Some years back, when I was still at home and schooling in secondary school, there was a time the Glo company introduced a free call mode that allowed people to call and talk with random individuals to make virtual friends. It worked in such a way that once you dialed a particular four-digit number, the call would get connected to anyone else dialling that same number at that particular moment. So we had loads of fun talking with people, especially ladies. Of course, once a guy picked up, we would end the call and dial again with the hope of connecting with a lady. I still have a friend I made during that season.
If you’re a Nigerian and didn’t hear or experience this thing, it’s either you were a baby then or you were not into phones. Lol.
Superstition stepped in!
We were living in a family compound then, and I was privileged to have my own room. That’s why all my friends in the neighborhood would gather there to have fun. One day, my dad got curious about how my room had suddenly become an every-minute gathering point for everyone. He also noticed how we were always on calls speaking English, which indicated we were talking to people we didn’t know personally. He traced us down to my room, and when he found out what we were doing, he raised an alarm, claiming we were talking with ghosts.
We tried to explain to him that there was nothing like talking to ghosts, and that there was no harm in what we were doing. But my dad refused to believe us. The endless calls and the uncontrollable happiness we expressed each time we made such calls really convinced him that there was something spiritual attached to the call. He also emphasized how strange it was that the calls were free of charge and endless.
It didn’t end there. When he reported it to a policeman whose son was among us, the mother of that boy took it upon herself to seize the boy’s phone. According to her, she didn’t want any harm coming near her home because she had heard that one can actually be killed or used for rituals via phone calls.
My dad became a bit calm afterward, but my mom took it very seriously too, with shouts and queries about how we were talking with unknown people. She always ended her rants with this question: “Don’t you know that the world is dynamic?”
That’s how we lost interest in making the calls. Although we still tried to make them in hiding, it was no longer as fun as it used to be. Also, those superstitious warnings got into our minds a little, because we had actually heard stories of people who died after picking calls from evil individuals.
While writing this, I laughed out loud, reminiscing about that sweet and funny old season. The shouts and accolades we used to throw whenever a lady picked up, and also how our parents were dead serious about the supposed evil in talking with unknown people—those were fun days.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Digi-prompts of the week
Photo source: MetaAI