Blessing

Chapter 26

277 26 hat should I do, Wini? Go to the North and kneel in front of Joseph or get the ball rolling on the divorce procedure? Look at me! I am still to hit forty, and though I supposedly bare the name of a man who is still alive, I look no better than a woman who has never left the village.’ They were sitting in Blessing’s living room. A question of that nature meant the past year had gone by without leaving behind the one thing for which Blessing had sacrificed so much. ‘Tell me, Wini, I need to do something, but what?’ ‘Hm!’ Winifred exclaimed. ‘When I think of the North, I think of all those rich ranch owners. What a pleasure it would be to fan off the scorching sunrays from my bare body with some well-earned wads of banknotes. Know what I mean?’ She ran her hand across her bare neck as though actually caught up in the scene of her imagination. ‘A trip would certainly do you some good, especially during this Christmas period. A trip to the North would be a breakthrough for a woman who has never visited the place though her husband has been resident there for the past five years, a husband whom she has not set eyes on in three years.’ Winifred shook her head. ‘I have often told you that when you give all your emotions to one man, he gives you a myriad of problems in return; but that when you are a cheerful giver...’ ‘Stop it Wini. You should know when one is serious.’ ‘Don’t tell me I look like a clown, because I know I am not one. I am your friend and you know I help when I can. Right now, I cannot help you; or rather, I cannot tell you what to do. If you have found both traditional belief and Christianity wanting, then who am I to provide adequate answers? Indeed, no one can tell you what to do. All I can say is that the answer lies in you, Blessing. Deep within you, you will find the answer you seek.’ The only noise during the next twenty minutes was the sound of flesh against flesh as Blessing’s fingers rubbed each other in the process of weaving a combination of Winifred’s short hair and hair ‘W 278 extension into braids the size and length of palm broomsticks. Even as Blessing braided, she was lost in her thoughts. The answer lies in you. What could Winifred mean? What she had expected was that, like all the others before her, Winifred would use the opportunity to become a lecturer or a pastor. Aunty Angela was not for legalised polygamy since it was against church doctrine; however, the same Aunty Angela had shown she was for anything but divorce since it was a taboo. Even though her opinion had never been sort, Sister Ngum had made it known that God was the provider of all solutions. Everyone in Nchumuluh had a unanimous verdict: one divorce was a mistake; a second would be a disgrace to the family and tribe. Every person had proposed a solution except Winifred who had simply said, ‘the answer lies in you’. ‘Ble, I once witnessed a fight between two women,’ Winifred said. ‘“You stand there and talk now. Where were you when he kept my BP rising with his absences and silences?” one asked. “Let me remind you that I too have had a taste of his indifferences,” the rival responded. “Then you should be glad he has finally decided to be sensitive by cutting off all emotional ties with you,” went the first. “Now that you are so happy he has chosen to continue feeding only you with fervent promises of his unfailing presence(s), I hope you lose your senses when he also starts talking to you in past tenses.”’ The duo burst into girlish giggling. If Winifred’s intention had been to distract her friend, she had succeeded. But the laughing died down as abruptly as it had risen. Chilling silence followed. A light tap on the door brought both heads up. Before either of them could respond, a hand lifted the curtain and there he stood – tall, darker and thinner, covered in a gandura designed in lavish embroidery. ‘How are you, Blessing?’ He smiled widely. ‘Your husband is home for Christmas?’ Blessing did not take her eyes off him. She could not...