STONES

Shirley’s monologue.

I remember that Sunday morning, it was a very cold one. Not cold from the air outside or the cold weather, but cold, from feeling unnerved. I walked into the restaurant to get something to eat, not out of hunger, but I needed a place to sit and think, and the restaurant was welcoming. They were not fully opened, a number of staff were streaming in, some were cleaning, some were signing the attendance registry, and a few were ready for service.

…He never showed up.

As I dug into my breakfast, I kept asking myself, why didn’t he show up? why didn’t he come? Didn’t he know that this was important? Is it possible that someone can have a heart of a stone? Incapable of feeling, incapable of showing recourse? No, this was impossible, maybe something must have happened to him, there must be a reason for his no show, I kept reassuring and reconsoling myself over and over again.

Ma’am, are you enjoying your food? Ma’am, ma’am.

Oh sorry, yes. I am just deep in thoughts, the eggs are perfect, I could use another cup of coffee though.

I had a rough night. I tossed, I turned, I tossed again, till I couldn’t sleep anymore. I was angered, not by him, but by myself, angered at why I was unable to sleep, yet he was out there having fun. Fun for himself and maybe on my behalf too. His phone was off, with no trace, and no one else to call apart from him. Was he okay, did something happen to him? I tried checking online, to see if there was any unsettling piece of news about him perhaps. No, how would I even think of that. He just decided not to come, he decided not to call, he simply did not to show up.

So this is my life now eeh, I queried. Not to any person in particular, but queried the universe to help me understand, is this what marriage is all about? Does this look like a commitment? Does this look like any of the vows we committed to each other? No. I don’t think so. Or was it . I asked and asked, but no answer.

Here you go ma’am, your cup of coffee.

Thank you.

I took gulps of it, couldn’t feel the hotness of the contents, my heart was racing, the coffee calmed my nerves. At that time, it was the only thing reassuring, while giving my heart the comfort it needed. Maybe just abit. So what happens now? Do I just wait? What do I tell the kids? What if he doesn’t come, do I go to the police, is he missing? How long has it been? Fifteen hours? Is that long enough to file a missing persons report? I joked. Well, for sure as hell,my husband is not missing, he is tucked in sleep somewhere, God knows,,he is okay, he just chose not to come home.

Your bill ma’am,

Hope you enjoyed your breakfast.

Thankyou, can I use my card to pay, wait, I didn’t even carry my purse. Mmmmh..do you have mobile services, like what we have back home, we call them Mpesa? Do you have such?

No ma’am, we only take cards.

Well, I guess we shall both have to wait till he gets back to me, comes to pay for this or we can..

…Phone rings…

……where the hell were you?! Wait. Who is this? Why do you have James’ phone?

I am a nurse at little care nursing home, we found this phone amongst the items of a patient who was admitted here last night.. He was in bad shape, he couldn’t talk, we just found it and we have been calling random numbers to see if we can reach any of his kin..you are the only one that picked.

Bad shape? What do you mean? Is he hurt? How bad is he? Are we still talking about James Nol? So something did happen to him afterall.. mmmmh..

Madam, madam, will you be coming? He needs to see someone familiar so that he can…

Of course on my way..

Ma’am your bill..

Please send the bill to my address this is my address detail, please come with the pos as well.

But this country, just how don’t you have Mpesa though?…….

Stones.

#sensesnhumor

Of monologues..