NKEM 3

 

For several days, neither of them spoke to each other. Mother and daughter live like strangers who have no interest of ever trying to know each other. The  wall of division between them continued to widen. The air thickened with suffocating anger, fear and uneasiness. They were nearing the breaking point however masking it with stubbornness. It was beginning to show that the heavy clouds gathering over them would  become a heavy  downpour that would flood them apart.

Gladys ran from the kitchen into the backyard, bent down and threw up everything in her stomach. Her mother was spreading her clothes on the line and observed her curiously. Could it be what she feared the most that has happened? The mother in her wanted to take a bowl of water from the earthen pot in the backyard, give it to her but anger made her keep to herself.

Gladys rose sluggishly, attempting to go back to the kitchen where she was making breakfast. But a strong headache without warning wrapped itself on her temples, going gradually to the whole of her head. She felt drowsy and her vision doubled everything her eyes fell on. She staggered briefly but managed to get back to the kitchen.  She made yam but  the stew  was already scarred to blackness by the fire under. She quickly put down the pot, coughing as she did so.  

No sooner had she done coughing than the nausea came strongly and before she could get to the backyard, she threw up, narrowly missing   her mother who was also coming to the kitchen. 

"I said it, she began. Untying her wrapper and retying it above her bosom.

I said it! All these useless meetings with that useless-good-for-nothing beggar! See where it has led you to. Useless girl! Your father will turn in his grave to hear that you sold yourself cheaply to that joker. I will not have  an unwanted child in my house!

Gladys wanted to fire back at her mother but she discovered that she was so weak that she could almost faint. She never understood why she was so weak that morning. Could it be the rain that fell heavily the night before when she was retiring from visiting Nkem when the rain wouldn't stop? Could it be accumulated  stress of managing  a clothing shop she just set up at the heart of the town? What if her mother's predictions were right...?

"Will you clean up this messy secret or thunder strike both you and the...." She had unguarded her mouth. He  almost wondered how the words escaped her mouth. But she maintained the frown on her face to mask the guilt gnawing at her heart. 

Gladys stared at her with that look that told you you will never get away with this. She left the corridor and came back with sand which she poured on the messy floor. When the sand had thoroughly soaked the vomit, she swept it and scattered it outside on a heap where they dump refuse.

She returned to her room, climbed on the bed and wept. Has her mother already turned into her enemy?  What was the crime in loving a man? What was the crime in being a musician? What has Nkem done to her that she hated him so much? Would it have satisfied her if she died with her baby even if she was pregnant? 

Left to her, she knew she was not pregnant, it could just be fatigue or one of those tiredness that comes once in a while in the morning. She rested her head on the pillow and soon slept off.

She woke up hours later to see Nkem. She would always be the one to go and see him. His coming to their house is synonymous with committing a sacrilege punishable by death. He could only stop half way to their house before he hugged her and made a U-turn back home.

The sun was scorching as it was mid morning. By this time of the noon, Nkem would be sitting on the second hand single sofa he just bought, guitar in hand, practicing a new tune before he is later joined by his band boys as he called them to perform at their usual bar at night. On several occasions, she had gone with them. She also made sure that any lady who got too close on the pretense of spaying her man with money got the message that she was the  centre in Nkem's heart. She pictured him in her mind and her heart glowed.

The cloth she wore glued to her body as the tiredness returned forcing her to slow her pace and spending more time in the sun than was necessary. 

When she eventually got to the front of the house, everywhere was quiet. Even Nkem's mother who would be at her usual spot where you could see her  removing the husk from maize, picking beans, shelling melon seed or just doing something else was not there. 

She usually clap her hands or intentionally make her slippers grind the ground noisily to arouse anyone's attention. But this time, the tiredness won't let her. She just entered the room and stopped in her tracks. She felt faint as the room reeled like  a furious whirlwind. She held the door for support while the naked couple on the bed scrambled for their clothes.

It is getting sweeter and messier in one harmonious whole! Thank you for visiting us today. Your comments and suggestions are highly welcomed. Until I see you next time. I remain sincerely yours,

Julius Topohozin.

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