Zee's Diary: The Dreaded Question

 On a cool Saturday evening, while I watched TV in my sitting room, my phone rang. It was my mother. 

"Hello omo mi. Bawo ni?" (Hello my child, how are you?), she said. 

"I'm fine ma. How are you too? And the others?", I replied.

We exchanged pleasantries and after about one minute, she stated the purpose for her call.

"Zainab, igba wo lo ma m'oko wale? Agba tin-in de. Mo dé fé ri awon omo omo mi, kin to je olorun n'ipe. Jó ómó mi, ma dojutimi o. Se kia ko mu ókó gidi wa'le, ki a s'eto igbeyawo fun yin, ki e de fun mi ni omo. S'oti gbo?"(Zainab, when are you bringing a man home? I'm getting older and I want to see my grandchildren before I die. Please, my child, don't put me to shame. Don't waste time in bringing a good man home, so we can perform the marriage rites, and so you can give me grandchildren. Do you hear?)

"Beeni ma"(yes ma), I replied, and she dropped the call.

I thought of my life as she hung up and found myself in total confusion. My whole life flashed before my eyes. "Where do I get a man for mama?" I knew a time like this would come, but not this soon. I turned 27 just a few months back.

I looked at the clock, it was 5pm. I still had enough time before my talk show at Shadow FM.

I rehearsed my topic for the night and forgot about the phone call almost immediately.