Читать книгу Why Won't She Have Sex? - Kehinde Anita Mokwenyei - Страница 5

Wendy arranged her apartment, everywhere needed to be perfect when Charles came around. She was joyous. The only thing left to do was to convince Rita, her roommate, to vacate the room this weekend. Her eyes caught sight of the red nightgown in her partially open box which she had not worn yet and twinkled. She had just gotten that night wear yesterday from a classy boutique. The boutique attendant had told her that, brides to be mostly bought that particular nightgown to impress their husbands on their wedding night. She had no doubt that when Charles saw her in this, he would be convinced that she took their relationship with utmost seriousness.

Later, she would call Suzan and advise her properly. She had not said much earlier because of Little Miss Virgin. She believed that a woman must do everything humanly possible to keep her man. She truly sympathized with Suzan, Suzan was a reasonable girl and she trusted that things will work out for her soon. Suzan just needed to give it time. The person whose happiness she strongly doubted was Sarah. Guys loved loose, silly girls and Sarah was too uptight and smart for her own good. She couldn’t think of any single guy who would like to have a relationship with her, not with all her idiosyncrasies, the worst which was her ‘no sex until marriage’ rule. Which guy would be able to put up with that? In all her adult years, she had not met one man who could do without sex in a relationship. As she folded her clothes, the door opened and Rita Macaulay stepped in carrying a huge polyethylene nylon bag.

Wendy kept the last piece of cloth in her wardrobe then turned to face her effervescent roommate. “Ree, did you go to the market?”

Rita replied as she struggled to get out of her leggings. “Yes, I went to get foodstuffs. My sweetheart said he’s coming to see me today. I want to cook his favourite, Banga soup and pounded yam.” She tugged at her leggings until she finally pulled it off then dragged the nylon bag to a corner, all the while telling Wendy of how fiercely the sun burned her as she strode along the market and how rude some traders got when you tried to bargain with them. “That’s why many of them don’t make many sales. They’re so rude and the annoying part is that they’ll blame Satan for their misfortune, disturbing pastors for prayers when they’re the cause of their problems. I don’t even bother with them. When they start giving me attitude simply because I asked for a discount, I move to another trader.”

Wendy went pale as she envisioned her plans falling apart. She wasn’t listening to Rita’s rambling. She turned her back on her roommate as she wondered what step to take. Should she go over to Charles’ house? No, she couldn’t. For some time now, she had been the one going over, if she stopped him from coming this weekend, it might give room for suspicion in his mind that she was hiding something. Perhaps, she regularly paid for her share of the rent, she should be able to bring her boyfriend home whenever she wanted to. Rita was just plain selfish, never considering the fact that she also would like to have her boyfriend over. Well not today. Things had to go just the way she’d planned.

Rita brought out the yam wearily, “I really hate pounding yam. It takes too much energy. I’m only doing this in hope that he’ll get me a new phone. I don’t get why Roland has to be so traditional. If he preferred rice and stew, it would have been so much easier.” Thinking of how tiring the process of extracting oil from the palm kernel seeds were, she turned her gaze to Wendy who had not even bothered to offer a word of encouragement considering the fact that she was also going to be a benefactor of the delicacy when prepared. “What is it? You don’t look excited.”

Wendy pursed her lips but said nothing. Still concerned, Rita walked up to her. With her hands resting on Wendy’s shoulder, she urged her to share whatever issue had her so wound up. Wendy sighed then mimicked her roommate in an offensive manner, “My sweetheart is coming today” then she managed a cold laughter, building her anger steadily. “Would you stop the pretence already? We are both aware that you don’t love him.”

Rita’s face hardened as she removed her hand from Wendy’s shoulder like someone that had been scalded by an unexpected fire. “And what does that mean?”

Wendy rested her hands stiffly on her waist. “Please, don’t pretend with me. How can you say you love Roland when you’re sleeping with your boss?” The hurt look on Rita’s face didn’t even scratch the surface of her heart, if anything, it egged her on, “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot. How did you describe your relationship? Yes! You’re not his prostitute. You’re just his early morning breakfast or sometimes, lunch depending on his mood.”

