Two Mistakes Ago

Chapter 2

The imbecile didn't bother to carry his fat self out of bed the whole time my Sheila was gone. He just kept his bulging eyes glued to the 32 inches TV set. Halfway through his omnibus, he stormed into the kitchen and returned with a bowl of anointed rice (It was just too oily). After he consumed everything, he left the bowl under the bed and picked up Sheila's black hair dye. He stood in front of me and tried to use the glass in front of the clock as some sort of mirror and applied the hair dye on his hair and beard in a very unprofessional way. I felt like punching the jerk...His only aim was to cover the strands of grey hair that were showing up in his beard and hair. Why was I not surprised? Grey hair is a sign of wisdom, and when I was human, I had loads of them. It was therefore not surprising when our dear Seth was trying to hide his own grey hair...obviously he knew he wasn't wise enough to possess them.  I just wondered what name I should give to this mistake Sheila had brought to her home.

"Seth! I am back", she announced as she entered the room. Her hair was a bit messy, but it made her look quite attractive and her purple lipstick complemented her skirt.

" Oh...you are back aren't you?"

"I just said that Seth, and please what's the meaning of this!!???" She said pointing and staring  dreadfully at the dirty bowl under her bed and her messed up hair dye.

"I made rice." He said and tossed on the bed again smiling broadly at a fictional character inside the TV.

She said nothing, instead she picked up her phone and called her aunt Mara. That woman was something else. She had six kids, I mean six roguish boys who had vowed to never make her know peace ( At least that's what she said the day she came to visit Sheila. Her fat chubby cheeks and gleeful clothes didn't really make her look like someone living with the boys though). She lived in Cape Coast and owned a huge coffee shop somewhere inside the Cape Coast University such that she was so busy making sure over 50,000 students had coffee daily.(over 50,000 could mean they gave up counting when they reached number 50,000). No wonder she did everything in a haste. The pressure in there did not give her the luxury of doing things at a normal pace.

Sheila placed the phone on her left shoulder and tried to undress.

"Aunt Mara! Can you hear me? How's you?"

The phone was on loud speaker this time, so I could comfortably eavesdrop. (I wasn't eavesdropping though, it wasn't my fault I could hear them naturally)

"Sheila Anang!!!On which side of my bed did I sleep today? I guess I'll have to sleep there again. It has brought me good luck!! You have called me today!"

"Stop exaggerating Aunt! No wonder your kids secretly call you Mama exa! I call you at least twice every month. It's just that this month hasn't been smooth at all..."

"Haha! I know...Are you planning a wedding or something? What's keeping you busy?"

"Aunt! Don't raise this marriage topic now.. Please..."

"I'm just saying my dear, you are not growing any younger...You need to settle down...

"I know..but Aunt! I was wondering do you still need an extra hand in your shop?"

"Well, Ato will be the right person to answer that...Ato is my manager..."

"Oh..okay.. There's this homeless, jobless friend of mine I want you to help. He's a bit old and big but he'll try."

Sheila kept talking on the phone with Aunt Mara as she changed into a white top with the inscription "forward ever, backward never" across her back. She moved slowly into the hall and her voice could no longer be heard. Then it dawned on me to look at him, the jobless, homeless potbellied friend (lover) who had dyed his hair terribly. He was sweating profusely and his glassy eyes made him look like a crow. Something flashed across those eyes and his lips twisted slowly into a shape I couldn't name.. Perhaps if I had taken my geometry lessons seriously I wouldn't have been struggling with the name of that shape but the long and short of it all was that, he was ANGRY! Very ANGRY...

Sheila ended the call and came back into the room. Seth stood up immediately and hugged her back tightly.

"I am not going to Cape Coast my love.. I love you so much. I don't want to leave you here all by yourself in Accra, I cannot live a second without you", He started kissing her neck seductively...

"Seth, Seth, Seth!!! Stop it. You and I know you can live without me. In fact you have been living well without me your entire life. Don't even talk to me about love. You can't live without me this very moment because you are very lazy and you are just trying to be a permanent parasite. But the good news  is that you need to man up!  Start afresh and try to rebuild your life. You ARE going to Cape Coast."

"I feel you want to throw me out, just because I am poor. All women are the same. All you truly love is money."

"Well, just think of it that way. I am comfortable with that."

"Sheila, I hope by sending me to Cape Coast you are not trying to get rid of me forever?"

"Genius! That's exactly what I intend doing. I am breaking up with you!"

He looked defeated. His sweet talk didn't work on her. That look on his face was familiar. That was the look on Tom's face whenever Jerry escaped all his dirty tricks.

I felt relieved. I was proud of my Sheila. She deserved a better man. A strong, hardworking and passionate gentleman. The kind of man I was some decades ago.

Please do keep your comments coming:):) I would be delighted to know your thoughts about the new character I introduced in this chapter, Aunt Mara..
X.O...EstellaApenuvor.