by Frank Achebe
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‘—Left for me, I’d suggest you go home to your wife and experience the miracle of childbirth.’
Zach felt he should turn the conversation in his own direction. ‘You do seem to know much about me.’
The boy laughed. ‘Like I said, we have met before.’
# # #
Zach’s heart was beating very fast and hard as he walked towards the only place aside the mayor’s that he could manage with a telephone. He was sure he was in the real world this time. But it did feel that he was in an unreal one. He did not remember haven had any dreams the past night, and certainly not ever, about Ruth dying. Now, he felt as if he had had such a dream. And with that feeling came great anxiety over her.
From the river, he made his way to Sir Daía’s.
# # #
While Black went about his job for the day with the same dedication for which he was known, Daniel found a chance to satisfy the aspiring schoolgirl’s famished curiosity. He got the chance when he she came to serve him tea for the morning. It was Ūö’s pleasure after all. She did respect her mother though and knew well enough that she would not allow her share any intimacy with any of her boys. But she had gone out quite early.
‘What course of study is that?’
‘Law.’
‘Phew, that’s huge. It’s competitive. Very competitive.’
‘I know that,’ Ūö added, allowing the confident look on her face to say the rest: She was up to it.
‘What is the motivation?’
She looked for something high-sounding: ‘Well, I want to be a voice for the voiceless.’
‘Oh, that’s great.’ He was impressed. ‘You know that common people harbour a distrust for lawyers. Lawyers are liars.’
She laughed, easing herself into his presence. The word ‘common’ made her She was still standing and leaning on the frame of the door.
Daniel was sure that this girl was so much like her mother—vain. Except that her vanity was vaguely obscured in that lofty self-vision she had of herself. He was not sure what had attracted him to her at first but now, he was. It was that grandiosity in the way that she regarded herself. It was not self-evident but he saw it for he had seen so many like that.
He saw it for he was a bird of that feather.
‘The university is a place where you can really explore yourself.’ He said with a smile. ‘I wish you the admission.’
‘Thanks.’
# # #
‘Sir Nelson had a heart attack on Sunday.’ The girl from last time reported. Once again, she was standing in the doorway with Zach facing her.
Zach was not now sure whether to appeal to his own need or to the sympathy that the moment demanded of him. ‘I really don’t know but I want to make use of his telephone. I need to speak with—
‘It’s not in my authority to do so. My madam is not at home. If you can come back in the evening, I believe she will let you use the telephone.’
Zach did not see any good sense in trying to persuade the girl so he gave her a smile and left.
# # #
‘What is going on?’ was the question that tumbled through his mind as he walked back to the mayor’s home. His anxiety would not allow him some patience and so he reckoned that he could not wait. That was the only place that he knew he could use a telephone in town. There was a booth at the town hall but they had told him that it was faulty. It hadn’t worked in a whole year.
What the cuss was happening and why did he have anything to do with it?
It was obvious in a very concrete way that something was not at all right. But how come it had to be his family?
This thread of thought tortured him all the way to his destination. Not that a phone call would have comforted him. At that moment, everything did seem to disappear into that one thought.
Chapter Four: Before You Go
Zach was surprised to see that a small crowd had gathered in front of the mayor’s front yard. In the centre stood the boy. He was speaking to them in a very spirited way. He drew closer and listened. ‘…That is what makes me special. That alone. I believe anyone of you can share in that specialty. Don’t call me ‘special’ if you cannot so call yourself.’
They applauded him more from admiration; they certainly did not understand. Nothing he’d said from the beginning said made any sense to them.
‘Look at the man who shares in this knowledge’, the boy called out to Zach when he saw him. He got their attention for a minute but was relieved again when they returned their attention to the boy.
Zach walked into the first living room and a good number of the townspeople were seated and chattering away at some obscure topic. There were quick flashes of Kuniā greeting people, hugging them and smiling back at them.
The whole house was quite the opposite of what it was a few days ago.—All in an instant! Everywhere buzzed. It felt like those homes where there had been a wedding or some celebrations. Zach even saw flashes of Hééb hopping around doorways and trying to be stern. He was certain that no one of them knew that he was in the house.
He needed no higher intelligence to tell him that it was high time that he left the house and the town as well. He had accumulated some belongings, whose usefulness in the mayor’s home had become superfluous—a tube of toothpaste, a bar of toilet soap, a roll of tissue paper, a stick of toothbrush and a tube of perfumed Vaseline.
He had no one to announce to that he was leaving the house, if not the town itself. He felt it rude to leave without any notice to his guests. But what about the day was not rude already?
He had almost forgotten all about the telephone call when the door to the room where he’d been staying opened and Ekeó walked in. He had a different air from the one he had when he addressed the small crowd.
He was startled at his entrance.
‘I’m sorry. Forgive my discourtesy. I understand that you have been trying to reach your family. What if I made that happen? Not that they are under any form of danger.’
