The Godmother

Episode 34

Rita suddenly felt elated. ‘Aunty, you know somebody who
can do that?’

‘Yes. He is here in Abuja. I know women he has done it for
and the thing is working very well for them.’
‘Oh, aunty, why didn’t you tell me this since all these days?’

‘How would I know you would welcome the idea? You kept
on saying ‘pastor this’, ‘Pastor that.’ Anyway, it’s not too
late.’

‘I will take the option. How soon can we go and see the
man?’

‘As soon as you’re ready.’
Rita glanced at the big clock in the shop. It was few
minutes to four o’clock.

‘Aunty, I would soon be in your place. We’ll go today,
today. There’s no point in wasting time again.’
‘It’s alright. I’m at home. Come around and I’ll take you
there.’

‘Okay, aunty. I will soon be in your place.’
That was it. There was no time to waste again. Rita put her
things in her bag. She called the attention of the sales girl.

‘Lock up the shop if I don’t come by six o’clock. Keep the
proceeds where we keep it. I’m going out.’
‘Alright, madam,’ Amina replied.

Rita left the shop and drove to Aunty Wunmi’s house at
Wuse. Wunmi was married to a senior military officer as the
third wife. She was a
beautiful but serious looking woman. She must mean what
she said. The woman was waiting for her as she had
promised.

‘Good afternoon, aunty.’
‘Good afternoon, Rita.’
Without further delay, the two women, accompanied by one
of the two soldiers manning the house left for the baba’s
house. The old man
listened to what Rita had to say.

‘Baba, I won’t ever accept what my husband is planning.

I’ve labored with him a lot in the past. I’ve endured a lot.

Now, that things are rosy,
another woman wants to take him shine. No way.’

The baba was very patient. ‘What exactly do you want me
to do?’ he asked.

‘I want you to do something so that he’ll hate the other
woman. Something will make him love me alone and not
look at any other woman.’

The man nodded. ‘That is a very simple thing to do, but it
may cost you a lot.’

‘How much will it cost?’
The man appeared pensive. ‘Bring one hundred thousand
naira.’

Rita was pleasantly surprised. ‘Is that all, baba?’

‘Yes, that’s all.’

Promptly, she dipped her hand in her handbag and brought
out the money. ‘This is it.’

The old man smiled. ‘Come back this time of tomorrow.

Your work will be ready.’

‘Thank you, baba,’ Wunmi said. ‘Thank you very much. I
know we can always depend on you.’
The two women left the place.
‘You can be rest assured that your problem is solved,’
Wunmi said. ‘That baba is a very powerful one. The thing
will work like magic.’

Twenty-four hour later, Rita was back in the old man’s
house. He gave a small wrapped package.
‘There’s powder inside,’ the man said. ‘You’re to sprinkle
the powder in his food or drink. Make sure only he takes
the food or drink. That is all. He
will hate all other women. You’re the only one he will love
in the whole wide world.’

‘Thank you, baba. Thank you very much. After the thing has
worked, I’ll surely come back to see you and show more
appreciation. I will surely do
that.’

She left the place, feeling excited. For the first time in the
last many days, she felt elated. She was certainly in a
jaunty mood as she drove her
car back home. Her phone rang. Her husband was on the
line.

‘Hello, dear,’ he said.

‘Darling, how’s everything?’
‘I’m fine. Remember I told you I would be travelling to
Enugu this morning to inspect the federal television and
radio stations in that state.’

‘Yes, I remember you said so.’
‘Well, I won’t be able to come back today. The senior
Minister said I should extend my inspection to cover the
other eastern states.’

Rita felt deflated. ‘Oh.’
‘Not to worry. In two or three days’ time, I should be back
in Abuja.’

‘Alright.’
‘See you, dear.’
‘Bye.’

Rita’s excitement puffed into the air. Why was it a day like
this that he would travel and not return as planned? Why
was it a day she had
something very precious to serve him? Anyway, no
problem, she would wait.
It took another three days before he returned to Abuja,
which was Friday evening. Rita was glad to have him back.

She had decided that she would be using endearments for
him and would treat him very warmly as she used to do.

‘Oh my darling, you look so stressed up,’ she commented as
soon as he came into the house.

He shook his head. ‘It’s not easy. My schedule was hectic,’
he said.

She helped him to remove his agbada and other clothes.

‘What you need first and foremost is a cool shower.’ She
arranged for him to have the shower. Then, she prepared
his favorite meal which was
fried meal and fried plantain, with fried turkey. She asked
the house maid to go to her room while she personally did
all these.

Then, she brought the food to him in bed.
‘You shouldn’t have gone through the troubles,’ he said. ‘I
don’t think I’ll be eating tonight. I don’t have the appetite.’

‘But you must eat, darling,’ she quickly said. ‘You’ve
worked hard; you must feed well. How could you see food
as tantalizing as this and you say
you don’t have appetite?’

Truly, the food was sweet-looking. It was his favorite, but
he simply had no appetite, which was strange, even to him.

She practically had to feed him. After taking some bites, he
declined to eat further.

‘Alright, take a lap of the chicken,’ she urged.

He took it and was able to finish that. Rita was glad. He had
taken enough of the portion. After the meal, he said he
would like to sleep early as he desired rest.
‘No problem, honey,’ Rita said. ‘I agree with you that you
need rest.’

She left him in the bedroom, glad that she had achieved
what she set out to do.

Alone in the bedroom, Tope gazed at the flat screen in the
bed-room without interest. One of the local stations was
reporting his tour of eastern
radio and television stations. Tope watched briefly and
flipped the channel to a foreign one. After watching the
station for some minutes, he
slept off.
He had a dream. In it, he saw Iye in his then mini-flat home
in Lagos. It was like the first day she visited his house.

‘You’re really beautiful. You look smart too, and honestly,
I’ll like to marry you.’

Iye smiled at him. ‘Are you really sure you want to marry
me?’

He nodded assertively. ‘Certainly, I want to.’

She smiled up at him. ‘Well, we can marry, but not in this
form.’

His eyes clouded. ‘What do you mean? What form are you
talking about?’

‘You will have to go through transition before we can get
married.’

He looked more confused. ‘Can you explain what you
mean?’

She nodded. ‘I will explain. This is the way things would
happen. I would first tell you I could not marry you, that I
would be your helper, your
godmother. Indeed, I would help you to attain wealth, fame
and power. You would be married to another lady called
Rita. I would ask you to
treat her the way you would have treated me if I were to be
your wife.

‘You would promise to do this, but you would not keep to
your promise. You would be so unfaithful in the marriage.

You would meet a lady who would attempt to completely
take over your soul. I would warn you but you would not
listen. The lady would even take you to somebody who
would promise you that he could break my hold on you.

‘Then, you would attempt to marry that other woman. Your
wife would be so distressed that she would try all means to
stop that marriage
between you and the lady. Then you will have this dream.’

He looked at her and shook his head. ‘All these things
you’re saying are esoteric.’

‘Esoteric or not. They will come to pass. When you have
this dream, my dear Tope, it means you have three days
more. Just three days in your
present form. There will be a transition, and you’ll have me
forever, just as you desired.’