Tara: A Baker's Adventure

002

AT FIRST, MOMMY STARTED drinking a daily mixture of honey, ginger, and lemon juice drowned in hot water because she believed it helped to aid her digestion at night. However, it seemed to me like she had now forgotten why she started drinking it in the first place. The first thing she drank in the morning now, in place of her usual black tea, was this mixture that had quite a scent which was all over the place.

"I just finished speaking with Ewa's mother," Mommy didn't look at me as she cut up some ginger for grating. "Ewa is getting married next month."

I gulped down the water I was drinking. "Wow, that's amazing—"

"What is amazing about it to you?" her tone held a subtle hint of mockery and pity for me. Like she felt sorry that I had to be hearing the news of one of my childhood friends getting married before me.

"Um, everything?" I sighed inwardly, already knowing what was coming. "Mommy, I—"

"What is amazing is that the girl is almost four years younger than you are, Tara, and she is finally settling down. What is it, Tara? Why are you trying to embarrass me?"

"Why will I want to embarrass you?" 

"What are you trying to do, then, if you haven't brought a man home? The children of my mates are getting married. There's a wedding every weekend, and I can't go because I don't want to be answering questions about when you'll be getting married." Mommy was very good at being dramatic. If she wasn't taking my statements too literally, she was going on for way too long about how sugary I made my doughnuts while managing to finish an entire basket of them. It wasn't my first time hearing her say something along those lines. However, I noticed that for every time she said it, she had a more worried look on her face. 

"You don't go because you don't want to go, Mommy. Don't make that about me," I retorted tiredly.

"Whatever you say since you are now a reader of minds and actions, but bring a man home." She looked away from me, adjusting the piece of cloth she wrapped around her waist before picking up the ginger piece to return to grating it. "When was the last time you went on a date? Have you even had a boyfriend before?"

"I have had a boyfriend," I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Yes. In secondary school," my younger sister's tone was snarky as she walked into the dining room from the kitchen, but she did well by hiding the small smirk on her face with the cup of tea she pushed to her lips.

"How many times have I warned you to stop putting your mouth in matters that don't concern you?" I glared at her before looking back at my mother and letting out a breath, ignoring my sister who was now mumbling something to herself. "There was Kasope."

"Was that one a boyfriend?" My mother's mock laughter reminded me of my stupidity. "He was barely a boy."

"Is it not when there's a man in the picture that one gets married?" I asked tiredly. "What do I do? Order one?"

"I am not asking you to do that, Taraoluwa," my mother answered my question seriously, clearly not seeing that it was a sarcastic one. 

"Then, let's not talk about this for now?" I looked up at her with hopeful eyes, but she looked dissatisfied which caused me to add under my breath, "And it's very bold of you to assume that I'd like to get married. Jesus didn't."

Jesus was always Mommy's biggest argument, and it felt very good to know that I could use this against her. She loved Jesus so much, and that was why she had been very consistent in waking me and Tise up every Sunday morning to get ready for church. The love I had for Mommy was a lot, but she needed to know that turning morning devotions into actual services and asking me,'What would Jesus do?'  first if I ever needed her advice on something, scared me away. 

"What did you say?" she looked at me sharply. "He didn't get married, so what? Are you Jesus?"

"It makes me feel good and very encouraged that one of the coolest men in history didn't get married, in case you don't know," I shrugged.

"That man had a mission. I don't think he needed a wife. If he did, wouldn't she have stopped him from going to die for all of us?"

"So, I don't have a mission? The daughter you gave birth to doesn't have a purpose. Is that it?" I smiled to myself the moment I realized I had caught my mother in a tight spot. "I have to get to work now, Mommy. I'll see you in the evening."