of her coming home late that she had a shop. . .and like always I was not forgotten to be bought for something. She never forgot about me every time she went shopping, but all she could buy me was lame stuff.
“Guess what, Mark?”
“You’re the best aunt in the whole wide world--” I said in a low tone.
“No, silly!” Aunt Monica exclaimed, “but yes that too.” she chuckled and put her parcel on the tiled veranda and from her pockets she pulled a set of keys. She looked back at me and sounded a soft laugh. “Mark, you are quite a charmer you know?” She said.
“Oh, great--” I sighed and held tight the plastic bag I had received from her.
Aunt Monica was on her toes, jumping high in excitement. Her grin had extended ear to ear when she looked back at me. “Mark, guess what happened at work today?”
“Ah--” Before I could speak, Aunt Monica cut me short.
“Antonio Williams; my boyfriend just proposed marriage to me!” Aunt Monica injected a smile in her voice as she exclaimed-- “I’m so so excited, Mark.”
“And you?”
“I accepted of course!” Aunt Monica exclaimed.
“Great, more relatives.” I sighed.
“What does that supposed to mean, Mark? Aren’t you happy for your aunt? I finally found a man I will soon call my husband.”
“Am happy for you, aunt.” I snapped. And tried by all means necessary not to show any cold slid. I twisted the corners of my mouth into a smile when I caught again her grin.
Aunt Monica is young and beautiful. She was in her late twenties then--and full of life. I’m sure she was older than Romeo with only six or seven years if not a decade. My working class aunt who felt that she could make it alone even without financial assistance from dad. She is brown in compression. Her height could level mine. . .but her smile is very much adorable.
I looked at her, she had wore her usual outfit; office wear which she had learned to love over the years. A brown jacket she had wore that day and a skirt of matching colour. Her collar ironed straight making her white shirt seen from afar. Her smile, though, couldn’t be ignored. Thus forcing me to as well keep my mouth parted. She turned around and opened the door. She walked in right after she snapped at me. “Bring the stuff in, Mark.”
I puffed out silently and dragged the parcels Aunt Monica had come with in the house.
“I bought you a toy gun.” Aunt Monica snapped. “Check for it from that blue plastic bag.”
“Toy gun? Again?” I rose both my eyebrows as I looked at her.
She gave a chocking laugh as she trod towards the kitchen. “I was just kidding, Mark.”
“Oh, quite a relief.” I sighed.
“When I was at the supermarket, I stood back to think of something I could buy you. . .by something I mean something to get you out of studying. You know that studying is useless if you will never apply your knowledge to something. Why study mechanics if you will never apply it, oh, well, mechanics stands a chance to be used, but there are subjects like field macho arts. . .”
“I have never studied such, aunt.”
“Am talking here, Mark, elders are never wrong.”
“But dad said. . .”
“Daddy said this, daddy said that. . .when will you grow up, Mark? Evaristo has grown old, his brains have worn out. My brother is old. Listen to what I have to tell you, Mark, you only get to live once. And yes, I have bought you a video game. . .latest on the market. . .if you want it to last a couple weeks plus, keep it away from Romeo’s reach. Romeo and Evaristo are one and the same. You’re different, Mark, that’s why I say all these things to you. I need you to get yourself a life.”
Aunt Monica is right. I need to get myself a life. I’m living in fantasy. My thoughts whirled as I looked at Aunt Monica. I guess she is right. The lady is always right. I opened my eyes wide as I looked at her--my lips had slapped together and kept sealed as I stood to think what the wise thing to do was.
“Will you keep on admiring me or you are going to take a seat, Mark? You know I have to get back to work.” Aunt Monica continued, “let me go and take a shower.”
“No!” I snapped quick and pushed the parcels to the kitchen. Letting Aunt Monica to rush to the bathroom was only going to delay my schedule--after all it takes her an hour to get herself cleaned. And handful minutes to apply makeup. I just wasn’t ready to wait another hour.
“What is it, Mark? What is wrong?”
“Everything.” I snapped.
“Don’t tell me you loved my pan cake so much that you want it for lunch as well?” Aunt Monica gave a soft laugh when she stood back and glanced at me.
