Stranger in his Homeland

Chapter Twenty-Four

185 Chapter Twenty-Four E ru came out of his house and met Antony at the veranda where he said immediately: “Bo, accept my deepest sympathy for the loss of your fatherin -law. I only heard it when it got here. It’s so bad. I never heard he was sick at all. I know how much you loved and respected him.” Antony breathed in and out and then said out of mere politeness: “Well, thank you bo Eru.” The two then walked in. Eru had been cutting out some pictures of women in all forms of undress from a Playboy magazine which he had bought in Tetseale. Those that he had already cut lay carelessly on the table in the centre of the floor. Small women with abnormally large breasts lay in a separate corner while those with very large buttocks and small breasts lay in another corner. In the space between the groups lay several others with wide open legs exposing their sexual organs in the most obscene manner. He went to the bag he had just brought from Tetseale and took out a book and handing to Antony said: “I have something here which will help you very much.” Antony took it and glanced at the title – THE TECHNIQUE OF SEX. Then he placed it calmly on the table before them. Eru’s gift brought back as never before, the thoughts of what had happened between him and Vicky in his hotel room n Mulyoka, and the conclusions he had drawn regarding her past life. “Bo Eru, why do you give me such a book?” He asked. “You don’t like it?” Antony was silent. “It is made for married men,” Eru pointed out. “Besides, there is something inside which I want you to see. Something very good. Something you would like to see.” Antony did not ask him what it was or where it was in the book. He only went on to explain his problem. He asked Eru: 186 Linus T. Asong “Bo, have you heard about the way that old man died?” “Which one? Your father-in-law?” Antony nodded and told him: “That man was a real devil.” Eru smiled and kept quiet. Antony had expected him to ask him whether they had not tried to convince him about it . Eru did not. He only asked: “What did he do this time?” “He tied all his money into one bundle and tried to dump it into a latrine before dying.” This made Eru laugh for over one minute. And when he stopped he said nothing about it. This pained Antony very much because it seemed to imply that he had expected such a thing to happen to the man. “Bo Antony, do you know the girl I was always dancing with at the wedding?” he asked. It took Antony a very long time to say: “I don’t quite know her. But I might recognise her if I met her.” Eru went to his bag, took out a picture of two girls and asked if he could make her out. Antony pointed to the right one. Then he asked him how he got the picture. “She gave it to me in Tetseale. I went with her. The other girl there is her best friend. She took me to her place the day after I slept in her house.” “You slept in her house.” “In her hole itself. But that is not the thing I want to tell you. When I went there I saw that her friend was more beautiful. So what did I do?” “What did you do?” “Guess.” “ I don’t know which way to guess such a thing.” “I crossed the carpet a put my candidature.” Antony shook his head and remained silent and tense with the weight of what he had come to tell Eru on his mind. “And last night, guess what I did.” “I can’t guess.” “I scattered her to pieces. I dug her inside out.” Antony did not say anything. 187 Stranger in his Homeland “She is in the University,” Eru went on. “She is called Janet. She will be coming here next week for an away-match.” “And what happens to the other girl?” “I don’t know yet. But the Bible says one servant cannot serve two masters.” Here he stopped talking and opened the book Antony had abandoned. He withdrew...