January Blues

January is not a good month. It reeks of so many things; being broke, the hot sun, an empty fridge, haggling with matatu touts, the list is endless. It’s that time of the year where you walk around with your tail tucked safely between your legs, looking all meek and hoping to elicit sympathy from your boss for an early salary payment; from the tout to charge you the minimum amount; from the local grocer’s  to get tomatoes and onions for less than usual.

I can’t wait for February to get here, I can’t wait for when that cheque comes in and I have extra money in my pockets. I have been skipping lunch every day and it sucks. I have become short tempered and quick to react. Hunger does that to you, it makes you this different person you never envisioned yourself to be. That’s what happened yesterday.

I sent someone out to get me a bite over lunch hour. That meant my tummy was primed to feast on something. Two hours down the line, nothing was forthcoming. I got restless but managed to stay calm, consoling myself that the meal would get to me soon. An hour later, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I called again, asking where my food was. I got a whisper,

“I am in a meeting, I‘ll call you when am done.” He whispered.

I couldn’t believe it. Everything in me sagged. The hunger pangs that had been hitting me for the last three hours immediately went on overdrive. The niggling headache I had started having at noon became a full blown one. A got this huge lump in my throat that refused to go down. I was furious. 

My hands started to shake and the potato still refused to go down. I wanted to swallow someone. If anyone had dared to talk to me then I would have snarled back at them. 

Eventually I cooled down after taking a cold glass of water. I even managed to forget I was hungry, for a while at least. Later, my colleagues told me my eyes had turned red too. I simply told them it was the month’s fault.