All her life, Rita had never felt the urge to hit someone more as she did at present but she controlled her ravaging emotions. If she battered this woman, she’d later regret it because even though the situation appeared really ugly right now, she had love for this silly girl in her heart. Still looking at her cold face with annoyance, she remembered Mrs. Rhoda’s psychology class on managing temper. She took in a deep breath and counted from one to ten under her breath. Gaining control of her emotions, she dragged the nylon bag to where the stool was, just by the kitchen, sat and emptied the bag of groceries gently on the ground then slowly, started arranging them in the glass cupboard.

Wendy’s revulsion grew as it became obvious that Rita did not intend to reply her. That girl was a real pain in the ass. She called her a foul name then stalked off to the window, looking at the neatly tarred grounds. The ground could have as well been her heart. Apart from its rapid beating, she couldn’t feel a thing, not the cool air on her skin nor Rita’s hurt. She only saw hers washing away every dreg of happiness so she uttered an even fouler word under her breath this time. “How dare you keep me silent?”

“The last time I checked, how I live my life is not your business,” said Rita with a simper.

Wendy hit her fist angrily on the window panes causing it to make a loud, almost shattering noise. “It is, when my boyfriend has picked today to come and visit me.”

Rita paused at the sound of the noise but continued her work a while later, unperturbed. She was now used to Wendy’s unreasonable display of anger. She kept a seal on her anger and responded with a false calmness. “So? That’s not a problem at all. Since we live in a self contained apartment, you and Charles will stay at one end of the room while Roland and I will stay at the other end. All we’ll need to put up with is our sex moans.”

Now, Wendy really wanted to hit this girl but since she saw Rita beat up a rather hefty woman in their third month here, she had ingrained in her consciousness, never to get physical with her. “You say the most disgusting things, you really do.”

“That’s not a problem. Keep acting up, it’s a good thing I have no shame.” Rita stood up, folded her hands under her breasts and gazed at the neatly arranged groceries. Satisfied, she proceeded to her wardrobe to get some shorts.

Wendy knew that except she changed her tactics, the battle was as good as lost. Rita could be as stubborn as a mule at times. She mellowed down and came closer to Rita, calling her pet name apologetically. “Ree”

Rita snapped. “What?”

Wendy kept her hands on Rita’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said the things I said to you. I’m aware that even though you’re sleeping with your boss, you still love Roland very much. So, I’ll call Charles and tell him to come over next weekend.” Wendy smiled inwardly as she waited for what she knew would come next. Rita had such a tender heart. Apologies and sweet words got to her, every time. It was her Achilles heels.

Rita’s anger evaporated. “Wendy, you don’t have to do that. Roland came here last weekend and the weekend before. It’s only fair that I call to change the venue for our meeting. You can use these foodstuffs to cook for Charles. I’ll meet Roland elsewhere.”

Wendy hugged Rita, grinning from ear to ear. “Thank you so much. You’re the best roommate ever.”

Rita smiled and teasingly continued, “I know, right? Imagine if you had a roommate like, Sarah, the Church girl.”

Aghast, Wendy paled. “Please don’t curse me. Her moral beliefs would have pushed me to pack up and leave or worse still, commit suicide.”

Rita’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She had met Sarah a couple of times and even if she did find the damsel a little strange, she didn’t think she was that bad. “Wow! Somebody’s getting touchy.”

Wendy relaxed. “Don’t get me wrong. She’s one of my best friends and I love her but I can’t live with her. She’ll kill me with her preaching. For one, I won’t be able to invite my boyfriend over for the night because she wouldn’t agree to sleep out and I’ll end up almost suffocated. She’s so rigid, all the time. Once she gets it into her head, that something is wrong, it’s really difficult, if not impossible to get her to do otherwise.”

Rita swung her leg to the couch in a more relaxed manner. “But on a serious note, your friend is missing out on a lot of fun. I mean she’s a twenty-three- year-old virgin, that’s weird. Who would want to have her as a girlfriend?”

