The Perfect Hostess

She went about like an automaton; kneeling, smiling, and talking when necessary. She laid out the dining table and stood back to inspect her work, the flowers looked withered so she took them away to replace them with fresher flowers. She proceeded to the guest room and surveyed it, the bed was made and the bathroom was clean with freshly laundered towels and the necessary toiletries; everything seemed to be in place until she noticed a vague stain on the bedsheet, she pulled it off the mattress to get a cleaner one from the wardrobe. She spread out all the bedsheets but they all had the same satin, and were in the exact spot as the one she had pulled off. What was going on? There were clean ones in her bedroom, she would get one of those.

Her children were playing in the passage way and for some reason it upset her. “Go to your rooms now!” she ordered as the children scampered to their rooms. She smiled a lopsided smile and went into her bedroom where she found a clean bedsheet that was free from the stains of the others. She sat on her bed and cried into it like a mother whose child was going away to a far country “I will miss you” she said patting the bedsheet lovingly.

 It was dinnertime and everyone was eating and chatting happily, laughing at the jokes that her husband and his friend told. She had cooked her specialty and everyone loved it, she got up to get more food from the kitchen. She was afterall the perfect hostess.

After dinner she stood at the sink washing the plates when her phone beeped. She wiped her hands with a dishcloth and picked up her phone. It was a Whatsapp message from an unknown number:

“Hello Princess” it said

“Who is this please?” she typed back

“Your secret admirer” the receiver replied

She stood confused wondering what to do, then decided to ignore the message.

Beep!

Beep!

Beep!

She exhaled sharply then picked up her phone again.

“You’re ignoring me?”

“Lol! You can never ignore me Delilah!”

“I’ll be waiting for you”

She dropped the phone on the kitchen slab and held her neck in fear her. She knew who it was, only one man called her Delilah.

She sat in the shower singing “twinkle, twinkle, little star” it reminded her of happier times.  Her husband called out to her, it was time. It had always been like this but she would be fine in the morning, her life was always better during the day when she was about her business as a manager. She stepped into the bedroom gingerly, hoping he would be asleep.

“What took you so long?” he queried.

“I… no… sorry…” she stuttered scratching an imaginary itch on her scalp.

“Is that what you’re wearing?” he asked.

“Yes” she said quietly, head bowed.

He appraised her then said “You can go”

She opened the door to the guest room trembling.

“Hey Delilah” her husband’s friend said softly “You kept me waiting”