Houston Reels

Texas was very warm at that time of the year. Hot air filled the atmosphere of Houston, the trees whistling, the almost stunk aroma of the woman roasting kebabs from across the street, and the rustling dead leaves from last fall. Everything reminded Isioma of her last relationship with Kent. Well, not only the leaves were dead, but her love life was also dead. She received a call from Mama last year, and as usual, the topic of discussion was her love life. “Isioma, when are you bringing a man to this house?” she asked with so much which so much repressed anger in her tone.“You know you aren’t getting any younger. Very soon, your breast will start to fall. Do you think your child can suckle oh fallen breast?” she added.Isioma remembered how lost she was when she traveled to Enugu last year for her cousin’s white wedding in St. Mathews’ Catholic Church back home in Nigeria, and how she had felt lost. She felt lost not because she was angry that her beloved and almost favorite cousin

“Good Morning, Isioma. How are you today? You are looking as radiant as ever”, he added as he stared down her hips and winked. “I am doing very well. Thank you, sir.” She responded as quickly as possible; she didn’t want to start her day with someone making moves at her, and not even someone now — her boss. She felt uncomfortable with the stare. But she was becoming used to it. She made a quick run, or walk to her office Isioma’s office was on the fourth floor, adjacent to Mr. Ross’ which was not so much of a distance from the elevator. Now, Mr. Ross was a good-looking, leanly-muscled, dark-skinned bald, chiseled-shouldered African-American man. He ticked the box of Isioma’s list: he was good-looking, he was rich, he was smart, he had a good smile, a clean and white set of teeth, and dark skin. Not to mention that he has African Ancestry too. But Isioma was never attracted to him. For one, she knew and had accepted that he was her boss. She engaged with him in a boss-worker capaci

Today was Isioma’s day off of work. She mostly had Thursdays off except in rare situations when she needed to do some ghost-writing, or when she needed to be at work. It was in the brochure and contractual terms she had signed before her employment in Marshmello Printing press. Isioma woke up in the early hours of the morning, Her alarm clock beeped twice, and after the third time of snoozing it, the courage to finally face her enveloped her at about eight in the morning.As she would do before commencing her day, she went down on her knees to pray.“Thank you, Lord Jesus, for today. That I am alive today is not because it is not by my power that I am here today but because you love and chose me and I do not take it for granted. Thank you for loving me because without your love I do not know where I would be today. Your grace, your love has kept me this far to be very honest.”While she prayed, she was interrupted by her phone’s ring tone. It beeped. Today was the day she set for her

Isioma Ejiofor wrote in her daily journal: material things cannot get you every girl,Some girls know their worth. You might bring the fanciest cars, you might take me to the highest mountains. But it might never be enoughMiss Tony Hair Salon was one of the best places in Houston, Texas. Isioma had read about it on one of the famous blogs she frequented during her less busy days. It was one of the most visited hair salons in the whole of Texas. They offered facial treatment, hair care, manicure, and pedicure, makeup services amongst others. Sometimes, the men who followed their wives to the salon would use two stones to kill a bird. The men, defying all odds of masculinity, would get their feet washed and their faces taken care of. Upon entry, one could almost assume it to be a unisex salon.After Nicky greeted her, she proceeded to sit on a wooden chair. Nicky was an Afro-Indian woman who owns could presume to be in her late thirties. She had a few Nicky Tony owned and ran the salo

Rania the secretary of the hotel was just called by her boss, Mr. Mike ross to come and give an account of the last sales they made from advertising one skincare product in their last quarter of the year. The media franchise of the Marshmello Printing Press had been running beauty campaigns for one of the most expensive luxury brands in the United States.One would think that the company got the advert placement based on merit alone. Sure, they may have gotten it a little off of merit. People like Isioma stay heartbroken every day just so that the company would have enough heartbreak stories to churn out every single year, but there was something more that most people did not know about.Dr. Skims was one of the most popular companies in the whole United States. They sold beauty products to women in all shapes and forms. They had a brand for their liquid wash, their moisturizers, and their sunscreen. Their motto was, “making beauty accessible for every woman.”When they first launched