Slow Down: (D)anger Ahead

One fine morning, a young girl had just received an sms, and on opening it, discovered that a friend had topped up her phone with credit. What a beautiful surprise it was! To think she was yet to call her favorite uncle to wish him a happy birthday but for lack of credit.

Immediately she dialed her uncle's number and on picking up, he was full of joy. All pleasantries over, on and on he went, asking all sorta unrelated questions. You see he hadn't spoken to his niece in a while and wanted to catch up on all he had missed. She appreciated the concern but she sure hadn't anticipated this. To spend so long on the phone call. Several times, she tried to bring the conversation to an end but to no avail. He was relentless. This was getting annoying. He knew she was a student, the least she expected was for him to be considerate of her credit. Haba! Or should I end the call abruptly and pretend the service went off?, she thought to herself. But her conscience wouldn't allow her. This was an uncle who had "raised" her on several occasions when she was broke. She felt uncomfortable cutting him mid-sentence.

Sighing in resignation, she laboriously answered all the questions and asked a few of her own for formality sakes. Big mistake. A question on how his work was going, translated into a long and detailed explanation on the intricacies of his job. What a jerk! She thought. After what felt like an hour, he finally brought the conversation to an end. By this time, the girl was outrightly furious, as she hurriedly rushed him off the phone. She hadn't even thanked the person who sent her the credit, she fumed, and snapped "Bye uncle", as she cut him off.

Whew!

Call duration 10:36.

I hope I still have some credit left, she thought, rolling her eyes as she dialed *556# to check her credit balance.

"MtnPayGolBal: N1500.00", it said. Her credit was still intact. This was beyond amazing!

"Does it mean I wasn't being charged for that call all along? Ope O!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Finally she could call Bukunmi to thank him for the credit.

On going through her call log she discovered something that would have made her red with embarrassment had she been white.

All the time she had been upset with her uncle and he had been the one that had called her!

Apparently, when she called, he cut her off and called her back, but it happened within so short a while that she hadn't realized especially as her phone was permanently on silent and she wasn't looking at the screen.

No wonder he had spoken for so long!

As she was still pondering over this revelation, consumed with shame, she received another sms.

This time it was to inform her that her uncle who minutes ago she had called a jerk, had sent N3000 worth of credit to her.

This was too much.

Never had she felt so awful, mortified and embarrassed all at once.

As she called her uncle to thank him, he ended the call and called her back right away, telling her she needn't waste her credit on him.

She got off that phone call with a heavy heart.

Who was the jerk after all?

Me.

That girl was me minutes ago.

And here I am on Shame avenue off Anger road.

I learnt a big lesson today.

TO BE SLOW TO ANGER.

Sometimes things aren't what they seem. Its a process...but I'm pretty sure I shall be remembering this day when next I'm about to hit boiling point.


xxx