Chapter eight
It was an afternoon as bitter as hemlock. One of those few moments, the presence of Obinna or Veronica could have made a difference. “Adaobi,” Papa Adaobi called, “If you ever get Pregnant for that “Ngbati Ngati” man, I’ll disown you as my daughter! How can you fall in love with a Yoruba man? Are you out of your mind?” he questioned.
“But Dad” she pleaded; I’m truly in love with him…I can’t do without Okunade. He is my man. He is the love of my love. He has all the qualities I want in a man, dad. He is a very nice person. He is...”
“Shut up, Adaobi,” her mother intervened, “If you ever say that again I’ll slap you! You know me very well. You know what I can do. Listen to me very well. Do you want to tell me that among all the Igbo men in this Lagos seeking your hand in marriage you can’t find any right suitor but that useless, good-for–nothing, irresponsible and worthless Yoruba man! He must have charmed you with juju! I really can’t understand all this! Tufiakwa! A Yoruba man! An abomination! ” She got up in anger.
“But Mum, Dad, you can’t do this to me…you know Okunade loves me.” She broke down in tears and wept. “You know he makes me happy…you know he has all I cherish in a man…you know how much I love him…why Mum? Why Dad? Oh, God! I’m already pregnant for him!” She gave some penitent sobs.
“You are what? Repeat what you’ve just said Adaobi! Her dad interjected, standing up in fiery anger, “pack your bag and baggage, everything you have in this house and leave immediately! I disown you as my daughter as from today! You won’t bring shame and disgrace to my family! This is disgusting and irritating! Love! Love… my foot! To hell with you and the so-called Okunade! If you’re not marrying an Igbo man, then you’re not my daughter! Before the count of three I want you out of my house! Your so-called pregnancy is nothing but a maggot in a septic tank! You will regret your actions Adaobi! You’ll regret it I swear!” He concluded with a voice livid with rage.
Adaobi went inside her room in tears amid painful sobs. She loved Okunade with all her heart. Their love affair transcended tribal and cultural barriers. She had vowed to marry him despite the fact that he was a Yoruba man. They had been dating for the past four years. Her parents had never been in support of the relationship ditto Okunade’s parents, who had warned him of impending doom if he ever put her in the family way. Okunade was lucky to get a good job after his graduation at the Lagos State University. He studied International Relations while Adaobi studied Sociology. Their relationship started back in their third year at the university. Okunade was a six-footer, handsome and light-skinned.
She packed out of her parents’ house that fateful hot Wednesday afternoon. “Where would I go? What more can I do?” she thought questioningly. She shook her head sorrowfully. Truly, she was two months pregnant. Now that her parents had disowned her, she knew she had only to see Okunade and tell him the mind-boggling and worrisome development. The scorching heat of the tropical sun perched on her smooth and velvety skin. She walked hurriedly to the park; the pain and grief in her heart was too much to bear.
An hour after the grandiloquent departure of Adaobi, Mama Adaobi had an august visitor. “Sister, do you know that after my eventful wedding, days kept rolling into weeks and weeks to months yet Chima never touched me. At first I thought it was a joke and nothing serious. I thought he would change his heart. I did all the tricks in romance encyclopaedia, thinking that he would change his attitude, mellow down and come back to me but he wouldn’t budge. He was as adamant and unmoved as a wounded horse with a bleeding hoof”, said Linda sorrowfully. Linda who is Mama Adaobi’s younger sister just visited her elder sister. They were having a conversation on the porch over chilled palm wine and dried nchi (grass cutter).
Mama Adaobi snapped “Is he out of his mind? Damn it, your marriage was an outright mistake. Nonsense! It was a big mistake. I never liked that honey-tongued boy. I warned you Linda but you wouldn’t listen to me”. She brought out two glass cups which she placed on a small table and also brought a can of fruit Juice and filled the two cups and served. “Go on!” She commanded as she took a sip of the juice. “Another dimension to the morbid drama was that he wouldn’t even speak to me. This hurt me so much that I would cry and cry. I always remember that the last word I heard from him was the “I do” he said on the day of the marriage ceremony when the officiating pastor asked him if he really wanted me as his wife. The first year rolled by, the second, the third and the fourth; still he wouldn’t touch me or even speak to me. We were like two opposite people in wedlock. When the fifth year came and he didn’t change his behaviour, I started sending people, family and friends to plead on my behalf but this didn’t make him change his attitude. You are a good witness to this. And you know what my sister? He never told anybody the plain truth and reason behind his wicked aloofness.”
