I SAW MY WIFE TODAY

I saw a girl today. She had the kind of face I liked - brown skin, wide eyes, full brows, bold lips, thin nose, freckled cheeks, and a hairline that didn’t know where to stop.

She was beautiful, but not in the kind of way that you would immediately see; you would look at her twice - right before you never took your eyes off her. You’d never know when to stop.

I saw a girl today. She sat behind a glass as if to say, “look, but don’t touch.” I couldn’t touch her even if I wanted to. It seemed like she was in a world that wasn’t mine, even if she was only in the next car, in a traffic jam that didn’t know when to stop.

I saw a girl today; I think she has a kind soul. She smiled back at me when I decided to risk my self respect, as if to say, “hey, you’re a weirdo, but I like it,” or at least, that’s what I thought. I should wind down my glass to ask her name, and maybe her phone number. I know, I’m just a guy who doesn’t know where to stop.

“Hey, I’m weird, what is your name?” I ask, but she can’t hear me; she can only see my mouth moving. I gesture to her to wind down, deciding to repeat my joke; it’s the only one I have. My friends tell me to not try being funny, but when it comes to messing around, they never know when to stop.

She nods and brings her glass down. I immediately decide that she’s the most beautiful thing that has happened to this world. She opens her mouth to speak, but it’s too late. Is this life’s way of saying I will never know her name, or ever understand why her skin looks like butter? Because of all the times it could have, how can the traffic suddenly know now, that it is time to stop?

How will anyone understand that I saw my wife today? Because yes, I’m ready to comb Lagos to find her. Lagos is only a small place for a crazy man like me. When I find her, I’ll put a ring on her finger and make her my wife. We’ll live in a house with white walls and huge windows so our eight children will have an unending canvas for their crayon art, and their screams will easily escape into the sky. When people ask how we met, I’ll tell them how I was a guy who loved to build castles in the sky, and I simply didn’t know when to stop.