My Prettiest Butterfly, Richard came over to the house today and we bonded over alcohol. Even though it was daylight, it felt like we were in a beer joint, under the neon bulbs. We shut the curtains and reveled in each others sadness, in blue funk, joyless and heavyhearted. We were intoxicated, far beyond tipsy when Richard looked me in the eye and called me Patricia. He said he feared his wife had been seeing her boss now. He said he couldn’t fathom why any woman should fall for a man like that, that the man picked his nose and never shaved the hair around his bald head; Who does that? I wondered why Richard was asking me. Richard really cried today, Felicia. Yes, the ever macho Richard we know; cried today. He said maybe his Late Aunt Bimpe was right, that women don’t really like men that are handsome but men that HAVE SOME. I think he was referring to money. Patricia’s boss has a lot of money. The night had fallen like leafs in spring when Richard told me he once saw you at the Borno Bus Station. Said you had a black gown with red silvery slippers on. I asked him what about your neck, what did you wear around your neck; and he couldn’t remember. I guess I just wanted to know what you look like now. I asked him if you still had those dimples that deepened like a well(Even when you were not smiling) and he said yes. I smiled. I couldn’t bring myself to ask him if you were happy. I didn’t think I’d be able to bear the thought of someone else putting the light in your eyes. Richard almost spoke of you like you were his Patricia, and for a minute I had to remind him that Patricia and Felicia were two completely different people. I took his wallet, brought Patricia’s photo out and showed it to him, then I pressed it against his chest and asked him to dream of her. But he kept wallowing “Felicia Felicia O Felicia” like a school song. We were dead drunk. Anyway, he’s asleep now. Felicia, Richards misery helped me to remember you in the fondest of ways. How in touch with your sexuality you got whenever we had a rendezvous with aphrodisiac, how you danced like a jelly bean on-top of my lap. Sighs You need to know that i deeply miss you and want you to come back home. How desperately i long for your company cannot be quantified, not even with a cup of tea and a cube of sugar. The One Who’d Love You Till The World Ends...
To Be Continued...Stay Tuned.........