JIDE

I awoke to the ringing of my cellphone. I jolted awake when I tapped on the answer button and heard Mama's voice.

"Nwa m(my child)," she said in Igbo.

"Mama, how...why...? You should have waited till I called you. How much do you have to waste on call cards to reach me in the United Kingdom?" I reprimanded her.

I heard her sniffle. Had she been crying?

"Oh. So you knew all those and you have refused to call me, Jidechukwu," she sniffled again.

My heart clenched at the break in her voice. She had been crying.

"Mama, I never forgot you. I think about you all the time...