“Can You Hear the Weird Sounds Too?”

HOW’S POWER AT YOUR SIDE?

Sounds.

The night was still quite young, my phone battery was about 53 % and while it was enough to last till the next day, I was not comfortable with it being that low. This is Nigeria.

Rain had fallen earlier in the day and since then, the power had been out. Nothing spectacular about that. We all know the 5 and 6 relationship between rain/the threat of rain and power outage.

However, it was going on six hours and the winds were picking up again. If we had another episode of rain, the probability of power being restored soon would drop even further.

So far, so good, power had been great in our area during the initial phase of the lock-down and for that, we are very grateful. It served as one of the positive factors encouraging sanity and decorum while indoors.

I wanted to have a video call with the Knight, so, we agreed that once the power is restored and I am able to charge up my phone, we’d have it.

And power was restored. Awesome.

I charged up the phone up to 93% , watched ‘The Last Knights’ with Debby and realized halfway into it that I had watched it before but still enjoyed it till the ending (which, by the way, still needs an explanation) and then called him.

HOW’S WORKING FROM HOME?

 

My guy was tired. While working at home gives some flexibility and allows you work with extra comfort, it also exposes the subtle loopholes of the company you work with; the vague, open-ended directives that require repeated messages, calls, emails for clarification, the need to ensure everyone is on board (online), the weird timelines that people now expect you to still be actively working because, “Well, you’re at home all day. aren’t you?”

But, in between his cute yawns and eye rubbing, we were able to talk, share experiences of the day, laugh, make weird faces and be fabricvores. (That last one was more of him though).

Along the way, power was taken at his side and some minutes after, ours went off too and I had to shift to a balanced placement of the solar lamp and my phone so he could keep seeing my beautiful face and “the smile that lights up my life”. (Yeah, I get to hear stuff like that on a daily and what makes it music to my ears is the sincerity and assurance that come with it.)

HOW’S SECURITY AT YOUR AREA?

 

Then we heard the sounds. Being on a call, I heard it when it was ending, so, I really could not place what kind of sounds they were.

I switched off the lamp and Debby more or less slammed Chekwaa shut. Then, we waited.

The next time the sounds came again, I heard clearly and it was like something falling.

In quiet whispers,  I told the Knight what was going on and while I was doing so, we heard the first gunshot. He heard it too and asked what direction I thought it was coming from. I told him it felt like it was coming from behind us, like the other compound.

Quickly, I found my neighbor downstairs’ number on whatsapp and asked if he was hearing the sounds too. He confirmed that he was and said he thought it was from the next building, right in our compound but demarcated by a fence of some sort.

“The next building? That’s… close.”

“Let me try and get across to the guys living there.”

The Knight was still on the call, although he had switched to voice call now as he was not seeing anything but black again.

“Is he still on the call?”, Debby asked.

I answered in the affirmative and she whispered, “Let him remain on the call.”

The neighbor downstairs said, “The numbers of all the guys in the next building are switched off.”

“Let’s call the police”. Debby had moved closer now and our heads were touching. We had heard the weird sounds again and one or two more gunshots.

Then, I searched for my other neighbor’s number, the one directly opposite our room.

“Hey… at home?”

She was at home and she was teasing me about some other thing. I quickly relayed all that had transpired to her and when she heard that the numbers of the next building’s occupants were switched off, she became serious.

“How far? Have you been able to reach any of them?”

“Yes. The place is calm. Nothing happening.”

I relayed this to the lady and then she goes, “I was doing laundry though… ”

This was past 12 am already. Who does laundry at 12 am????

“You better be washing Jerusalem.”

HOW’S POLICE RESPONSE OVER THERE?

 

The call with the Knight had disconnected at some point but he was still online, asking for updates. I had reached out to my brother D who sent emergency lines to call. I later learnt the neighbor downstairs called the area policemen who responded swiftly as we soon heard their sirens. We still heard few gunshots but those were distant and with the arrival of the sirens, they died down.

Power was restored once again but we switched off the bulbs. I continued chatting with the Knight, laughing about the laundry neighbor, lamenting the insecurity the lock-down has roused, thanking God for safety and the assurance of His presence and laughing over the pictures I took of our video call.

Then, he sent me a picture with a caption:

 

Soon after, we slept. It was past 2 am.

#CoronaDiary:

 

Today, we have been alternating sleep with chewing mentos dragees and then I started reading Ted Dekker’s “The 49th Mystic” out loud to Debby and Eva who promptly slept off.

I have had interesting conversations with the Peaches on whether I can forgive infidelity in a relationship or in marriage and if I would still stay in such a marriage.

We also talked about to what percentage we tell the truth or keep mum on matters with our parents, friends and siblings.

I really want to eat pizza and Pringles and anything spicy.

We introduced a new food (Dr. Tessy’s Crunchy) to Eva’s meals today and we think she likes it. And I think she is also getting addicted to cold water. Alright. see you tomorrow.

See more #CoronaDiary snippets.

#PEO.