Wendy nodded sympathetically. “I know, right? But there’s nothing I can do about it, she’s strong headed.”

Rita laughed then picked up her phone to call to Roland. As usual, he sounded very excited to hear from her. His love for her made her very happy but somehow, it lacked the strength needed to make her tremble with guilt for cheating on him with her boss. Maybe the problem wasn’t that his love was weak, maybe it was her morals that were. In her mind’s eye, her boss was option B. Peradventure, if Roland parted ways with her, she’d have someone to fall back on, just like the maids in her home had become substitute parents whenever her parents travelled for weeks on evangelical duties. In tune with his understanding nature, he wasn’t upset when she told him they couldn’t meet in her room as planned because Wendy had a date with Charles there. “Alright, that’s not a problem, we can spend the weekend in Sheraton Hotel.”

Rita pressed the phone closer to her ear. “Honey, that’s a five-star hotel”

“Yes and you should be thrilled.”

Rita frowned. She loved the good things of life, she really did. Somehow, they gave her the value she had always craved for, but more than any earthly pleasure, she was enamoured with phones, expensive ones. “You seem to have forgotten that last week I asked you for money to buy a phone and you said you were broke.”

Now, Roland sounded stressed. “Yes, Baby. I’ve bought you four different and expensive phones in six months and the one you’re using now is perfectly fine. I got it for you three weeks ago, so why do you want a new one for goodness’ sake?”

“The fact that I want it should be enough for you, that’s what love is all about. I thought we agreed you’ll fulfil your duties as a boyfriend by meeting my every need.”

“That’s the problem, this is not a need. You’ll survive without a new phone.”

Rita rolled her eyes, not believing that Roland was capable of denying her something important to her, “So, in essence, you won’t get me a new phone, is that it? Let all my friends use the latest phone while I use something three weeks old”

“Fine, I’ll give you the money for a new phone but that means, we’ll have to spend the weekend in my house. Also, I must warn you, my mother is around so you must behave yourself.”

Rita screamed inwardly. She wasn’t ready to spend an entire weekend with Roland’s mother yet. “It’s better we go to Sheraton. You can get me a new phone any other time.”

“Hmmm, you’ll like to live with me forever someday but you can’t spend one weekend with the woman who raised me.”

“Honey, it’s not like that, even though I’ve not yet met your mother, I already love her and hopefully we’ll meet soon. I’m not just ready.”

“Okay, I understand. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Rita smiled as she ended the call. In her own way, Roland was really important to her. Her phone beeped again and this time, it was a message from her mom, asking that she spend the weekend at their home in Abeokuta, Ogun State. She sighed as she informed Roland of the latest development via text message. Hurriedly, she packed some of her clothes into a box. Of course, she packed only decent attires. Mom would be disappointed to see anything else. Quickly, she cleaned her dust coated bible and kept it in her box. That would make dad impressed. She came from a long line of evangelists and prayer warriors.

She looked round to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything then left the apartment with Wendy who insisted, she’d see her off. The terrible traffic on the way made the journey stressful. The word out was that the government had contracted the road construction to a popular company in Nigeria. Nobody had an inkling on the number of months the so called construction company intended to use in fixing the road. Six months had slipped by and the work at best seemed to be moving at a snail’s speed. The bad road made jaunting a nightmare. Rita got home exhausted but when she saw her mother sitting serenely with her eyes fixed on her bible, she smiled. She didn’t get what her mother found so interesting about the bible but again, maybe it contained the secret to her mother’s good looks. Every time she saw her mother, she looked like she was aging backwards, even the slight wrinkles here and there exuded strength instead of old age. When her mother looked up from the bible, Rita immediately regretted leaving her camera behind. The joy in her mother’s eyes could only be explained visually. Mrs. Macaulay closed her bible, kept it a corner of the chair and drew her into a tight hug. “My good daughter, how are you?”

Rita kept smiling. She was her mother’s only daughter. She wondered why her mother always used the word ‘good’ to qualify her even when in reality she was far from that but to be sincere, mom didn’t suspect her daughter had gone bad and she intended to keep it that way. “Mom, I’m great. I’ve missed you.”

