Heard about what happened between your friend and I?” he wanted to know. I told him I’d heard and that they should bother be ashamed of themselves for throwing in the towel after all those years of marriage.  “Were you told what she did?” he quizzed. What could she have done that could be so bad!  Realizing I was on my way back to work, he followed in his car. Here we go again, |I groaned!  About time I started charging for this agony aunt lark.

What about marriage?  “There’s plenty of time isn’t there?  If it happens, it happens. And if not, I’ll be none the worse for it.  I can look after myself”.  Did she really believe that?  Did she really expect her mobile to sound as often with invitations when she is fifty?  Didn’t she know that the men who sought her now for `meaningful relationships’ would, when they are in their fifties, seek younger women as they always have done?

Later in the night, I went to check if all the appliances were on after electricity was restored, when I heard grunts and moans. The light in the guest room was on and the double bed was facing the door.

Over the years, I’ve played this little conversation  over and over in my mind and had time to mule over events on the matrimonial scene. I’ve watched friends who set out on the road to matrimony with coloured specs and a lot of hope come out of it bitter and disillusioned. Not to talk of struggling to look after kids their adventurous husbands never gave a backward glance  to.

My husband was relieved that I wouldn’t be alone. Carol, my cousin, had filled me in on the fund-packed week we were to spend in Ghana. A  couple of diplomats were having a fancy-dress party. That was the highlight of the holiday. Hotel rooms had already been arranged for everybody.