Tales of a Bachelor

Flying rags and waving leaves, all roofs are already perfectly polished brown with specks of dust as Christmas steps in and gradually walking out of the stage with her unruly old friend-the wind. It was an unprecedented Sunday morning, my whole being could not concentrate as the wind-tossed unceasingly from the western cardinal of my contingent condominium on one remarkable day of Christmas. I stood up from my horrible bed feeling so worn out, it was a strange one anyway. I went outside and began walking around my house, but could hear only the quacking and cackling of mocking birds, I was still about to realize that I was the only one in a whole compound that could make an independent community.

I made my way right into the kitchen to relish myself and eat extravagantly in my usual way, though, I was always looking so lean and so staggering as if I usually eat only once in a whole week. As soon as I picked up the ladle and the biggest plate in the kitchen to scoop the largest quantity of food that a mentally normal human being can never imagine, I saw a very thick customized paper hung on the wall, flying and whirling by, it caught my attention. I held it so stiff with my right hand to read through the lines, surprisingly, it was a current calendar of the year.

It was the 25th day of December as the calendar said. I could not believe it was real, maybe I needed a prophet from an uncreated planet and an astrologist from an unknown universe to manipulate my senses and make me believe, but what have they to do with all these?. There was also a wall clock, I turned my eyes so gently towards it like a humble lover of an Asian mermaid spirit. It was 10:00 am and the Christmas church service and festivities for that day at OUR MOTHER MARY CATHOLIC CHURCH were to dismiss at 2:00 am, I think I could still meet up, peradventure, I could be up and doing. So, I had to abandon the food, but it wasn't an easy decision, hence, leaving the food was such a feeling of sweet sorrow.

Clouds of dusts that filled my nose as I walked down the way to the church could erect a skyscraper. Though I had my own car that could save me the troubles of Christmas winds and bags of dust, I needed to stay low for that day. As soon as I stepped into the church compound, I turned my eyes towards my clouded wristwatch that couldn't be transparent enough, it was 11:01 am, I nodded my head in the affirmative. Am on course, I said to myself in a melodious tone and walked into the church.

Koi!...koi!!...koi!!!...that was the majestic hilarious sound of my shoes as I walked in. I never looked left or right, but I could see millions of eyes looking at me and blinking like unregulated traffic lights. When did I become this popular? Is anything wrong with me? Or is my African wear rumpled? This and many more were the unanswered questions that I continued asking myself as I sat confidently and uncomfortably while the bible readings were in progress. I felt the fragile fingers of a little Angel that touched me and looked at me on the face as if I was a seven-story building, I turned to my left and it was Kelvin, the little son of Dr. Bernard, playing with his treasured toy and walking around the church disturbing people. Little boy! How are you? I raised him up and asked, though, he was still two years old and could only rattle with words and make little meanings out of them. Can I play with your toy? I asked him again and gradually took the little toy from him with a glimpse of a smile on my face.

There was a finely attached mirror on the toy that could help me see a little of my face like a half-moon, what's this on my head? I asked rhetorically and set the boy's foot on the floor so he could continue playing and I could also face my problems and know why I have become such an eye cynosure. I gently ran my hand through my head and checked my face again to know what was on my head, I couldn't believe what I saw, it was a butterfly relaxing at the tip of my head with no worries, and that was why people were looking at me that I nearly missed my steps. Despite the impulsiveness, I was still given a front seat, this made me feel wholly unrelaxed.

The preacher man was wise enough to use political languages in his preaching to soften the hearts of the entire congregation and make them feel like a bunch of selfish beings if they had failed to empty their pockets and wallets before leaving the church, his wise words and general preaching elicited in me to judge him from his predispositions as a descendant of The Biblical King Solomon. At 1:45 pm, the service was almost over and the church steward has begun marshaling the weekly announcements, but I couldn't wait any longer for the official dismissal of the service as my whole being could no longer be in compromise with other processional activities of the church. I left the environs and fixed myself at the facade of the church building to wait for a taxi because I wasn't energetic enough to walk down the hilly-sloppy-dusty road on a biting empty stomach and sun that had much efficacy to melt down mountain Kilimanjaro, though, it all seemed to like my luck was on a Christmas holiday for that day as no taxi or even the sound of a taxi could come to my way nor ring in my wide-open ears. I had to take the bull by the horn and walk down the road with the utmost courage, hence, only the braveheart can always survive the war, though, it never seemed to me as an easy task.