Daughters Who Become Lovers

The first time he kissed me, it was on the forehead.

Mr C was leaving the city soon after that first meeting, so we arranged to get together again before he left. When he texted to cancel, saying he was unwell, I rushed out to buy a recharge card for my phone. I tried to call, but he didn’t pick up. I became worried about him.

Mr C called the following day, and told me that he was still ill and couldn’t leave his hotel.

‘It’s fine. I just want you to get well,’ I stuttered into the phone.

‘I’m leaving tomorrow. Won’t you come see your sick father?’ My mouth dropped open, I was too stunned to reply. ‘It’s okay if you don’t want to. I see you don’t trust me after all and that’s really sad. I’ll see you when I return. You just take care, okay?’

‘Wait!’ I blurted. ‘I’ll come.’

Shortly after I hung up my phone beeped with a text message bearing the address of his hotel.

My Timeline Of Emotional Pain

“You really ought to be over this by now”, said one of my best friends.

“Really, you should learn to forgive and forget,” another exasperated member of my inner circle told me. “Make a decision and deal with it.”

Human beings have different emotional thresholds. Some people can just shrug while others take it in through their noses and ears till it permeates every aspect of their life. People have been known to end their lives over problems that you, their very good friend, think are trivial.

I AM BEAUTIFUL TOO!

I was approached by trader on the street the other day. She wanted to sell me a miracle product that would change my life forever. The cream she had could lighten my skin in just 7–10 days. “I like like my skin exactly as it is,” I told her. She looked at me like I had just told her I enjoyed going to work without my clothes on at times. Being the diligent saleswoman she was, she made all sorts of promises. Chinese skin, being one of them. In Zimbabwe, this has become a sought after commodity.

I am not Chinese. I am a black woman. So what’s wrong with that?, I asked myself later. I was born with dark skin. Is that supposed to be a disease? Why do I need miracle cure that will make me a yellow bone?