We like to party

"Where are you?"

Mom's worried voice came forth from my blackberry smartphone's receiver,

 " I'm almost home ma" ,

 I moaned, she heaved a quick sigh, going ahead to reprimand me on why I always close late from work all the time, more so now that I'm not feeling well, my body's defenses gradually being broken down by malaria parasite hence where I ought to take excuse from my superiors at work to close early,  here I am again coming home late looking rather worse for wear. She paused then asked if the cab driver was over-speeding as the wind was obscuring whatever I was saying, I said no which she could barely hear, she hissed then ended the call.

Thirty minutes later, I staggered into the sitting room looking rather ashen with feverish condition, clasping my arms around myself from cold,

"Oh son! How are you feeling? Worse than this morning?"


Mom asked on seeing me, coming over to feel my temperature while helping me to the three seater settee, I cringed at the zapping sensation I felt when my body came in contact with the cool touch of the leather seattee, Mom took off her head scarf and threw around my body while calling on Hamz to fetch her my blanket from my room, Hamz who was in the kitchen, busy washing a big bowl of fruits Mom had earlier bought on her way home from work, grumbled towards the sitting room, mumbling under his breath how he wasn't through with one task and she's already demanding he do another, He peeked behind the pillar towards the sitting room as he was about climbing the stairs and saw me writhing in aches and pain with my teeth gnashing from the cold that enveloped my body, quickly dashed upstairs to get the blanket and came covering my entire body with it which got me moaning in appreciation as I felt its warmth caress my shivering body.

 "Sorry Maj! I thought you felt a bit better this morning?"

 Hamz's sullen tone inquired, I shook my head,

" I also thought he seemed better  this morning but now, we just have to take him to the hospital to conduct some tests"

Mom said which got Hamz nodding in agreement,

 "Erm, what of QT and Karl?"

Mom asked,

 "Oh! They went to have their haircut"

He said with a shrug, looking at me with his face falling disappointedly, apparently at how my illness was going to affect our plans which had hitherto being going smoothly with Karl getting QT out of the house for them to go have their haircut together, We had been for days,  secretly preparing for QT's surprise birthday house party to be held at a friend's house on independence day's eve through to the next day which is Nigeria's independence day anniversary and coincidentally, QT's birthday. Mom nodded then turned towards me, tapping me gently on my thigh for me to get up  for us to go to the hospital, I moaned lazily, enjoying my sleep but Mom kept tapping me until I had to summon courage and sat up, gently placing my feet on the ground sending  me cringing again as the cold floor zapped my simmering feet, Hamz helped me to the car while Mom fetched her car keys .

I slept all through the ride to the hospital to be woken up by Hamz and along with Mom, walked into the hospital. The doctor took the test  after I told him the symptoms I had, it was diagnosed I had typhoid and given drugs for it. On our way home, Hamz kept sympathizing with me, using codes to express his sadness on how painful it would be for me to have planned a party only for me to miss it, "Typhoid sucks eh!" , he concluded, I wanted to protest out of anger at the thought of missing out on his party but was too weak to lift even my limbs, so I just grumbled endlessly, eliciting a devilish grin from Hamz.

 By now, it was 8 pm, we met Karl and QT at home eating at the dining table, Karl made some shocked facial signs at Hamz towards me at the way I was, Hamz shrugged, pulling him by the hand aside where all we heard were whispers, Mom called out, asking what was going on but both said all was well, going ahead with their whispering conversation. Mom forced me to have my dinner as I had no appetite, the meal of jollof rice and beans which had being prepared by Hamz  was badly done, almost tasteless with excess coconut oil slipping slowly through the surface but I couldn't  tell the difference in taste as my tongue was all bland from my illness, Mom managed to eat hers, shaking her head sadly all through with intermittent hisses and blurt outs of regrets at not being high handed enough to force the boys to cook often, she kept forcing  me to eat mine, reminding me of the fact that there was no other option left to choose, more so since I would be taking my medicine, I needed to eat so shutting my eyes tight and my mouth contorted irritatingly like one forced to eat a sacrificial ritual, I chowed down the food then popped my pills, throwing them  into my mouth and downing it all with water, I was so relieved to have gotten it away it.

