdi might be sweeping and mopping the house and cleaning the toilets, Kelechi, arranging the rooms and me doing the dishes, the laundry and making breakfast and lunch.

By twelve, everyone should have been done with their house chores. Then we shower and start on our school work and prepare for the next week of school.

By four, Nnamdi and I go to church for rehearsals. I'm in the choir and Nnamdi is part of the media crew. Since we can't leave Kelechi on his own, we drop him off at Ayomide's house. But that's only when our mom isn't around.

We get back around six or seven. Then Nnamdi and I help our mom to cook whatever she wants to. Whenever we finish, we are free to do what we want to. But by this time, I'm usually too tired to do anything, I usually just fall asleep.

Unfortunately, today, Kelechi has decided to act like a little brat.

"Kelechi, did you sweep this room at all?" I call down the stairs when I go to my parents' room to get their dirty clothes. "There's sand everywhere."

"It's not me that's supposed to sweep that place. It's Nnamdi!"

"Come on, mechie onu gi there. How is it me?" Nnamdi retorts indignantly, from his room. "I've finished my own work. Better turn that thing off and go and do what you're supposed to do."

The tv continues to blare. After waiting for some time, I go down the stairs and find him, still lying down on the floor in front of the television, even having the audacity to sing along to the theme song of the cartoon that is playing.

"Are you okay? Didn't you hear what Nnamdi said? Turn off that thing. Now!"

He looks at me defiantly, still lying down.

"I don't know where the broom is."

At this, I get fed up. Crouching down, I take a hold of his ear and pull. Hard.

"Owwww. Stop! Stop! It's painful." He protests, scrambling to get up to reduce the pain as I straighten up.

"Oya! Go! Fast!"

He runs away from me. But when he gets too far for me to reach out and smack him, he slackens his pace and begins to drag his feet.

"Kelechi!"

"I'm going!" He continues to walk toward the kitchen, slowly.

Taking a deep breath, I remind myself that I am the bigger person and walking away is for my peace of mind, not a show of weakness.

"Just let me catch you not working again. You'll see what I can do." I say to him, climbing up the stairs, to the toilet where I was doing the laundry.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Muna, I'm hungry." Kelechi tells me when we are about to leave for church. I have called the Uber myself, not trusting Nnamdi enough to do it.

I look at him, exasperated.

"How are you hungry? But I told you to eat that beans now."

"I didn't like it. It was too dry. And there was no pepper."

"Oh okay." I say, offended. I was the one who cooked the beans. "Oya, you go and cook your own beans now and tell me how it tastes."

"I don't want to eat beans at all." He whines.