ALL THAT GLITTERS (a short story)

Episode 1
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45minutes later.
He stumbled out of the house in shock. He could
barely see where he was going. He just
wanted to
get out from the house far away from her….
From
her dead body.
You could almost hear his heart beating from down
the street. He wasn’t scarred, no, he was just tired
and short of breath. He needed to breath clean
fresh air.
So he staggered down the street like a drunk,
ignorant of his environment and the vehicles that
went out of their way to avoid him.
Suddenly he fell on his face, unconscious. The sun
and the sky playing a game of hide and seek on the
back of his unconscious body.
45minutes earlier
Richard hummed under his breath to the music
playing on the radio as he drove through the neatly
tarred streets of Enugu, His fingers taping gently
on the steering wheel. Occasionally, a presenter
interrupted the music to make an announcement.
Annoyed by the interruptions, Richard changed to
another station.
“Better” he said to himself after changing to a
different station, “this is more like it.”
He had just dropped his four year old daughter,
Nnenna, at his sister’s place. She needed the
change and so did he. Coming to Enugu was
probably the best thing he had done in recent
times. He felt lighter and somewhat relived, even
happy. He anticipated an evening of silent
relaxation. No friends. No family. And certainly, no
child. Richard felt a little guilty for thinking of
Nnenna as a burden. He loved his daughter dearly,
almost to the point of stupidity, but a man needed
a break once in a while.
“Caring for a child is not a man’s job,” his mother
had told him countless times.
“Marry another woman, who can take care of you
and my grandchild. Or better still, come down to
Enugu. We can get you a good job here. That noisy
Lagos, that is full of thieves and low life, is not a
place to raise a child. Inugo (have you heard)?”
Richard heard but he didn’t really listen. The truth
was that he didn’t want to listen and agree with
what everyone was telling him.
“You must go on living. Life must go on.” One
person will say.
“It has happened and there is nothing you can do.
Thank God that you’ve collected back her bride
price” another person will say,
“There are many fishes in the ocean. If you catch
one and it is not good enough, throw it back into
the ocean. You will definitely catch a better fish
before sun down.”
He took all the advices with a ready smile and a
heart burning with anger and frustration. They
spoke as if they understood or even cared -even
though it was obvious that they didn’t. A deep
urge ran through him to punch the twinkling stars
out of whoever was giving the advice. But he held
himself. Over time, the smile became a permanent
part of his countenance, using it in place of words
to the numerous unsolicited advice and sympathy.
It soon began to hurt and feel like a huge burden.
So he started avoiding people and places he knew.
Thankfully, Lagos is a big place.
[]But his boss, at the telecommunication company
he worked at, had had enough of his fake smile,
sullen face and dispirited attitude towards his
work.
“Go home. Take a vacation. Find a wife. Visit
family. And come back when you have lost that
nasty smile and don’t forget to retrieve your voice
wherever you kept it,” his boss had told him, his
burly stomach shaking as he spoke.
That was three days ago.
Bored with life, irritated by the blue painting of the
walls in his flat, hurt by the way Nnenna looked at
him –as if she was scared of him- he had called
his eldest sister, Margret. He was duly informed, by
a visibly angry elder sister, that their parents were
not in the country.
“Were did they go?” Richard asked
“America.”
“Why? What happened?” he pressed on, ignoring
her contemptuous voice.
“Nkeiru have given birth. A baby boy and she
stupidly named the poor child Richard, of all names
on earth,”
“She had a child? How come nobody told me?”
“Yes she had a child three months ago,” Margret
replied, her voice richly spiced with sarcasm. “While
you hid yourself and avoided everybody. Are you
happy? You almost made mama to have a heart
attack….”
Richard patiently held the phone as his sister
shouted. Margret continued shouting into the
phone for a minute or two.
“How are you?” Margret asked in cool voice after
she was done chastising her younger brother.
“Come to Enugu and spend some time with us. Or
send Nnenna over. She can go to school with her
cousins”
“Ok sister. We’re coming. Tomorrow.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. Nnenna can stay in your house, I’ll stay in
Dad’s house. You’re with the house key?” Richard
asked
The feeling was mutual, between Nnenna and her
father. She quickly settled down with her cousins,
laughing and playing like a normal kid. It broke
Richard’s heart that his daughter appeared to be
happy with his sister’s family than with him. But
he understood. His pains were infectious and his
morose life was unsuitable for a child as
rumbustious as his daughter.
“She loves you. But she really needed a change of
environment, with the divorce and all the drama.
Glad you came,” Margret had told him as she saw
him off to the car she had loaned him.
Honestly, Richard was glad he had left Lagos and
his flat with its annoying blue paint. The air was
clean here and life was evenly paced. He could
hear himself think and pick out the lines of his
thought. He felt alive, relaxed and young. And for
the first time in almost six months, he was singing
and happy. Yes that’s what he was feeling, happy.
It’s a good feeling, a refreshing feeling that he had
almost forgotten.
[]As he waited for the traffic light to change to
green, the radio changed to an upbeat afro beat.
He clapped his hands and sang along. Despite the
fact that he was singing off tune but it felt good to
sing. He hadn’t sang like this since… since Ifeoma
left.
