I was supposed to be at school this morning for my final project, but I couldn't go. So, as I woke, I left to have my bath, the only thing I do when I have somewhere to go. I waited for my mum because she went to drop my sisters off at school. She eventually came back and told me to wait behind, that she didn't have money. She farther told me to go on and prepare white rice for breakfast. I swiftly complied because one of my hobbies is cooking. I went on to boil water. This time, while I was boiling water, my brother came to ask me if I'd like to follow him to get my mother's phone from my sister at her school, because she forgot it with her while she(my sister) was playing game. I agreed because we didn't sleep with light and everywhere was hot, so the car's a/c would give me some body revival. So I got my black-net-armless shirt and walked outside happily. As I got outside, my mum said we shouldn't bother, that she could wait till my sis returned. I was just angry, so I went back inside. I got inside, washed the rice in the boiling water, added some salt, and covered the pot well. I went to sit outside, and my brother's friend was already around. My mum was already admiring me as I walked towards them, no idea why. I noticed and started my stupidity; laughing and speaking phoné(phonetics) and praising her OYINBOISTICALLY. She laughed and said, "Kenny said she will be taking you guys out for a night out party, but you don't mix." I laughed hard. I returned, "I mix more than any other person in our family. I greet total strangers at school." Like it was an achievement, she laughed, replying, "I said it! I was doubting it myself. I told Kenny that you guys mix easily when we are not with you." I laughed and said, "Exactly," like I was already planning for her response.
My brother's friend began a conversation of drinking, asking if I could drink alcohol, that I was going to misbehave at just a swig. I told him I had taken some alcohol in the past, including magic moment, although it was just little, moderate not excessive. Then I thought, what does drinking alcohol mean to Africans? Taking more than your gauge daily? Getting home and puking around? I still thought of what achievements it could offer if I drank alcohol at all. I told him, " Of course, I drink! Why am I 20? The age consent of having an alcohol is 18, and I am 2 years older. I do take alcohol, and I darn follow the caution 'drink responsibly', it is alright by me." They all laughed. My mum told them that if I got drunk, I was going to slap all of them till we got home. I now thought about smoking and asked, "Would you say smoking is bad?" They all answered "yes!" I told them about my views on smoking. I said, "To me, smoking is not bad when you have to take it once in a while. Probably having a stick in seven days. Africans abuse cigarette even after reading the pack that says, 'smokers are liable to die young'. Everybody smokes in Nigeria, and mostly youth, and they abuse it. An average Nigerian youth could combust 18 pieces of cigarette a day, which is tantamount to a pack. Why won't they have cancer? Although, I think some who exhaust a pack daily are depressed, and others do it out of influence." My mum looked at me and was skeptical. She asked if I now smoked, and I pulled her legs, "Yes, I do. And I will be smoking cannabis when I am 22." We laughed, and she said, "You dare not," with the assurance I didn't get. She then asked, "Is anybody depressed? What is depression?" I think she didn't know how chronical depression was, that people just live their lives and think, nothing more. I couldn't answer her question on depression, but I still moved on about our smoking discussion, because I knew Nigerians are not deep in knowledge. They basically hear and leave it the way it is. I asked them, "Have any of you heard of second-hand smoking? Did you know the smoky air that the smoker exhales is more dangerous than the smoky air the smoker takes in himself? That is to say, you are prone to cancer or whatever disease contacted by smokers than the smokers." My mother looked in awe. She said I had gotten another lie from the Internet, and I believed it. I just turned deaf ears and went on to check what I was cooking.
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