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Episode 7

Thankfully, our case was the first to be
called. My lawyer and Nora’s got up to
introduced themselves as our respective
counsels. Then I was asked to go stand
in the dock to the left of the judge while
my wife stood in that to his right. We
both swore by the bible to speak the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the
truth. Then another clerk at the court
read out why I had been summoned to
the court. When he was done, the judge
took over.

He went straight to the point and said
my estrange wife was claiming that I
was not the biological father of our two
children; she wanted a DNA test carried
out to prove her claim. Then the judged
asked if I had any objection.

“No, my Lord” I said calmly. The judge
nodded before announcing that the DNA
test will be done at the Central
Government Hospital. He directed that it
be carried out within 48 hours after the
court’s order. The Registrar at the court
was appointed to be the independent
observer who will be present at the
hospital when our respective DNAs are
being taken. Having spelt out what he
wanted done, the judge then asked if
there was any objection. Both parties
said they were okay with the
arrangement. With that, the case was
adjourned.

As soon as we walked out of the court
room, my estranged wife, followed by
his brother and two other men walked
to her vehicle, got in and drove away.
She had evidently come to the court with
bodyguards to prevent me from
attacking her. I smiled to myself. I had
no intentions of attacking her, especially
as we were in court though I knew that
not even these tough looking
sunglasses-wearing men were capable
of coming between me and my children.
I got into my car and drove to the Young
Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) club
house with my lawyer in tow. There, we
had a brunch. I took Milo and brown
bread with baked beans while he took a
bottle of lemonade and chicken.

“Nora is very interesting. I am surprised
at her. It is as if I have never known her”
my lawyer, Carl Lomotey, said. I was not
in the mood to talk about my wife.
Talking about her only brought back
painful memories of seeing her in bed
with my friend. All I wanted now was to
get my children back. I changed the
topic. Carl realized this and understood I
did not want to discuss Nora.

After the brunch, we parted ways. I
headed for the hospital while he headed
for his chambers.

Back at my work place, I immediately
began to attend to patients. I worked
hard as though it was going to be my
last day at the hospital. Burying myself in
my work enabled me to forget the pain
of my wife’s infidelity. Finally, when it
was almost five O’clock, I saw off the last
patient. My work schedule for the day
too had come to an end. I was about to
leave my consulting room when my
phone rung. The number that appeared
on my screen was that of my wife. I
wondered why she was phoning me.
I decided not to pick the call. The ringing
continued till it ended. Then after about
three seconds, it started ringing again.
I still refused to answer the call.
However, when it began ringing the fifth
time, I picked it; I was going to tell her
off, warning her never to call me. But as
soon as I answered the call, I heard my
son’s voice.

“Daddy! Daddy! Is that you?” Peter
asked. The sound of his voice brought
back nostalgic feelings of the good old
days when we were a one big happy
family.

“Peter! Yes! It’s me! How are you! How is
Pamela? Where are you?” I asked, my
heart aching and yearning for them.
“Pamela is here. Daddy, we miss you.
When are you coming for us? We miss
you. We want to…”Suddenly, I heard
their mother’s voice interrupting.
“Peter! Who asked you to use my
phone? Who are you calling? Let me
see,” I heard her say.
“I was talking to Daddy,” I heard my son
reply. Then I heard my wife say “that
man is not your daddy…” then the line
went dead.

I could not believe it! My wife was telling
my son that I was not his father.
Immediately, my entire being was
gripped with anger. Quickly, I phoned
my wife back.
.

I was virtually choking on my anger as I
listened to the tone of my phone
indicating that the call had gone
through and her phone was ringing. It
rang and ended. Nora would however
not answer my call.

I tried again and again but she refused
to answer it. When I tried the fifth time, I
found, to my chagrin,that she had
switched off the phone.

I was sweating. I reminded myself on
the need to calm down; I had on many
occasions advised others on the need to
control their anger. Now, I was the
physician who must heal himself. I took
in deep breathes and turned to other
issues.

