We were about to round up Friday's lecture when my phone beeped with an SMS from Daddy David saying I should stop at his house while coming back from school because there was something he wanted to show me. Usually, anytime I get such stop over call or SMS from him, I usually get something good like foodstuffs when going back home. So the SMS elevated my mood, and my attention towards the lecture was totally replaced by imaginations on what I was going to receive from Daddy David. I was in my heart, giving the lecturer stop time to end the lecture so I could go.
The lecture ended after about 25 minutes from that moment and I didn't wait for any of my friends, I sneaked out of the crowd coming out of the class hall and headed directly to their house, with my mind focused and calculative.
I got there, I met him, his wife and their 3-year-old boy, David. They're one family that took me as one of them, so anytime I got there, I was always free as a member of the house.
He got up and returned in a jiffy with a black carton that looked like that of a phone.
"Since you don't have a phone, my wife wants to sell her phone and I don't know if you will be interested" He said as he dropped the carton on the table, opened it and brought out a very black sparkling Infinix phone.
"Honestly, I'm ready to manage this my small phone that looks like a calculator untill I save enough money to buy a brand new phone because I'm not going to buy any fairly used phone again" I said as I picked up the phone to examine it.
"Hehehe, Kingsley this phone is good as new, can't you see it." The wife added from where she was seated playing with her boy.
"New because they changed the screen and pack? Hahahah!" I wasn't a baby into phone then, even though the phone was sparkling, I knew that what I was seeing were replaced products. My previous purchase of such product which was my fourth time, dealt with me so badly that I vowed never to buy a second-hand phone again.
Well, I don't know how it happened, I was convinced to buy it at a very cheap price and they made me violate the rule I set for myself; never to buy any fairly used phone because I wasn't ready to run the gauntletagain.
That afternoon, I paid in full via mobile transfer because the price was actually fair and I went home with it. When I got home, I didn't let my friends know about it because they would talk me down so badly after I had boasted to them that I would never buy a 'second-hand phone'.
That night, there was electricity so I charged it very well and operated it while charging it and I didn't notice any error until the next day when I woke up, turned on the data and saw the battery that was at 92% run down to 16% within 8mins and eventually shutdown.
"It can't be" I shook my head, opened the back, removed the battery and hey, the battery was hot at 100 degree census. I let it cool down before putting it back. I switched it on and it refused to power. At that moment, I regretfully felt I just wasted my money and I was about to suffer from the same fate again.
Time reached 9:30am, and I walked to Daddy David's house to complain about what I noticed.
"Did you turn on many apps at the same time? You know you press phone too much and I guess you've given it the dose of what your other phones normally take and it couldn't withstand it"
All he said sounded like a joke to me. He knew already that the phone was not good and they just wanted to sell it off with lies that the wife needed the money to buy a product for her cream shop.
"I didn't even open another app aside WhatsApp? So WhatsApp is too heavy for a phone as smart as this?"
"Don't worry, I'll take it to Warri today to give a phone engineer that I know to check on it." His suggestion was appealing to my ears, I okayed him, dropped the phone and left.
Evening came, he informed me via SMS that the issue has been rectified and he bought a new battery for the phone as well and I should come and take it the next day because he wants to charge it to full that night. I was excited that I was getting back my phone in a beautified way. All through the night of that day, my mind, though happy, was restless hoping for tomorrow to come quickly.
The next day, I got my phone, used it and the battery's speedy run down, happened again, though not so fast as it was in my first usage.
Well, I had to accept my fate, I didn't disturb him again but my intention towards him and the family changed.
I battled with the phone for about three months until the money I was expecting arrived and I bought a brand new phone. Although it was a low budget phone, I loved it, it never gave me issues like my previous ordeals with the second-hand phones.
Thanks for reading.
Photos are mine