Linda stopped as Mama Adaobi interfered “I remember asking him severally why you hadn’t taken in since all these years but he had a ready-made answer that you people are waiting for God’s time to manifest. But I keep thinking, how did you cope with the heat? Linda gulped down the remaining juice in the glass cup, cleared her voice and continued, “It wasn’t easy. It was like a rehearsal to hell. There was a particular day; I actually got crazy and frustrated over his behaviour. I think, it was a very chilly night. He was deep in sleep and I sneaked towards him and grabbed his phallus. He screamed in annoyance: “What are you trying to do to me? You Jezebel, what? You want to rape me?” I cried and wailed. I begged him to stop his madness. I made him see reasons why we cannot go on like that. But he never gave in.
The following morning, I thought very hard on what to do. I was determined to do anything to have back my husband. I thought of another way of winning the love and soul of my husband. With the help of a bosom friend, I made up my feeble mind to see Mazi Ogwugburugburu, the great medicine man. I hoped that he will prepare me a love potion that will capture the heart and soul of my husband either by hook or crook for me.
I reached his shrine in Ibiasoegbe around 12pm and I narrated my problem to the old herbalist. After pondering over the whole thing, he told me confidently that it would cost me the sum of one hundred thousand naira. He assured me that if he sets his eyes on me when I had rubbed the love powder on my face that he would come after me the way he had never done before. I thanked him and gave him the money.” Linda stopped as she struggled with the painful emotions.
“I am really taken aback by your story”! Mama Adaobi who had been listening with rapt attention with a face as sour as lime snapped, “You mean, you went all through this and you never told your elder sister…But most of this was superfluous. He isn’t worth it!”
“That evening when I got home” Linda continued as she ignored her. “I took my bath. After that, I rubbed the love powder on my face and put on my night gown. Then I walked seductively towards him as he was busy watching a movie in the living room. I smiled alluringly and sat beside him. I walked closer to him and threw my arm around his neck. To my surprise, he turned his face away irritably. But I persisted and cooed as I begged him with eyes wet with tears. But that demon never had mercy rather he screamed at me to get out from his presence. When I refused, he roared in anger and gave me a thunderous slap on the cheek and left the living room. He left me to sulk in disbelief. I was shocked. I got up in tears and vowed to collect my money from Mazi Ogwugburugburu. That was the moment I made up my mind that I was fed up and tired of the marriage. The following day, I filed for a divorce. I told the judge that day that I couldn’t continue because I wasn’t getting any joy from it. I can’t go on married to a man who doesn’t speak with me or touch me. I want to go on my way. If Chima is God, he won’t let human beings reap the bounties of rainfall”.
Mama Adaobi drove in again: “But what was his reason or reasons for such a strange behaviour?” Linda continued “Yes…I was about to come to that before you interrupted. When the elderly judge asked him to give his reason for such abnormal behavior...he simply said, it was because he caught me cheating on him a month to our wedding day! Can you imagine? What a joke!”
Mama Adaobi bowed her head in shame as she was lost for words. She had always felt that her younger sister had a blood worse than Delilah’s. Now she knew better! Just as a movie, that fateful day just played out in Linda’s memory: Chima, who was supposed to visit Obinna for their weekly Saturday exercise in the gym returned much earlier due to a heavy traffic. At first he was reluctant to return home since he just left but he couldn’t think of a better place to go so he headed home. On getting to his house, he couldn’t find the gateman at his post and he got angry because of the security risk of him leaving the gate open like that. But something got him worried when he saw the gateman’s sandals right inside his sitting room; he just told himself that something wrong was going on. He was right. When he moved close to the window of his bedroom, he started hearing screams of pleasure. He tried to peep into the room but it was difficult because of the protector. So he summoned courage and walked to the door as if he wanted to tell her that he was back. He opened the door and caught the adulterous daughter of eve red handed under the dirty Hausa gateman. Sad! He couldn’t get up immediately. It took him seconds to jump off and grab his clothes.