Ifeoma. That’s her name. A very beautiful name
that rolls over the tongue effortlessly, as if it was
dipped in a bowl of red oil. She was even more
beautiful than her name suggested. Tall with skin
the color of ripe pawpaw, eyes a light gray shade –
almost cat like, and elegant with a well-structured
teeth –which she always put on full display. She
had this way of speaking that was so engaging,
almost mesmerizing, and she gave off a slight lisp
that sounded unintentional but in actual truth, it
was intentional. She was ambitious and strong will,
little wonder she was rising quickly through the
ranks of the bank she was working with.
Everyone, including Richard, had thought that it
was a union made in heaven. Ifeoma dazzled
everyone with her wit and infectious laughter. She
seem to exude a sort of sexual magnetism without
actually being flirtatious or seductive. Even
Richards’ mother, who had an uncommon intuition
and a hugely conservative African woman, fell for
Ifeoma. Thus, six months into their courtship,
Richard proposed. Ifeoma accepted.
Denying the fact that he sometimes felt stifled by
Ifeoma would make Richard a bare faced liar. She
had a way of controlling him without, him, actually
knowing that he was being manipulated. She
accentuated her every request with a kiss or a
touch, on certain sensitive body parts. Being a
hopeless romantic and a true believer in the
Shakespearean tales of romance, which he now
considers idiotic, Richard did all he could to make
her happy.
Their wedding was a big affair. And if weddings
were parameters to decide how successful a
marriage will be, then Richard and Ifeoma will be
married till thy kingdom come. But it wasn’t and it
would never be. Slowly the threads of whatever
that held them together began to fall off and with
it came the wool that had covered Richard’s eyes
for so long. He began to notice changes in his
wife’s behavior. She became more controlling and
aggressive. Countless times, Ifeoma accused her
husband of keeping a mistress. Richard denied. But
she wouldn’t believe him.
“Am pregnant,” Ifeoma announced one evening a
few months after the wedding.
Pregnant have never sounded so good nor looked
so beautiful. It was as if her energy and beauty
was multiplied. She glided through the nine months
effortlessly. And in that nine months marriage
tasted like honey to Richard.
The first year of Nnenna’s birth, were the best in
Richard life. He felt young and loved. Nnenna, like
her mother, was a beauty. Her eyes were gray and
engaging. Ifeoma was totally enwrapped with her
child, so much so, that Richard was relegated to
the back. But he didn’t mind. He was proud of his
small family and all he wanted was to see them
happy even if it means being relegated –once in a
while.
……. ……. ……..
“Who is she?” an angry Ifeoma asked Richard one
evening.
“Who?” Richard asked, the smile on his face
frozen. The question was thrown at him
immediately he stepped into the apartment. Ifeoma
had yet to greet or welcome him before confronting
him. Her face was wild. You could almost see the
blood taste in her gray eyes. It scared Richard.
Never had he seen his wife like this.
“Who is she?” Ifeoma screamed, pulling at her hair.
“I don’t know what you are….” Before he could
finish, Ifeoma lunged at him, grabbed him by the tie
in an attempt to strangle him. Richard was
shocked at first, but he quickly recovered and he
seized her hands. Placing his left leg between her
own legs, he tackled her to the ground.
“What is it?” Richard inquired in a soft voice. He
pulled her up and gathered her into his arms.
“I don’t know. I saw you leave her car, she dropped
you… the car…“ Ifeoma said in between tears.
“Now? That was Charlie’s wife. You know Charlie
my good friend at the office. His car was broken,
so he called his wife to come pick him. I decided
to hitch a ride with them instead of taking a taxi.
Didn’t you see Charlie in the paasenger seat?”
“Am sorry,” Ifeoma whispered. “Am tired of staying
at home. I need to start working. Nnenna… she’s
tiring me out and… and staying with her all day
long, is a torture. Am tired of her. Am tired of this
house…”
“But I thought you quit your job so you could stay
at home till baby begins school?”
“I said am tired,” Ifeoma snapped, pushing herself
off Richard’s body. “Or didn’t you hear what I just
said? If I stay with her alone in this house for one
more hour, I’ll kill myself. Why are you so selfish?
And her name is Nnenna not BABY.”
In other to keep peace, Richard agreed. They got a
house help to look after Nnenna whilst Ifeoma
went back to her old job. But the job didn’t solve
the problem. She became more cantankerous and
authoritative. Numerously neighbor had come to
quell the fight between the young couple.
Afraid of being seen as a failure by his family,
especially his father, Richard kept his problem to
himself. He tried as much as he could to avoid his
wife and keep her happy. But Ifeoma was
unpleasable.
On a Friday, Two weeks after Nnenna’s third
birthday, Ifeoma stormed into Richard’s work
place. Richard was telling a joke to a circle of
friends. He looked relaxed in his brown Ankara
traditional attire. Ifeoma rushed at him, without a
word, she seized his trouser at the waist.
“That your witch girlfriend, where is she? Show me
the useless Charlie that works in your office? Liar!
Show me the useless man that allows you to frolic
with his wife?” Ifeoma screamed into Richard’s
face.
“Are you mad?” Richard asked in a voice that was
little more than a whisper. He was confused on
what to do. Attack her verbally or physically, and
the whole world would call him a wife beater.
Ignore her, and he would seem spineless.
“Me, mad?” Ifeoma inquired. Richard saw it. The
madness and the hate in her gray eyes.
“Am Charlie” someone was saying from behind, but
Ifeoma wasn’t listening. In what seem like a film
trick, at least to Richard, she tore through the light
fabric of Richard’s attire and attacked his penis.
She squeezed his penis and scrotum together
shouting like a woman at the onset of madness.
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