Breaking News series comes to an end
By Lechi Eke
Risi opened her eyes to see Amen still lying beside her on the bed. “Hmm…this one you’re still in bed I hope all is well?” Risi said yawning and eyeing her husband suspiciously.
“Come, don’t start again this morning…”
“Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas to you too,” he replied flinging away the duvet and getting ready to get out of bed.
“You don’t need to run away. I’ll soon leave the room.”
“Meaning what? Listen, I’m not in the mood for a quarrel because I see you’re never tired of quarrelling. It’s too early to start.”
Risi got off the bed and covered her transparent white nightgown with a wrapper. Sliding into a pair of lilac furry slippers, she shuffled to the bathroom. When she returned, Amen was no longer in the room. She paused in front of the mirror and scrutinised her reflection, and tears welled up in her eyes. She sat heavily on her side of the bed and cupped her jaw with her left palm and tears ran down her face dripping down on her chest into her cleavage and some ran from her palm to her wrist down to her lap supported elbow. Suddenly, she snapped out of it and opened her bedroom door to go and confront Amen. He lay on the sofa in the upstairs sitting-room watching the news on Arise TV. “You’re the one who brings the quarrel into our marriage,” she charged at him.
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“How?” he asked after a long pause.
“I know you’ll run away before I came out of the bathroom. What did I do to you, Amen that you’re avoiding me and making my life miserable?” The look on Amen’s face was that of reflection, like one considering a matter.
“I don’t know what I did to you too. You seem to have taken an oath not to allow me have peace…in my own house?”
“Then, you can go…yes, leave. Go to where you prefer to be…”
“Where I prefer to be? When I’m always at home? When I’m not working or engaged somewhere I always come home. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I hardly look at women…”
“Santa pope! You hardly look at women? Liar! What happened to intimacy, Amen? What happened to cuddling up together and …”
“I’m grown up, Risi and I have bills that are so heavy they neutralise any need for… who’s that?”
“Who’s where?” Risi asked suspiciously.
“I heard a noise downstairs.”
“Is it not Mary cleaning the living-room downstairs? Or are you looking for how to escape downstairs so we don’t talk?”
“Good morning, Ma!” a girl’s voice rang out from downstairs.
“What’s it Mary?” Amen asked. “Come up!”
“Mary, what happened?” Risi asked testily. “This is 6:30am Christmas day.”
Mary’s head showed first before her upper body. She stood on the landing of the staircase and greeted. “Good morning, sir. Good morning, ma.”
“Yes, what is it?” madam asked.
“It’s Auntie Clara husband. He dey for parlour. He say he wan see oga.”
“Ha! This early morning?” Risi exclaimed.
“Hush, he may hear you! There must be something wrong,” Amen said already getting up to go downstairs wearing only his pyjamas bottom. He bounded down the stairs barefooted. Risi moved toward the head of the staircase and leaned on the balustrade peering down the staircase. He heard Amen’s voice, “Merry Christmas, Afolabi. Your wife party dey lit, mehn! I commot early mek I no quarrel with my wife.” Afolabi’s voice was faint. Then, she heard Amen shout, “W-a-t!” Afolabi was talking, but his voice was low. “Ah, that’s unacceptable, man! Unacceptable! Who does that? A married woman? No, no, no…”
Risi decided to go down to find out what was unacceptable which a married woman had done. Clara just celebrated her 40th birthday in her premises and all her guests, especially her neighbours danced into the wee hours of the morning. When Risi fell asleep, loud music was still blaring from Clara’s compound.
Afolabi saw her and stood up. He looked agitated. His eyes were red and puffy probably from lack of sleep.
“Merry Christmas, madam,” he greeted.
“Merry Christmas, Afolabi. I hope there’s no problem?”
Afolabi rubbed his face with his right hand in a cleaning motion shaking his head. It was Amen who told his story. “Afolabi caught Clara in adultery.” Risi looked askance at her husband and snorted. Amen’s face held horror.
“Caught in adultery, how? Do married women commit adultery?”
“Same question I’m battling with…” Afolabi cried. “So, I drank quite a lot last night and fell asleep somewhere in the living room. When I woke up in the early morning, everyone was gone and the ones still around were sleeping. I checked my time, it was 5am. I went upstairs to our bedroom, it was locked. I remembered that we had locked the bedroom door and hid the key under the trash can in the kitchen. After fetching the key I decided to go to the BQ to wake up our help so she could start cleaning before the day would properly break…” Afolabi’s fleshy face puckered into a sob and he couldn’t continue.
“He saw his wife coming out of the maid’s bedroom half naked and a handsome young man caressing her body,” Amen finished for Afolabi.
