Yasmin did not wear her hijab so her hair kept getting into her face. She brushed it outside and tucked it behind her ears. Her hair was something she inherited from her white mother, and that her mother was white was the only thing she knew about her. And she did not care, she had gone past care stage where she would need a mother.
She tucked her hair behind her ears again, maybe she should close the window, or turn off the fan, but she enjoyed the breeze, the kitchen would be too hot without it. She switched the gas cooker off and brought down her broth of soup. She knew Abubakar would not expect her to cook but she felt it necessary, it was the first time he was visiting anyway. She remembered how his face lit up when she agreed that he should visit and somehow, unexpectedly, it brought peace to her heart, for the first time she felt she had taken a step to mend their relationship. Cooking was next. He hadn't said what time he was coming, but it was better to wait for him than him wait for her. If she was going to— the bell rang. So quick? She removed her mitten gloves and walked to the door, he was there. He wore a jalabiya and a kufi cap.
"I hardly slept through the week, I kept wishing that each day was today. It is a cruel kindness that I can only stay one hour."
"You promised." She let him in.
"You cooked?" He asked sniffing the air, surprise evident in his voice.
"Yes."
"For me?"
"You're the only person coming to visit me today, so yes, I cooked for you."
He laughed. "I keep forgetting how blunt you can be and how you can say something emotional with a straight face."
"That I cooked for you is supposed to be emotional? I cooked for Danjuma for years and it wasn't emotional." The mention of her husband stiffen him, she noticed it, because she raised her brows and said, "Don't start."
He forced a smile. "Come, I'll braid your hair." She started to protest but he dragged her to the couch and sat her down. He dug his hand into his pocket and brought out a comb.
"You made plans of braiding my hair?"
"I made plans of doing other things I know you won't agree to. Braiding your hair is the easiest." He had learnt the act of braiding her for her sake, so it would save money to braid it elsewhere. Although the women did not charge a fee to braid her hair because her hair was European, he did not like anybody touching his sister's hair, he wanted it to be their thing. He laughed out loud to the memory.
"Loosen the braids, it's too tight."
"You did not complain when we were children."
"Because I felt I should endure the things I did not have to, very stupid of me."
"No," he shook his head. "You just loved to feign strength. Yasmin, there were times I wished you'd come to me, hurt and crying so I could put my arms around you and comfort you. I've always wanted to comfort you; when you started going out with those men, when you had to marry Danjuma, when you had that accident. But whenever I saw you, you were clear eyed, you seemed strong, indifferent, you did not need me."
She did not know what to say so she said nothing, just let him twist her hair into partitions of perfect cornrows. "I'm surprised you didn't come with your sweetheart," she said when it was neatly plaited and they walked to the dining.
"She knows this is our moment." Then he saw the food. "You cooked our favourite? How can I not love you?"
"How can you not?" She started dishing the food into his plate.
"By the way, I think Mr Edegbe has gone back to his place." He watched her to gauge her expression.
"How so?"
"It's been a week since I last saw him."
"And so because it's been a week since you last saw him, he has gone back home?"
"You don't understand, he has not been seen around this vicinity for a week, not his once in a while stroll, not the going out and in of his car, not his gate sliding open, zilch!"
Yasmin pushed his plate to his side before studying him askingly. "How do you know about that?"
He smiled. "I have eyes around. Thank you for the food."
"So you have people who monitor other people and give information back to you," she concluded.
"You have a way of—"
"Simplifying things," she completed.
"But I'm serious, his absence is alarming."
"Everything is alarming."
"Are you not concerned?"
"Edegbe is not a scaredy-cat, he won't run back to the south, why should I be concerned?"
"I thought you both were a thing?"
She murmured her response. "I thought so too."