9:45pm and Mom was already dozing off whilst watching the network news, I just laid on the rug, looking on and accepting my fate that I was going to miss the house party, Hamz kept tapping his foot frustratingly, hoping Mom would leave for her room so he can spring into action as the clock counts down to party time, occasionally checking in with calls and hurriedly typed texts to all our contacts helping with organizing and planning the party, Karl was looking rather red with anxiety while QT's face was glued to the telly, totally oblivious to all the intense emotional state his brothers were in with all we had lined up for him. By 10pm, Hamz and Karl were beginning to look like they were going to burst any moment from restlessness, they were the main organisers of the party and they were holed up at home with Mom when they ought to be at the venue of the party seeing to things being in order and going as planned, for those who don't get why they couldn't just kiss Mom on the cheeks and leave for the party venue as grown up guys that we are, hello? Have you met my Mom? High IQ and EQ, a nigerian mom through and through, thorough and has  almost zero tolerance for "frivolous" ways of the world, although in tune with what's hip and quite liberal, raised her boys with such a tough hand and a no-nonsense woman, also did I mention she's highly talented at emotional blackmailing? I am sure you all get the picture now.

Soon, I saw Hamz smiling and nodding his head satisfactorily whilst staring at his phone, as it turned out, his buddies helping out with party supplies, decorations et al were sending him snaps of how all was being decked out, all the supplies needed being delivered, the venue was looking set, the in-house disk jockey was on ground, red plastic cups, booze, chops, everything was in abundance and all that was needed was for us to ship QT in, the babes and chics expected to turn up were on their way, soft mood music was already on to usher in the revelers. It hadn't being easy putting all these together especially since the financial situation in the family had being quite grim lately, thanks to Nicole, Karl's mom who helped send some dollars to us which was used to finance the whole thing, also, we settled to having the gig at a friend's house rather than a club to save cost and also be close to home since we didn't intend on telling ma' about it. Hamz forwarded the pictures via blackberry messenger to me and Karl and looking up at each other, we gave a beam of approval, Hamz and QT's buddies are party animals with lots of experience under their belts so when we broached the idea of a surprise birthday for QT, all dedicated hands were on deck, the experience I must say was quite thrilling.

 Mom was already far gone into dream land by now, Hamz went by her side and gently tapped her,
 telling her to go inside her room to sleep, she yawned, standing up to stretch her body as I quickly pretended to be asleep, she woke me up  telling me to get up for us to go upstairs to sleep, "Lock the windows and the door please before you guys leave for your rooms" she told the boys while I trailed after her up the stairs and before departing for her room,  hugged me, bid me goodnight then went into her room, shutting the door after her, I swiftly turned back and hurried downstairs to meet Karl and Hamz convincing QT to come with them to get drinks and just have a chill time at a club nearby in commemoration of his birthday,

 "This time of the night? And since when did we start having "chill" times and frequenting clubs?"

QT asked, Hamz turned to face me asking why I'm not in bed, I felt my body and told him the pill I took did a good job to relieve me just a bit for the night,

"What night? What are you guys talking about? What have you guys being planning?"

Karl groaned angrily, blurting out we had a surprise for QT for his birthday which was outside the gate so he has to come with us, by now, it was twenty minutes to eleven pm and Hamz's phone and mine were beginning to ring non-stop, QT smiled, sensing what all these was all about and reminded us that Mom would freak out if she finds out we weren't home, recalling a similar incident which had happened before but Hamz told him to leave that issue and get dressed for us to go out, he faced me and asked if I was indeed sure I was up to the task of partying till break of dawn, I told him I was sure, so we all went to dress up even though we felt pissed from the pits of our tummies that we couldn't get QT to see the whole thing as a surprise but had no option but to go  with the flow.

We got out of the gate, settled Garba, the gateman with a few crisp 500 naira notes then blindfolded QT , holding his hands to prevent him from tripping, we  hurried down the street towards our friend's house which was all feastly decorated with specially coloured twinkling bulbs.

 All was silent when we entered, then Hamz took off QT's blindfold and everyone screamed a happy birthday as QT's surprised face lit up with excitement , hugging his buddies and us, his brothers, rap songs from the speakers filled our ear lobes as we gyrated with beautiful women till the stroke of midnight when we all sang a happy birthday song for QT and recited the Nigerian anthem, then out came booze which was gulped by most of the lads and a few ladies except my brothers and I who are teetotalers, settling for wine followed by chops and barbecue which was all gobbled up, it was indeed a nice party and by five am, we were all back in our beds and my brothers, promptly snoring almost immediately their bodies hit the bed.

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