THE JAILBIRD ®18 SNVL (Episode 36)
©Aaron A.A
EFFE’S RESIDENCE
About forty-five minutes later Effe drives throu-gh the gates, gets down, locks her car and hurries inside.Her mother is re-ady to leave.Effe hvgs her mother.
EFFEThank you very much, Mama. Been a hectic day.
IVY KEDEMI want you to s£nd Chris out, Effe. Your father is hungry, so I have to run, but make sure Chris goes. Now!
EFFEOkay, Mama. Be on your way alre-ady, Dad must be hungry.Junior appears on t©p of the stairs, looking unusually radiant in his jeans and sleeveless vest.
JUNIOR(excitedly)Mommyyyyyy!!!He races down and embr@ces his mother, and then he immediately turns and runs to the kitchen.
IVY KEDEMWell, do it then. I have to run.Junior emerges from the kitchen, his face glum.
EFFE(concerned) What’s it, honey? You hungry?
IVY KEDEM(startled) Oh! Are you hungry, Junior? I thought you were okay, so I took the rest of the jollof. I wanted to give it to your grandpa.
JUNIORBut you ate two plates alre-ady, grandma. I wanted to eat the rest!
IVY KEDEMOh, sorry. Here it is! Take it. I’ll buy something for grandpa. So sorry. I thought you were done.
EFFE(confused) Jollof? What are you talking about? What jollof?
IVY KEDEMOh, the one you cooked, dear. It’s the best jollof I ever tasted! You must show me the recipe! It was so fantastic!
JUNIOR(giggling)Mommy didn’t cook it! Daddy did! Didn’t you see us in the kitchen in the afternoon cooking?
IVY KEDEM(shocked)What?
EFFEJunior said he wanted some French fries, so I grilled chicken and left the fries in the refrigerator for you to fry for him when he got hungry. I told him to ask you to fry them in the afternoon for him.
JUNIORI asked Daddy if he knows how to make really really really sweet jollof, and he said yes. We c@m£ to the kitchen and prepared the jollof. Grandma was asleep in the chair. I thought she saw us.
IVY KEDEM(stunned)Chris? He prepared the jollof? No, no, I can’t believe that!Effe smiles too.
EFFEChris learned to cook in prison, Mama. He was taught by an Egyptian cell mate.
IVY KEDEMMy God! He really cooked that jollof? I’m… I don’t …wow!
JUNIOROh, Mommy! Guess what! Daddy is going to call his new restaurant JUNIOR’S! Can you believe that? He’s naming it after me, his only begotten son whom he loved so much that he names his restaurant after… just like the Sunday school story about God and Jesus, right, Mommy?Effe chuckles, and just then the doorbell sounds.She and her mother look at each other sharply.Effe heads for the door with trepidation.Steve has informed her he would be tying a business deal in Koforidua that day and wouldn’t be in till late in the evening, probably.Has he finished early? Or he hasn’t gone at all?One thing is for sure, though. She does not wish Steve to be pres£nt now.Not that she is scared of him, but somehow she feels there is a sudden opportunity for her and Chris to talk, and she does not want anything interrupting that.It is not Steve at the door, though.It is her father.She almost breathes with relief as she hvgs him briefly and precedes him to the living-room.
KEN KEDEM(with a mock growl)C’mon, honey pie. I c@m£ over myself. Got tired of waiting for your mother. I’m too hungry. Can you fix me something in a jiffy?
IVY KEDEMOh, dear. I was bringing you some jollof, but Junior says he wants it.Junior steps forward and snatches the polythene bag from his grandmother’s hand which contains the rest of the jollof packed neatly in a disposable pack.
EFFE(aghast)J
unior! What’s with you? Hand it back this instant!
JUNIOR(perplexed)But I want the jollof! Grandpa doesn’t even like jollof!
EFFEHand it back this instant, Junior!
IVY KEDEM(quic-kly)That’s okay, Ef. I’ll fix your father some food.
JUNIOR(reluctantly)Grandpa likes noodles. I’ll tell Daddy to fix him some noodles.Ken Kedem looks from one to the other, obviously confused.
KEN KEDEMWhat’s going on here? And what father are you talking about?
IVY KEDEMChris, of course. He c@m£ to visit them, and apparently he cooked jollof.