…
A week had passed and Efe was really edgy, the doctors kept saying they had done their best, but why wasn't Edegbe waking up? The police had added to his frustration, they came everyday over the past week, making him repeat his story, saying it was needed in case he remembered something else. He swore at them as often as they asked him to retell what had happened, sometimes he ignored them until they threatened to lock him up in prison. Edegbe would not have ignored them, he would have shouted at them , cussed at them, told them they were terrible at doing their jobs. Did they think retelling the story would bring the culprit behind bars? And finally, he would tell them they were delusional if they thought he was going to repeat the story again. Only if he was awake.
"Just wake up," he muttered out loud. He had asked the doctor if it took that long to regain consciousness after a gunshot wound and the answer he received was not calming. Different bodies, different reactions, the doctor had replied. They had replaced the blood bag with a regular drip, but he still laid unconscious.
"Sah, I think you should go home and take your bath." He gave Victor a deadly glare. "If Sah wakes up, I'll call you. These hospital baths are not really refreshing, you should go home, bathe, eat and sleep. You also need to rest. Nothing will happen to Sah, the doctors already said he's fine, he'll wake up." He did not say anything, just stared. "You've not been picking up business calls too, it's going to affect your business. Imagine that another cow eats the plant, when Sah wakes up he's going to kill you first."
Efe managed a smile, Edegbe was so going to make sure they switched places.
"Sah, take." Victor thrusted the keys into his palm. "I'll call you if anything happens."
He nodded and closed his hand, sold. The man was right anyways, he would not get anything by standing and watching all day. He gave a frustrated sigh as he maneuvered to the car. "I'm going to give you the beating of your life when you get out of that bed," he said as he drove out of the hospital. He made a quick call to Mr Tanko and thankfully, there was no bad news. On days like this when he was battered and stressed, was a good day to have a company in the person of the opposite gender, not because he wanted to get laid, he was too tired for the physical exercise, but because, well, it would be nice. He had no reason for wanting a female companion though, the same way he had no strength in looking for one.
The same way he had no strength to face a pacing Alhaji in front of their gate. What did the man want this time? He honked, praying that the man would leave the front gate. He did not, instead he was smiling. Defeated, Efe turned the ignition off and got down from the car. "Good day." His tone was hostile.
"I ran into luck today. I just left Yasmin's place and decided to drop by."
He called Edegbe's woman by her name? "Thank you for your care, but I don't think I'm in the mood for any chit chat today. Now, if you'll excuse me." He started to get into the car.
"Wait!" He held his arm and Efe groaned , flinching it away. Alhaji stopped, realizing his playfulness was not going to get him inside the compound, at least. "I'm just concerned, I've been coming for the past week and there's nobody around, so I thought you might have gone back."
He's been coming for the past week? Will Efe have to admit he was a nice friendly man?
"Are you okay?" You look tired." He glanced at his arm. "What happened to your hand?"
And he liked to probed. Efe was exhausted, he longed for a deep seated sleep. "Can we have this talk some other time? As you have already seen, I'm tired."
"But what really happened?" He persisted. "And where's your boss, the both of you are always together?"
Efe realized that he was not going to have a pass if he did not tell the man or snap at him. He did not want the latter, the man was a good neighbour, so he picked the former. "We happened to be at the fair last week." As he talked, he noticed the man's face harden.
"The fair in which the shooting happened?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, the shooter fired like a mad man and a bullet took my boss down. The doctor took the bullet out, but he's yet to regain consciousness."
The man was quiet for a while. "Which hospital?"
He told him and like that, the man left.
Alhaji was going to leave for the hospital immediately but he remembered he had to tell Yasmin. When he got to her house, the gate man refused to let him in. Seemed like his sister was very strict with visitors. He considered telling the man they were siblings but he doubted it would make a difference, so he kept punching the switch by the wall, Yasmin would hear enough of it to know there was a problem.
She came out five minutes later looking displeased.
"He wasn't going to let me in," he defended.
"You should have called."
"Oh, I totally forgot that was an option." He touched his pocket where his phone was.
"What happened, we agreed one hour?"
"Remembered what we talked earlier, about Mr Edegbe? Something apparently happened to him." And for the first time in a long while, Alhaji received the satisfaction of a reaction from his sister