The cloak of darkness

My happiness first

Steve was tired of his mother’s drama and wished he could walk her out of his house. He had his life to live and was not ready to live according to anyone’s terms and besides if marriage would stop him from having fun and having the best time of his life then he had more reasons to remain free from the bondage of marriage.

Life begins at 40 and he was only 35 so he should still enjoy life more, he thought to himself and looked at Frank who was probably having the same thought as him and then he turned to his overreacting mother.

“Mummy, stop all this you are doing. I’ve told you before that I would get married when I find the best woman for me,” he said in a bid to make her stop bugging him.

“I want to carry my grandchildren Steve, all my mates have at least a grandchild but all I get is a son who is not sensitive to my needs,” his mother added in tears.

Steve looked at his mum in disgust at that statement because his two sisters were already married and had given her grandchildren.

“I want grandchildren from you,” she said when she noticed the question on Steve’s face and Steve sighed.

“That’s not a problem mom you would get five in nine months time,” he said and laughed.

“Naughty boy, get a wife, that is what mum is telling you not a baby mama,” Frank said between his teeth.

“She is talking to us not just me,” Steve said and went over to hug his mum who was busy wiping her face with the hem of her wrapper.

“Just give me time mum,” he said penitently and his mum gave in to his plea.

She assigned the cleaning chores to the men while she helped them to a delicious meal. They enjoyed the meal but had a hard time getting their apartment clean enough to satisfy Steve’s mum who made sure they scrubbed everywhere, washed all that needed washing and disposed all the overdue trash.

“I think I’ll consider getting a wife,” Frank said to Steve as he settled on the sofa after the herculean task.

“Get your lazy butt off the bed!” Steve said as he gave Frank a slap to make him wake up before heading to his own room to get ready.

It was Monday morning and Frank hated working days especially Mondays and he loved his weekends more. He lazily got out of bed and dragged himself to the bathroom.

Frank and Steve worked in different organizations but it was located in the same estate and that made them go to work together and return together.

“Are you still in bed?” Steve said as he barged into Frank’s room to find him struggling to knot his tie due to the wound on his arms and Steve had to help him while making a joke out of what happened to them the previous Friday.

“Thank God the wound on your face is becoming less visible,” Frank said to Steve who had to look at his face for the umpteenth time that morning.

“I can’t wait to have my fine boy look back,” he said and looked away from the mirror to check the time.

“We need to hurry man,” he said and bent over to put on his shoes.

“A woman, who has been identified as Mrs Rasden, was arrested yesterday for the crime of brutally killing her husband in cold blood. It was reported by our correspondent that Mr Rasden was stabbed severally on his stomach and chest at midnight while he slept on the bed he shared with his wife. While asked for the reason for the crime, Mrs Rasden claimed that she had caught her husband cheating on her several times and she finally heard him talking to a woman who was pregnant for him on the phone and she could not contain her anger because of the level of sacrifice she had made for the man...”

The news continued and Frank and Steve had to stop in their tracks to pay full attention to the reporter.

“I hope my mum is watching this,” Steve said and continued battling with his shoe lace.

“Me too,” Frank said.

“I wonder why she didn’t just walk out of the marriage instead of killing the man,” Steve said pitifully.

“She knows that the man would happily jump on the next available woman if she should leave him alive,” Frank said.

“But some men too are not smart o. How would you allow her to catch you nau?”

“He probably got careless or thought she won’t do anything.”

“He should have known that a woman is like a lioness that is nice to her own children but hunts the children of another.”

“The woman went too far with her anger. She should have thought of her children. Imagine what would happen to them when she gets sentenced.”

“The news didn’t say they had any children o Mr man.” “It’s like you need to read it again online.”

Steve took his phone to confirm his claims that the couple had children but he was dumbstruck at the number of similar cases that were online on domestic violence and wives stabbing, poisoning or pouring acids on their husbands.

“O boy, you need to see this,” he said and handed the phone over to Frank.

“I am never going to get married,” Frank said and returned the phone to Steve.

“Imagine I left all my girlfriends and got married to just one woman who would nag, complain and spend my money and just get fat and ugly in my house and I’m expected to stay loyal to her. Never!”

“She would want to control everything in your life and even you and you won’t be able to taste other babes but will be glued to her forever. God forbid!”

“Or after fighting and fighting, you guys would later settle for a divorce and then your children would have two homes. Impossible!”

“I just hope our parents can understand that our decision to stay unmarried is to lengthen our lives and they should respect our decision.”

They kept on evaluating reasons upon reasons why they would never venture into marriage until Frank checked the time and discovered they were running late and had to run.