DANUSHIKI

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Her elder brothers who had their own families were witnesses to the fact that no one ever engaged Sarme in a quarrelling bout and eventually ‘won.’ She either drowned the person’s voice in her much louder voice, or have her father resolve the dispute or argument in her favour.

Some thought she was proud of her beauty, some saw it as a natural behaviour, while others thought she inherited it. She was also known by all her family members and people around to possess a very bad temper, coupled with a foul tongue (like her mother as Choshi always believed it to be). The day her pregnancy was discovered was the day she least expected. It all started when she went to draw water from one of the many rivers in Shaingwa alongside other girls of her age, when tiredness gradually took over her. She had succeeded in concealing it from her parents for more than two months, and she knew the game was up, since it would only be a matter of time before it would be discovered. On that fateful day, after walking some steps with the earthenware pot she was carrying on her head, she stopped to sit down on a tree stump by the roadside and began to spit at intervals.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you alright?”

“Are you sick?”

“Can we help you get home?”

These and other similar questions were directed at her by passers-by, especially women who felt concerned about her. In response to these questions, she snarled insults at them and warned them to mind their own business. Most of them were not surprised by her reaction, since they expected such from Choshi’s daughter. They consequently withdrew and continued their respective journeys, lest they invite ‘trouble’ upon themselves.

Feeling the refreshing morning air on her face, she knew her pregnancy was as a result of that fateful night she’d spent with Danushiki. Hiding it was virtually impossible nd she resolved to tell her father everything, should he ask her. She was about to stand up and head for home when she remembered the customs and traditions of Shaingwa concerning the way and manner men ‘got’ their wives.

Now she was pregnant, and the person responsible was going to be absent for three years, it was only ‘proper’ for the parents of the person responsible to accommodate her for the time being. This accommodation would subsist until the person responsible returned to take her to his house as his wife. She thought of Danushiki’s mother and hoped she wouldn’t deny the pregnancy on her son’s behalf. Though he seldom talked about his parents, she knew Danushiki’s father and had passed him on several occasions, on her way to the farm, rivers and other destinations. On such occasions she’d always greeted him profusely the same way she greeted her own father. He was a nice man, she thought to herself as she finally stood up and balanced the earthenware pot on her head. She only hoped his wife was nice like he was.

She kept walking and tried to appear alert while feelings of dizziness crept into her head. The feelings on dizziness lessened when she remembered how she beat up two girls, who were overhead by Danushiki’s two younger sisters, to utter some unpleasant things about her man. That singular act had endeared her towards them, and had kept her in their good books ever since. The thought of being a mother, the thought of having a son or daughter… or even twins made her smile while imagining the rigours of childbirth. She didn’t want twins; rather she wanted an exact replica of Danushiki.

Unknown to Sarme, the news of her ‘sickness’ had reached her mother courtesy of some passers-by that’d seen her. When she eventually arrived home and put away the earthenware pot down in the kitchen, she knew something was amiss when she didn’t see her mother in the kitchen preparing dinner for the family. This was a usual routine which was only broken whenever Sarme was instructed to do it. She entered the main room and was shocked to see her mother seated quietly, with her arms folded across her breasts. She was tapping her right foot on the ground and looking coldly at her as if she’d been waiting all her life for her to get home.

One look at her mother’s face made her wish her father were around to ‘help’ with the situation. She knew he was the only one who could calm her down, shut her up and make her obey his every instruction like a loyal puppy…

“Who is responsible?” she finally asked.

Sarme frowned and shrugged without saying anything, avoiding her mother’s eyes at the same time.

“Maybe you’re tired?” she said trying to hide her anger as she adjusted herself on the wooden stool.

“I know you aren’t deaf,” she whispered rising to her feet. She adjusted the large woven wrapper which covered her body and started walking towards Sarme. She thought maybe her mother had forgotten all the customs and traditions of Shaingwa. If that was the case, she made up her mind to remind her, not caring if she received some slaps across her face in the process.

“Tell me who is responsible for that pregnancy right now or you’d see the other side of me this evening.”

Sarme almost scoffed when she heard ‘the other side,’ because as far as she was concerned, she and her siblings had all experienced ‘the other side’ on several occasions. She shouted more threats at her dauntless daughter and walked menacingly towards her. She was raising her right hand and was about to deliver a slap on Sarme’s face, as Sarme closed her eyes in fright.

“Leave the poor girl alone,” Choshi said from behind, amused at his daughter’s defiance. “Can’t you see she’s tired? If you continue this way she’d lose the baby sooner or later.”

