The Re-union 2

"Papa, its Nduka's wife...Nduka a na," she says and swallows hard.

The line is silent for a few seconds and just when she feels he hasn't heard her, his voice fills her eardrums that its so easy for her to imagine him in the same room as her.

"My son! My only son! What have you done to him?


"I-I d-didn't do anything, eziokwu! H-he was on his way back from work w-when h-he got hit. H-he... " A huge lump rises in her throat that tastes as bitter as bile.

"He what?" Nduka's father almost screamed and she could hear the panic in his voice.

She swallows hard. "He's dead. Nduka is dead."

"Chinekeeee meh!" She hears a female voice scream in the background followed by a dull thud before the line goes dead.

She could only imagine what had happened and what the family would think of her now. His father, stoic as a rock would not say much, he would wait for the umunna to decide and speak for him. But his mother, tough as nails Obianuju would be brutishly vocal about her thoughts. They would blame her for everything, she knows and when they were done hurling insults and accusations, they would leave to mourn their dead.

Right now isn't the time for them, she thinks, it is the time for her to wallow in her grief and sorrow. To mourn the unfairness of fate and the injustices of this world.

The tears still has not come when she gropes on her way to the kitchen looking for the box of matches and candlesticks she keeps in handy in case of an electricity blackout. She finds it and lights up the candle, taking the light with her while she walks - it feels like floating - through the house, locking doors, checking windows. When she knows everything is safe, she closes herself in the bathroom, turns on the tap and runs a cold bath.

Only when she slips into the tub with her clothes on and submerges herself into the freezing water, does she allow that knot snap. With her body shivering in the cold water, she weeps. She weeps.


                                                          ***
She goes to stay with her mother after the hasty burial of Nduka performed by Hausa strangers. Because no member of the nwadiala can associate with an outcast, his family left her to perform his burial rites.

Their house that had once been a fort to her, where love, warmth and happiness were allowed to exist became a memento mori. She saw him everywhere and nothing seemed right to her again. Her world heaved violently the day news of his passing was broken to her and everything changed.






(To be contd)
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