Did great thinkers of this world not say that one cannot eat his cake and have it? In my case, I have eaten and digested my cake and there is no way I can have it back. The enormity of my problem unfolded before me when my eldest sister visited me the other day to tackle me on my marital status. She was on leave in Rivers State and decided to take out time to see me in Lagos.
After dinner, she thanked me half-heartedly and told me how badly she had always wanted to talk to me about my bachelorhood.
“I am listening, Sister,” I told her. She is one of the persons I hold in high esteem, perhaps after our late mother.
“In the past, we just brushed past it but I think the time has come for us to call a spade a spade. Mike, I do not believe that this is ordinary. I have personally brought you three well-groomed girls to pick from, yet you could not find them attractive. Mama tried her best to carry your child but you personally refused to marry. At your age, it is unheard of, that you could still be single;’ she said.
“Sister, honestly, I am being careful. Most of these girls are just not good for marriage. It’s not my fault that Mama did not live to see my own kids but I was being careful. I hate divorces”. I told her but that only got her worked up.
“What nonsense are you talking about Mike? Who likes divorces? Have you been to the village lately? Your age mates have kids in the university. And here you are?’
She ran her hand around to indict my sparsely furnished mini-flat at Agege, Lagos.
“What will you tell people is taking your money? You are afraid of divorces, so how has it rubbed off well on you?”
“Sister, I will tell you the gospel truth. I have not found someone I could commit to. Most of the women I encounter are just not dependable,” I told her frankly.
“Mike in a few weeks from now you will be 50 years old. You know what that means? Have you not heard of a fool at 40? We are talking about 50 years here,” she said.
“I am on this trip and it is very important because the spirit of Mama has been worrying me. Each time I lie down to sleep, she would appear to me in the dream. The only thing she would be saying is Mike. She thinks something is wrong with you. And I believe the same thing too:’