At about 4:30pm, I closed from work. I
realized I had developed a migraine. I
chastised myself for getting so worked
up; getting my children back was not
about being angry.

The sound of my son’s voice as I spoke
to him earlier on kept coming back to
me. I yearned to have him and his sister
in my arms. I longed to cuddle them. I
longed to have my daughter, sitting on
my shoulders, holding on to my head
and giggling.I longed to engage in the
pillow fight I sometimes had with Peter
in the evenings after I had supervised
him to do his home-work.

As I drove home that evening, tears
began to stream out of my eyes and
meander their way down my cheeks
before dropping on my shirt. My grief
was deepened by the fact that
coincidentally, the radio station I had
tuned in to was playing UB40’s “Tears
from my eyes.” I knew the words very
much but they had much more meaning
to me at that particular time. I sang
along with the reggae band.

“Tears from eyes keep on falling
Because you are leaving, leaving with
another

Things that we’ve done together
I’ll always remember though you are
with another”

I did not make any attempt to dry my
tears though I realized I was not only
singing for my children but also because
of the way my wife had betrayed me.
She had been the centre of my life but
had killed my spirit by cheating on me.
Suddenly, I felt the urge to take in
something strong. I felt I needed
something that will ease the pain I was
going through. And, this brought
another UB40 song to mind. I lowered
the volume of the car’s radio and sung
UB40’s ‘Red Wine’. In fact, I virtually
screamed the word out as tears
continued to trickle down my cheeks. I
looked out for a place where I could buy
some hard liquor that will kill the pain I
was experiencing.

Finally, I found a drinking spot. I parked
the car, got down and entered. There
were people in, all men except two
women. I could tell that many of the men
were already tipsy or drunk. Since I was
going to drive home, I resisted the urge
to drink there. So, I bought a bottle of
brandy and returned to my car.

My head was still aching as I drove
home. Finally, I arrived safely. The gate
man opened the gate for me. I drove
through the gates, parked and got out
with my bottle of brandy. There was
light in the kitchen. I checked to find Efe,
the house-help there. She had taken a
week off and was back. I guessed she
was unaware of what was going on. I
was glad though to see her.
“Daddy, welcome,” she said.
“Thank you. When did you come?” I
asked.

“At about 5 o’clock, sir” she replied. I
nodded. She asked about my wife and
the children. It must have been weird for
her to come meet an empty house.
“They are not around. Let’s talk about
them tomorrow,” I said, anxious to get
to my room so I could drink myself to
stupor.

“I have prepared yam with corned beef
stew. Can I serve you, sir?” she asked
me. I shook my head and lied that I had
already eaten. I said I was tired so I was
going to have my bath and then go to
bed. With that, I left her and headed for
the bedroom.

As soon as I entered the bedroom, I
locked the door, opened the bottle of
brandy and holding it to my mouth,
gulped down a mouthful.

The drink stung my stomach as it hit my
system. I grimaced. This was my second
time taking an alcoholic drink. I took
some deep breath as I felt what I had
taken began to have an effect on me.
I took another mouthful and grimaced
again. The drink was really strong. I
found nothing sweet about it and
wondered why people take it. Yet, I took
a third swing as I sat on the bed. Soon, I
felt the room spinning. I tried to get up
but my legs were not study. I told myself
I was drunk. I took the bottle to have
another swing but the bottle dropped
from my grip. I sighed and slumped on
the bed. A few minutes later, I was fastasleep.
I slept so deeply that it had to take very
loud bangings on the door by the maid
the next morning to wake me up.

“Sorry sir. It is past nine and you had still
not woken up so I came to wake you up.
I have been knocking on the door for
the past fifteen minutes” she began,
apologizing for knocking very hard on
my door.

“Sorry, Efe. I went to bed so tired. Wow!
It is past nine. I am very late for an
appointment” I said.

