When sleep becomes a luxury

You could not sleep last night.

This is the 3rd time this week that you’ve had to keep vigil. It wasn’t work or worries that kept you awake; you desperately want to sleep through the night as one who lay dead in the grave but the perfect combination of heat and mosquitoes won’t allow you get some shut-eye.

Every day, you find yourself making a critical decision before you go to bed; is tonight the night you shut your door to keep the mosquitoes away and let the heat consume you; or is tonight the night you open your door to let in breeze and surrender your body to the piercing mosquito bites? And as the night progresses, you will eventually realize that there’s never a good answer, no matter what you do, you can’t sleep.

***

If only your electricity provider gave you light, your sleep wouldn’t be under threat.

***

Alas, like every problem, there’s a solution – run your generator all through the night. With your fans spinning, the heat won’t consume you and the mosquitoes will be blown away by their mighty blades.

You begin to smile a little to yourself but then you remember, that fuel is scarce these days due to non-functioning refineries and marketers no longer want to import fuel due to high Forex exchange. You also remember that filling stations pump is all messed up now, a litre of fuel at N86.00 is not as much as a litre of fuel at N93.00 You would have to buy double of what you used to buy before to run your generator all through the night. 

***

The smile disappears from your face.

***

You begin to wonder just how your life would be different if you could afford the luxury of running your generator all through the night. You think of your government officials who are supposed to be serving your interest  and how in a thousand years they would never be able to relate with your plight.

Your mind drifts to other people that must be keeping vigil with you in their homes: pregnant women – the discomfort must be killing them; old women – they already have menopausal hot flashes, they don’t need this heat and mosquitoes; innocent new born babies, why did they have to be born into this part of the world…

You slap your shoulder as the mosquito bite jolts you back, it’s damn too painful.

***