We woke up on a Sunday morning to a loud noise in the kitchen. "Who is there?" My dad shouted from his room as he picked up his torch and a wooden walking stick he always kept close. We followed him closely, thinking someone had broken into the house or was trying to break in. To our greatest surprise, it was my sister.
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"What are you doing in the kitchen as early as 3am?" My dad asked looking at the wall clock behind us.
"I wanted it to be a surprise. I want to cook different dishes today, so I needed to start early so I can meet up and follow you guys to church." Glory, my sister responded with a big smile on her face.
"You should have said something when I asked who was there." My dad said as he walked back to his room.
"Don't worry, Dad, I will make it to you later today. There will be rice and stew, there will be jollof rice, and most of all, there will be fried rice." Glory shouted so he could hear her.
"Don't you think that will be too much or even result in wastage?" I asked, "Also, what's the occasion? Are you bringing people that will eat all of that over, or is all of that just for family?" I asked again, but since she was older than me, she did not deem it fit to answer my questions, and all she did was stare at me as she continued what she was doing.
She was in the kitchen until 8am, but she managed to prepare all the dishes like promised and served everyone fried rice for breakfast. Even after serving everyone fried rice for breakfast, we still had rice and stew alongside jollof rice in the kitchen, all untouched, and then the fried rice that remained was still enough to go round twice. The food was too much, and I could already see how things were going to go if we didn't get visitors or friends coming to eat all that with us.
After church service I invited two of my friends home; we ate to our fill again, but there was still much food left.
"There was no occasion, no wedding anniversary or anything, so why did you people cook this much food?" Emmanuel, my friend who entered the kitchen to see all the flasks where the foods were stored, asked.
"My brother, I don't know what came over my sister ooo, we woke up this morning to the news that there will be different dishes for today's Sunday, and that was it." I responded as I saw him off.
Everyone did what they could to ensure that the food did not go to waste. We ate plenty, even more than needed and even unnecessarily, just to ensure that the food was not thrown away, or even if it ends up that way, the quantity that will be thrown away will not be that much, but the more we try, the more we see that all efforts were in vain because the more we eat, the more we realize that the food my sister cooked was way beyond something we can finish in a day and on our own.
Every family member brought a friend or two just so that the waste that was forthcoming would be avoided, but all to no avail. At around 9 p.m the food we had left was enough to feed at least 30 people, and there were only 7 of us in my family, and about 4 people said they were filled and there is no way they could eat again. My mom just kept mute and did not say a word. It was the first time in history that something like this was happening, and she did not yell; she just sat back and was watching.
My sister warmed the food up in the best way she could. Since there was still much food left, she could not warm the food well, and on Monday morning we woke up to both the jollof rice and the fried rice tasting sour.
The white rice remaining was not much and not enough to go round, and we had to boil another, and it was at that moment we realized that even the raw rice left was small, and that was when my mom uttered a word.
"Waste not, want not." My mom said, as she smiled, we all know that smile meant we were about to learn a lesson, as she would do nothing to help us.