By Olumide T. Agunbiade
MRS. Labi was inconsolable as she continued to cry. Hot
tears continued to flow down her cheeks and her beautiful figure was shaking
vigorously as she wept. As she continued to weep, deep in thought, I remembered an incident that happened few
months back at the hospital where I took my family for medical check-up.
On that memorable day, the scenario was quite
different between other couples. As I sat at the reception on that day, I saw a
man walking up and down the hospital corridor, deeply worried. He had brought
in his heavily pregnant wife, just a few minutes before. She was due to deliver
and had been wheeled into the labour room. He was quite anxious and disturbed
as he paced up and down the hospital corridor.
“Oga, come and sit down,” one of the nurses had said rudely, “you are
disturbing others with the way you are walking about. Are you not a man? People
bring their wives here to deliver everyday and they don’t disturb us like you
are doing now.” She concluded her verbal outpour with a contemptuous hiss.
He was so lost
in thought that he didn’t even hear. Even if he had heard her, he would have
ignored her. There were more serious issues bothering him than the verbiage of
an incompetent and rude nurse. If he could have had his way, he would not have
allowed his wife to keep this pregnancy.
The woman was as stubborn as a goat. They
already had five children. Three boys and two girls. The family lived in a
single room apartment in a “face-to-face” 30 rooms building. He had been
unemployed for the past two years, after he was retrenched in the factory where
he worked as a foreman. How did I get to know all these? Well, he narrated
everything to me when he finally sat beside me. He was a bit relaxed when he
did that.
Times were hard! He had to survive, keep body and soul
together, by working as a labourer on different building sites. His wife
augmented the family income by selling fruits and pure water in sachets. The
last thing he wanted was another child. He even advised his wife to go for an
abortion at the early stages of the pregnancy but the stubborn woman had
refused.
She had kept
the pregnancy. As he paced up and down the corridor of the hospital, that
morning, he wasn’t worried about his wife’s condition. He wasn’t anxious
whether the baby, on the way, would be a boy or girl. He was worried about
other things. Where would he get the money to pay the hospital bill? As it was,
he already had a lot of debts hanging on his neck. He owed his landlady one
year rent and the shylock was already threatening him with ejection. There were
so many other debts to be paid, and now this!
Few hours later, one of the nurses came out of the
labour room, smiling like someone who had just won a jackpot.
“Congratulations! Your wife has just been delivered of a set of twins.
Two handsome bouncing baby boys.”
Everyone began to congratulate him. He couldn’t
believe what he had just heard. Two what? The bottom simply dropped out of his
world. No way! This was unbelievable. What was he going to do with two
additional children? Sell them? He ignored several outstretched hands and began
to walk out of the hospital like someone in a trance.
He did not bother to see his wife. He didn’t want to
have anything to do with the new-born babies. As he walked out of the hospital
like a ghost, he made up his mind on what to do. He would run away. That was
simply the only way out for him. And that was what he did.
My thought came back Mrs. Labi who was still crying.
If God could give her a child, she would be the happiest woman on heart. She
would praise him to the high heavens. She would celebrate the birth of that
child with so much pomp and pageantry. And most importantly, She would pamper
that child with all the good things of life. She was rich in her own right. Her
husband was comfortable too. The only thing they lacked and desired with throbbing
passion was a child!
“This is
a very sensitive issue,’’ said Mr. Raymond as he took off his cap, wiped his
forehead with his handkerchief and then put on his cap again.
Suddenly
she stopped crying. Opened her handbag, took a pink handkerchief, closed the
bag and wiped her teary face. She looked straight into my eyes and said: “Did
he tell you what I did to him?”
I nodded.
“Did he tell you why?”
I shook my head.
“Would you like to know why?
“Yes.”
They had set
the flame. I had been set up to fan it. For me, life is different strokes for
different folks. When some are laughing, others are crying. When some are
giving birth, others are dying. When some are happy, others are sad. When some
are making remarkable successes of their lives, others are wallowing in
failure. Indeed, when some are getting married, others are divorcing. That is
what life is all about. I would give anything to know why she went to humiliate
her husband in the middle of a well attended Sunday service!
She looked
straight into my eyes, and then at Mr. Raymond, opened her handbag and brought
out her makeup kit.
“I’m sorry for tearing your letter.
I hope you will forgive me,” she began as she was powdering her beautiful face.
“No
problem. I understand,” I replied.
“When I was told he was cheating on me, I didn’t believe it,” she
continued, “until I traced him and saw it with my own eyes. He was trying to
impregnate one rich lady in the church. Yet, he was deceiving me that our
miracle was on the way!”
I burst into laughter due to her last statement. I
couldn’t hold back myself. I was relieved when Mr. Raymond joined me and then
she joined us. We roared with laughter till tears came out of our eyes.
“Am not proud of what I did, but I felt it was my duty to let the
congregation know that he was deceiving them and the fear of God was no longer
in him,” she continued as she put the makeup kit in her bag and closed the bag.
“Was he really a true pastor?” Mr. Raymond asked as he took off his cap,
wiped his forehead and then put on his cap again.
“Sincerely, he used to be. He was
patient and shielded me from his impatient family.”
“He must have succumbed to pressure,” I said.
She nodded in agreement.
There was
silence afterwards. It was obvious that her husband wanted to use me to ‘fan the flame.’ He wanted me to eject his wife from their
home forcefully by claiming in his letter that he had packed out and that she
had refused to join him. It turned out that he had disappeared from their home
since the day of the incident and moved in with his lover.
“Can you renew your rent?” I asked.
“I can afford it if that is what you mean. But I’ve decided to leave
anyway. I came here to challenge you but I’ve changed my mind. I’ll move out
next week,” she replied showing her beautiful set of sparkling white teeth as
she smiled.
“You can take your take your
time.”
“I’ll be gone by next week. Thank You for everything Mr. Olumide,” she
said as she stood up from her chair.
“You are always welcome,” I replied.
She also thanked Mr. Raymond and then walked out of my
office. I advised Mr. Raymond to move to Ikorodu and he left after we agreed to
check some properties in Ikorodu the next day. I watched him as he left my
office, slowly taking off his cap, wiping his forehead, and then putting on his
cap again on his way out.
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