Sister L'quil

I just exhausted a roll of tissue before I started writing this piece and I took two shots of vodka, that I would have never taken in my entire life but I just had to forget my misery and let the vodka worry about it.

Is it a crime that I’m unmarried at 34, is it my fault that men would rather have a fling than think of starting a family with me, or whenever I try to be friendly to a particular guy, he thinks I’m going haywire as he starts ringing it loud and clear that he doesn’t see a future with an old lady so I shouldn’t get things twisted. I was almost loosing my sanity because I kept on wondering if I placed a tag on my head saying “please marry me, I’m running out of date” or behaved in any way to suggest I’m in desperate need for marriage? I agree that my expiry date is at hand or I’m living within it already but I have gotten used to it and I’m managing my condition well.

The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when my current neighbours moved in. They were a young couple and it was obvious they were still in their teething period as they quarrelled everyday. Whenever I come back from work I was welcomed with their noise, with the husband storming out of the house and slamming the door hard behind him, leaving a broken wife to cry a river in the house. I never bothered or interfered with their business because I had my issues too, but one day after another stormy session and exchange of hot words and blows, Mr Oga stormed out as usual and the poor girl was left bleeding in the room. I had to rush her to the hospital where she was discovered to have had a miscarriage. I tried calling Mr Oga the local champion, but his phone was unavailable. I paid the hospital bills and she was discharged the next day as I expected Mr Oga to say thank you, instead he ignored me as usual and perhaps thought I was invisible.

Adesua and I became close after the whole ordeal as she referred to me as “Sister L’quila” and indeed I became an elder sister to her. She would even come to my house whenever Mr Oga had gone for his usual jiving. I soon realised Adesua was a housewife at 24 and I asked her why because she has so much to give. She explained that she met Jare during youth service and got pregnant, her parents insisted he married her and pronto she became a Mrs. Loosing the pregnancy to her was a nightmare because that was the main reason she got married to Jare and the miscarriage only made things between them go from bad to worse as they no longer talk in the house “ I feel tensed anytime he is around because I don’t know the direction his hands or legs might take” she said amidst tears. I tried to give her the best possible advice I could by telling her to apply for a job and keep herself busy at least he would no longer see her as a liability but a woman that wants to assist the husband in any little way she can. Adesua applied and she got called for an interview, then I received a loud knock on my door as Mr Oga came raging in front of me. He called me a filthy old rag that had been devalued, the main reason why I’m unmarried at my old age, that I’m the one helping his wife build up castles in the air so she can be as useless as I have turned out to be. He said that I may have everything but without a man I am nothing, I closed my eyes but refused to cry as I walked him out of my house because he was uninvited.

I was just getting over that round of insult when Adesua walked in and delivered a shocker saying she doesn’t want the job and would not go for the interview that she is very happy with her loving husband. I smiled and told her that I’m happy so long she was happy and I sank to my sofa thinking, if I was married would that boy walk into my house and talk to me like that, is it the society or Mr Oga alone that thinks a single old lady like me can only cause chaos in a young couples lives?

Whenever I withdraw, it’s taken that I’m snobbish, when I talk, people think I’m loose, when I try to have a good rapport with a guy, he thinks I’m a flirt or desperate to have a ring so now  I am back to my bottle of vodka and a new roll of tissue to drink and mourn the departure of “Sister L’quila” who was haunted to death...........