Mr. Macaulay called out from inside. “Aha, my little pumpkin is back. Won’t you come inside and greet your father?”

During Rita’s early childhood days, she had been in awe of her father. He was hardly ever around but when he was, he was like a cool celebrity. Everybody trooped in to see him. She felt honoured to be blessed with his presence and listened keenly to the tales of his sojourn.

Rita hurried to the room and curtsied. “Good afternoon sir”

He closed the book he had been reading on love and marriage. “Good afternoon my angel, how are you?”

Rita wasn’t surprised to see her dad reading a love book. This wasn’t the first time he was doing that. “Very fine sir.”

Mrs. Macaulay stood by the doorway. “How was the journey?”

Mr. Macaulay wiped the sweat off Rita’s cheek with his handkerchief. Rita thanked him then turned to her mother. “Hectic. The traffic was so bad I prayed for wings.”

Mr. and Mrs. Macaulay laughed. “Wings indeed! It’ll get better dear,” they said in unison. The years had indeed been good to her parents. Rita liked the way they sometimes finished each other’s statements. Every day, they were becoming more alike than she ever remembered. That was not all. As the years flew past, beautiful physical resemblances seemed to mark their features, maybe it had something to do with relating intimately with one person for many years.

Mrs. Macaulay continued. “Go and drop your bag upstairs, then come down for lunch, okay?”

“Yes mom.” Rita stood up, carrying her box but stopped as she approached the door and turned to her father. “Please, tell me again, why do you read books on marriage and love?”

Mr. Macaulay’s eyes gleamed then became sombre. “Had I read these Christian books before marriage, I would have avoided a lot of mistakes. Honey, we’re indeed blessed to have such a good daughter like you and every day, for the rest of my life, I want to be a good husband to your mother and a good father to you.”

Rita went up to her room with a smile playing on her lips. Dinner time in her home was always fantastic, and that’s majorly because they talked as they ate and she got to watch dad steal glances at mom when he thought she wasn’t looking. Soon, it was night and Rita retired to her room after listening to advice from her parents on life, don’t withhold help from people and when you need it, you’ll find it. Remember how Jesus made Simon Peter a fisher of men after he lent him his boat. Remember how Abraham fed the strangers and got Isaac in return, remember how the Zeraphat woman offered Elijah shelter and got a child, remember how Ruth took care of her mother-in-law and got blessed with another husband, a wealthy and popular one. When her parents were done with the lecture, she thanked them then left making a mental note to treat people better. That second personality that almost always opposed her spoke now, you could start with Roland so you don’t cheat yourself out of a good relationship by cheating. She’d ponder on it later, she’d had enough lecture for one day. The minute her head hit her bed, she picked up her phone and started chatting with her boss. He simply loved having night chats with her. According to him, they helped him sleep better. Since doing that endeared her to him, she willingly sacrificed some hours of her night rest.

At 1am, sleep still evaded Mrs. Joy Macaulay. Her mind was disturbed for reasons unknown to her. Rita kept coming to mind, Rita as a child crying whenever they went for evangelical assignments without her, Rita as a teenager, quiet and willing to do whatever she was told, offering little or no opinion, Rita as an adult who seemed pretty balanced but was she?

Appearances could be deceiving.

Why was she thinking so much about her daughter who was only three rooms away? Since Mr. Macaulay was sleeping soundly, she decided to go check on her. She wiped her eyes with her hands and afterwards got out of bed gently. In two minutes, she was in her daughter’s room. “Rita, you’re not sleeping.”

At the sound of her mother’s voice, Rita dropped her phone on the bed and sat up. “No mom, I’m chatting with a client.”

Mrs. Macaulay folded her hands as she leaned on the door. “At 1am?”

Rita coughed. “Yeah, I’m trying to finalise some urgent business deals.”