“It’s a lie! Caressing her, how?”
“He had his hands around her waist as they were coming out and she was laughing…” Amen added his face reflecting the horror he felt within. Risi glared at him. “Women don’t do such things,” she said her face showing disbelief.
“I don’t know what to do, Oga Amen. I ran into my bedroom and sat on the floor waiting for day break. You’re the only one I felt like talking to,” Afolabi moaned.
Risi sneered. Amen glared at her. “I feel your pain, dear,” he said looking scandalised.
“Where’s Clara now?” Risi asked.
“I don’t know. She didn’t come into the bedroom throughout the time I was there. I didn’t see her when I came out, but her car was there.”
“I learnt the children are with her sister?” Risi asked.
“No. We sent them to her mum. I called her mum before coming over to your house she said she wasn’t with her.”
“Hmm… I’ll call her …” Risi began.
“Her phone is not going,” Afolabi said.
Risi folded her hands across her chest and stared at a distant object on the floor of her living room. Then, she shook her head, heaved her shoulders and rose to her feet. Making some affable noises, she turned and left the room and went back upstairs. In her room, she paced the length and breadth of the room shaking her head and snapping her fingers. “Hey!” she cried. “Breaking news, breaking news! Wonders!” She clapped her hands. Then, picking up her phone, she dialled a number and listened to the ringing of the phone to the end. No one picked it. She shrugged and dropped it. Immediately the phone started ringing. It was the number she dialled earlier.
“Hello, ma!” she said into the mouthpiece. “Merry Christmas to you too and Good morning. (She paused and listened then said,) Sorry to disturb you this early, Mummy, it’s about Clara, our neighbour. Yes, ma. Her husband is looking for her. Oh, she’s with you? Wow! Can I tell her husband? No? Oh, I should come over? Oh, after church? (She paused for a long time then said lamely) I don’t know…umm, I didn’t plan to attend. I’m not sure I have something befitting to wear. Okay, let me check. What’s the duration of the service, ma? Okay, then.”
Afolabi and Amen were still in deep discussion when Risi came downstairs dressed for church. “Where are you going?” Amen asked in a caring voice. Risi gave him a malevolent eye and hesitated as if she didn’t want to tell, then she said, “To church. Mummy Farouk invited me to Christmas service, said it would be brief.”
“What about food?”
“Mary! Mary! (Mary came hurrying out from the kitchen) Please, make breakfast for Daddy. After you’ve had your bath, start roasting the chickens in the freezer. Roast five and cut the vegetables for fried rice. If I’m not back when you finish, start cutting vegetables for salad. Make sure you eat when Daddy is eating. There’s too much work to do when I come back. I don’t want to hear story,” Risi reeled out and left the house through the kitchen without any further exchanges with her husband.
When Risi returned, Afolabi had gone and Amen was no longer in the living room. An elderly woman of about 80 years of age came in with her.
“Welcome to my humble abode, ma,” Risi said in her happy voice curtseying, her hands indicating the abode.
“Thank you, dear. This is a beautiful place, quite far from humble. Where’s your husband?” the woman asked.
“Upstairs, I suppose. What can I get you, ma? Mary, Mary! Bring some fruit juice and chin-chin…”
“No, thanks, I don’t eat fried food. A glass of water will do.”
“I have roasted fish. Or you prefer catfish peppersoup?”
“If you insist, the peppersoup, and water.”
Risi went into the kitchen followed by her help. The phone in her handbag that still slung on her left shoulder began to ring. She fished it out and it was her husband. She cut the call and turned to Mary and reeled out what she should do and returning to the living room excused herself from her guest and went upstairs.
“Why did you bring Mama Farouk home?” Amen asked with an angry face.
“Clara is in her house,” Risi said her facial expression matching that of her husband’s.
“In her house? Doing what? Didn’t you tell her what Clara did?”
“I think that’s why she wants to see you…”
“See me? Seriously? Am I Clara’s husband? Listen, I don’t want anything to do with Mama Farouk and her sermons. She knows Afolabi’s house and should go there to help them.” Amen went under the duvet and closed his eyes.
“She came to see you, not me. If you don’t come down, I’ll bring her up. That woman is a good woman. She wants to help save Clara’s marriage…”
“Then, let her go to them nau? What kind of problem is this on Christmas day? What kind of neighbour goes around giving unsolicited advice?”
“I’ve told her you’re home and I’m going to call you. I give you five minutes and I’ll bring her up to the sitting place upstairs,” Risi said as she changed into a house clothe.
Three minutes later, Amen was down. “Ah, Mama, welcome o! Merry Christmas!” he cried curtseying.
