Chapter Twenty Eight
NO ROOM FOR YOU
"You did not tell me you were already in town when you called this morning. I told you I will get back to you, and that does not mean you were welcomed to my house."
Ken said with disdain.
"I came to town yesterday and went to your office. The security man refused to let me in. He said that if you were expecting me, you would have left instructions with him. I hung around until the person I met across the road advised me to come to the quarters. I got your number from one of the security men at the gate."
Explained Mazi Iluno Okonkwo without any iota of remorse. One would think they owed him anything or that they had good rapport.
He looked like a fish deprived of water. The look on Ken's face showed that he remembered vividly how he made life unbearable for him and his wife when they were about to get married.
'Should I ask him to go back?'
He thought. Looking at the time, it was late for him to travel back to his village because from Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, to his village will take approximately eight hours by road. Asking him to travel back a distance of about four hundred and ninety-eight kilometers was not an option. Ken, who knew that his wife will not give him food or water, quickly thought of what to do. There was just one guest room, and Mama was occupying that currently.
'What will I do now?'
He asked no one in particular.
"Come, follow me."
Said Ken.
Mazi Iluno Okonkwo picked up his nearly empty sack, which was about all he has got in his entire life.
Ken took Dora's father to the guest room. The very room her precious mother was occupying.
"Make yourself comfortable here for now."
Ken told him, not wishing he should be too comfortable to leave the room when Mama comes back.
"Thank you."
He said with a smile of mischief and defeat.
He went to the kitchen and brought fruit juice, which he served him.
'That will be all right for now. At least Dora will not accuse me of serving him her food.'
He thought, but as soon as he joined her in the room, she inquired.
"Where is he?"
"In the guest room."
He answered.
"Where will Mama stay when she comes back?"
Dora asked with so much sadness.
"We will sort that before she comes back."
He answered, not knowing what he really had in mind. Taking him to a Guest House is not what he can think of now. With his status, he cannot imagine being seen in a Guest House with his supposedly father-in-law. It will tarnish his image more than the termination of his appointment. His mockers will blow the story out of proportion.
It happened that all their domestic staff members had been withdrawn by the company. His driver would have gladly handled it for him, but he was also withdrawn.
"I will think of something before Mama comes back."
He reassured her. They continued with the discussion of Jeff's admission into the University. The reason he quickly transferred the five hundred thousand to his wife's account was to ensure that he does not have any cash in the bank. The General Manager of the Cherry Fields Oil And Gas Group had reported him to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission as a criminal, and that led to all his account been frozen. He did not know why this particular account had not been frozen. But he knew they will come for that very soon. While they were engrossed in their discussion in the room, what they feared the most happened.
Mama came back excited. It was five in the evening, and she had bought fish for the family. That was what she was noted for that. Fish was always associated with her visit and the children longed for that.
Jeff and Jewel were not excited over the fish as Maman had expected because of the scolding from their parents. When she returned, Jeff was the only one who came to open the door for her. As she made for the kitchen to drop her goods, Jeff quickly joined his sister in the room as they continued with their game of taekwondo theory.
'These children are becoming matured.'
Mama thought.
It was quite unlike them because before that day, they would have struggled to collect her bag from her and asked her the name of the fish she bought. In most cases, they would prepare the fish together. That day appeared to be different.
After Mama dropped the fish, she began to walk into the guest room to change her clothes to something more comfortable. She actually started removing some of her wears from the kitchen while working towards the guest room, which shared the same wall with the kitchen and isolated from the other rooms in the duplex. She was quite sure that no one would see her half dressed as she walked into the guest room.
If she was shocked or afraid when she saw him in the room, it would be better explained by her. The shock on Mama's face when she saw him foolishly stretched like a lean cow on the bed was better imagined than described.
The guest room bed can take three adults comparing their sizes, but the way Mazi Iluno Okonkwo was lying depicted how selfish he was. No other person could join him on that bed because he was so selfish that his legs were widely spread to ensure that one leg was at one cardinal point of the room while the other leg was at the other.
"What are you doing here? How did you get here? Dora, Ken please, come. What's going on here?"
Mama shouted while she ran out of the room. Ken and Dora rushed to the scene as they just knew for the first time that she was back. Mama's blood pressure must have shot up because she was so scared. Dora sympathized with Mama, the woman who had sacrificed so much for her children; the woman who had been through a lot in life for her siblings and herself. Ken and Dora were thinking of how to salvage the situation, but they were only attempting to turn her mother into a killer with their sluggishness in acknowledging the degree of the situation at hand.