Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer

Andrew was pursued most of his adult life by demanding and controlling women, who took advantage of his kindness and quiet demeanour. To please them, he gave his heart, body and money. As soon as he found one he thought he could set up house with, she turned out to be materialistic. Yet, he always found a way to escape from her clutches.

He was brought up to be respectful and loving to women, so it was easy for him to fall for them. He truly loved them, but he seemed to be unlucky enough to find one who was comfortable with her lot and her station in life. Many a sacrifice he had made to give them what they had wanted. Yet, they seemed to want more and more, from a man who worked with a government ministry.

Good intentions

At one point, his mother, who taught him to be nice to women, became angry when she realised that, with all her good intentions, she did not teach him to say no. She saw the stress that he went through from time to time, when he could not give the women what they wanted. She herself ended up despising some of them, simply refusing to talk to them. Every time Andrew introduced a new one to her, she thought, "gold-digger?" But deep down, she hoped the new girl was the right one to be his wife and, invariably, she wasn't.

Despite his gentility, Andrew had an inner strength that most people were not aware of, so whenever he took drastic decisions after putting up with people and their idiosyncrasies, they were always shocked. Most times he gave no warning or any indication that he was at his wits' end. He might not have known how to say no, but he knew when to walk away, hoping that things would change and that one day he would get lucky.

However, the last woman he was with, held him with a tight grip. He even lied to her, telling her he was gay, just to get her to leave him, but she would not budge. The night he told her, she simply asked, "Who isn't?", rolled over and went to sleep. He lay beside her wondering why God cursed him with good looks and a kind heart.

It was weeks before Valentine's Day 2006, and as he was about to leave for work the following morning, Maxine said, "Remember my Valentine's Day present". He went through the door with a heavy heart, without responding because he knew he could not come up with the money to buy her a Razr cellphone, and he was not prepared to take out a loan.

The days leading up to Valentine's were very tense for him, because he knew that sparks would fly should he fail to deliver the Razr, but Maxine didn't notice. She was too caught up on the wings of her expectation. On the morning of Valentine's Day, Maxine hugged him tightly and whispered sweet nothings in his ears. His heart beat fast before he knew that trouble was brewing.

Razr problems

After breakfast, Maxine sat with anxiety in the living room. Andrew went into the bedroom, and spent quiet a while. Maxine was getting restless with anticipation. The Razr, the Razr, was the only thing she could think of, picturing herself walking down the road, chatting on her Razr and popping style. She would be the envy of her friends.

Then, Andrew finally emerged, but he was dressed for the road. Maxine looked puzzled. Andrew moved towards her with a small, red box in his right hand. Maxine got up, still puzzled, but couldn't keep her eyes off the box. Andrew handed it to her. She took it, and hurriedly removed the ribbon and wrapping paper. Andrew watched her emotionlessly in her childish excitement.

Power of the Razr

Maxine opened the flat box, but shouted, "What is this, Andrew?" He took the box from her and removed four Minora razor blades from it. He looked her straight in the eyes and took out the blades, one by one, saying in the process: "This one is to cut me from your memory; this one is to slice my name from your lips; this one is to cancel my number from your phone, because honestly I can't afford to buy you a Razr."

The shocked and embarrassed Maxine, with all her might, kicked him on his left ankle. He bit his lips, restraining himself, looked at her, dropped the razors at her feet and said, "I will collect my stuff, weekend".

Now, sitting on the couch, speechless and shaking, Maxine watched Andrew go through the door. There was a razor in his hand.