LABYRINTHS - THIRTEEN

In the house now only one thing was moving through my head. Just one. Run! Run to Parakou... or take the money in Abbey’s wallet and return to Nigeria; what, with all this mystery surrounding Abbey’s health right now! I couldn’t even tell if she was alive or dead. I had to be sure I wasn’t taking the Run option before calling Isabelle. If all these came out in the open, where was my certification for the therapy I peddled? If that question came up, then I’d certainly be embarrassed before Isabelle. Then what would become of our secret plans to date? The sincerity of my intentions towards Abbey kept me from running. If she made it, she’d appreciate I stayed by her side through her hospitalisation. She’d be glad I stayed to see her pull through... whatever from.

                It was past 9am now. I went to the sitting room with my wallet and rang Isabelle.

                “Hi Isabelle!”

                “Hi sweetheart! I’ve been calling!” she sounded worried.

                “You have?” I was worried.

                “Yeah. Remember we agreed I’d call if Abbey went out? Didn’t she go out early?”

                “Oh... sure! Sorry, I forgot.”

                “You forgot?! Just yesterday we agreed on it and today... you’ve forgotten?!”

                “Yes Isabelle... I’m sorry, but it’s because something came up...”

                “Something came up? What?”

                “Isabelle... I need to see you.” My tone betrayed my trepidation.

                “Are you... Is Abbey alright?”

There! She knew. She definitely knew Abbey could be not alright.

                “Can you come over?”

                “To the house?” She paused... to think about it perhaps. “Gimme a few minutes to get ready. I’ll be there shortly.”

                “OK. Thanks hon!”

               

                The minutes she took before showing up weren’t few. Or is twenty-five minutes a few minutes? I heard the gate open and Zuma speaking with someone. Then I saw her Kia. I proceeded to the door and opened before she pressed the bell. She hugged me. I hid my reluctance.

                “What happened to her?” she asked.

                “How do you know something happened to her?”

                “That’s her car out there... or is she in?”

                “Abbey fainted last night,” I said.

She paused, and then said,

                “While you were fucking her, right?”

                “Isabelle?!”

                “What? Am I wrong?”

                “You’re impossible, you know that right?! Wha...”

                “Don’t what me baby boy... didn’t you tell me you weren’t screwing her?!” She was almost yelling.

I’d thought it would be nice to call Isabelle, but I had no idea that jealousy could turn a person into a monster.

                “Isabelle, your best friend’s lying in the hospital, probably critical, and all you can do is snap at me for... seeming to be faithless to you! C’mon men!” I ranted with discernible disgust.

She calmed down, and then went in to sit.

                “Where... what hospital did you take her to?”

                “Doctor Biola’s. She says she knows you.”

                “How did you know the place?” She was surprised.

                “Zuma led me. Besides, it seems to be the closest around... if I’d just kept going on my own I would have ended up there anyway.”

She took out her phone to make a call....

                “Hi. It’s Isabelle.”

                . . . .

                “How’s she?”

                . . . .

                “Okay. That’s nice.”

                . . . .

                “Yes, I’m with him at the moment.”

                . . . .

                “No, it’s okay. Thanks a lot Bee.”

                . . . .

                “Yeah. Later. Bye!”

                “What did they say,” I asked impatiently.

She ignored my question and just said....

                “You were not supposed to fuck her... I wanted to tell you... And that’s not for my sake but for hers... ‘cuz I knew she wouldn’t tell you.” She rested her head back on the couch and closed her eyes. “So that’s what your rush yesterday was all about?”

Her words stirred my agony. But now that she said it was for Abbey’s sake... I thought about what that could mean.

                “You had breakfast?” I asked her.

                “No. You had?”

                “No... I should go and...”

                “Lemme go and fix us something,” she interrupted me. Then she left for the kitchen, leaving me with my haunting thoughts.

                Over a breakfast of cereals we talked to some extent.

                “Isabelle, you know I’m supposed to know what’s going on, right? For chrissake, I could pee in my pants with anxiety!”

She laughed. Mouth stuffed with oaths. She had a healthy appetite – a good sign.

                “Only when you admit to me that you screwed her will I tell you anything.”

                “So, to you, there’s not a possibility that I didn’t?”

                “I’m afraid, under the circumstance, no!” she said.

                “Under what circumstance?”

She cut in,

                “Look, did you sleep with her or not? Arghh!” Desperation in her tone.

                “Ok,” I said, “Yes. I did have sex with her. But it had nothing to do with anything!”

                “How are you to know that? Someone faints while having sex and you say the sex had nothing to do with it? Please!”

                “She did not faint while having sex!”

                “OK. Soon after!” she pressed.

