A Collection of Short Stories

Jennifer Chinenye Emelife
Sour Kisses
Life slipped out of her, breathlessly, stiff, like leaf off its branch. But just before she
gave in, she toured cities of her heinous life. She visited, once more, the shadows
she inhabited, shadows that lived in her also. And there was that mansion. In it, she traced
her ruin to the semen mapped bed. She coughed as she remembered that she had slept
with the cursed one; one whose darning laid in the juice of experienced loins. She knew
this, but the price was too charming. A hundred nights would not earn her such money. So
she dared. It was her lifestyle, even though her name was Adakaego.
As voices she could not decipher flew round her head, her skin turned white, like the inside
of an unripe mango brutally scrapped of its covers. Her bones glowered out of her skin,
almost bare and seeking covers too. The doctors had found nothing wrong with her. Not
when she started shedding hairs, not when her nails pulverised. Not even when her skin
began to vanish. But death was not hers, she believed. She trudged on, gathering breath
after breath until her head suddenly began to spin. Voices, yet again…
*
‘Are you sure you want to do this, Ada? That man is diabolic!’
‘Ehen, would that be the first time? Who doesn’t know that all these politicians are evil? I
just want to do this and get done with it. Lord, Clara, my younger brother needs to get out
of that stupid jail! The bail is big. Those people are threatening. If we are charged to court,
where do I get the money to hire a lawyer? All because he stole five thousand naira from his
boss!’ Ada said, spreading out her arms.
Clara sat back in bed, silent. She understood her friend’s frustration, but she was not sure
Hon. Obiano was the man to play games with. Many scary stories had been told about his
sex escapades. True, theirs was a business of courage and sometimes, stupid faith, but
Clara could not make up her mind about this latest client.
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