النص
The Neighbour's Note
هذا نص أدبي: الشخصيات والأحداث من نسج الخيال.
When Maya and her mum moved into their new flat, the first thing Maya unpacked was her drum kit. She had been playing for six years, and she practised every evening after school. Their old house had been on a quiet street with no close neighbours, so noise had never been a problem.
On the fourth evening, a note appeared under the door. It was written in careful, old-fashioned handwriting: “Dear neighbour, I am sure you are very talented, but I start work very early and I go to bed at nine. Would it be possible to stop playing by then? Thank you. Mr Okafor, flat 3B.”
Maya felt annoyed at first. Nine o'clock seemed far too early. But her mum said, “Imagine if someone was playing the drums while you were trying to sleep.” Maya thought about it and decided that her mum was right, as usual.
The next day, she knocked on the door of 3B with a plate of biscuits. A tall man in his sixties opened it. He looked surprised, then smiled. Maya apologised and promised to finish practising by half past eight. Mr Okafor explained that he worked at a bakery and started at four in the morning. Then he said something unexpected: “When I was young, I played the drums too. In a band, in Lagos.”
After that, things changed. Maya practised earlier, and on Saturdays Mr Okafor sometimes came upstairs to listen. He showed her rhythms she had never heard before, and she showed him songs she had found online. Once, he brought an old photo of his band: five young men with big smiles and enormous hair.
A year later, Maya played in her school concert. In the second row, next to her mum, sat Mr Okafor, clapping louder than anyone. The note was still on Maya's fridge. She had decided never to throw it away.