Quarter Life Crisis by Yolanda Mercy

Author:Yolanda Mercy [Mercy, Yolanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786823564
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2017-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

ALICIA blocks CALUM on Facebook.

Beat.

The voiceover below is spoken in Yoruba but ALICIA responds in English.

V/O MUM: Oluwafemi Alicia Ife Adewale oy a wa!

ALICIA:

Shit

when Mum calls my full name I know it’s about to go down.

Breeze into the living room with my armour on

position myself on the edge of the sofa ready to bolt

then Mum shouts out from the kitchen

V/O MUM: Where were you after Tee Tee’s wedding?

Beat.

ALICIA:

Silence creeps over our living room whilst I search for the perfect lies to clutter the space I’m 25 and still bend the truth when it comes to Mum ’cause:

‘There’s no sex before marriage. Amen. Don’t let the devil take your life, or your womb. Or let these oyinbo people confuse you. I bind it in Jesus name.’

Beat.

V/O MUM: Well?

ALICIA: The hairdressers

V/O MUM: Haa! And you’re wearing a hat.

ALICIA:

I say nothing

I know she knows that I’m lying

but allows it for some reason.

Pounded Yam and Egusi Soup perfumes the air as Mum enters the room, puts the plate in front of me and smiles

again

This time making a point

She sits down next to me with no food

and just stares

investigating my face.

Is she trying to find the perfect place to land a slap?

Beat.

Head down Pounded Yam

Egusi Soup

just keep eating

Beat.

But as the seconds turn to minutes

I can feel her eyes penetrating into my soul

She reaches her arms out and I flinch

as she draws me in close

for a hug

we never hug

is she killing me with kindness?

I try to pull away

But she draws me closer and says, ‘I love you’

what the fuck!

Was she on Camberwell Road this morning?

Spotted me from the 36 bus and concocted an all-too-sweet

revenge to show me pepper

Is this how I –

V/O from MUM intercepts the thought.

V/O MUM: – your dad called me. Your grandad’s dead.

Extended pause.

Lights slowly bleed out.

Silence.

We hear the sounds of birds tweeting.

Lights slowly fade up.

Over time the sounds of an animated Streatham High Street begin to underline the scene.

ALICIA is on stage in all black except for the Gele.

ALICIA:

4 days after Tee Tee’s wedding

Pounded Yam to awkward silence

prayer after prayer

Stockwell to funeral

2 hours

1 train strike

numerous phone calls

no uber

no lift

bus replacement service

Streatham High Street

headphones in

3 stops

Ticket inspector’s giving me aggro

’cause my oyster card didn’t tap properly

£60 fine

tears

frustration

as I walk in late to my grandad’s funeral.

Luckily we’re Nigerian so nothing starts on time

sit in the back as I try to hide my shame

the one time I decide not to rely on Mum this happens.

Cousins walk in late after me and beckon me over to the front

To join their tribe

his tribe

Dad’s tribe

Never felt like I was one of them

Always an outsider looking in

A part-timer in a family whose history weaved so deep that

my string didn’t belong in their pattern

Cut from a different cloth

even though we look the same but have different surnames

different entry points

through him

who married her

so is the cousin to them

and is the uncle of mine

brother to Dad

Father to them all

Grandfather to us all.

Beat.

Dad leans forward, looks at me

and coats his tears with a wave

I wave back then sink deep into my seat

as the beat of the first hymn begins.

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