HAUNTED BY THE PAST

Chapter five

When Kaija returned home in the evening, her daughter hadn’t shown up yet. Mauda paced back and forth fumbling around the compound in anxiety. She was ill at ease. Aware of her husband’s short temper, she couldn’t relax. Kaija would skin her alive if he noticed that her daughter was missing. She warmly received him with a smile and scooted back to the kitchen, and returned with a cup of water. “My husband, a draught of water to wet your throat.” She said lovingly as she handed him the cup. Kaija chugged the contents and then said, “thank you, mama Tina.” He flashed a smile at the corner of his mouth. Mauda responded with an enchanting smile that gave taste to her dazzling beauty. Kaija loved her more than her second wife, Shoocha, whom he had married out of necessity. He had thought that she, unlike Mauda, wouldn’t fail to produce a male child. After three years of waiting in vain, his sanguine hopes were shuttered. He decided he wouldn’t marry another wife that would bring her more shame than he already faced. He would first consult the gods for a sign. Short of that, he would keep his two wives and his two daughters. If anything, he still had a conviction that his favourite wife, Mauda, would one day bear him a son.

When he had finished gulping the water, he called his daughter to bring him his snuff box. Mauda’s heart fluttered fast. She heaved and trembled.

“She must have gone to fetch the goats. I will bring it instead.” She said nervously.

She dashed inside the house and came back with a small rectangular box where he always kept his stuff. Carefully, he inhaled some and then gave it back for her to keep. She obeyed. Kaija looked at her in admiration. She was gracefully built with all the adequate features of African beauty. He had loved her for her blithering beauty and her good virtues; her kindness, love, submissiveness and hardworking characters always set her apart from other women that he could have preferred to marry. To Kaija, she was a woman like no other; an embodiment of a true African woman. Kaija went inside his hut to rest. He normally took a rest before supper. Mauda eased up a bit. It wouldn’t take long before her daughter arrived. She thought. She bustled about in the compound as she crossed her fingers for her daughter’s return before Kaija's next calling.

“Where is she? what was taking her so long?” She asked herself. Mauda’s heart was etched with distress. Darkness was closing in yet Tina hadn’t returned. This foretold disaster. The danger was looming around. Mauda searched around near and far as the neighbours’ compounds for her daughter. There wasn’t any sight of her. She walked back home in terror and anguish. Her face was horrid.

"It won't take long before Kaija wakes up and asks for his daughter. What will I say then? That I have caned her, and because of that, she has fled away from home? I wouldn’t dare say that. My husband won't give me the least chance to explain myself."

Mauda returns and finds Kaija waiting for her as she had predicted. He glared sternly at her. His face was alarming. The nerves on the left side of his neck were stiffly stretched. The furrows appeared on his forehead. He didn’t like any of the family members outside, especially after the sunset. This was the tradition. Mauda’s knees knocked and her legs faltered. She advanced sluggishly towards her husband in total submission.

“Where’s she?” He rasped ruefully as he clenched his teeth in anger. Mauda gave no response. She knelt as tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. Kaija waited impatiently for an immediate answer. She was dumb. She gasped and trembled feverishly. Her husband was running out of patience. He folded his hands into fists and motioned towards his wife. Mauda knew she was in for great trouble. She knew her husband too well. In such circumstances, his anger superseded any sort of wildness. Once she was in his grip, she wouldn’t be able to escape his wrath. Once, he had punched her face and she had lost her front tooth because she forgot to boil water to wash his feet. She couldn’t stand to lose another tooth or an eye for that matter. She jumped off, stretched her limbs and retreated and then ran away from him as fast as she could. She could still hear his roaring in the distance,

“You can't come back without her. I will cut you into pieces and throw them to the dogs to devour or else I discard my manhood.”

"Serves you right, Mauda. We shall see. The worst is yet to come." Shooca said scornfully as her heart raptured with joy.

Shooca, Kaija's second wife had been watching and sneering at Mauda staring fixedly at her with malice. She had always been envious of Mauda because of the fair treatment her husband always bestowed on her. Kaija turned his face and their eyes met. She cowered and hurried inside her hut as her heart exulted with joy. He stormed inside the hut and sat near the fire raging with fury, his red bulging eyes fixed on the door.