From her expression, I could guess I
was reeking of alcohol and she was
trying very hard to bear the bad odour
from my mouth. Smiling, I closed the
door gently, shutting her out. Then I
went to the bathroom. One look at my
face in the mirror and I realized how
badly I looked. Alcohol certainly does
things to a man.

I went back to the bedroom and tidied
up the place. The bottle of brandy I had
brought into the house was lying on the
floor with only a little of the content left
in it. I could not believe that I had almost
gulped down almost half the bottle.
What was I thinking? I could have killed
myself.

I finished tiding up the place, went to
the bathroom, shaved, brushed my teeth
and then had my bath. Then I dressed
up. Efe was waiting for me when I came
out of the bathroom. She was standing
by the dining table.

“Sir, your breakfast is ready” she said. I
was about to tell her I was not hungry
but then I changed my mind and came
to sit at the dining table. She served me
coffee and biscuit.

“Coffee, Efe?” I asked, puzzled. She knew
I hardly took coffee.

“Yes sir. You need it to keep you awake.
You still look drowsy, sir. This morning, I
realized you have taken alcohol so I
thought I should give you something
that will keep you awake especially as
you will be driving yourself” she said
I knew she was right. I smiled at her and
said “thanks”. Then I decided to let her
know what was happening in the
house. I proceeded to ask her to take a
sit and listen to what I was going to tell
her. She complied.

While eating, I told her what had
happened in her absence. I told her
everything, leaving out no details. She
stared at me in silence as she listened
with rapt attention. When I got to where
I caught my wife and Edwin doing it on
my marital bed, her jaw dropped. She
stared at me as if I was a lunatic.

Nevertheless, I continued with my
narrative.

Efe was so shocked that she could not
utter a word. I understood why she was
shocked. No one, in his or her right
senses, would have even imagined that
Vivian would cheat on me.

As I said earlier, Nora was not only the
epitome of beauty but a strong Christian
woman well respected in the church.
She was a role model for many young
girls in the church where we fellowship.
“No! I can’t believe this!” Efe suddenly
muttered. Tears began to flow down her
cheeks when I started telling her about
my wife’s claims that I was not the
biological father of my children.

“Oh no! Sir! Please stop it!” she cried out
as if I was the one claiming I was not
the biological father of my children. I
paused and allowed her to cry for a
while as I continued eating. I had no
appetite to eat so I concentrated on the
coffee.

After a while, I resumed telling her about
my estrange wife and her claims,
winding up with why I brought home a
bottle of brandy. Efe could, at this stage,
not control herself any longer. The tears
flowed liberally down her cheeks. I did
not feel any urge to console her. She
needed to cry to get the pain out of her
system and begin to live with the fact
that Nora and I would no more be
husband and wife. But to my surprise,
she got up from where she was sitting
and came to kneel in front of me.

“ Sir, I beg you…please….please…I know
what madam has….has…has…has done
isbad but forgive her…please…You have
a beautiful family…it must not collapse…
the children, …Peter…Peter and Pamela
need both of you. Sir! I beg you” she
said as she began to plead with me to
forgive my estranged wife.

Efe’s moved shocked me. But she was
crying and pleading in vain and I told
her so.

“ No man will forgive the sin my wife
committed against me, Efe. First of all,
she opened her legs for another man.
Secondly, it was no other man than my
own best friend. Thirdly, she had the
effrontery to bring him to my house to
do the abominable. Number five, they
chose my bedroom for their illicit s-x
session. Number six, it was on my bed
that they were having their orgy. And
you want me to forgive this? And, to add
insult to injury, she is telling me I am not
the father of my children! Which man
will forgive her woman for that?” I
asked her.

Efe did not respond to my queries for
obvious reasons. I had completed
having my breakfast so I took my
briefcase and left the house, leaving the
maid weeping at the dining table. I
drove out of the compound and headed
for my lawyer’s chamber to discuss with
him issues concerning the DNA test.
What happens next?


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