Christiana Nwafor was a naiive twenty-one year old when she had been sent to Lagos by her mother.  The objective for the visit had been, in the mother's mind, that of either matrimony or employment.  If at all possible a perfect outcome would be the attainment of both, concomitantly.  But if this were not possible, and fate would have them choose only one or the other, then matrimony was deemed to be the superior.  For, in the end, what use would all the jobs in the world be, if a girl did not have a husband?  And, in the same vein, you could wait a life-time for work, and other than penury would not be much put out over it, but no worse fate could befall a maid other than to be literally left on the shelf.  And the biological clock is no respector of man or woman's needs for careers', and it ticks on, days turning to weeks and then years seemingly in the blinking of an eyelid.  In Enugu, the movements of this clock were intensified like the dry seasons heat was acting to drive the movements swifter. Indeed, most of Christiana's friends, and classmates, were happily married since the tender age of eighteen.  Nevertheless, Christiana did not allow these realities to deter her hopes for the future. She was tall and fair, and looked nothing like her mother.  Her face was oval in shape,and a small chin and nose served as a fine framework into which the brilliance of her large brown eyes lended some rays of glamour as the sun does the morning. And as the sun dominates the sky by day, her eyes were the sparkle of life to her visage and its most complementing feature.