“First of all, that pan cake gave me an allergy. Second, I’m not ready for lunch--I can’t eat right now. . .I have something I desperately need your advise on, aunt.”
“About?” Aunt Monica lifted both her eyebrows as she looked at me.
“There is this girl. . .” Before I could continue, Aunt Monica held my hand and pulled me by a close sofa where she sat and offered me a seat next to her. She was excited and I could notice a ‘what happened?’ grin on her face.
“Tell me, Mark.” Aunt Monica continued, “is she pretty?”
“She is everything but ugly, aunt.” I snapped.
“More than your aunt?”
“No--” I continued in a sweet tone hoping to amuse Aunt Monica, after all she was the only person, my only hope I could get advise from. I grinned and looked her in the eyes-- “She is an amateur.” I said to aunt’s amusement.
“Who is she?”
“I do not know her name yet, aunt, all I know is that she comes from the huge house opposite to ours. . .yes the one across the road.” I continued in a low tone. “She is brown, and I could tell that she is still schooling.”
“Wait a second!” Aunt Monica exclaimed. “Is it Hannah you’re talking about?” She paused and sounded a soft laugh upon pinching my cheeks. “I new my nephew had great taste! Does she know you like her?”
“Ah--”
“What did you do, Mark?”
“I kind of froze when I saw her.” I continued in an odd tone. “I love the girl, aunt, she smiled at me.”
“I don’t know about that, Mark, you know us girls tend to smile all the time, that gives us confidence to complete the day--maybe Hannah smiled at that or your looks, by looks I mean how ridiculous you had looked.”
“Aunt, you are not helping--rather you are making me more nervous than I already am.”
“OK, Mark, if you really like her, you should go and propose to her.”
I shook my head and said, “that is where the problem is, aunt, how I am to approach her is the biggest task not even Romeo was able to help me with.”
“Be yourself.” Aunt Monica continued. She injected a smile in her voice, “this is the first rule that you need to get into your mind when you think of approaching a girl. Do not overdo your proposal. Keep it simple yet special and sweet. If you want to win her heart then follow your heart and hers. Be who you are, and in your own special way say those three golden words.”
“Golden what?” I lifted both my eyebrows as I looked straight in Aunt Monica’s brown eyes.
“‘I love you,’ silly!” Aunt Monica snapped.
“Oh!” I dropped my eyebrows.
Aunt Monica had her mouth twisting into a grin, it parted wide as she looked at me. I kept my glance fastened and received hers which bore in mine. She stood up from the sofa and pulled me up by my hand.
I did not know if I could do that; you know, the confessing thing. It looked much of a task than asking for advise from Aunt Monica-- Her wide glance forced mine to drop. Without uttering a word, I ducked my head and faced the floor-- My thoughts surged frantically in my mind as I pictured just how ridiculous I would look when confessing my feelings to the girl. And all I could think of was degrading.
Aunt Monica’s hand rose up and touched my chin. Gently she pushed my head up. And I could again look her in the eyes. “Aunt Monica,
I don’t know...” I said. My voice muffled along my throat.
Before I finished my sentence, she pressed my lips with with her finger and shook her head. “Don’t say another word, Mark. Now you go out there and speak your heart out. By your heart, dear, I mean you tell Hannah how you really feel. . .don’t leave out, tell her all that you wish her to know. . .it can be anything clumsy or stupid, but make sure you be yourself, don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.”
“Aunt--”
“Tell me you will, Mark.” Aunt Monica said. She injected a smile in her voice as she grinned right at me. She was trying to help. I sure had the best advise I couldn’t have gotten from anybody else. After all aunt is a lady. Who better than her would have known what was best?
I sighed and nodded.
“That’s my boy!” Aunt Monica snapped. “Now go out there and talk to her. . .and mind you this is the perfect opportunity you could ever get. Both Hannah’s parents have left for work, I know they will be back in the evening. That means Hannah is right now alone, any girl would be bored living in that huge house all by herself. . .she needs company.”
“But--” I paused and swallowed hard in my throat when I looked at Aunt