A is for Aftermath

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. Each post will be associated with a letter of the alphabet with the theme ‘Lessons from a Wedding’.

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As MOH (aka Maid of Honour), she had many duties. But she didn’t think that washing up and scrubbing pots and pans 6 hours after the wedding reception was one of them. Yet, there she was, sitting on a green, plastic stool  beside the drain dunking and scrubbing plates. She was burning up and sweating buckets. This is why I will not marry. This is why I will not marry. This is why I will not marry. She repeated the mantra in time with the scrubbing motion of her soapy hands.

It was interesting that her sister was so anal about her wedding plans yet failed to prepare for what would happen when the celebrations were over. Paper plates and cups on the grass and spilled food on the table were only some of the evidence of too much merriment.

Once all the dishes were done (her wrinkly hands evidence of the number of hours spent washing), she turned her attention to the beer cans that littered the compound. She sighed. She truly, truly was beginning to wish she was anywhere but here. Even picking leeches off her legs seemed like a more enjoyable way to pass the time. But it was either get all the cleaning done while her mum sulked in the bedroom or leave everything as it was and hoped no one would notice that the coconut juice in the drink dispenser was beginning to emit a sourish odour. Ugh.

She made a promise to herself that she was never going to be this again – cleaning up after the aftermath of a wedding or any other celebration.

And she returned to scrubbing the downstairs toilet that was used as the `public’ toilet during the reception (whilst holding her breath and trying to ignore the yellow stains on the tiles). Double Ugh.