For You To Keep

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Birthday.
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My alarm goes off at exactly 2:30am. It is really early, but I want to do my work in the morning so I can rest and enjoy my birthday later today. I hurry downstairs to turn on the house water heater since there was light. I start by sweeping the parlour and dining room, making sure to clean the entire glass surface in case of dust. After sweeping that large area, I begin to mop the floor, making sure to do it to perfection so that my mother won’t complain.

When I finish, I make my way up to the rooms, quietly sweeping, cleaning, dusting and mopping Nkem and my mother’s room. After I’m done there, I go to my own room to clear it up spotless.

Heading downstairs again, I clean all surfaces of the kitchen, clearing it from cabinets to cupboards and washing all the pots, plates and pans. After clearing the kitchen, I rearrange the store and made sure it was sparkling. When the whole house, surface and floors, were shining, I go to my room. I can even see my reflection on the tiles.

Falling like a dead man on my bed, I exhale deeply, smiling at myself for my job well-done. The time now was 5:30am, how time flies! I decide to bring out my favourite aquamarine flared dress I kept that my stepdad got me. I lay it on my dressing mirror; my stepdad got me, and brought out my black, silver stoned sandals that, again, my stepdad got me. Happy with myself, I go back to my bed and just then, there is a power outage.

Snuggling into my duvet more, I drifted back to sleep.

~

“Mummy!” Nkem’s scream wakes me up. It’s 8am already. I jump off the bed to see what was going on.

“Nkem what’s wrong?” I ask as I knock on her door.

“Olanna enter and see what I’m seeing o” she replies seemingly excited,and I do.I don’t see anything strange and so I turn back to her.

“What?” I ask and just then our mother steps in.

“Can you see my room, it is spotless! An angel must have visited me at night. It’s just- wow!” she exclaims.
I smile. She just called me an angel, although it was indirect, but I take what I get and compliments like this were ‘once in a green moon’.”Yeah mine too, but I believe it was Olanna and not an angel” our mother speaks for the first time.

They turn to face me, on Nkem’s face, shock while my mother’s holds satisfaction. If I were crazy, I would have said she was smiling, but that’s impossible right?

“You did a good job. Well done.” She says before exiting the room. I’m happy. Those compliments made my heart swell. Maybe, just maybe, today will be a good day.

“Tell me how? And when?” Nkem is clearly taken aback but I just smile and exit the room.

Getting to the kitchen to cook breakfast, “Really? That would be great! Yes, I’ll let her know” my mother is smiling obviously happy. “Nkem! Come! Guess who is coming today.”

With that, I enter the kitchen, passing Nkem on the way. I was happy, but it hurt that none of them remembered my birthday. I prepare things for tea and bread, fried eggs and set the dining table for breakfast.

After breakfast, I clear the table and the kitchen. I go ahead to prepare lunch, fried rice and chicken.

Tired, I rush up to my room, loosen my hair, it was rough; all-back. I have long natural black hair that I must have inherited from my dad, because my mother and Nkem’s hair were short, relaxed and almost brown.
I lock my room door, to take off my clothes and enter the bathroom.