                “Look, Abbey and I had sex, but it was way, way before she fainted. In fact, we’d had the sex before I came to your house yesterday.”

                “You serious?” She looked at me weirdly. “Where?”

                “At her office.”

                “At her office? Damn! You went over to her office to... fuck her? Here wasn’t enough for you?”

                “Look... I had my reasons. Now... that was like... hours before she fainted.”

                “So how did she faint?” Isabelle asked calmly now.

                “Everywhere was so quiet... and we were supposed to have dinner, but she hadn’t come down. So I went up to check on her, and found her motionless in the bathtub.”

                “She was bathing in the tub? You sure you weren’t in there with her... and weren’t gonna join her?” she said to tease me.

                “Please Isabelle! Yeah, she was in the tub.”

                “Means she was naked?”

                “Of course!”

                “Wow! How did you... manage it... how did you do it, did you dress her?”

                “Damn it Isabelle! Of course I did... or was I supposed to take her naked?”

                “Wow! That’s quite nice... she’ll be grateful, you know.”

                “You’re still not telling me anything, Belle!”

                “Belle? Wow! I like that! You’re nice and gentle, you know that right?”

                “You flattering me now?”

                “Excuse me! You’re nice and gentle; accept it, argh!”

                “Well, thanks. But, seriously Isabelle, you’re not being fair to me.”

                “Alright Iroko...” she said with seriousness, “it’s not like I’m having any fun keeping you in the dark... but it’s supposed to be Abbey who tells you herself what her medical condition is...”

                “Medical condition?”

                “Yeah... Abbey has a medical condition. I promise to make her tell you sooner, and when she does, I shall tell you every other thing you might need to know.”

                “Okay, that’s fair enough... But I just want to know if it’s anything like... HIV or... any STDs?”

She burst into laughter.

                “Oh! You didn’t use protection huh?” she said amidst mirth. “No wonder all your anxiety...”

                “So you’re having fun at my sorry expense, Isabelle? I did use protection... all I want is further assurance, that’s all.”

                “No,” she said, her laughter gone now, “it’s nothing like that; none that I know of... And I’ll say no more!”

                “Fair enough, Isabelle. Thanks.”

                “Where did the Belle go?” she said.

                “Pardon me?”

                “Thought you called me Belle just now? What, we back to square one again?”

                “Belle. You like it?”

                “Told you I did... But I don’ wanna force you to call me that.”

I laughed.

                “It’s Belle then. What do you say... we seal the deal?”

                “What?” She didn’t understand.

I reached across and kissed her on the mouth, and she granted me a warm, bated reception.

                “That’s how we seal deals,” I said.

Silence now. Only the sounds of busy cutleries. And busy palates.

I thought we now faced our oaths squarely, but she stood up, came over to my side, pulled the chair nearby closer, and sat. She was done eating. She placed her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. Then she began to speak... as though she was memorising....

                “Perhaps I confuse you, Iroko, but I don’t intend to. I’m not like your... regular African girl who holds off against expressing her feelings to a man. The places I’ve been... anyone who feels has the right to say what they feel. Otherwise, they lose what they could have. There’s no harm in trying, they say... Trying never killed anyone...”

                “Belle. Belle.” I pursued her attention. She opened her eyes and fixed them on me. “I have no scruples with your manner of approach. As a matter of fact, it doubles the respect I have for you... I respect anyone who knows what she wants and gives a healthy chase after it, you hear me!”

She smiled dizzily, like she was high, and stretched to kiss me on the lips but could only come as far as my cheek. I smiled, looking at her. She frowned a naughty frown, staring at me. Then I came my distance and she came hers, then we kissed now. Then she assumed her former position, and words continued to drift out of her mouth.

                “I fantasize about you every day; and I end up dreaming of you at nights... How I’d love to be in your arms every hour; how I’d love to kiss you every minute... no holds barred; you have access... anywhere... anytime...” Then she raised her head and looked me in the eyes; “...even here... right now...”

                The next thing I know, we were kissing like our lives depended on it... smooching; moaning; knocking things over... Then I fumbled through my wallet for a rubber and, sex exploded on Abbey’s dining area. I carried her to the sitting room and eased her on the three-in-one settee... for comfort... and easier access to her hollow treasure-trove of pleasure. Then, our hearts thumping; our bodies sweating; our heads spinning; our abdomens merged and wriggling, we struggled to come. Funny how we didn’t want this race to end, yet we ran with lightening speed eager to reach the finish line. Thump, thump, thump, till I fell off like an overripe fruit from its stalk onto the furry rug, spent. And I’d been tired from the night before, so sleep found an opportunity to creep up on me. The last thing I noticed before drifting away was that she came down from the sofa and joined me on the rug, so we could sleep in one heap, and probably continue thumping... in dreamland.

