Ruin

3

Monday: 7:30pm
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Trying to control the urge to text someone you badly want to talk to is a different kind of pain...

I clear the text I had typed for the millionth time and sigh.

The door screeches open and I look up to see Mummy tunneling through.

"Watch yah nuh, mi lef di bleach bottle same place pon the wash stand 'round a back," I hear Mummy grumble to herself as she enters the livingroom and closes the door behind her. "But me know who naah guh back out deh suh inna night yah, suh it affi stay' til mawning..."

Her footsteps echo throughout the room as her sandals squeak under her body's pressure.

For someone her height, her steps were as heavy as a giant's.

"But seeyah, a when you come home?" she asks as our eyes make four. She puts down the clothes pin basket and dries her hand in the bath towel she has strung over her shoulder. "Evening."

"Evening, Mummy," I answer without my usual enthusiasm.

I am tired and my head hurts.

The kettle's whistle sounds from the adjoining kitchen.

"So, wait...why your face mek up suh like rain?" Mummy asks, observing me through narrow eyes.

Because I've been here for over forty-five minutes waiting for Odaine to call and until this blessed hour, he hasn't.

My head and tummy hurts, possibly from not eating anything of substance today, and I'm worried sick that something has happened to my boyfriend.

I immediately plaster a smile that I can tell looks fake just by how it feels.

"It's nothing, Mummy. Just had a tiring day at work," I lie.

"Fix it, man...a spoil up your nice nice face. Mi neva birth nuh ugly pickney eno, miss," she laughs and it distracts me for a second.

The kettle stops and I get up and head to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. "Suh how come yuh come from down a shop so early tonight? All wash and all these things..."

"Mi couldn't bother. Plus, mi did have how much'n dutty clothes a pile up so mi seh mek mi lock up early and just tackle dem and done." She comes and leans against the arch separating the kitchen and dinning room. "Wah yuh a mek, tea?"

I nod.

"Wah kind?" she asks, peering over my shoulder.

"Milo," I tell her as I add the sugar.

"Good. Make some fi mi deh yaah...gas full mi up nuh fart."

My phone pings and I quickly pull it out of my back pocket and open the screen. It's not who I was expecting. I clear the notification signalling that someone had followed me on Instagram and replace the phone inside my pocket.

"Suh Manda, a wah Sandra tell mi seh gwaan a mi gate yesideh? People a pop fight and bare things. Yuh hear 'bout it?"

I hand her a cup and take a seat beside her on the couch as she turns on the TV. and clicks on Madea. "Yes, mummy. See it too. Can imagine? Big woman like Keisha a fight young girl over man. Man like Marvin at that!"

I'm glad for the distraction from my own problems.

"These young people have no shame. I thank God everyday eno..."

"Yuh waan hear the woman dem, mummy, a tell who fa hole big from who fa likkle and who do dis and do that-"

"It's a disgrace in the sight of God!" she rebukes.