Two Mistakes Ago

Chapter 3

Throughout Seth's entire life, he never understood the statement TGIF(Thank God Is Friday)..no..not until he started working with the most unbearable person on earth. Friday was his only day off at the coffee shop. He was made to work 20 hours a day, all week and he never ceased to curse Sheila for sending him to hell to live with the devil and her small small demons.

For a lazy character like Seth, serving coffee in a university full of students indirectly undergoing brain surgery was not the ideal job. Sheila should have just made him participate in one of these sleeping contests on TV 7. He would have won the medal and the money hands down.

Wondering how I managed to know this little detail? Well, Seth called Sheila every Friday to complain. But Sheila showed little or no interest in whatever he had to say. She wanted to make things clear. She was no longer his girlfriend, so she didn't have to deal with all that yapping. She was on her own now. Perhaps she wanted to be with Seth because she felt he was matured enough to support her and marry her as soon as possible. But he turned out to be a total disaster. I couldn't blame Sheila much. Her Aunt Mara pressured her constantly to get married. I am pretty sure she was more interested in Sheila's dowry than the ceremony itself. As she was the closest relative Sheila had alive, she would stand in as the mother of the bride and use that opportunity to receive so many gifts from her friends.

"...the fine fabrics, the fine china, the gowns, the jewelry, the surprises, the church bells, the buffet.. I mean everything about weddings excite me. I would stand in as your mother on that day....oh I wish my sweet sister was here, may her soul rest in peace.... Sheila please try and get married. There's a deadline for everything!...

"Aunt, all my male colleagues at work are happily or sadly married. The unmarried ones too come with their own catastrophic problems...I am not ready to adopt any overgrown boy into my already messed up life."

"My dear, listen and listen well...," her voice was getting more scary on the other side of the phone. That day when she called, Sheila had just finished washing and she was relaxing in the couch with her phone on her shoulder. She knew Aunt Mara was going to lecture her for at least two hours so she just put the phone on loud speaker and leave it there on her shoulder.

"I'm listening Aunt, I always listen... but today, you are behaving as if getting married is as simple as buying a dress."

"Sheila, I know, but you are pretty and I also know you have acquired so many suitors for yourself. Just pick one already! All men are the same. Okay, you know what tell me about your latest suitor. Maybe he's the one. You need to start seeing matured men now. Or should I set you up on a blind date?"

"What! Set me up? Of course not! Talking of suitors, well there's this potbellied fellow who won't stop harassing me. But the problem is, I don't know what he does for a living. Apparently, he lives in Marlings hotel. I see him there everyday. It's obvious he doesn't have a house. He claims he is waiting for one of his deals to be a success, then he would buy me a car, buy me a house and get married to me before....

" He's the one!," Aunt Mara interrupted even before Sheila could say what was after her before. "If he's talking about marriage then that's it. Besides he is potbellied right? Obviously he's rich. We will be swimming in money! With servants fluttering around our table. We would spend our weekends in five star hotels and enjoy life without fear."

"But Aunt, Sheila said in a very confused tone, he's a bit old..and it's very possible he would move in with me once I accept him".

"My dear, it doesn't matter. Use the bait to get the fish, remember? So it doesn't really matter."

And that was how Sheila's first mistake was created...

Seth turned out to be a disappointment. No wonder when Aunt Mara asked Sheila about the fat rich suitor, she said he had died in a motor accident. Sheila lied. Then she cunningly handed Seth over to the architect of the mistake herself.

That's why when Sheila spilled the truth about Seth to Aunt Mara, she fainted. It was no longer funny, that the jobless, homeless, potbellied friend she was talking about was the same rich potbellied suitor. And when she recovered she vowed to make Seth's life miserable. No wonder he was made to work 20/7....like a slave

Geeez......this chapter is definitely not to ridicule Ghanaian weddings, it's just something I wrote to portray Aunt Mara's shallow mindedness... Hoping to work on the next chapter ASAP..

Loads of love,
EstellaApenuvor.