Evil Meal of Evil

Scene 4. Dohbani and Sunyin are on stage

19 An Evil Meal of Evil Scene 4 Dohbani and Sunyin are on stage. (Dohbani is preparing his usual morning attire for palm wine tapping. Sunyin is preparing corn foo-foo.) Sunyin My husband, after you have tapped your palm wine at ‘Njenmoh’ you will please join me at the cocoyam farm at ‘Naku;’ the grass is pretty tall and strong. I cannot weed alone. Dohbani Ah! (gets up to go) The sun is piercing my roof. I’m supposed to be close to ‘Makup’ by now. That would leave me only two kilometers to get to Njenmoh for my palm wine tapping. Reserve my own foo-foo in that big dish because I may return hungry. If I return when you’ve already gone to ‘Naku’, then I’ll follow immediately. In the meantime let me hurry to ‘Njenmoh.’ Sunyin Husband, the foo-foo is ready. I don’t see any reason why you wish to hurry. Your morning foo-foo is ready. Please my husband, stay and eat before you go. I can imagine you collapsing under the jug of palm wine because of hunger. And who will be blamed? Me as usual! Then, I’ll have to desert my cocoyams and groundnuts in the farm to look after you in the hospital. Please, don’t bring me ill-luck. Stay and eat. Dohbani Yes, you’ll now pretend that you can care a lot for me. So I should abandon my palm wine in the farm for rain to spoil it only because of mere corn foo-foo, which I can equally eat after my job. Am I going to carry a hundred jugs of palm wine at ‘Njenmoh’? Look, don’t make as if you’ll clean my anus before I go to the toilet. Don’t bring me ill-luck. Reserve my foo-foo in that big bowl. When I return, I will devour it. (Exits). Sunyin (Soliloquizing) This action by my husband is making me confuse. Yesterday evening he could not sit for a long time with me near the fireside 20 Kehbuma Langmia under the pretext that he was going to pass the night at a death celebration. I spent the night alone, rolling like a round pumpkin from one end of the bed to the other. Is this how he is going to behave towards me as a wife? Refusing to sleep with me and refusing to eat my food? Yes, he will say I have been unable to give birth, what is the use of sleeping with a woman whose womb is empty? Yei! But is he not foolish? My stomach protruded a bit and he was quite certain I was pregnant but after two months the baby disappeared. Whose fault was it? Maybe his sperms are too weak to form a baby in my womb. A weak husband pretending to be powerful! Yei! Now that he finds my meals tasteless, I am totally convinced that each time he goes to that his palm wine tree he stops at another woman’s compound to eat his so called delicious food. Yei! Men are cowards and unpredictable. Since I am unable to convince him, I’ll narrate all these events to his mother who will scold him on my behalf. I’ll also leave a bigger portion of the farm for him to weed at ‘Naku’, so that he can demonstrate his manhood. (Enter Ma Petema) Ma Petema Sunyin, I heard you talking to yourself. Is everything all right? Sunyin My sister, sometimes it is like that. Ma Petema What do you mean ‘‘sometimes it is like that?’’ Are you trying to tell me that you’ve become a mad woman in broad daylight? Sunyin No, Not really. I was just thinking and talking to myself about the way things are going on with our leaders in this village. Ma Petema Don’t make me laugh, Sunyin. What things are going on in this village? You think I don’t know why you were talking to yourself? Sunyin (Surprised) What was I talking about? Tell me. Ma Petema Don’t make as if you are instead angry at me now. Please direct your anger at him. 21 An Evil Meal of Evil Sunyin Who do you mean him? Please don’t try to bring gossip into my house. I am just a young bride and I hear you go about...