I had
a business meeting with some new clients the following day and it lasted longer
than I had anticipated. By the time I was done, I saw that my wife had called
severally while the phone was just sitting in my briefcase.
I
usually don’t give my cellphone (yes, I have just one) to my secretary and
Funmi hardly called the office lines to talk to me. I quickly called her back
but her phone was switched off. I figured I would see her at home and find out
what the issue was.
As I
was driving home, I remembered she had told me she was travelling to Ijebu-Ode
with her “mum” for some women’s conference thing…I had completely forgotten and
I didn’t even check on her all day. I stopped at a store on the way and got her
a little gift and a card to make my apology easier.
I got
home and my wife was not in the living room…I knew she was home because the
other cars were in the garage. I could tell there was something wrong…my wife
usually met me at the door every single day, she would take my briefcase and give
me a peck, then usher me in. I called out her name but there was no
response…her phone was on the dining table…likewise her bag. I went upstairs
and there she was, in the room, on the bed, eyes red and swollen. I rushed to
her and asked what happened…I wanted to hold her but she shrugged me off (First
time ever).
“How could you Niran? How could you?” she
screamed
I was
a little puzzled…could she be angry because I didn’t pick her calls?
I knew I
had not done anything bad and I would never cheat on my wife so what could I
have done to warrant this drama?
Then
I heard that my wife, after her Ijebu-Ode engagement, felt in her spirit to
visit my mother in Ibadan. She had called her over and over but my mum did not pick
up; neither did she return her calls so my wife decided to go see her to apologize
for what happened the last time (that was when she started calling me at work
but I didn’t pick up).
She
went anyway, and before she could even state why she was there, my mum went
ballistic on her.
“So you have finally gotten off your high
horse to embrace real solution? Seeing there is nowhere else to hide.
My God exposed it all, what you thought you
had hidden with your stupid husband.
His words say “For there is nothing hidden
that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or
brought out into the open”
For 7 years…7 good years, you were hiding
behind a finger, when you could have shouted at the top of your lungs for help.
We could have tackled this problem from the source but your spiritual pride
wouldn’t let you
I reached out to you many times, like I
would have done for my own daughter, but what do I know? After all, I don’t
speak grammar like your pastors”
My
wife was so confused that she had to ask what my mum was talking about
“Why are you feigning ignorance?
Doesn’t your own Bible say that only the truth can set a
man free?
My son has been delivered from whatever
padlock held his mouth shut for 7 years
He told me everything”
At
that point Funmi was beginning to get the gist but didn’t want to jump the gun
so she asked “What exactly did my
husband tell you ma?”
“Since you have decided to ‘act’ innocent,
I’ll give it to you straight. My son told me of the pregnancies and abortions
in your teenage years. How you almost bled to death when one went awry.
Why then were you pretending like you
didn’t know what the issue was or the root of your childlessness?”
“The witch cried yesterday, the child dies
today…do we need a soothsayer to know that the witch killed the child?
I may not be as educated as you people but
if there is a delay in getting pregnant after marriage and the woman has had
abortions as a spinster…especially in the hands of quack medical practitioners;
do we need the Wisdom of Solomon to do the math?”
It
was at that point that my wife decided to leave…she was too shocked to even
respond to the things my mum was saying.
However, my mum took offense and saw
it as being ignored.
She
went after my wife and kept screaming (maybe to attract her neighbors). She
called my wife rude and attributed that to her not having parents to train her.
She
said the truth was bitter and that’s why my wife could not stand it and had to
disrespectfully walk away in the middle of a discussion.
Then
she started asking her neighbors to help her appeal to my wife to leave her son
alone and let him have children in life.
Neighbors
came around with a view to intervene and help them resolve it but my wife just
drove out of the compound and cried her way to Lagos.
Funmi
poured her heart for almost an hour…and that explained the red, swollen eyes.
I did
not even know where to start from. I started to apologize, I tried to explain
what had happened the last time I visited my mum. I could tell my wife was not
even listening. She had a cold look as she was trying hard not to look at me.
I had
begged and begged for hours but Funmi was not responding and when I didn’t know
what to say, I said
“Come on now, it’s not as if I cheated on you…”
My wife
went crazy at the statement, I had never seen her like that before…it was as if
she took a 15-minute vacation from her Christian faith so she could give me a
piece of her mind.
Things
escalated pretty fast and the house was getting really hot so I decided to talk
to Pastor Fred and let him know what was happening. That was when I realized
that he was aware of it already…Mummy Pastor had called to check on my wife to
see how her journey went and if she was back in Lagos.
She
actually almost travelled to Ibadan with my wife but had to attend to an urgent
issue in Lagos; so they parted ways at Ijebu Ode.
Pastor
Fred said he would have been the first to call me but was held up at a
counselling session that took longer than expected. He said I needed
to see him as soon as possible and that was how I scheduled the appointment for
the next day…
It
was the blaring horns of the cars behind me that snapped me out of my thoughts…the
traffic in front of me had cleared but I didn’t even notice
PART 7 PART 9
Picture Credit (c) Fine Art America
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
© 2016 Lanre Olagbaju All Rights Reserved