“Ha…hah…haaaa…!” Linda started weeping. Her face and body looked worn out, burnt, wrinkled and black like that of a gorilla. Tears streamed freely down her face. The tears were disturbed by the presence of a seraph. Truly, she is beautiful. Possibly, she got heady and out-of-control because of her beauty; light in complexion and tall, gazelle-like and charming. Actually, it would take the resistance of a monk or a castrated gentleman to ignore her enchanting backsides. She had well-arranged sparkling white teeth, well-curved and alluring shape and was gap-toothed too.
“Veronica…how many times will I warn you to stop coming back late? And where are you coming from? If you lie to me…I will beat you silly today!” Mama Adaobi roared.
“But…I’m just coming from a red carpet and champagne party. You keep warning me as if I’m a baby. I’m twenty three. I know what I want.” She replied.
“Vero…don’t talk to your aunty like that, she is saying the truth. There’s more to life than being wayward. If you are not careful, your insatiable thirst for a turgid phallus will get you into trouble. You look worse than an Italian prostitute returning from a disco party. Look at your dressing... short…skimpy brown shirt…and a top that reveals your lower abdomen, almost showing the hairs of your navel…” Linda added.
“Are you sure she is listening to you?” Mama Adaobi who was seething with rage asked. The other day, I caught her smoking cigarette like chimney. She is getting bad through and through as the days go by. I pray she will find a job soonest and leave my house before the worst will happen. It is not even up to two months since she’s stayed with us, yet she already has about four boyfriends scattered all over the street. Emeka is number one, Uche is number two, Kunle is number three, Adamu…number four…and so on”. She stopped abruptly as one abstracted from reality.
As the words fell on Veronica like the torrent of a heavy downpour of Lagos rain, she was mute, wishing that the sermon will come to an end. “I wonder why you are so lascivious and lewd when your parents had no history of being promiscuous and wayward. Perhaps you are flaunting your God-given beauty the wrong way; and perhaps societal ills of the university have eaten too deep into your soul, making you lose control of your senses. You have decided to live a dirty and unwholesome life Vero, why?” Linda asked as she shook her head dejectedly in agony and sighed continuously and heartrendingly continued. “Why are you doing this? Your Dad had a good job and does his best to take care of you and your younger siblings financially- your Mum too is a successful trader who wants nothing but the best for her three children. What’s wrong with your head?”
Thank you for your pretty words Aunty Linda. But…come to think of it…I don’t think that I’m as wayward as to go to a dirty aboki gateman. Obinna told me the romantic story, so you can go on pontificating. I am all ears!” Vero challenged fuming with laughter.
“How dare you talk to my sister like that?” Mama Adaobi thundered, “You good-for-nothing girl! Veronica shrugged her shoulders defiantly and walked away. Mama Adaobi gave her a hot chase and gave her three thunderous slaps in seconds and a deadly kick on her stomach. The pains were too excruciating and debilitating for her. Her eyes were getting dimmer and dimmer and her head was spinning round and she became very dizzy in seconds. She fell down to the ground and screamed in spasmodic pain even as tears welled up in her eyes. Papa Adaobi who had been sleeping heard her agonizing screams and rushed out. Just then Obinna drove in, in his new Prado Jeep.
“Dad, what’s going on here?” Obinna asked, shaken and confused. Why is everyone silent?
“My son…I don’t know what’s going on. I heard a scream, some seconds ago while I was sleeping and just came out. Quick, we must take her to the hospital. I wonder what she’s gone through at the hands of your mother.”
She was still rolling on the floor as she bled profusely. She couldn’t utter a word. Blood was all over the ground. It will really take the expertise of experienced doctors to save her life. The women were in a frightened state of mind, hoping that she wouldn’t give up.