“Dear Amen, Merry Christmas! It’s been a long time I saw you last. Hope all is well with you?”
“We’re managing, ma. God bless you.”
“God bless you too, my son. I came to see you because of Clara.”
“Yes, ma,” Amen said taking a seat close to the elderly woman.
“I leant that Afolabi came over to report to you (Amen nodded). In your own words, what do you think is wrong with what Clara did?”
“Ha!” Amen exclaimed and looked at his wife who turned away. “Mummy, Clara has committed an abomination. How can a married woman … (the elderly woman gestured to him to go on) … Mummy, Clara is a married woman and shouldn’t bring a man into her matrimonial home.”
“So, the wrong thing is bringing a man…”
“Ah, Mummy, everything is wrong with her action… is she a loose woman? Is she supposed to date men, or, or, umm…sleep with men she’s not married to?”
“Hmm… (Looking at Risi and placing her peepersoup bowl back on the tray it came with) thank you, Risi, my dear. Your peppersoup is quite tasty – perfect salt, perfect pepper.”
Risi beamed. “Thank you, ma. Mary, come and remove this!” she called out.
“Dear Amen, this is the 21st century and I learnt that people of this century have different values. I was talking to Clara…hmm… (She shook her head, her face grim) it will interest you to know that she doesn’t think she’s doing anything wrong. Mind you, I didn’t say done, she’s doing it…having extra-marital affairs. All her friends from her university days and her colleagues at her office are doing it too, she made me to understand. The only reason she ran away from home was because she didn’t want Afolabi to beat her. (Amen stood up, his eyes wide with shock) Sit down dear, I’m not done yet. Is there anything I said that has shocked you already?”
“I can’t believe this, Mummy! I thought Clara was a good woman, a respectable…good grief! What’s happening?” Amen got up again and paced his living room quite agitated.
“Sit down, dear. I’m here to ask you to mediate on behalf of Clara while I mediate on behalf of Afolabi since Afolabi values you highly enough to seek your counsel in this not-so-terrible situation, since almost all you 21st century married ones are doing it…”
“I’m not, Mummy…” Risi exclaimed. The woman looked at her with pity, “Then you’re of the old stock, the older generation. God will bless you, my daughter.”
“Excuse me, ma! I don’t seem to understand you… honestly…” Amen exclaimed.
“My point is, Clara wants to know if she could return to her matrimonial home. She doesn’t want to be physically abused…”
Amen sat down and looked both shocked and lost. “Mummy, you mean Clara is not asking for forgiveness?”
“Forgiveness for what? I thought Afolabi was your friend? (Amen looked dazed) He has at least two sleeping partners that his wife knows about. They’ve been quarrelling over it for a long time. Now, Clara said that to keep her sanity and be able to continue with him in their marriage, she needs to keep a man friend.”
“Hey!” Amen rose again, this time snapping his fingers and moving around. “This world don pafuka! Yes, spoilt. A married woman … (he nodded several times in unbelief snapping his fingers) Mummy, I cannot even believe that you seem to accept this madness… I mean… hey!”
“What should I do? You young people tell me every day that I’m old and rusty. In my time, marriage was honourable and the bed undefiled as the Bible says. Married couples didn’t seek extramarital sleeping partners. But now, I learnt all of you are doing it… except perhaps my daughter, Risi.”
“God forbid, I’m not doing it – o! Even though I’m being starved-o, I’ll never do it.”
Amen glared at her. The elderly woman turned and rested her gaze on him and he began to speak, “This woman doesn’t understand the burden of keeping a family. I’m still paying mortgage on this house. Her car which she insisted on cleaned out my savings… and her holidays…”
“Dear Amen, God is all wise. In His infinite wisdom, He gave food to the family and sex to married couples. With the provision of food, you hold your family together, and with sex, you endear yourself to your spouse. Anyone of these essential commodities you remove from your home brings disastrous results. I was as shocked as you are, but after much cogitation I realised that women like Clara do what they do in response to the lack they suffer at home. Please, help me talk to your friend, Afolabi, and get back to me.” Mama Farouk rose to her feet.
Amen rose to his feet too, and Risi his wife. “Mummy, you mean, you’re not going to tell Clara to stop and behave well?” Amen’s countenance looked wild with shock.
“Unfortunately, no! Clara’s behaviour stemmed from starvation of affection, attention and the three letter word that I mentioned earlier. The restoration of those will restore everything missing from her side and render her need for another man unnecessary. So, kindly help her talk to Afolabi.”
Amen’s hands hugged his body as his lips stood ajar and his eyes well dilated gaped at the two women as they walked away from him into the kitchen and out of his house.
The End.