‘No, thanks. I am leaving after all.’
‘Oh, oh. I actually did not mean to chase you away. That would be a rude thing to do. This is my father’s house. You can stay for as long as you can.’
Zach continued stuffing his pockets with his belongings, ignoring the boy.
‘You know, I wouldn’t quite admit my disappointment at your hasty dismissal of my claims.’
‘What claims?’
‘What claims? What claims, you ask? Don’t you see that I mean something to them? They love me. I have become to them a symbol of hope. Does that not mean something to you?’
Zach did not answer. In time, he was at the door.
‘You’re too simple and that will be your downfall.’
Zach remembered that Thaddy had used those exact same words on him in the same order as they’d just came out of the boy’s mouth.
‘You really know me too well.’ He was stopped in his tracks by the apprehension. Zach felt like grabbing him and hitting his head against the wall until he could see the white matter of his brain. He felt that hatred.
‘You may not understand me. But do not hate me. You are a man that has risen above hatred. You are a good man. I have a cell phone with me here. You can speak with the love of your life and let your anxieties not drive you to madness.’
At the mention of cell phone, Zach was hooked once again.
‘There, go one. Assure yourself that it was just a bad dream.’ The boy held out his left hand. The phone was in it.
Zach hesitated.
‘I wouldn’t bite you even if I could.’ The boy said and placed the phone on the bed. ‘Don’t worry. Things are not always what they seem. You can leave the phone on the bed when you are done.’ With that being said, the boy left.
Zach took the phone and dialled home. It rang thrice and the voice of his father came on. ‘Dad.’
‘Junior, how are you? It’s really been mad crazy around here.’
‘Is she fine at all? I’ve
been trying to reach home.’
‘Yeah, the telephone bills. Wasn’t able to pay for last month. They disconnected the line. Was just able to get it back on yesterday.’
‘How is she?’ Zach kept at the very reason why he had called.
‘Oh, yeah, she is fine.’
‘What happened? Talk to me.’
‘It’s nothing. She went into labour last night. There were complications. She’s in intensive care. But I have professional assurances that she will be fine. She needs you, around, now that….’
Zach heard very little after ‘last night’.
# # #
Brim was trying as hard as he could to keep his cool. Something big was up. Hééb had certainly not taken that boy away for nothing. However, his brother was in denial. He did not know now what to think or who to ask.
‘When are we leaving?’ He managed to ask his elder brother when he found the chance.
‘We leave when I say we leave.’
‘Why that? We already have enough money for…’
‘Shut your trap. And do as I say. If you don’t want that cleft lip.’
# # #
Zach was now having a hard time keeping a lid on things. He had his wife to think about as he had…. No, he had only his wife to think about. All the roads now led out of the town.
Or so he thought until he realized that he had not the means for that. He had not a penny on him. His frustration heightened when his body reminded him that he had not eaten anything the whole day. It did not seem to matter much. He no longer had the seclusion of the shack nor did he have the comfort of the hunter’s company. He was on his own now.
The sun was on its way down. Soon, it would be night. All for the worse. Maybe he could manage that bench outside the nurse’s door. Or he could get her to allow him sleep at the wardroom for the night. He could even explain to her how much he needed to leave the town and how he was unable to do so. And how she could help him with the means to do that. He was sure she was that generous.
He had earned the priest’s respect—or so he thought. He could be a burden that the cheerful man would love to bear. The thought of it stung Zach and he felt that he could not take the priest’s words very serious. All of that stuff said at the Service, were nothing more than a sermon.
He could have gone to the knight’s home. But the thought made him sigh. He did not want to stress the dying man by extracting another monologue from him.
His mind turned towards the health centre where he was hopeful he could find Nurse B. But on getting to the health centre, he was told in those familiar rude words, that the senior nurse was on emergency duty and unable to meet him. It would be so until the next day.
He took the bench that was placed in the reception hall of the health centre. In a minute, he was asleep.
# # #
Zach was waked by a gentle pushing at his side. It was Nurse B.
‘What are you doing here?’
He collected himself together and answered: ‘I’m leaving town as soon as I can.’
‘Is that why you are here?’
‘I have no other place where I can spend the night.’
‘I was going to ask to sleep in the wardroom.’
And with that shone his luck. Into the wardroom, he slipped. But sleep would not come this time.
Chapter Five: A Rolling Stone that Gathers Moss
In room in the condo, a man was calling Borûn a slut and reminding her that no one can love anything like her. He threw a few bills at her and ordered her out of his room. She now had money for her hair. For haven determined within herself that she would never ask her mother for anything again, she had begun to put a price on her sex sessions as well as condoms. She had steeled her mind. She too could make her own way—that way, whatever way. She believed that after all.
It humiliated her to know that human beings were rarely grateful for the least favours.
