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As a golden rule, uncle Obinna leads the entire family in prayer each morning at 5:30am. And ever since Uju joined the fold, it has been her job to wake up Kamsi and Ebere on time for prayers, go to the backyard balcony under the blackened sky to switch on the water pumping machine and afterwards, come back in, put some water in the kettle for tea, making sure to set the stove right and then set aside the living room table for the solemn family gathering to take place right in the middle of the parlour. Uju has no alarm clock or cellphone to rouse her at the top of the hour at 5:00am sharp. All she has is her little digital watch which beeps at said time like a hungry mouse. She won it in a school quiz competition nearly two years ago back at her home town. Nevertheless, despite this now ageing apparatus and her usual nightly exhaustion from daily chores, she is still able to wake up each day roughly at about 5:00am, in part, due to Nne's natural circadian clock training back in the village. Early in the morning, they would both wake up and go out together to set up the firewood, gauze and trays to start roasting rounds of fish for the day's market sales. Nne was a dried-fish trader at the community market. Also, Uju's recently renewed subconscious motivation to rise early comes from the fear of the dire consequences of not doing so, and of aunty Obiageli possibly waking up before her and catching her still sleeping just beside the dining room on her threadbare mattress. Sadly, in the past four weeks, this has happened a few times and the beating Uju received was beyond dreadful. Hence, subsequently she has tried her best never to be caught off guard and re-traumatized. Her mind and body sort of seek to protect her by triggering her to wake at five.

It is Tuesday and on this fateful morning, Uju wakes up as usual, raises her flat craggy mattress from the cold hard floor and runs to Kamsi and Ebere's room to wake them up. Afterwards, she heads toward the kitchen and upon getting there, tries to unbolt the back door of the house. After doing so, she opens it and is about to sprint out of the house to perform her usual task but then becomes woefully mortified by what she sees. Underneath the fiery bulb illuminating the backyard is a mask-wearing human, ominously dressed with the length of his arm cradled between the torn mosquito net and bar rails of the master's bedroom window on the opposite end of the balcony. In equal shock, he turns back viciously to look at her as she opens the door.
At the sight of him, Uju's frightened heart stops and then almost immediately begins to pound like an engine, and with lightning speed, she quickly slams the iron door and bolts it from behind before he can make any move. Then she runs into the living room and then into the narrow passage to the master's bedroom door and knocks on it screaming, "Uncle Obinna! Mummy!.. There's a burglar outside your window!!.."
Uju continues to breath in horror as the couple wakes up to the sound of her dishevelled voice and the loud running footsteps of the marauder while he sprints toward the six-foot concrete fence of the compound in order to scale it.

Uncle Obinna opens the door. "Where is Ebere.. and Kamsi?" he asks anxiously.

"They're in their room." Uju replies, trying to catch her breath.

"Call them to the parlour, and tell them to stay away from the windows."

"Alright, sir." Uju responds and runs to the other side of the house to inform the girls.

About thirty minutes later, the entire family is standing by the threshold between the dining room and the kitchen, panicking severely and communicating in hushed tones while uncle Obinna speaks on the phone to one of the local vigilante guards assigned by dwellers of the community to protect the neighborhood. He informs him and the rest of the crew about the details of all that transpired and the most recent developments. During this long conversation, Obiageli turns to ask Uju, "Where did you say you saw him?"

"Behind your room window, ma. As I opened the back door to go out and put on the water pump. He cut the net and was dipping his hand through the window searching for something to steal, just by your dressing table."

"And you were just standing there.. watching like film?" Obiageli responds with scorn.

Uju is shocked at how she can even afford to be petty or vindictive at this time and then responds, "I didn't know if he was armed. That's why I quickly closed the door and rushed to wake you and uncle."

"But before you go outside, you no dey look first??" she asks again.

"I.." Uju attempts to respond, but then restricts herself, to avoid an escalation.

"You just wake up.. and the first thing you do is to jump outside like mumu. You for no close the door nau. Mtchew.."

Uju remains silent.

Obiageli continues, "You get luck sey ee no thief any of my gold. You for go market go buy new one, use your head pay put."

After the vent, there is a prolonged pause.

Kamsi then turns to Uju and cuts into the silence, apparently concerned and recovering herself from the frightening ordeal, "But it was just one person sha, not more than one."

"Yes, just one guy. At least, the only one I saw." Uju responds.

When uncle Obinna is finally done with his phone call, he comes back from the dining room to relay the update to the panicking group, "The vigilantes are around now. So don't worry. From what we've seen, it was likely just one person. Everything is fine and we are all safe. We will have our morning prayers now, to thank the Lord Almighty for sparing us from this demonic ordeal."

"Yes oo." Obiageli echoes in affirmation.

"Nothing was lost and no one was harmed." uncle Obinna adds, with his usual calm and sophisticated eloquence. The children equally breathe out in relief and then start to hug each other and their mother.

"Sugar mummy, we are safe oo." Kamsi says.

"Yes oo, my darling. I'm too young and pretty to go.." Obiageli responds engagingly and they both laugh.

"God knows his children." Uncle Obinna adds soothingly and with fervent certainty, in a bid to heighten the euphoric mood and to validate his and their collective sense of exceptionality.

Uju at this point simply stands on, at the side, watching all of them with concealed scorn at their shallowness, bland existential awareness and religious hypocrisy. She is most infuriated by Obiageli, whose nearly psychotic cruelty is proving each day to know no bounds. Nevertheless, she decides to takes a deep breath and soothe her mind by focusing on the fact that a potential catastrophe has just been averted. Considering the way it happened, she knows that it could've turned out much worse particularly for her, had she not shut the door in time. She takes in another deep breath and then echoes within herself, looking up toward the ceiling,  "Thank you Lord."

Afterwards, they all head to the living room for an intense round of morning prayers and thanksgiving. Halfway into the prayer session, Uju walks back to the kitchen to put some water in the kettle and then on the stove, as per her assigned duty. Then when the prayers are finally done at around 6:30am, Obiageli and Kamsi go back to their bedrooms to get some more rest. Uncle Obinna begins to get ready for work. And Ebere starts to get ready for school. Uju, having not yet been re-enrolled in any school herself, moves on to fulfill the remainder of unique tasks assigned to her, which include preparing breakfast for the family, starting with the two people about to leave the house. When the water boils, she makes some hot tea for the father and then some cocoa beverage for the daughter while she takes a bath and starts to iron her highschool uniform in her bedroom.

Gradually, the suburban middle class home returns once again to quintessential normalcy.

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GLOSSARY
"But before you go outside, you no dey look first??" - "But before going outside, aren't you supposed to check first?"
"You just wake up.. and the first thing you do is to jump outside like mumu. You for no close the door nau. Mtchew.." - "After waking up, the first thing you do is to jump outside like a fool. Perhaps you shouldn't have closed the door (after seeing him- sarcasm)"
"You get luck sey ee no thief any of my gold. You for go market go buy new one, use your head pay put." - "You're lucky he didn't steal any of my gold jewellery. You would've gone to the market to buy me new ones and paid for them with your head."