NKEM 6
They left the main hut and went outside with trays containing Apu and vegetable soup. After they settled down on a bench, they washed their hands and began to eat.
"So, what did he say when you told him", Nneka, Adora's friend asked after swallowing a morsel and licking the soup in her fingers.
Adora sighed, waited until she had swallowed the morsel and eaten the fish that came along with it before responding.
"Nkem left me and ran away".
"Meaning?"
Adora paused and stared at her friend as if to chide her for not knowing what that meant.
"He doesn't want to have anything to do with the pregnancy".
Nnneka fanned off with annoyance at the houseflies attempting to have a share in the meal for the umpteenth time, grumbling as she did so though they were Nkem.
"You mean he ran away from the village?
"No, he ran away from where I met him at the market".
"And you accept that nonsense?"
Adora chuckled at her friend who had taken the matter personally.
"He is not going anywhere. He is merely joking".
"I hope so too because you can't trust those musicians. They merely want to eat their cake and have it."
There was silence as each ate her meal and licked their fingers where necessary. This always happens when Adora visits. Nneka takes every visit as a special event. They have been friends since childhood. They both lost their fathers almost at the same time and this made them bond easily in primary school. They began leaving home for school and returning together. Many people even mistake them for twins. So when one suffers, the other is affected. Nneka felt she was the one Nkem left.
"Have you told mother all these", Adora asked, licking the edges of the plate before eating the last fish remaining in her plate. She rinsed her hands afterwards and waited for her friend to do the same before clearing the plates and taking them inside.
Adora waited for Nneka to return after clearing the plates before responding to the question.
Nneka sat on the bench after throwing the loose end of her wrapper beneath her laps to cover her underwear.
"I have not told mother yet", Adora breathe
A shock expression appeared on Nneka's face, causing her mouth to open involuntarily.
"When do you intend to do that? Until Nkem finally denies being responsible?
Adora was again speechless. Sometimes she wished she could hide some details from her friend. Nnneka would not take to any show of laxity or timidity or even showing any attitude of weakness. She believed every insult and cheating must be met headlong with actions it deserved. She was going to tell her mother after she was certain Nkem claimed responsibility. Her mother and Nneka seemed to share the same DNA. They won't let matter rest until all the dust has been stirred. To her, they seem to make a mountain out of a mole hill. If she told her mother, apart from the insults that would be hers, she knew the whole matter would become a messy affair. It could even ruin her chances with Nkem.
"I will tell her ", she said resignedly.
Nneka stared with sickening interest. She clapped her hands and folded them above her bossom in wonderment.
"You will tell her?". She said with naked disgust.
Unknown to both of them, Adora's mother had overhead what they were saying. She didn't wait to be invited to the conversation before she waded in.
"Tell me what", she said with her face exposing her disgust. The two ladies turned sharply. Nnneka giggled inwardly while Adora stared with fright written all over her face. When none of them answered her question, she came and stood in front of her daughter, her hands on her waist as one does when heavens is about to fall.
"Adora! She thundered. "Tell me what!
Adora stood, attempting to move away from her mother wishing the ground to open and swallow her immediately. But before she could take any step to safety, her mother had grabbed her and her voice raised to invite the world to the new wonder her daughter had just performed. Few people around trailed her voice to where they were.
"Nneoma, is all well', one of them, a woman in her age grade asked.
Two others came swiftly asking the same question.
"It is my daughter o. My daughter got raped and she kept it a secret from me.
'Eewo! Cried all of them, inspecting Adora as though the relics of the rape could still be found on her.
Nnneka was shocked at how her friend's mother interpreted it. She felt it was unfair. It would make Adora look like a cheap, disused napkin. Perhaps, she reasoned that was why she was hesitant about telling her mother in the first place.
"Adora, how could you do that? How could you keep such a shameful thing to yourself?" One of the women said moving closing, and holding her by the face.
"Who else should you tell other than your mother.?" Cried another.
"Tell us who did this evil. Does the bastard have a name? How many were they? Another person asked.
Adora became speechless but a loud slap from her mother opened her mouth instantly.
"Nkem did not rape me o", she said nursing the affected cheek and following it up with a loud wail.
The faces of the people softened when she mentioned Nkem but Nneoma didn't.
"Who is Nkem"she thundered, attempting to dish her another slap.
"Nkem is a musician from Nze village. He is well-known among our people.", one of the people said.
"He is a good man," intoned another.
All these didn't change her attitude toward the he-goat that put her daughter in the family way and is denying being responsible.
"A good man indeed who rapes my daughter and is claiming ignorance".
"That I don't know", said the one who had said Nkem was a good man. She left the scene to avoid being roped with insults.
When nobody else was giving further information, she decided it was time to show the said Nkem the kind of woman she was made of.
Nkem stroked her hair on the bed where she rested her head on his laps. The thought of Adora's pregnancy crept into his mind and he quickly numbed it but it kept coming back. He recalled the doctor's advice that Gladys needed a lot of rest in order not to complicate her pregnancy. The thought of telling her about Adora's pregnancy was out of the way if he wanted her to deliver safely. He sighed heavily and shook his head.
Gladys who had been observing him without his knowledge coughed, interrupting his thought. He looked at her momentarily, smiled and drifted his eyes and mind back into the distance.
"What are you thinking about?", She asked rubbing his bare hairy chest. He smiled at her fumbling for what to say as though the thought had drifted out of his mind.
"We should get married", he breathe at last while he rubbed and kissed her belly that was already showing that she was pregnant.
She raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. She could not express her joy in words. But her face brightened into a big smile. She has been desiring to bring up the matter to him but she didn't know how to. The fear that her mother would be against the union was uppermost in her mind.
"But what about my mother", she asked with concern.
"We will invite some elders to speak to her perhaps, to soften her mind about us".
"I totally agree with you, my love", she said
He kissed her and smiled at his plan. He reasoned that if he began the marriage process with Gladys and her family, it will nulify Adora's pregnancy. That way, he won't be under any obligation to marry her.
