When The Bully Falls in Love

This early morning. Saturday morning. A day she had always dreamed of for herself. Some graceful breeze glided through the window and she could not help but feel its calmness. It enlivened her spirit as she lost herself in some introspection. She was aware of every tiny detail now. She could hear from within and from without. Some insects and mosquitoes swooshed past a little above the upper floor. She knew how annoying those creatures could be and would have pitied those they had come to greet this morning. She could hear some loud talks in the coal tar, a little down the street. It was bus conductors and their palaver, she guessed. They were always first to wake up and last to get home. And she wondered how they maintained their health considering their busy life; even some of them didn’t eat well or wasn’t as educated to know how to eat well, and yet they had invariably come out every single day with unbelievable determination and gusto. She also was awed at their vibes, and en

Emelda paced around the room, concerned, but didn’t know what to say or do. She tried to sit but couldn’t, her heart was heavy with pains and it all seemed she was crying more than the bereaved. “She stabbed me…my sister had the guts to do it. Oh. How foolish I was. I was blind; I didn’t see it coming,” Maria said, sitting on her couch while Emelda walked around her room pensively, speechless. “We must save your husband first, Maria,” Emelda found words finally. “This is not the right time to whine or overthink” “Who will I run to if anything happens to him, God forbid,” she sobbed. If Emelda had noticed her eyes, she would say they had stooped. “My family. Would I run to them?” “Nothing will happen to your husband, Maria,” Emelda patted her on the shoulders. “Doctors said he would be fine. Isn’t that what you told me?”“Do you trust doctors? Some of them are merchants of hope”“Please don’t say that. Besides, Gee Hospital is known for its proficiency in...”“That doesn’t mean th

Bisi quietly closed the door behind her and moved to where he sat. He was watching a movie, some Chinese karate movie. “How did you know I was around,” Donald asked her, surprised.“I knew you didn’t later go last night,” Bisi said, looking around “Hope she is not around” “Emelda?”“Yes. She went to work,” Donald said, taking her hand. “What is it about you that I could not take my eyes off you the first time I saw you?” “You came from abroad,” Bisi said, drawing an imaginary line out of shyness. Donald wondered how his coming back from abroad answered his question. He couldn’t draw any connection between what he said and her answer. It dawned on him that he would be dealing with a teenager who looked smarter in appearance than in thinking. “Oh. Is that it? People abroad have answers to all mysteries?” he drew her closer and paused. A moment of awful silence besieged the whole room. And something rebuked him, a voice he didn’t know where it had come from, telling him that even i

Bisi faked a wide yawn and hoped she would stop talking. And hoped she would ask if she had eaten and maybe offer her something to eat and spare her those sermons. But she didn’t stop, and neither did she notice she was tired. She would like to digress the discussion or leave her room entirely but she hadn’t got a chance and she wouldn’t like to interrupt her or walk out on her. She would blame herself for even complaining. Because if she didn’t complain, would she have been this serious advising her as she did to her radio audience? “You don’t complain all the time for material comfort, Bisi. All of these are ephemeral and the joy it gives is transient; it doesn’t last,” she kept steady eye contact and Bisi had always been the one to look away. “I understand you have only one pair of shoes and they may wear off too quickly because of overuse, but have you thought of those that have no legs?”Emelda had, maybe, unconsciously thought she was speaking to her radio audience and so whe

“I don’t want to see you with him again. You belong to me and me alone. Don’t you get it?” Donald shouted. “But...he is my boss”“Let his bosshood end in the office. It shouldn’t go beyond that,” he paced around her living room. “Did I make myself clear?” “There is nothing between us” “I saw how he touched you. I saw it for crying out loud. How he was smiling for you. He is in love, Eme. Can’t you see it?” “You are taking this too seriously”“Why wouldn’t I, Eme?” he breathed in and kept quiet. It seemed he was letting silence do the rebuke now. He wiped the sweat dripping down to his memo shirt. “A clear conscience fears no accusation,” Emelda said, picked her bag from the couch, and left for her bedroom.“You better mean that” Emelda didn’t know what to say to make him believe there was nothing between them. Though, lately, her boss had been fond of her. From liking her to sending her on an errand, to overtasking her, to insisting she would be the one to do his private jobs.H