"Ouch!" Salma muttered under her breath rubbing the spot she had hit on her forehead with her palm, the last thing she needed was an extension to her already large forehead, that would result from the spot she had hit on the window being swollen. She looked around to see if anyone had seen what had transpired. No one seemed to be looking.
She sighed under her breath careful not to draw any more attention to herself, she scolded herself for sleeping during service but her logic could not explain why she would fall asleep during service despite her determination to stay awake. It seemed that whenever the preacher climbed the pulpit her eyes would become heavy, not with the normal sleep she was used to at home this one was different sweeter in fact.
Salma picked up her pen once more in another attempt to avoid sleep by taking notes, not that she had ever read the notes anyway. She wondered if anyone ever really read the notes they wrote in church after church.
Salma was your average Nigerian girl with dark skin and afro hair that had long been permed. She was almost the opposite of Zara where Zara was slim possibly a size 6, and Salma was a size 10. Unlike Zara, she did not come from an affluent home .
Her parents were on the average economical scale comfort was the only luxury they could afford, extravagance? not so much.
So imagine her shock when her dad stood up to pledge 1 five hundred thousand naira towards the new church building. Her school fees that was merely a hundred and fifty thousand her parents could only pay in two instalments, so why exactly was he pledging that huge amount she wondered to herself.
An hour later and service was over, the after service buzz that usually ensured was alien to Salma, as soon as service was over she would pick up her bag and notepad and head straight for her father's car. She barely knew anyone in the church, not that she could blame anyone but herself for that.
People pushed to get out of the church as though they were not all calmly seated and looking all prim and proper a few minutes ago, that part usually annoyed Salma. After finally manoeuvring her way out of the crowd, she headed straight for the car. Her brother Hussain was already in the car when she got there.
" What exactly was dad thinking when he pledged that amount of money Hussain!?" she asked him in bewilderment.
" e tire me oh, e tire me " he answered shaking his head as though to prove his point.