p@rt 22
“ISOKENE”
(St©p MY WIFE FROM SMILING)
©️Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde
I laughed so ha-rd …
“ Like seriously Father, you want me to pray for my husband’s mistress? like intercede for the woman who has caused me so much pain?…God, how?“ I said to God
I didn’t wait to hear God’s reply, I jumped on the be-d re-ady to sleep
Arrggg… My b©dy hit the ha-rd wood of the be-d, the mattress was really soft…
“ God is this fair?, Margaret took away my ha-rd mattress that mas-sages my back after a long day, and you expect me to pray for her, the best prayer I can pray for her is to die with the pregnancy so I can recover my home….” I said murmuring to God
“God plea-se I know we are meant to pray for our enemies but not the enemies that know what they are doing… Margaret knows exactly what she is doing… Jesus prayed for His enemies because they knew not what they were doing…but Margaret knows exactly what she is doing”…. I continued trying to justify my bitterness
I sle-pt off really exhausted not giving the prayer thing any more thought…
********
I could hear the loud ban-g on our gate, very early. The Spirit of God told me it was Isokene… I wondered if she sle-pt throu-gh out the night to have gotten to the outSk-irt so early…
******
“ Aunty, do you know that it is possible for a company to allow one of it’s best staff to go on study leave in other to equip such staff for the progress of the company…”
“Yes!” I didn’t know where Isokene was heading in her talk, Was it that Ibidolo was going on a study leave?
“ Aunty that is exactly how I see what you are going throu-gh, You are going throu-gh a professional course that will increase your experience as regards your ministerial knowledge in building more homes” Isokene said Jokingly…
Isokene pla-yed with us for the whole day…She bought the idea of pla-ying the fool, just like Gold had suggested.
*******
After about a week of staying in the outSk-irt, I started getting tired of staying indoors… I decided to take a stroll with my daughters… As we walked around, I noticed the outSk-irt was not as bad as I thought.
My daughters told me I nee-ded to have my hair done. I agreed since I wanted to be out of my misery.
Right there in the salon, I overheard the ladies talking about their husbands, some women said they didn’t care about their husbands and just like Isokene had said, my experience was to be a saving Message for others.
I found my way throu-gh talking with them and telling them my story…
“ My dear sisters, that husband you have that seem like a tissue or an irrelevant person, wait till a desperate single, or a divorcee or a widow lays her hand on him. By the time she enters into him fully, you won’t be able to recognize him again” I told them
“Hmmm…. Aunty, but are you trying to say women should accept all the mess and $h!t from their husband?” a lady asked
“ When you give birth to a new born and the baby poops everytime, do you beat that child?”
“ No…!”
“ So That is how you should treat your husband…They are Babies… Over time you will learn how to get them to do what you want them to do, I learnt the ha-rd way… Margaret the mistress treats him like a Baby… if I ever have the opportunity, I will treat him more than a baby”…. I said
The ladies were blessed with my salon sermon and one of them in p@rticular asked for my phone number. We exchanged contacts…
*******
“ Mum, so when will you start treating Dad as your baby? Gold said on our way home… I started smelling trouble
“ If I ever have the opportunity to go back to the house”
“ You Don’t have to wait till that time, You can start now” Gold said
“ How?”
“ Start s£nding him daily messages, Imagine there is nothing wrong between you two and you are just in different countries”
I laughed so ha-rd …
“ Gold… remind me again, how old are you?”
“ I am ageless…” She said very seriously and as I looked at her closely, her countenance had changed, Sudden Fear gr!pp£dmy heart, that moment felt like the air in the atmosphere seized… That was not Gold who just said those words….That was the Ageless God speaking to me throu-gh Gold, but it didn’t last long…
“ Mum, Mum…., Hello …Mum” Gold and Emerald j£rked me back to life as I stood staring at her on the road on our way back from the salon….
“ Yes…Gold, Emerald … I am fine”
“ So Mum, Are you going to s£nd a love message to Dad…?” Emerald asked with a plea in her eyes… I could un-derstand that my children wanted to see their father but I wanted to scream NO! NO!
