Talons and gloss

"My memory of her is probably the most clear from that year," she told me.

"She had talon fingernails- red; It wasn't pretty." She drew a long breath, eyeing the vase that held my tulips in the centre of the glass table between us, as it contemplating whether to continue. I was about to suggest starting from something she felt more comfortable discussing rather than her memories from 2005, when she continued,

"I was just six, but I knew it was slutty, especially her riding miniskirt. No lady should wear that and sit LIKE THAT. She had the hair too. You know, and the lipgloss- that shimmering red one.
Her eyelids was painted like those girls they said were bad for marriage- I mean, it was 2005."


"She was always sitting in front of my dad's car on those afternoons. We sat behind. Quiet. My mom taught us that; being quiet."
She added, smiling.
"Dad told us she was his sales assistant's wife. I believed him. I believed everything he told me. So I got home and told my mom, like a good quiet kid with a brilliant memory who believed her dad."


I smiled when she spoke, but her eyes were getting misty. She sniffled,
"I'm not sure if it was that night he threatened to kill her- my mom- or another night, but I was scared to death later that night. He always dropped her off at a hotel when we approached home, and her supposed husband-the sales assistant- got off with her. Now that I recall, I used to believe they lived opposite the hotel. Stupid kid." She laughed now, not for long though.

Her eyes lingered on mine for a bit,
"My dad was superman, a good man who just had a bad temper. He wouldn't go to the brothel. I trusted him so much. I adored him as much. My mom was the one who had a short temper and was always yelling; a nuisance. She made good food and kept me warm though, so my loyalties were where they were."

"Now I think, how much guts could she have had? She dared come into our car. So what if he offered? It was 2005, people feared consequences! But she dared to love up with my father! While we watched!" Her voice rang high now, her eyes threatening to spill the tears.

"It must've disgusted the sales assistant because he never spoke much. My mom thought he was stocked up, but he was the one who waited to get us from school. Taking us to meet up with my dad and his whore.  He was Uncle Ladi. All through those months, I believed she was his wife. Only that my dad married her two years later."

Her eyes lit up now, as she reached for a paper towel from her bag,
"My greatest joy is from the fact that she never conceived. Days like this, I wish I could tear her apart. It might sound stupid and insensitive, while everyone is trying to be 'diplomatic'." She said, making air-quotes and sniggered.

"Dad was a shithead, but she ruined our family; The bitch with the red lipgloss and talon nails."

....


'Siyah.