The Best Man

Shut-down, Shut-down, Shut-down! It wasn’t a laptop, desktop or device that shut-down. It was Tracy’s mind. 

At first she thought it just blanked out. But she found out her mind was fatigued.

She had to deal with too many things for a few months and it had been overwhelming. 

If anyone had told her that marriage would be like this she wouldn’t have believed.
Yes, she heard a lot of people
 who offered advice on her wedding day told her that marriage was not a bed of roses. Some others told her it was a school and learning ground. 

She agreed and accepted but somewhere in the recess of her mind that part that some people referred to as ‘Church mind’ she never believed it. It can’t be that bad!

She, like most of her friends and many other youths didn’t believe marriage was that bad. 

Yea, parents would always tell you it was not easy and paint pictures but it was worse.  

Eyes could not see it, the mind could not even capture it.

 And the worst aspect was parents still encouraged – scratch that; pushed their kids to marriage without fully preparing them for what they would face. 

The main culprits were parents with patched or broken marriages. 

She remembered her friend’s mum. MJ had to marry a rascal because her mum didn’t give her peace. Mary, marry, marry was all her mum sang to her. 

They pushed you into the fire and left you to deal with it. Marriage was far bigger than the mind could capture. She was happy when she got married but it had been sadness all the way. 
To think of the fact that someone would also be excited about marriage and keep thinking they will live happily ever after. Rubbish!

Fast forward to this present day and moment.

Tracy shook her head and shook her mind. She had to keep moving forward. 

This meant getting back to what brought her to this spot. She misplaced the card and sadly enough, it was supposed to be her saving grace. 

She decided not to give up but to search through the bin thoroughly. 

She took off her jacket and asked the cleaner to give her a wrapper; to her greatest surprise and pleasure, the cleaner gave her boots, gloves and an overall. Somewhere in the recess of her mind, she believed she will find it.

She began to search through the trash patiently and orderly, going through all the different waste bags until she came across a particular bag which had familiar contents. 

Finally, a ray of hope! She went through the bag even though some of the contents were quite irritating she didn’t mind all Tracy wanted was for things to get restored to their previous position.

She stumbled on this particular pink toilet paper; she remembered seeing Hadiza wiping her face with it just before she stepped out of the bathroom, she knew she couldn’t be far from it, just a little bit of this and that, where was the thing anyway? 

Was that... could it be... she finally found it.

The cleaner stared at Tracy oddly wondering what made her shout in that manner. 

Tracy didn’t mind; at least she found what she was looking for. She went into the ladies to clean and freshen up before putting on her clothes. 

She had a little bit of peace because she knew that the suspension was going to be more fruitful than she imagined and the thought of it all made her smile. Oh Yes! It would be extremely fruitful.

On her way home, she bought a bottle of wine to cheer herself up. This life was so sad and the key to remaining sane was to constantly have the right picture, encourage yourself and spoil yourself a little. 

After sipping the wine along with a piece of cake she had, the next thing she did was to dial Jamal’s number. He didn’t pick so she redialled it and he still didn’t pick it up. 

She began to panic. Could he have the country? That would spell her doom. 

After a fourth dial, she decided to let it rest by giving it an hour or two and she also set her alarm. She took a drink to induce sleep and make her relax. She was fed up but wasn’t ready to lose her head.

What was that noise? A drowsy Tracy bolted back to life. 

She answered the call only to find out it was the service provider. She almost threw the floor on the ground but she remembered the phone was still useful. 

She ended the call and redialled Jamal’s number three more times to no avail. 

Tracy gave up and decided to continue with her life. 
She swept the room, and went out to empty the bin when a car suddenly parked in front of her. Jamal stepped out of the car and she almost cried in relief.

They both sat in her living room as she served him cake but he declined drink and took water. She was surprised he was there and he said so. 

She told him she dialed his number about a dozen times but he didn’t pick up but she was glad he dropped by all the same. 

He asked her if she had made up her mind on what she wanted and she said she had. She wanted him to award the contract to the firm and to also help her handle the two men in her life.

Jamal gave a deep laughter that made Tracy wonder if she missed the joke. 

He began by telling her the first thing: why couldn’t she start her own company and he would keep doing his business in the country with her. 
He had prepared everything concerning that all he needed was her affirmation. She said it was a good idea and she would work towards it. 

The second point he raised was that he told her just one thing. She in turn replied that what he wanted to handle was the men and not her work but she knew he was a man of his word and he wouldn’t change his mind; he could handle both.

She wanted him to find a way to bring the two men together and handle them in such a way that one of them would give up.

He smiled and agreed. He told her she was quite a smart woman but why did she want them to go through all that? She smiled and told him it was to screen the best man.

She brought out another bottle of wine and they toasted to the best man.