His daughter who had since opened her eyes, smiled at the thought of having a miscarriage due to her mother’s ranting. He turned to his daughter and became serious again, while his wife stormed away in anger. Go inside, clean yourself up and get something to eat, and. meet me in the garden behind the house.”

Relieved and happy that someone had saved her from her mother’s wrath, she knew her father’s soft nature didn’t mean weakness, but rather desired openness and sincerity. She was about to proceed to carry out her father’s instructions when she stopped and mustered the courage to talk to him.

“What about Berjho?” She managed to ask her father about the whereabouts of her immediate elder brother who had been dumped by his lover two months ago. He sighed, looked at her and slowly said, “He went hunting.” Moments later, while darkness began to cover the entire surroundings he shut the windows and walked into the room. Choshi smiled as he thought of his wife’s voluptuousness. If only she knew how appealing she was to him in her angry state…no matter what people said about his wife, one look at her entire body rendered unimportant, all negative comments about her.

Although in this present situation, she had every reason to be angry, though not as angry as she was on the night Choshi cornered her near her mother’s pepper garden, before deflowering her.

After a few minutes later in his chamber, not only did he know who was responsible for his daughter’s pregnancy, but he soon knew when the act was carried out. To test his daughter’s honesty, it was proper to hear it from her mouth, and also when his particular person would be coming around to ‘finish’ what he’d started.

He smiled again at the thought of his beloved Sarme being seduced or rather seducing a man – this was going to be the talk of the town. He couldn’t wait for her elder brothers to hear about this, they would find it unbelievable.

An hour later after he’d had his bath and eaten an early dinner, Sarme watched the ‘old man’, as she sometimes referred to him, in the small garden behind the kitchen checking on his vegetables with an oil lamp. She was about to speak when he stopped her.

“The gods and goddesses have already told me who’s responsible,” he told her without raising up his head. You’re my only daughter and the only one who knows fully well why I do most of the things I do. We go this evening to see him and his parents, but we have to notify your mother. You know the way she behaves sometimes?”

 “Yes sir,” she replied with her head bowed in fear.

“Sometimes we try to do the right thing, but end up doing it the wrong way…I hope you understand what I’m talking about?” She nodded, with both eyes staring downwards, as a teardrop fell to a ground.

The next moment she began to weep uncontrollably in her father’s arms. Unknown to Choshi, she wept not because she was pregnant, but rather because of Danushiki’s absence. How she wished he were here, holding her and explaining to the whole world what had happened…and how he loved her. After wiping her face with the edge of the woven cloth which covered his body, he made her sit on a wooden bench beside him and begged her to stop crying and smile a little for him. When both had reached an agreement on the ‘issue’, he told her not to worry about whatever her mother might do, and that everything would be fine.

She watched his feet rise and fall with each step in his leather slippers, as he walked around his garden without making a sound. While his mother was alive, Sarme remembered how she used to walk the same way.

Mhonse watched the both of them angrily from the bedroom window, as she leant her body on the mud wall. She couldn’t bring herself to imagine what’d befall her due to her daughter’s folly. If she wanted to live with the boy, why didn’t she allow him to complete what they started together, in line with Shaingwa’s customs and traditions rather than doing it ‘halfway’? She knew her husband would never entertain the idea, if not she’d made up her mind to accost the mother of whoever impregnated her daughter, and ‘implore’ her to urge her son to finalize the necessary rites…

Moments ago,, her husband knelt down in his chamber making inquiries about the man responsible for Sarme’s pregnancy. Choshi had never believed in using brute force for settling any score or solving any problem. This was one of the reasons many considered he and his wife to be strange bedfellows. Knowing the consequences of lying to her father, Sarme proceeded to the kitchen, sat on a small stool with her back against the wall and ate a small amount of food, while her thoughts lingered around Danushiki. Sometimes she sat alone and wondered how she could fall hopelessly in love with Danushiki. She could never explain it adequately – not even to herself.

On her way to any stream on several occasions, only a careful (and brave) observer would notice wet lines on her face, tailing from both eyes, as she walked with her head jerked up in her ever stylish gait. When she was done with her meal, she walked back to the sitting room and sat quietly like a mouse. With every breath she took, her gaze was fixed on the mall container on the ground which contained burning incense. Choshi soon instructed his wife in a very low tone to go and prepare for their ‘outing.’ Before he finished talking, she told him that she was ready to go out with the woven attire she had on her.

‘Reducing’ the frown upon her face, she came close to her husband and whispered to him whether he’d found out who was responsible for their daughter’s pregnancy.

“I think it’s best if I divulge it in the presence of the most concerned person…”