Polished Sentiment

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“Three red candles, five bottles of olive oil, three crates of soft drinks, five bottles of alcoholic wine, a red colour wrapper, bathing, white clay, soap and…” As she was about to mention the last Item from the list in hand, her mother cut in
“All of these items are for what”? She asked
“The prophet asked me to bring them,” she responded. Her mom moved closer to get the piece of paper that was in Mary's hand. She scanned through it and was surprised at what she read. “And twenty thousand in cash,” she said as she pointed to the last item in the piece of paper.
“What makes you think that it will work this time around”? Her mom enquired.
“Well”, Mary said as she struggled to speak
“Jessica, told me about a lady who visited the prophet and when the rites were performed, she got married in less than a month” she added, trying to convince her mom to support her.
“I am not ready to spend a dime in this case any longer, whatever will happen should happen, I am sick and tired of the unnecessary spending, all in the name of finding a solution to a problem we're not sure if it's true”
“Mama” as she fondly called her. “Please, don't give up on me in this case, you're my only support at this moment”.
“Mary, you can not convince me enough to support this shenanigan again” she stood up “At least not this time” she added as she was about to walk out of Mary,
“Mummy please, don't do this to me” she screamed and cried at the same time. “Look at me, am I not beautiful enough to be married?”
“Marriage is not an achievement, you don't need to marry before you achieve anything in life” the mother responded as she left Mary crying and rolling on the floor.

Mary is the eldest of all her siblings, she's in her late thirties and not married. Marriage according to her mother has been a difficult thing if not impossible in the family. As she was told, it's either you're a single mother or a widow. This has been like a family pattern that all first daughters in the family have to face. Her mother lost her father a few years after marriage. At that time, Mary was just three years old while her younger brother was just eight months old. However, Bassie, Mary's mother, has remained unmarried after several attempts of trying to remarry, but none worked out.

Several years have passed and Mary is also finding it difficult to marry. About five men have espoused to marry her, yet none have worked out. The last stroke that broke the camel's back was two years ago, when a promising young and hardworking man decided against all odds to marry her, everything was put in place for the marriage to take place. A week into the marriage ceremony, the man had a change of heart and came demanding a refund of the bride price he paid. No one knew what happened. Consequently, they were pushed to go places like church and spiritual homes to seek a solution to the problem.

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“Your daughter’s problem is redeemable, you will have to pay the sum of 100k then your issue will be a thing of the past” the prophet said. “From what I'm seeing” he added, “there is a veil covering your face, and until the veil is removed, you will never see a man to marry”. He said facing Mary. They weren't surprised anyway because all the spiritual homes and powerful men of God people directed them to say the same thing. Even with all the assignments and spiritual cleansing, nothing worked out.
“Sir, Bassie interrupted, “we have tried our best, we have gone to places, yet the issue is still insurmountable, please help me, I want my daughter to be married, she's getting older” she sobs.
“Madam, I have a series of testimonies from people who came here, I give you a month, for your daughter to be married after the ritual has been done, you will come back and testify” he said pompously.

In less than a week, Mary and her mother sourced money and the ritual was done it's been a year and three months, and Mary is still not married.

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“Why are you crying”? John asked as he walked closely to console his elder sister. He saw a piece of paper on the floor and scanned through it. “What's all of this again, all of these rituals will not work, are you not tired of doing these assignments”? He said angrily. “Mom has spent all her money and she is indebted yet you still want her to continue spending recklessly?” Mary did not respond to him as she continued in her cries. “You will marry at the right time” he advised as he walked out of her.

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