Hushed Echoes

Little wonder then that the meal which ordinarily would have taken him one minute had to last about five minutes, it was his best meal since he came to Accra.

Not that he was in anyway disappointed that he had not been eating well, he had taken into finality right there at the bus terminal when he was bidding his mother farewell that not only his eyes were going to denie him the pleasure of looking at his mother’s expectant face, his stomach on the other hand was equally going to suffer the more, because his mother’s pot was very far away from him.

To the large extent, one of his personal philosophics came to light when he was thinking about his situation, and it perfectly correlated with his present stateof thought, Marco felt like saying it verbally, but he did not want to get Carolyn distracted, therefore he gazed squarely at the plate and decide in his mind that things must change, if not, then the world would be like a chain.

He had changed from a rural dweller to an urban inhabit, he had also changed from eating from his mother’s pot to dinning and winning with Carolyn, maybe one day he would change from eating with his bare hands to eating with a silver spoon.

“Are you okay?” Carolyn enquired when she discovered that his played were empty.

“Perfectly okay and satisfied” Marco replied.

“So, what do you think about my cooking?”

“It’s simply delicious and wonderful, it has been quite a while I tasted such a meal and guess what? It was simply superb”.

“Oh thanks for your compliments”

“And thank you for the meal” Marco concluded.

Carolyn was highly impressed by Marco’s appreciative remarks, even better than her husband’s, nothing gave her joy so much and a sense of fulfilment like being complimented after a worthwhile effort, even if her service did not worth compliments, she would still expect something nice to be said about her as a way of encouraging her.

Every steps she took was meant to attract Marco’s attention, she tried to make sure that he was not in anyway bored, she was determined to keep him company until Fred returns from work, Carolyn knew that Fred would be back any moment from them and that when he was back, she might not have enough time to spend with Marco.

Therefore it was desirous of her to be in full charge while her husband is away, and be ready to face a divided attention when her husband was back, in other to ensure that she had her way, she quickly packed away the empty plates as soon as Marco finished the food and returned back to the chair, smiling sweetly at him.

” I presume you are now relaxed after a heart warming meal, so could you tell me the long story about the bruises on your body?”

“Mm it’s a long story, I ought to have begun without you having to remind me, Iam sorry” Marco apologized.

“You don’t need to apologise after all, it’s you who is going to do the talking, anyways apologies accepted, so go on” Carolyn said, taking a deep gaze into his eyes.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Marco began to narrate the story the way it occurred, he did not bear about the bush, neither was he adding or subtracting from the story, his communication skill added spice to the story to the extent that Carolyn began to feel as if she was watching it from a movie.

Marco went on and on until tears began to well up in Carolyn’s eyes, but she stilled herself from crying.

Although the story was touching, Carolyn did not want to present herself like a half-wit by crying, she felt that the most appropriate thing for her to do was to express her heartfelt sympathy for him.

When Marco finally concluded the story, Carolyn was in dire need to sympathize with him, she went to sit beside him, as if that was not enough, she palced her right hand on his chest, trying to examine his heartbeat, it was more than just a heartbeat, her hands was busy stroking his hairy chest.

“Sorry dear, sorry for everything you have gone through, I believe all will be well, this is Accra, one has to be very careful and mindful of what one is doing, a lot of things happens because of the increasing wave of armed robbery and crime rate, but one thing is always certain, the perpetrators would not go scot-free” she hesitated for a while and continue afterwards, ” but at least there is still cause to be joyous, the fact that you were rescued from being burnt alive is something marvelous, and it’s worth celebrating” as she was taking, she made an attempt to move very close to marco.

As soon as she did that, and reached out for a handkerchief to dab his forehead, she dropped the handkerchief on her laps after it has become fully soaked, she then bent over to give him a passionate hug.