                The funny mysterious act of sex... the awkward positioning... its slavery to limit... The fire dies...  ere it starts to burn! For me, there was no full comprehension of the sex act. I had once expressed my inexplicable awe in prose, thus:

THE DEATH OF EVERYTHING

Before, a lighted room, then come this duo who snuff the light out. Ah ah! Why?! Don’t they wanna see anything?! Themselves at least?!

      I was watching. They didn’t know I was there. Or maybe I wasn’t really there. But it doesn’t matter now. It was an amply moon-lit night, so I could still see vaguely, even though seeing was abhorred.

       They seemed to be fighting. A fierce, energetic battle. Their arms were so engaged in the raging battle that the use of their mouths was employed too. One of them seemed to have the bone of contention in their mouth, and the other was struggling hard to wrest it out. Then they started peeling each other’s clothes off. Frantically. I honestly have never seen a fight like that. The lighting was poor so there were certain details I must have missed . . . like when she bent down in from of him while he remained standing. Well, whatever she was doing to him, I felt she was winning cuz she had him groaning in pains. No one seemed to have the upper hand for long . . . he soon took over and put her through the same ordeal as she did him. Later they fell like a heap upon the bed. This time, he was winning surely . . . he had her flat on her back as I saw, and he seemed to be performing a rhythmic dance of victory. I felt an urge to intervene. Perhaps he was trying to strangle her, cuz she screamed and shouted endlessly. I couldn’t take it anymore. Out of sheer human sympathy I made up my mind to come out of hiding and go to her rescue. But just before I moved an inch, she knocked him over and, now, it was her turn to dance. I was dazed. Her wriggles, her moves, were alluring. She was a better dancer by far. I couldn’t tell the dancer from the dance. I actually thought she danced better because of the certainty she must have felt that she had won. But then her victory dance was a little premature. He struggled loose and got on his knees too – just like her now. Now they faced each other, on their knees, on the bed. Spent. In whose mouth the bone of contention was I couldn’t tell. But then they started that frantic search for it again. They were probing deep into each other’s mouths, while their hands remained busy, each trying to subdue the other. What must have gone wrong between these two, I thought. What was the misunderstanding all about! Their energies at an end, they battled on. Repeating tactics; rising and falling, ducking; taking funny postures, screaming, shouting, groaning, charging, calling; confusing me all the more. Their screams got louder. They felt a sudden rush of energy and both put in a very spirited last go. And I felt that the crescendo of whatever this was about was come. And it had!

      They both fell, satiated, on the bed, dead. And all the noise, all the screams, all the energy, even the eerie night itself seemed to die with the duo. These people have killed themselves, I thought. From this battle no victor emerged. They were both vanquished. Due to the trajectory of my line of sight, cuz of the place I hid, the moonlight with which I managed to see revealed nothing of him; of her, not much: only a partial view of her huge, lush breasts getting cold. This lady was beautiful. But of what good was she now? She was stone dead. It was neither murder nor suicide; nor an accident of any kind. It was . . . . well, I dunno! I can’t tell. “What a waste!” I said to myself, and quietly eased myself out of my hiding place and left. I needed to have been long gone from there before the police came calling.

                “...I’m surprised that this wasn’t a dream...” Her soft words woke me, but my eyes still closed. I wondered for how long she’d been soliloquizing, because I was sure she thought I was still asleep.

“But it may still be,” she continued. “It’s yet too early to tell... And this is too good to be true. I felt your distance; even though you were inside me. I wished I could bring you nearer... closer. You were far off... with someone I mightn’t know, perhaps... or maybe with Abbey, and I don’t blame you at all. I hate to be unfair to my friend, but I hate to be unfair to me even more. Even if I knew ‘twas just the two of us in a battle over you, and the odds favoured me, I’d still have my doubts... Good men are slippery like tiny eels... open your palm and they stay; but eyes would be prying and minds coveting; clutch your palm and they dart away and you lose them altogether.” She came close to my ear to whisper... “For whatever it’s worth, Iroko, I love you this minute... this hour, with all my heart.”

With these last words I opened my eyes, but I neither shook nor said a word. She was in a sitting position now, and I saw her wrap the used condom in a tissue paper and leave it by my side. Then she got up and walked over the corner. I thought she wanted to use the bathroom or so. I just lay there, too subdued by what seemed like guilt to move. Then I heard the front door open, and later, her Kia’s engine rev. It took a while for Zuma to get the gate, and I presumed he’d been sleeping in his room. I didn’t bother to go after Isabelle. I heard her leave.