Mrs. Macaulay raised her eyebrows and nodded. “And the conversation was so intense that you didn’t hear me come into your room?” She traipsed down the room, sank on the bed and looked at the phone before Rita hurriedly covered it with a pillow, coughing gently. “This isn’t the phone you came with the last time you were here.”

“Actually, the previous one got bad, so I bought a new one,” said Rita almost incoherently, as she yawned.

“Ok. Not to be nosy, but my eyes caught the ‘I love you’ line on your phone. Do you make use of that sentence when chatting up a client?”

“Actually, the client is also a friend. Her name is Sarah Okoro,” said Rita placidly.

Mrs. Macaulay nodded even though her heart screamed out that they were lies. She wanted to believe Rita. She was well brought up. There was no way she could tell lies and calmly at that. Oh Lord, let this intuition be an imagination I should never have worried about. “I see. Goodnight my dear” She gave her a quick peck.

“Goodnight mom.”

Rita heaved a sigh of relief as her mother left the room but Mrs. Macaulay was anything but relieved. As she got to the bedroom, she met a husband who was about going to search for her in the house. “Where did you go to?”

Mrs. Macaulay had her hands on her hips, worry clearly marked on every part of her face.

“Honey, is anything wrong?” Fred asked.

She noded, unable to shake off the uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach. “I’m not sure but I really hope not.”

He took her hand in his and pulled her closer. “What is the matter my love?”

She snuggled deeper into her husband’s embrace. He held her tightly, caressing her hair.

“It’s Rita, I went into her room and found her with her phone. She said she was chatting with a client at this ungodly hour. The Rita that I brought up does not stay up late at night.”

He kept his hand over hers. “Give her some space honey. She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s twenty four. The youths of this dispensation are always with their phone.”

She shook her head. “I understand but that’s not all, she told this so called client, that she loved him.” She frowned as she remembered her encounter with Rita, “Though she claimed it was a female, I don’t believe her.”

Mr. Macaulay smiled. “And she’s not old enough to be in a relationship? You got married to me at 20 years, woman. At eighteen, I was already wooing you, remember? There was no phone at that time, so I’ll stand at the road junction that leads to the market for hours just to see you because I knew you always took that path on your way to and fro your mother’s shop.”

Mrs. Macaulay’s face curved into a smile. She and her husband had indeed loved each other for many years. Although the early start of their marriage had been rocky and investing so much time into the church ministry had been the only way to avoid dealing with their problems, they later came to terms with their differences. Now, her heart beat for her daughter, she wanted to be sure she was okay. In despair, she clutched tightly to her breasts which now sagged, Rita had suckled on them. “I know that she’s not a baby. I’m just worried, my motherly instinct tells me there’s something terribly wrong plus she’s got a new phone. That’s two phones in one month. Now, that’s not being prudent, is it?”

“Okay, calm down. There’s no need for you to get all worked up, I’ll talk to her in the morning. But for what it’s worth, we’ve raised a good daughter, you know that, right?”

Mrs. Macaulay smiled. “Yeah.” She gave her husband a peck on his cheek, pressing her body to his until she fitted him perfectly, her legs on his thighs, her head on his shoulders and her breasts on his chest. “I love you my darling, I always have.”

He gave her a peck on her forehead then kissed her fully on the lips. “I love you too. Now, go back to sleep, just as you said, this is an ungodly hour to be chatting.”

Mrs. Macaulay’s smile broadened. “Yes, my Lord, it’s such an ungodly hour to chat but not so ungodly for my husband to touch me” she held him close to her bosom and let him take her through the pearly gates of heaven and back, at least that’s how she felt.

Rita woke up with the Cock. As soon as it crowed in the open, she roused in the comfort of her bed. She knew she had to do something to make up for her behaviour yesterday. She cleaned the house until it shone. When she was satisfied that there was no dirt in the house, she had her bath and dressed up for church, then sat waiting in the sitting room like an angel for her parents to get ready. Her parents soon came out dressed and ready for church. As their eyes fell on their daughter who sat sedately, they smiled and thought to themselves that an angel was in their abode. Perhaps they were right, she was an angel quite alright, but a fallen one.