Naomi, Wife Number 9
Story by Collins Undelikwo and Evamena Nnanna
It’s the 49th hour since Nina told us that she couldn’t find you at your spa. It’s 4pm and I’ve been counting every hour since she walked into my dressing room to complain that you weren’t picking up your phone and all her messages to you were going undelivered. I regret waving her away so quickly now. Maybe if I had responded and acted on her suspicions we wouldn’t be here right now. Or maybe we would.
I like to think of you as my only ally in this house. 10 large rooms and its only yours and mine I ever had any interest to go into. That is, excluding our husband’s own room. Our ’darling´ husband, I mean. Of all your corrections, this was the only one you said sarcastically, and the only one that gave us the opportunity to share a laugh. Not really a laugh though, because that was outlawed in Chief’s house, but more of a crinkling of lips. But a shared one nonetheless.
I wish you could see every one of them right now. I wish even more that you could see chief. Our ‘darling’ husband has been so short tempered for the last two days now. And none of the other wives have been helping to make it any easier for him.
Ah Naomi, if you could have seen us yesterday. We were trouping out in the estate like chicks following our mother hen. Chief had all wives go into every nook and cranny of the estate to search for you after the first night you didn’t come home. I know you could never let me laugh at him and the situation was too thick with the uncertainty of your disappearance for me to think of humor, but to see him so disoriented and totally out of his ‘big man’ element gave me so much joy.
It’s giving me joy now, thinking back to yesterday’s drama. I’m dressing up now because Chief has called all of the wives to the meeting room. The police would come in today to interview all of us, till they get enough clues to continue to search for you. I’m making sure to dress with extra care today, because I want to respect your absence, and because tongues would wag if your ‘best friend’ showed a lack of sorrow by dressing flamboyantly. But not too carelessly that my junior wife would be full of glee. I might be the 7th wife but I still intend to maintain some dignity no matter the situation.
I hear my name being mentioned just as I enter the sitting room. I look around quickly to see if I can catch any guilty eyes or lips still open but it’s already too late, everyone has already looked away and towards chief. It’s difficult looking at him, and not just because of the usual disgust I have for him, but something new- pity. Pity for a man I absolutely loathe. I look around the room and see beyond his 8 wives and for the first time I see his kids. They surround their ‘papa’ consoling him. ‘’don’t worry Papa, your new wife will be back soon’’. The oldest child around and son to my least favorite co-wife is the boldest. He is consoling chief with so much vigor that I wonder if it’s scorn or sheer innocence. I’m so lost staring at both of them that I don’t hear number 8 call my name.
‘’ I’m talking to you Agi. Didn’t you say that the last place you saw Papa’s wife was at the market?’’
I nod slowly, already starting to lose my temper. I’m not sure what irritates me about her statement, her tone or the fact that, like every other person in the room, she refers to chief as ‘papa’.
“Are you sure you saw her or you were so busy shining your teeth with your market lover that you mistook someone else for her. Because I don’t understand how you said you saw her and she’s nowhere to …’’
It feels like a bomb goes off in my head. I never expected anyone to go down this path. Maybe number 8 knows something more. II have to save my face so I say the first thing that comes to my mind.
“Hold it right there number 8. I could only begin to stand your stench in this house the moment Chief brought in Naomi. If not for her, you and I both know you wouldn’t have survived my wrath in this house. Or perhaps you know where she is. After all you stand to gain your favorite wife position if she’s out of the way”
I turn my eyes to chief and his family and I know I just dropped something terrible. Their stares are so piercing and loud that it makes me shiver a bit. How did she find out?
I’d been extremely careful when passing your love letters to Boso from the market.
You looked immaculate the first day you told me about him. White flowery dress. White hat. Perfect white teeth to match. I told you that I couldn’t come to your spa that day; that I was feeling a bit nauseated; that my nose was sensitive to some of the scents in that place. You laughed over the phone. That laugh that Chief must’ve fallen for, that hearty laugh that always made me think. what a beautiful girl, what a beautiful soul. You said that our little date would be the cure to my nausea. I chuckled and said okay. I told you that I was not too sick to come pick you up; but that you would meet me down the street by the intersection. I told you that the road leading to your spa would be busy when I came and I didn’t want any headache. You laughed again.
“I’d tell Kachi not to pick me up either,” you said, referring to the driver that Chief gave you. “I don’t like the man knowing my whereabouts…plus I always love it when you drive me for our little adventures” You would always swirl when you got happy.
“Better” I said. And you laughed your melodious laugh again. I imagined that that laugh made your spa even more soothing.
I picked you up at 3:20 pm. You told your assistant, Jada, to take charge for the rest of the day, without telling her where you were going. She was used to it, your frequent disappearances from the spa. I knew your workers were talking about it. I knew you knew too.
Still…you kept them all guessing. You also kept them too busy to try and find out anyway. I suspected nothing, so I was shocked when you confided in me, when you told me so freely that you were having an affair. The first thing I felt was dread.