She had grown used to such treatments. Worse things had been said and she had come to believe all of them. But this one did sting her for now, she had a ‘reason’ attached to her waywardness. She was doing it for the money. She thought life would justify and forgive her for that. But it didn’t. It made her feel even worse.
Borûn never did have anything significant in an excuse to put on the life that had turned out to be hers. It was not that she was raped or abused. She could not have been a victim of circumstances. Madam Békhtèn did her best to protect her daughters from the life that she lived. She wished them better things—marriages and families—and from time to time, asked their forgiveness.
It had happened that she was admired for her body and the sex appeal about it. It held the kind of innocent sex appeal that was common with buxom girls of her age. Growing up as a little girl, it did not mean much. But more than mere admiration was put on it by a friend and she had eaten the forbidden fruit. It tasted good and she ate it again and again.
She could not quite tell why she had stuck to it against her better judgement. She was brainless in a sense but she let them do it to her, no longer to satisfy her own taste, but theirs. She could give any other explanation. It did seem at the time that she derived some satisfaction from giving such favours to those that asked. She fancied that she had placed themselves at their service—the sex doll, the plaything that was to please everybody. She let them pass her around. They talked about every encounter with her in a ‘positive’ light and she strove to do more for each of them. So long as they were satisfied, she was satisfied. But some things never change and other things never stay the same. She grew into a world where she was scorned by the same people that she risked her life for their pleasures. When she was younger, it was she and her boyfriends playing around. Then, it did mean something. But those days were her generosity was celebrated were now gone. Those days, she enjoyed the act, but she never did again.
Her mother’s concern for her health and the constant comparison with her younger sister were the only motivation she had to try and get away from that life. But they were not strong enough motivations. For she was scared that it would all mean nothing on the long run.
This life, it seemed was the only life that she truly had. She was certain that she could not survive any other.
It was not motivation that she needed. She needed someone to be strong for her.
# # #
Her thoughts hung in air as she descended the tight stairs. She was already sore. The man upstairs had made her the lesson his wife had to learn about not ‘disrespecting’ him. He had taken her on their matrimonial bed while his wife cried in the next room. He had taken her in so many positions too. Since it was in a room in a condo, it was not only the estranged wife that learnt the lesson, it was for every other woman in the condo.
A foot stepped on hers as she landed on the stair landing and prepared to make the turn and find her way out of the building. Next, a hand slipped under her right hand. And in quick succession, another one slipped under her left. In a moment, she was in the air.
She could have shouted all she wanted and she could have kicked against the goads all she could. She knew it would not matter. They were stronger than she was. A door opened and closed. Three more boys were seated and waiting.
They were now five.
‘Turn off the light,’ Atta Boy directed.
The light went off in an instant.
‘Pack of condoms.’
One appeared.
‘Good,’ he leaned over. ‘You must understand that it is not just the thing between the legs that we want. Not this public toilet. What the gods want is revenge. And you are going to give it.’
‘Revenge for what?’ she had asked them.
‘That is your question to answer.’
Borûn knew it was going to be a long night. Indeed, it was a long night, though not unlike many others.
# # #
Black did not respond when the news reached him. He had brought it one her. Atta Boy was not one to let bygones be bygones. He was
making him pay for his burst of anger—for injuring his male ego, more or less. According to his guardian angel, revenge was the sweetest joy next to getting that thing that was between a woman’s legs. Atta Boy had had his revenge.
There were no thoughts of revenge. All his thoughts encircled around all the agony of the night. He chose to participate in those rather than fuel his male ego with thoughts of turning the beef into an eternal one. If he could, it would have been Atta Boy who would end up on the Other Side.
Moreover, he had concerns over the state of his mind. He had cut his blade into a customer’s scalp yesterday. Such things were not known to happen with Black. Everyone now knew that something was wrong with their beloved barber. Not that he could help himself. He however knew he had to hold himself together.
He also felt helpless for he had no leads to take at getting her away to himself. Black was not one to be intimated by others. He was one to have his way. He styled himself an outlaw, a soldier. Even Atta Boy knew that. He had found the courage to proceed on the knowledge that his opponent was now impotent to the sting of that ‘sissy shit called love.’ Somebody’s wings had been clipped. Or rather, somebody had allowed his wings to be clipped.
He felt so weak.
But Borûn was comforted by that experience, more than she was hurt at heart by it. It was divine to know that someone did love her. She saw the experience as the price she had to pay for being loved. Into that knowledge disappeared all the agony of the night.
She was hopeful.
# # #
It rained that night and as it did, Zach gathered his thoughts about him, as he could not sleep.
He was obsessed with the idea of growing up again. That was his idea of raising a child. Now he could do it more closely, more deliberately. It was something that he had been waiting for. He had already chosen names for his unborn child. If it turned out to be a girl, he would name her after his mother. Her second name would do. If it were a boy, he would call him ‘Biyar’ after the crippled boy who walked again—the crippled boy who had taught him how to walk.