KEN KEDEM(laughing)Oh, don’t kill me! Chris? Cooking? Dear Lord, guy can’t even boil h0t water!
JUNIORHa! You don’t know! Just wait! Daddy will fix you the best noodles you ever tasted, Grandpa. For you, he will fix it, but he wouldn’t fix it for Grandma because she hates Daddy and wants him in prison again and again and again and forever and ever and eveeer!!!
EFFEJunior!
JUNIORTrue, true, true, true!He flees up the stairs. Ken Kedem shakes his head and sits down heavily.
KEN KEDEMplea-se, who’s fixing me some chow? My wife or my daughter?
EFFE(gently)Let’s see if Chris will cook for you, Daddy.
KEN KEDEM(explosively)Now would you st©p that nons-en-se??
IVY KEDEM(sitting beside him)It’s true, honey, if it’s really true he cooked the jollof. It was real tasty!
KEN KEDEMI’m not eating any man’s concoction! Ef, plea-se go and get me something to eat, and st©p this buffoonery!
EFFEOkay, Daddy. Just let me change first.She clim-bs up the stairs, and a moment later Junior appears on the landing holding his father’s left middle f!nger and bringing him down.They meet halfway on the stairs, and Chris stands aside to let Effe pas-s.Their eyes make contact, and hold, and at the point where she is just pas-sing him she st©ps, and they are pushed very close to each other because Junior is pushing his way past her.It is a split second when they are che-st to che-st, face to face, th!gh to th!gh.His eyes drop to her s-en-suall-ips. She can see the t©p of his che-st, where the hairs are showing, hairs that she had loved tweaking and running her hands throu-gh.Their eyes meet, and for a fraction of a second she feels his hand brush gently over the swell of her h!pup to her w@!st, as if he means to take her into his arms.She makes a little g@sping noise, her knees going weak with sudden emotion.
IVY KEDEM(sharply)
EFFE!!!
The magic is broken, and her eyes looks down painfully at her mother’s upturned face.Chris walks past her, and she looks after him furiously, desperately, before her angry eyes focus on her mother with sudden and alien dislike.She turns and hurries to her room, closing the door and leaning against it, her eyes closed, her breathing fast and uneasy.Oh, Chris! Oh, Chris! Why did you do this to us? Why in the name of God did you have to r@p£ my best friend?Chris enters the kitchen, and his hvge hands ball up into ti-ght fists. He breathing is unsteady. His face is scre-wed up into lines of longing and torture.Junior t©uçhes his wrist, and he looks down and fights the pain in his heart.
JUNIORYou have started loving Mommy again, haven’t you, Daddy?He smiles ti-ghtly at his son, and then he tries to smile.
CHRISI never st©pped loving her, Champ.He moves away and begins to cook.Junior leaves him and goes for his jollof.A few moments later he returns with his jollof, sets up his table, and begins to eat.Mr. Ken Kedem pokes his head into the kitchen, and then he slowly enters.He walks forward, drawn by the delicious aroma, and stands gaping with shock as Chris works with the dexterity of a master five-star chef.
KEN KEDEM(stunned)I’ll be damned! You really can cook. Darn it!Chris does not speak.Effe and her mother enter the kitchen, and they stand at vantage points watching him.Finally, he steps back and looks warily at his former father-in-law.
CHRISIt’s done.He has cooked Italian noodles with lamb and cattle chops, and sizzled them in a blend of herbs and sauce.
KEN KEDEM(mouth watering)Go on, Chris, serve me, darn it. I’m famished.
CHRIS(calmly)I’m not serving you. I’m not your wife.Junior giggles with his mouth full of jollof.He chokes, and Chris rushes to his side with a glas-s of water.
CHRISHey. Don’t laugh when you’re eating.Junior takes a sip of the water.Ken Kedem looks after Chris with angry eyes as he picks up a plate and a ladle, but Effe takes them from him.
EFFE(suppressing a smile)Let me, Dad.
KEN KEDEM(looking at Chris)Look at your big head!Chris, standing beside his son, looks up, and he giggles, and Junior laughs, and Ken Kedem also laughs, and Effe smiles as she serves her father.Ivy Kedem looks on, and she is de-eply disturbe-d, because suddenly the scene looks just like it used to be.The easy camaraderie between Chris and her husband is back, something Steve has never been able to achieve with Ken.And Ivy is not happy at all.
To be continued ….
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