Chapter III

“Thank you very much for your help,” she said before ending the call.

Looking frustrated, she place her phone on a table and walked briskly to the kitchen as she began preparing something. That would be their dinner. She had contacted almost all of her friends to help her get a job but all she got was ‘sorry friend’ from everyone. Her mind was occupied with a lot of things. Her eldest son was on the verge of losing his job, they needed money for their rent, supplies and oh, the school fees. She was asked never to step a foot in the mall where she worked as a cashier after her quarrel with a customer.

“But she started it,” she heard herself explain to her manager.

Thinking about all of this made her very anxious and weak. She was deeply lost in her own thoughts.

“Ugh!” she screamed in pain as she burnt her hands.

She quickly dipped her burnt hand in some water and stared out through the open window. She kept staring as she saw some children in their school uniforms walk by.

“It’s three already?” she asked herself as schools around usually closed at three pm.

Then, she saw her own children coming from a distance. She quickly removed her hands from the water and resumed to cooking. Expectedly, she heard the front door open as the twins walk through.

“Welcome home, dearies. How was school today?” Gyaba said with a smile.

“Fine,” George said and then walked into his room.

“As always,” Georgea completed her twin brother’s sentence and also walked into her room leaving her shoes in the hall and her school bag in the couch.

As the two left, Gyaba’s smile disappeared and she focused on her cooking. Then, her phone began to ring. She answered it quickly hoping it was one of her friends to offer a job.

“Hello, mom,” she heard a familiar male voice call out.

She removed the phone from her ear and looked at its screen. It was her eldest son and she had saved the contact as ‘Agyei’. “How are you doing, son?” she asked concerned.

“Good, mother. I’m still alive,” he said laughing making his mother laugh too.

As the mother and son talked on the phone, George entered the kitchen. Knowing very well who his mother was chatting with, he gave his mother an angry-man look. The weekend was approaching and George knew that his brother would be coming home, as he did on every weekend. However, the problem was he had grown to not tolerate his big brother. In fact, just seeing him ruins his entire day.

“Hopefully, this time around he’ll take his daughter with him when leaving,” George said loud for his mother to hear but not loud enough for his brother to hear him.

“Tell him his daughter destroyed my book and I need a new one,” he added with a commanding voice to his mother.

Gyaba looked on as George took the last two slices of bread and walked out from the kitchen. George knew that if big brother was coming then he would not come empty handed.

“Clean your room, lady,” George said as he entered his sister’s room after knocking gently on the door.

He kept one slice of bread to himself and the other, he threw to his sister which she caught and took a bite. As usual, she had her headphone on and the loud music she was playing could be heard by George as he sat close to her.

“I said clean your room,” he said again as he removed the headphone from her ears.

“I will,” she said calmly as she got up to dump the bread crumbs in the bin in her room, “when I get the time,” she continued.

“He’s coming,” George said looking sad.

“Who’s coming?” she asked as she looked through her phone.

He snatched it from her and began to look through it. She tried to get it back but he raised it up high and she could not reach it.

“Well, you are the one who has issues with him. Even Baby likes him,” she said as she struggled to reach the phone.

“That’s because he’s her father.”

She pushed him hard and he landed on the bed. She jumped onto him and snatched her phone back. The two began to laugh at each other as they sat up on the bed.

“Gee, solve your issue with him and maybe he could be your best friend,” Georgea said holding her brother’s shoulder.

“Best friend? Gee and Gyei?” he said shaking his head. He continued, “Gee and Gea sounds better.”

He resumed laughing and so did Georgea. As he looked away, she picked up one of her pillows and hit him with it. As he regained his posture, he picked up the closest pillow and hit her too. The two continued to hit each playfully and giggled as they enjoyed each other’s company. The door to Georgea’s room opened slightly as Gyaba took a peek. Her face had a broad smile and she was filled with happiness as she saw her children happy and playing.