BLURRED LINES

 

BLURRED LINES

 

I began to hate Judith when she turned fifteen and grew breasts the size of watermelons. She is now eighteen and dashes about the tenement house in skimpy clothes. She talks loud in their single-room apartment so everyone can be tormented by the sound of her shrill, teenage voice. A cloud of bewitching fragrance follows in her wake when she walks down the passage.

 

Judith is my co-tenant’s daughter in our face-me-I-face-you apartment building. A housing system in which single rooms are built in two rows with a passage in-between that leads to the back of the house. Amenities like the kitchen and bathrooms are communal and located at the rear of the building.

 

The only child of her single mother, Judith draws the attention of the male gaze in the compound. The men whistle at her firm backside and seem disoriented by her coquettish charm. I am convinced the slip of a girl is trying to seduce my husband. Nobody else sees anything wrong when she gives him effusive welcome greetings as he comes back from the office.  

 

Welcome, sir. Good evening, sir. How was work, sir?

 

His eyes linger on her provocative hips for far too long, all the while grinning like an idiot. Judith genuflects to greet him in low cut revealing tops. Teasing my husband with her lovely, perky breasts. Her garish hair and makeup belie the childlike innocence of the teenager. 

 

The final straw was the dream I had last night. The power to dream lucid dreams that foretell the future is not given to everyone. With great power comes great responsibility. I must therefore act now and decisively too.

 

In the dream, Judith kissed my husband as they embraced under the shade of a mango tree. She stood tall with long black hair, round face, dimpled cheeks, pretty smile, and perfectly shaped eyebrows. Her black, body-hugging top, which clung to her body like a second skin, showed off her ample bust. It was slutty fashion as far as I was concerned. Brothel style. She had both arms around his neck and crushed her voluptuous bosom against him. She only broke away when my shadow fell across them. As soon as she saw me, her greeting formed, but I choked it off before it could depart her lips. My face a gathering of nimbus clouds.

 

A hot searing pain went through my heart. It robbed me of my breath for some seconds. Sometimes in life we are sorely tested. I showed my clean palms to the clear blue sky; silent witness to this affront.

 

In my dream, she eventually stole my man and took over my matrimonial home. Heaven knows I won’t allow this happen in reality. In the physical realm, I knew I had to be one step ahead of my foe. That’s the reason I got a bottle of acid this morning. I wait for the wench in the passage with a predator's patience. I hum and pretend to adjust our white linen door curtain. As soon as she steps out of their room, smiling as usual like a demon from hell, I’d whip out the acid and douse her with it. Then watch her beautiful skin burn and melt before my eyes.