SHE

                                                                                        On the eve of every closing, it was always Kay's ritual to escape the austerity of the office. She paid herself a treat. That usually meant time with her hubby and doing something special. The last time, which was… six months ago… heavens.. She thought, bewildered. The last time, she got home early and fixed dinner. It was fearful. Her husband could eat fufu at 3am in the morning if he was up to it. Kay also knew it somehow, it almost always puts him in a cheery mood. They passed the rest of the evening watching Lord of the Rings again. It was a favorite time, when she bore his full attention. Sometimes they forgot the movie; Kwame told the funniest stories with outrageous im...

Babs took the day off.  She had called in sick. She knew Kwame would hear of this but would not object. They both knew the space was direly needed. It was getting hard keeping up the pretense at work. Just last week at a routine monthly meeting, Kwame was pushing for cuts in the work budget for the extras that were being used for the new project. It was logical. New Horizon films could do without it. Babs objected.  Her reasons were that the extras had to be enough to fill out the shots on location. It  made for the right feel the documentary was supposed to portray. Maybe it was all the talk of cutting out extras ,maybe Babs had begun to feel like the extra in Kwame's life. The analogy brought so much anger, it was inexplicable. Usually, Babs was skillful at keeping her cool but in that instant, she was desperate to assert her presence in his life. I must matter to this man, she thought at the time when they barraged heated remarks across the conference hall ...

Jennifer was tapping at her steering wheel,wondering how she could dodge the traffic she saw ahead of her. It was a slow-moving traffic. She was two hours late; A third time this week. She was dreading a complaint from Theo's school soon. Making excuses at work to pick her son early from school was becoming a routine, she truly did not know how she would keep up any more. E specially if you have a lady boss with a neck like a trunk,monitoring you like a hawk with a serious case of indigestion,  she thought to herself. She had to laugh in-spite of the pressure that was building up in her head. "Where do you come up with these images",she asked herself, chuckling. Jennifer knew she had a mouth on her. It came from a rather wild imagination. In her mind, everything and anything, if put together right could birth endless laughter. That is how she got by. How she survived. Her wry sense of humour and adventure. It had got her in so much... trouble in the past.  ...

                                                     Adwoa had no business being here.. It was late and she was walking a drunk man she hardly knew to his residence... Apart from the the fact that he was heavy and he smelled of fried fish and beer, her high heels had become almost unbearable to walk in.. Just my luck, she thought.. I'll kill Babs for this. That's why she never did hook ups. The pretence was heavy and silly.. Never mind that she had been sexless for three years .  It is my choice ! Her own thoughts screamed at her.. Even if it wasn't, it was much better than being saddled with a heavy set drunk who could barely string two words together.. And was he..? "Hey.. Hey! Are you- oh shit! For the love of God!, she yelled as the man that hung over keeled over with vomit on the side walk. There was no version of life a date could go...

Photo Credits:Danny O'Connor "Next! Neext!, Hey my friend! will you move it, you think we have all day eh? Hurry up and look for your seat!" The big WOMAN standing in front of the examination hall had made it her business to ensure that the whole ID screening process was as tense as possible. She was burly, austere in the face and she was using it to her advantage. The girls were scared. Kay was fifth in line. To say, she was nervous would not begin to describe it. She was afraid that her nausea would take over;she was struggling to walk straight. "I have to make it through this paper" She kept reminding herself. She knew she would ace it, if only she could keep her head from swimming. Unconsciously her hand went to the small bump  on her belly that was steadily growing. The thought of  new life developing inside her made warmed her. "Hey! are you alright"? the burly WOMAN asked. Suddenly Kay was before the giant WOMAN. Clothes damp with sweat, she...

"What? No No no no no, no, you said that the last time, Kwame, no, NO you are not going to do this to me.!  I have already made reservations, this is very last minute! She what? So cancel i dont care, you will not leave me hanging tonight, not again! God! why do I put up with your shit? Argh!. If Kwame was the giant glass door way at the office entrance right now, she knew her yelling would have him cracked in a million non-recognizable pieces.  She banged the phone in its set several times  until it broke her well-manicured nail. She only managed to topple it over the office glass table and onto the floor.  She screamed some more... until her screams become hardly audible sobs. She didn't care if there was anybody in office that could hear her. She just didn't care. In any case it was well past  working hours, there couldn't be anyone significant around.  She felt strength seep out of her very soul, with every strangled cry "I can't.. I just can't......