I was hurting, I was in pain, Henry had betrayed me and now God wanted me to pray for his mistress and also start s£nding love messages to him…
What kind of Christianity was this ? or better still in Isokene’s words , what Kind of Professional course was this…?
I picked up my phone grudgingly, with misty eyes, I found myself typing…
“Good morning Henry”
“No mummy use “ My sunshine” just the way you used to call Daddy…”
Gold said
“ He is not my Sunshine anymore…” I said in anger
“ Mum…, You told me Pride is not a good virtue” Gold said…
I hated it when Gold used my words against me and she was really good at it…I decided to use “my sunshine” and have peace of my mind…
“ Good Morning my Sunshine”
Arrhggg… It felt like I was given something sour to swallow, but Gold was not letting me go…
“ Mummy, Write “Good Morning My Sunshine, Just to let you know I love you. I am sorry for the p@rt I pla-yed in this whole issue. Despite all that has happened, I love you regardless, Regards to Margaret.” Your Betty…
“ Jesus! Me s£nd that? God forbid!” …but before I could say Jesus is Lord, Gold had taken my phone, ran really fast ahead and obviously s£nt that text…
Because…
In 10 secs, Henry’s line was calling me back… Gold rushed back to give me the phone… I started shaking because I didn’t know what to expect. Gold pressed the recieve bu-tton…
“ Hello” …Alas! It wasn’t Henry, it was Margaret…
p@rt 23
“Hello Ma, are you there?” Margaret was saying, but I was too ton-gue tied to say anything. Out of Anger I ended the call.
“ You see, your father showed his mistress the text, you just made me lose my self worth, Margaret was the one calling ” I said angrily at Gold…
“ I am sorry Mum” She said also very disappointed at the turn of events….
“But Mum, that doesn’t change anything,the fact that one fails a test doesn’t mean you should st©p trying. You keep at the test, till you succeed mum…Those were yours words to Uncle Soji when he c@m£ crying to you that he had failed his entrance test for the professional course he was applying for four times….Remember Aunty Isokene said this was your own professional course…..” Gold said
“ Shush…..Sh….I don’t want to hear anything about your father AGAIN….I am the mother and you are the daughter.”
Gold knows whenever I use that tone..It was final….Gold entered her shell too…
********
I swallowed my pride and kept s£nding daily text to Henry and praying for Margaret for her safe delivery ( that was the best my spirituality level could handle as regards praying for her).
Henry never replied for once, I was wondering if he ever saw the messages or Margaret was the one using the phone….
********
Isokene was always at my place at least twice a week and one day while she was eating, she made a comment that gave me a big business idea…
“ Aunty, your meals are simply off the hook, I must learn how to cook like you and besides why don’t you start a restaurant in this area, there is no such thing around this area, except for local food joints. You sure will make your money!”
Later that night, I reflected on it, this was alre-ady a month out of Henry’s house. He had not called us for once to ask how we were fairing and I was spending money. I had fixed my savings like I initially planned for my children’s education, so I had little change left . We were majorly surviving on the money paid into my account from my book sales, so I was thinking that ISOKENE’s idea could actually fly…
I brou-ght up the idea when Gold and Emerald were eating the next day and they totally bought into it. They even agreed to be my sales girls….
******
Within a month, My restaurant was the official st©p for almost everyone in the vicinity from school children who bought their food in the morning, to housewives who didn’t want to cook, to husbands who were always complaining their wives were bad cooks…
That was how I met Mr Gbesan….The tall, dark handsome and mind b!owing wealthy widower who had just recently retired from his company. His Cologne alone was enough to make a woman fall. He told me he purposely chose to move to the outSk-irt so as to free from busyness of the noisy city. He was always coming to eat at my restaurant on a daily basis and he always had me blu-shing….