“Is it that you don’t know the man you married? Have you…have you forgotten who chief is?” I couldn’t stop my voice from shaking.
“Don’t worry about him,” You said giggling. “He won’t find out. And even if he did…” You bit a plum and stared straight at me. It was one of our picnic dates. A bulldog barked loudly in the distance. I could hear the wind in my ear when you finished the sentence “…he won’t do anything. about it.” You giggled again and told me all about Boso, your lover.
You were wrong. Very wrong. It didn’t take long for Chief to find out about Boso. Someone had tipped him off and he had gone with his boys to threaten and ‘deal with’ the innocent man. You told me all this at one of our brunch dates. This time, we went to one of those overpriced restaurants close to your spa.
You sounded so irritated and angry at Chief. I was shocked. I thought you would be scared, shaking, very grateful that he had spared your life and your beautiful face. But you told me that all he said was “Omi…don’t ever do this again you hear?”
You told me that you said okay and sat on his lap. You told me that he kept smiling like a fool as you rubbed his chest. That was not the chief I knew. That was not the chief any of us, the 8 wives, knew. I knew and still know a different one. I also know, with certainty, that something about that chain of events led to your demise.
When we were miles away from your spa that day, the last day I saw you, I told you I had a new picnic spot for us. You said okay and I kept driving. You bobbed your head to Arya Starr with your white hat still on. You looked so excited.
After a very long drive, you said something like “Ah this your new picnic spot that we’re going to! Is it the garden of Eden?” I shot you a look and smirked. You smiled back. “Calm down and trust me,” I said.
When we got to my new picnic spot that day, we were a bit exhausted. I told you I wanted us to really be in touch with nature, far away from the city. My nausea was already dissipating, I said. Our picnic spot was in a clearing inside some forest, close to a river. We set up the food and drinks. You took pictures. I poured you wine. Castillo Grande, your favourite. We began to eat. You took a sip of the wine and said “hmm…babe, you know me too well”. And right then, I almost shed a tear because of the way you looked at me, with so much love.
“Have a taste. Live a little!” You grabbed the bottle and chugged half of the wine. You began to laugh. Your beautiful laughter. It must’ve echoed across the forest. I remember hoping it did, I remember hoping all the birds and little animals nearby caught a glimpse of your beautiful white dress before you died.
You started coughing violently. “Rose…Rose. Something’s wrong with me.” Your voice sounded lost within your larynx. You held your stomach and screamed. You tried to raise your head to speak. You looked at the half-eaten doughnut in your hand, then you looked at the wine. Castillo Grande. Your favourite. Then you looked at me and saw the smile on my face. And that’s when you knew.
Omi my dear, you had to go. Chief had married 6 wives before me and one really stupid one after, but you…you were different. You had him by the balls. His favourite. While the man would beat the rest of us, and whip us for his sadomasochistic pleasure, you were always untouched. The older wives were rarely around, those three useless fools. So it was the rest of us that suffered.
He wasn’t all bad, our husband. Sometimes, he would take one of us shopping, buy beautiful jewelry and anything we wanted. I always loved when it was my turn. I always got hats, necklaces, and earrings. Then he would ask me to get new panties too, so I could look sexy for him later. I always shuddered when he said that because I knew what would come later.
But you…you had no scars. You were always clean, always beautiful. You idiot! You even got yourself a lover! And he did nothing. Chief did nothing to you. Ask Runie what happened to her when he found out she was messing around…oops you can’t anymore. Well let me tell you…he told her to grow her pubic hair for a month, said it was a new kink, acted like he didn’t know anything. Then one night, he burned it all off. I can’t forget the screams. Yet you… he let you off the hook with a kiss.
The silence jolts me back to life. It is so thick that I hear the footstep of someone, no… three people right from the gate. Nina is the first to break the silence.
“I’ll get the door”
I sit down just in time to see three men walk in. They’re dressed in plain clothes, dark trousers with well ironed shirts but mismatched shoes but their aura screams Police and something else. Something dark and sinister. I see this first but nobody does. Maybe because they don’t share the same thing we share. Or for the simple fact that they don’t know what I know.
I gather the hems of my dress and slip out through the backdoor, before they start talking. I’m almost at the gate when I hear the screams. I think they found your body.
“Who did it?” I imagine our husband asking, tears in his eyes.
“We’re working on it, Chief, ” the obvious reply.
Naomi, even in death you make me happy. Seeing our “darling” husband in pain fills me with inexplicable joy. Sorry that I had to tell him about Boso, by the way. It was an anonymous email. He told you that your boy ran away, scared, but the truth is that he’s probably dead too. Wouldn’t it be nice if you two reunited somewhere in that lovers’ paradise you often spoke about? See…you’d have me to thank for that.
I’ll keep counting the hours my dear Omi. Don’t worry, I’ll be joining you soon.
