When the cassette tape played, I was seldom interested in the lyrics—how likely was a 6-year-old to care? Yet I could feel sorrow, compassion, and sadness in the singer’s voice. I imagined someone hurting her. Was she hit, betrayed, lonely? Her voice held a mystery I wanted to uncover, but she was miles away from me. Since I could not unravel the enigma, I let the thought go. As I grew older, my mother did not grow tired of playing the cassette tape. I could not hide from hearing it either, unless I could afford a roof over my head. One evening, during the holiday and with no homework to attend to, I had to ask her. ‘Mum, who’s this person always sad when they’re singing?’ ‘You mean all this time, you don’t know it’s Dolly Parton? And who told you she’s sad? When you truly express how you feel, it is not always a sad tale, my girl. Do you even know what this song playing is about?’ ‘Yes, ma. It’s her coat of many colours, just like the one Joseph had, right?’ ‘Eh en. Only hers was give...
Since she started buying her sanitary towels with her hard-earned money, she opened an excel sheet where she created data, updated every month. This also accommodated the contributions of her parents during her early years and each month after an update, the amount would draw closer to buying land in Epe… She hardly used condoms but her boyfriend buys a pack once in four months, sometimes 6 months. Once he got it for free. It was a souvenir at a wedding party. It lasted for al most a year… They call it KONJI! When it falls upon you, it is like an electric shock. If you are strong enough it would go as soon as it came. If you are not, well you will have to do “the do” although making sure it's with someone pure of any infectious disease. If you are not sure then you have t o use a raincoat so no devilish rain will drench you towards death. The condom becomes your PADI, that's if your KONJI a llows you to even think up to this level… From Medieval times, menstrua...