Meddling (part Two)
By Lechi Eke
J stood in the middle of the room as Ulari opened the door. Something golden and shiny dangled from his raised fingers. Ulari recognised her wristwatch, the one her Dad gifted her that the taxi driver took away. It gladdened her heart instantly. J had said she would pay him latter whenever she returned to school and didn’t seem to be bothered that the taxi driver might sell the watch. But being the queen of cool, she showed no emotion at the sight of the watch, but walked into the room without words.
“I brought this back for you,” J said with elation. “I went after the taxi driver and wrestled him to the ground and pried open his fingers and retrieved your precious watch.” He rushed over the words as if it actually happened that way.
“I didn’t know you were an actor, too,” Ulari said walking past him to a chair. “And for your information, the taxi driver was a frail middle-aged man.”
“I’m sorry. I know I’ve offended you. I can’t kneel, I would have knelt to plead with you,”
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“And why can’t you kneel? What’s wrong with your knees?” she asked looking at him trying not to admire him in what looked like his Sunday best, but actually his regular dressing.
“I’m a freaking prince, Ula. I don’t kneel to anyone, except God Almighty.”
“Are you swearing?”
“I’m hassled, like stressed out by my own people. I’m in a difficult place in this personal journey.” He handed her the watch which she took and began to wear it.
“Thank you. But you see how you’ve dragged me into your mess,” she said without anger. She knew the watch was a bribe, but definitely a bribe she appreciated.
“It’s not a mess. They are just laws and customs that need to be amended because they’re obsolete.”
“You know what? I need to go back to school.”
“For what? You’ve not missed any lectures, and you’ve been participating fully in class work.”
“I’m not married to you and cannot be here. I’ve been thinking. Call your dad and tell him you’ve changed your mind about me.”
“It wasn’t my Dad. Please, give me a few more days to tidy things up.”
“Like what?”
“My boss, General Fiberesima, he’s returning to the country tomorrow, and will be here to see you on Tuesday. He promised me that he would go and see your dad on my behalf and we’ll take it from there.”
“J,” Ulari began.
“In Tiv customs, you’re not supposed to call me by name.”
“What should I call you, lord?”
“No, my darling.”
Ulari started laughing. “You’re insufferable.”
“Your customs demand you marry a Tiv girl.”
“That’s what I’m telling you (he sounded impatient) those customs need amendment, that’s all.”
“Hmm…and you know, I told you that I didn’t want to marry as soon as I leave school. I want to see the world, explore options that would present themselves to me out there and see the world before I settle down. I don’t even know how to be a wife, I’m just a girl.”
“As if people marry when they’re women!” he said under his breath. “How many months would that take? Don’t you think you might waste a life? I cannot wait that long, even if it is two months. May I sit down?”
“You’re not supposed to be in this room, in this enclosed space with me.”
“We’re not alone, someone is cleaning your bathroom.”
“Are you sure? I can’t hear a thing.”
“Most walls here are soundproof. She may come out anytime.”
Ulari sighed. “You Torkulars…”
“It’s all of us, me, you and everyone…” He sat down and picked up an envelope she didn’t notice on a chair, and pulled out an enlarged photograph from it and stretched his hand towards her. “Is this the fellow that spoke with you?”
Ulari fell back in shock as she beheld the little comical smarmy man that spoke with her the day she was abducted. “Where did you…how did you come by this picture?” she asked.
“Just say yes or no. Is this the man?” She nodded. “Soon, very soon, you’ll return to school. Some of them are in the guardroom as we speak. We left some of them in that compound to tell the story to others.”
Looking at J, Ulari learnt what power is. It is not in the thickness of a man’s biceps, but in the position he occupies. He saw worship in her eyes, and he took advantage of it.
“Can I get a kiss? Just a kiss… it will calm me down, please? I have things to tell you.” But he didn’t move from where he sat.
“My grandmother had my father out of wedlock, I don’t want history to repeat with me.”
“Let me call the help cleaning your bathroom to clean your room, so I can kiss you in her presence.”
