The Devil Has His Money

Episode 15

DAY 2

The next morning i called a taxi and took my mother home, she couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. Every second she would sigh heavily and shake her head. I would go closer to her thinking she wanted to tell me something but she would just sigh again. I saw my kinsmen in the compound when the taxi entered into the compound. The cabbie helped me take her inside her hut. The kinsmen called me aside, asking if perhaps she had opened up to me. Surprisingly Afine became my back bone, she made food for us, She cleaned Nma ‘ s body with warm water and she took Ama to her doctor’ s appointment.

Time was ticking slowly, death hung heavily in the air. All the signs pointed out that Nma had indeed committed adultery but she kept shaking her head, saying no because now she could no longer speak. A priest came to the house, chanting incantations and dancing in circles, still Nma maintained that she was innocent. I tried to remember if i had missed something or over looked something. I kept talking to myself like a man who had taken leave of his senses, have i ever seen her smiling at another man? did she ever over greet any man?

Words had spread that my mother had committed adultery, i could no longer held my head up as i walked on the street, every word took a new meaning for me. A simple ‘ Ca va’ ( how are you?) said to me would get me thinking, are they trying to find out if my mother had confessed? Were they mocking me? little Pam refused to eat, she would wake up in the middle of the night crying. Kofa suddenly disappeared but i didn’t give a damn about him, what with every thing i was going through. At night i couldn’t sleep, i was afraid to close my eyes for fear that death would come and snatch my mother away. Ama sat beside me in my vigil, she held my hand while we both sat watching Nma.

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DAY 3

” Kojo Kojo”

Someone tapped me, i forced my eye lid open.I must have fallen asleep in my sitting position .

” She’s gone ” Ama said quietly.

” Who? what?” My mind suddenly snapped awake ” Who is gone! ?”

True to Ama ‘ s words she was truly gone. My beautiful Nma, who will i call mother again? Who will starve herself to make sure i had my tummy filled. Who will take me into their arms and assure me it would be alright when my nightmares struck? The blood had stopped coming out of her mouth and she looked at peace. Who did this great evil to me? Who did i offend?

I went out to tell my father, Afine came to carry a sleeping Pam to her own hut. The kinsmen came with a priest to cut Nma’ s hair because she died a ‘ shameful’ death. My father said he had no money to buy casket for an adulterous woman. I bought the casket for her and insisted she was buried immediately. So many people came for the funeral and they all sang Nma’ s praise, so what had gone wrong? during the funeral Kofa came back from God knows where, that he had been, he locked himself in his hut for days.
Afine had to break the door. He was very sick and pale and he was vomitting blood as well. Npa called the priest and he said Kofa has words to say, only those words could save him. Kofa refused to talk but seeing how delicate his ( kofa) condition was he finally opened up.

” I watched her on several occasions while she took her bath” he spat out blood into the bowl by his bed side.

” Who? What are you talking about?” Afine asked her brother.

” Shut up woman, let him speak” Npa shunned Afine.

I paled at his words, somewhere at the back of my mind, a question rang out. ” Isnt it weird that Kofa is always saying he wants to use the convenience whenever Nma is in the bathroom”?
Ama had asked me one evening, long ago.

” I would bring out my manhood while i watched her till i cum ( ejaculate)” Kofa said.

In some household including mine, this is as good as having sex with the woman and it could lead to her death even if she is not aware of it. This is also considered as adultery by the gods because the man doing the looking had cum/ejaculated.

” Kofa! Kofa! You have killed me! You know our culture! You know our culture!” Afine screamed and hit herself on the ground crying.

If Kofa wasn’t already in the grips of death i would have strangled him with my bare hands. Npa pulled my hands and dragged me out of the room. I went into my hut, shut the door and screamed and cried till my voice got sore. Ama knocked on the door severally but i didn’t open it. Later that night, Afine’ s scream rang out. Her brother had also gone to where he sent my mother.

This post is dedicated to my aunt Afi, who lost her life this way, she left behind two little girls, Pam and Falon. RIP

To Be Continued….