The Carnivorous City

by Toni Kan

  He was aroused and knew she could feel his erection now. He held her, both of them half-naked on that bed for what seemed like a long time. Then she looked up with tear-filled eyes and kissed him. He tasted salt and wine and desire. He pushed her back on her bed and took one hard, dark nipple in his mouth. Ada cried out as if in pain but when he made to pull away she pushed his head back.

  He covered her body with kisses, from her face and her neck down to her belly, luxuriating in the essence of that which he had imagined for so long. When he pulled down her dress, he was surprised to see that she wore no panties.

  He kissed between her legs, tongue flicking over pubis, lips over labia, tasting her and teasing out moans as she pulled her dress over her head and flung it across the room. She reached out and pulled off his boxers.

  They didn’t fall asleep afterwards. They just talked, her fingers tracing the welts on his back where she had dug in and drawn blood as she climaxed not once, not twice, but thrice.

  She talked about the night she met Soni at the club. He had been confident, in control, without an iota of shyness. She talked about the first time they made love, how he had triggered her first multiple orgasms. She told him about finding his letter and hating him. She spoke about the wedding, how she tried to see what it was that made Soni think Abel was the salt of the earth.

  ‘Don’t you feel oppressed by this constant urge to be good?’ she asked him.

  ‘I am not always good,’ he said, kissing her lightly. ‘I just have a low threshold for trouble.’

  She told him again about refusing to name her son after him and the big fight that had caused between her and Soni. She told him about the day Soni disappeared.

  ‘We had been fighting and I wasn’t speaking to him.’ A month before, he had come back after a trip abroad and when she unpacked his things she found a pair of panties in his bag. ‘They’d been worn, stained.’ The pain was raw in her voice. ‘We hadn’t made love in one month and I just lost it. I didn’t let him touch me. By the time he disappeared, we hadn’t made love for two months. I was tired. I knew I wanted him but I felt betrayed. See, I always knew there would be other women. He told me before we got married and I accepted that. My friends couldn’t get it but I used to put condoms in his bag when he was travelling. I knew I couldn’t stop him so I had to keep himself and myself protected.’

  Ada reached over and picked up the remote control to turn off the air conditioner.

  ‘It’s too cold,’ she said, snuggling up to him. ‘I couldn’t go to another man. That’s not me. Despite all his women, I knew Soni loved me and would die for me. So I stayed faithful. I had planned a wild night that Saturday evening. I bought edible undies. I did my hair. I cooked a nice meal. I changed his sheets, lit scented candles and sent him a naughty text like I used to. He replied Can’t wait my love. See you at 9pm.

  ‘But 9pm came and he didn’t come home. I thought, Lagos traffic, but by 9.30 I was getting worried. I called his number; it rang once then went off. I called Santos, who said Soni had told him to take the day off so he wasn’t with him. I didn’t sleep. The candles burnt out. The food went cold. I called his friends and people he did business with. No one had seen him.

  Santos and I went to the police the next day. They said we had to wait for seventy-two hours. Or was it forty-eight? I told them it was unusual. Soni could be crazy but he was never irresponsible. The police asked if we’d been fighting, if there was another woman. I told him we just made up, and one of them sniggered. “Maybe oga hasn’t made up with you,” he said. I told him to shut it. The other officer apologised.’

  They called her two days later to say she should come and identify a car that had been found in a ditch.

  ‘I told them it was Soni’s car and they said, “Well, that is cause for some happiness. There was no blood, no gunshots, and no damage. So, we believe he left the car alive.” That was almost four months ago, Abel.’ She eased up on an elbow to look at him. ‘I pray every day but I am all prayed out. I know what Soni did for a living, the women he slept with and the kind of men he dealt with. I knew something like this could happen and with so much time gone, I have no reason to believe he will come out of this alive. I have lost all hope.’

  When she paused to turn the AC back on, Abel leaned close and flicked a tongue over her nipple.

  ‘And you haven’t helped matters,’ she said, pushing him away playfully. ‘I have been on fire since you came into this house. When I walk past you or touch you I want to catch alight. The only time I felt like that was with Soni.’

  Abel hushed her with a kiss and pulled her to himself. He held her close as they both cried and fell asleep.

  —

  Abel wakes up sweating. The luminous dial of the clock on Ada’s wall tells him it is seven minutes past 3am. That is when he realises, or rather, finally admits to himself, that he does not want Soni to be found. Not now. Not ever.

  He looks at Soni’s wife sleeping half-naked beside him and realises that, like fingers in a glove, he has found his niche.

  Lagos is now his home.

  THE END

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Like an African child, it has taken a village and quite a few years to write this book.

  The journey began in Lagos, naturally, then we traipsed across Europe and the US before settling back home and in that yawn of time, this novel has encountered Nigerians, Kenyans, South Africans, Americans, Italians and Britons.

  The story of my life is linked inextricably with that of Lagos and this is my first full album, as it were, of love songs to the city I love.

  Special thanks to Cassava Republic for pushing the boundaries for Nigerian writers, to my editor, Lauren Smith, Chika Unigwe and Maik Nwosu for Civitella, Dana Prescott for hospitality, MaryBeth Hughes for Yadoo and friendship.

  And for Awele and Chuka and Ify for all the times this book took precedence.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Toni Kan worked as a journalist for 5 years and rose to the position of editor at the age of 26 before moving into corporate Nigeria. Hailed as the ‘Mayor of Lagos’, Kan is the author of 4 critically acclaimed works of fiction and poetry. Winner of the NDDC/Ken Saro Wiwa literature prize (2009), awarded by the Association of Nigerian Authors, Kan is co–founder and publisher of sabinews.com and a fellow of the Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Civitella Ranieri and Yaddo.

  Lagos is his playground.

  COPYRIGHT

  First published in 2016 by Cassava Republic Press

  Abuja – London

  Copyright © Toni Kan, 2016

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transported in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book.

  The moral right of Toni Kan to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Nigerian ISBN 978–978–953–514–3

  UK ISBN 978–1–911115–24–3

  E-book ISBN 978–1–911115–25–0

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Nigeria and British Library.

  Book designed by Allan Milton Castillo Rivas.

  Cover designed by Michael Salu.

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow.

  Distributed in Nigeria by Book River Ltd.

  Distributed in the UK by Central Books Ltd.

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