Ulari stood up and began to move to the door. “Let’s finish this discussion in the living room. I will play you How Great Thou Art afterwards.” She was at the door already, opening it and going out. He stood up too to follow her. When she turned to see if he was following, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her, and because she did not resist him, he gave her a long kiss. “I love you so much,” he whispered. She said nothing. They began to head towards one of the sitting rooms. “It will work out well,” he said. “Unless…” Someone entered the hallway and seeing them, retreated to where he was coming from. So, he didn’t finish the sentence. They entered the living room and chose chairs close to each other and sat down. “Unless what?” she asked in a low tone. It was in the little things that she did that assured him of her love. “Unless Heaven wants me back home.” A tremor went through her. “God forbid, and I forbid it!” He stretched his hand to take her hand. She pulled away. “Thank you,” he said. “For what?” His face was serious as he spoke, “For forbidding it.”
A uniformed help pushing a trolley came into the living room, curtseyed to them and approached with refreshments which she unladen before them and went away.
“So, I was saying I’d like some time off after school…” she began.
“Yes, and I was telling you about General Fiberesima meeting your dad…”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, J. My mum doesn’t like people of strange language…”
“I can speak Igbo…” he began.
“She asked you a question in simple Igbo and you didn’t understand it.”
“Her tongue was heavy.”
“That’s our dialect. But you know your major problem is Tiv customs.”
“We’ll take it step by step, gradually. If… no, when we win your family, we’ll turn to Tiv tradition. I’m gathering materials for the encounter with my family. It will be systematic, I tell you. My generation is that generation that will not sit idly by and let the older generation hold sway in everything, even when what they’re insisting on is wrong. We’re no longer the future generation. (Ulari nodded with empathy) The future is now. Old laws must give way, or be modernised to meet the needs of new arrivals on earth. All I need you to do is to be strong and stay by my side. If you turn away or back out, it will weaken me. Your love, your presence gives me great strength.”
He had become very serious now sounding feverish. Ulari had never seen him this way.
“But J, your family hates me!” she protested, afraid for his life, her life. She had never been this way before, and she wouldn’t want something that would turn into Romeo and Juliet because it surely was getting intense. She could hardly trust herself anymore. Why she never resisted him frightened her. Her words and actions stood firmly in opposing spaces.
“No one hates you. Everyone who’s seen you likes you. My mum will love you.”
“Hmm… we must make room for disappointments o…”
“God forbid and I forbid!”
“Princess Evelyn didn’t even reply my greeting.”
He chuckled. “She was smitten, blown away by you. She told Iveren that she would marry you herself, and now she’s in a difficult position because she doesn’t know what to do. Iveren told me she invited you to see you and not because of the returned yam tubers.”
She looked shocked. “But is it true that Tiv yams were returned because a Tiv family rejected an Igbo girl?” she asked full of ears.
“That’s what I heard, but I’m not going to ask, I’m not going to get involved in anything…anyway, there’s no point telling you about my plans. I’ve gathered great fellows of my age, the intelligentsia, geeks, nerds, eggheads. Ed is in my team. He’s a quantum physicist.”
“Are you sure Princess Evelyn likes me?”
“They tricked me. She told Iveren not to let on to me that she wanted to see you, so they had to devise something that almost broke my heart. But, Iveren, she cannot keep a secret. So, she told me. When you were walking to your room, I didn’t know you were going to pack and abandon me. She was calling my line telling me it was urgent so I decided to see her before I returned to you. I thought there was a new development in the case of the yam tubers. I was shocked that I couldn’t find you when I returned to talk to you. I was so frustrated I told my sister’s security to find you.”
“Were you the one that called Bro. Ed?”
“No. Is he your brother? His name is Edward and we call him Ed.”
“I’m sure you’re hungry,” she said. He shook his head.
“So,” he continued inching closer to her. They were in a wormhole, between where they were and where they desired to be. She stood up suddenly not wanting to get lost in the tunnel, to get him something to eat and to take something herself because it was late afternoon. Others must have eaten lunch already. She was sure no one wanted to disturb them.
Culled from The Girls are not to Blame by Lechi Eke.