Gold was not finding this funny….but I was having fun, because I was getting my smile back, the smile my husband had taken away, Mr Gbesan was restoring it…
p@rt 24
I was seated around 11:30am in my new restaurant which was just in front of our house. That was about the only time I was usually free during the day. The traffic was always less. I was blu-shing at the thought that Mr Gbesan was going to show up soon. I knew his timing. He also knew that was the time of the day he could ever have my undivided attention..
I didn’t know my smile was so obvious Gold noticed, but before I could ask her why the strange look she was giving me, she snapped her f!ngersin front of me and said…
” Mum, if that man keeps doing this to you, I will poison him real soon!
” What?” I said pretending to be clueless…
” Mum, I don’t like this Mr Gbesan, he is giving you false hope”
” Gold, Your father has not called me in two months, but he has a woman warming his be-d and you want me to die of loneliness?. It’s not like I am planning to do anything stupid with Mr Gbesan, I can’t commit adûlt€ry…All I nee-d is just a friend “
“ Mum, I am your friend, Aunty Isokene is your friend, Emerald is your friend, you don’t nee-d any other friend…I am not…” she was saying
I had to cut her because Mr Gbesan’s car had just parked in front of us, Gold noticed my shift in attention and she followed my gaze…
“ Talk about the devil and he shows up , Mum I am so going to poison this man soon” She said walking towards the entrance of the restaurant
“ And you will spend the rest of your life in jail” I said jokingly
“ I don’t mind, even if I lose my life, it will be worth it…”
But I didn’t un-derstand why she was going towards Mr Gbesan until it was too late…
“ Welcome sir!”
“ Good Afternoon Gold”
“ We are still in the morning sir, and that’s why I c@m£ here to block you from entering sir… Mum is quite busy”
“Gold!” I shouted at her as I pushed her away from the entrance “ You don’t talk to our customer like this, I am very sorry Mr Gbesan”
“ Our customer?… Mum?… Mr Gbesan, plea-se help me clarify your intentions so my Mum knows why you are here. Are you here for the food or for her?” Gold asked very bluntly
“ Which one do you think?” Mr Gbesan said talking in an un-derstanding way and with a mischievous smile
“ With the way you look at her, it is obvious you are here for her!” Gold said
“ You are very observant, but I guess you have a problem with it?” He asked
“ Sir, you are highly observant too, Yes! I have a big problem with it… You are distracting my mum from the real thing…She is always blu-shing, she…”
I was about to cut in, when Mr Gbesan said
“ So you mean your Mum likes me too?”
Gold gave Mr Gbesan an Epic look that said “ No, like seriously?”
“ Even the flies in this canteen are alre-ady discussing it sir, with all due respect….plea-se sir, my father is not dead, he is just emotionally and psychologically lost and we are in the process of finding him, plea-se sir st©p distracting my Mum from this search….”
And there was silence in the restaurant…as we were the only ones there….
“ You are one hell of a smart 14 year old child and knowing that it was your mother who trained you to be this smart, you just made my love and respect for her increase… I am sorry Gold, I don’t think I can grant you your request but as a business man I will like to be fair, Let’s have a deal”
“ What?” Gold asked as I watched in silence as Gold stood face to face with the domineering Mr Gbesan…
“ I will give your father two years to get back your mother, if he doesn’t within those two years, I would gladly get married to your mother and be happy to have you as my step daughter “ he said grimacing
Another moment of silence, Gold stretched forth her hand to accept his handshake to seal the deal
“ Accepted,but that is because, TWO years is TOO much for God to do WHAT I KNOW HE WANTS TO DO…” Gold said with a smile of mockery
I watched in amazement as my daughter was acting like she was my mother…and Gold added
“ But, you must be careful not to cloud her within those two years”
“ I will try my best, so that means I have the permission to d@t£ her”
“ No, just her friend”. At that same instant my phone beeped and it was a text message from Henry. He simply wrote
“ Thanks for all the messages you have been s£nding, I appreciate them. I miss you, I hope you are fine?”
I don’t why I quic-kly deleted the message, Maybe I didn’t want Gold seeing it or maybe I was alre-ady falling for Mr Gbesan
To be continued