“You did not tell me you were already in town when you called this morning. I told you I will get back to you. I never said you were welcomed to my house.”
My husband remarked with disdain.
“I came to town yesterday and went to your office. The gate man refused to let me in.”
“Yesterday was Sunday. How do you expect that I should be at work?”
Evans inquired, but, he ignored his question and continued with his explanation, without any iota of remorse.
"He said that if you were expecting me, you would have left instructions with him. Then, I hung around until he gave me your number and directed me on how to get to the quarters.”
One would think that we owed him anything or that we had a good rapport. At that point, he looked like a fish deprived of water. The look on Evan’s face showed that he remembered vividly how he made life unbearable for us when we 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 the villa. From Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, to the 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, and he knew that I will not give him food or water.
Then, he came up with a solution. Meanwhile, there was just a guest room, and Mama was occupying that.
“Come. Follow me.”
Now, Mr. Aaron picked up his almost empty sack which was all that he had got in his entire life and followed him, and he took him to the guest room. The very room my precious mother occupied.
“Make yourself comfortable here for now.”
Evans instructed, not wishing that he should be too comfortable to leave the room when Mama comes back.
“Thank you.”
He said with a smile of mischief and defeat written on his face. Then, he walked to the kitchen and got fruit juice, which he served him.
'That will be alright for now. At least Sarah will not accuse me of serving him her food.'
He thought.
“Where is he?”
I asked as soon as he joined me in the room.
“In the guest room.”
“Where will Mama stay when she comes back?”
“We will sort that out before she comes back.”
He answered, not knowing what he really had in mind. Taking him to A Guest House was not an option. With his status, he could not imagine being seen in a Guest House with his supposedly father-in-law. It would tarnish his image more than the termination of his appointment. His mockers would blow the story out of proportion.
It happened that all our Domestic Staff had been withdrawn by the General Manager. His driver would have gladly handled it for him, but he was also withdrawn. Besides, with my father's look, it was possible for people to conclude that he had engaged a ritualist to cast a spell on the General Manager and others who connived with him to make life unbearable for him.
“I will think of something before Mama comes back.”
He reassured me. Then, we continued with the discussion of George's admission into the University. The reason he quickly transferred the five hundred thousand to my account was to ensure that he did not have any money in the bank. The General Manager of the Blue Sea Oil And Gas Group had reported him to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission as a criminal, and that led to all his accounts being frozen. He could not explain why that particular account had been left operational. But he was expecting that they would come for that very soon. While we were engrossed in our discussion in the room, what we feared the most happened.
Now, it was five in the evening, and Mama returned from the market excited. She had bought some fresh fish for the family, which was associated with her visit and the children longed for that.
However, George and Lillian were not excited over the fresh fish when she returned as Mama had expected because of the scolding from me.
To my mother's surprise, George was the only one who opened the door for her.
“Welcome back, grandma.”
“Thank you, George. Where is your sister?”
“She is in the room.”
“What of your parents, are they back?”
“Yes, grandma. They are in their room.”
“It is all right, George.”
Then, as she made for the kitchen to drop her goods, while George quickly joined her sister in the room, and they continued with their game of taekwondo theory.
'These children are coming of age.'
My mother thought because it was quite unlike them. In the past, 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 it together. That day seemed to be different.
After Mama dropped the fish, she walked towards the guest room to change her clothes to something more comfortable. Now, she began by removing some of her wears from the kitchen while walking towards the guest room, which shared the same wall with the kitchen and isolated from the other rooms in the duplex. She was quite certain that no one would see her half dressed.
Suddenly, the unexpected happened. If she was shocked or afraid when she saw him, it would be better described by her. The shock on my mother’s face when she saw him foolishly stretched like a lean cow on the bed was better imagined than described.
Meanwhile, the guest room bed can take three adults compared to their sizes, but the way Mr. Aaron was laid depicted the kind of person he was. No other person could join him on that bed because his legs were widely spread across the bed to ensure that one leg was at one cardinal point of the room while the other leg was at the other. He was so selfish.
“What are you doing here? How did you get here? Sarah, Evans, come, please! What's going on here?”