Jamaica

Chapter 24

Jamaica was only hoping that the day would come when the training would finally come to end. It was tough and extremely hard enduring the training such that one Saturday, she cried all the way home. When she and her uncle got home and opened the front door they were  surprised to see Duke's wife. 

She had come much earlier than expected which was quite unusual. When she saw them come in, she walked up to the door and immediately saw the tears in Jamaica's eyes. However, Jamaica  quickly looked away to avoid her uncle's wife from asking questions. 

"Stella, you came back early, what happened?"

"I came back to my house, and to my family. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Of course not."

"Good, but I do have one problem."
"And what is it?"
"Agnes was crying when you both came in. What happened to her?" She asked. Jamaica had  gone into her room but had heard the woman she called her aunt, asking her uncle why she was crying. At first Duke ignored his wife like it was none of her business to know why Jamaica was crying. But his wife insisted.

"Duke, what is going on?" Jamaica leaned against the door and placed her ears to listen to their conversation. Duke was reluctant to answer and so he asked,

"And what makes you think anything happened to her?" Jamaica listened and tried to  imagine what the reaction of his wife would be. She had the impression that her aunt may have frowned  or was totally shocked by the question.

"Duke, you came into this house with your niece crying and you don't know why she is crying?" She asked as she went to sit down.

"Stella for a young child not knowing the whereabouts of her parents, is that not  enough to make her cry?" He lied. Jamaica knew he was feeding her with a story that he invented to stop her from asking further questions. "But whoever has brought this punishment on her, one by one, I will show them what I am capable of."

"And just how are you going to do that?" His wife asked a little upset. Duke went to pour himself a glass of wine and then came to sit down next to his wife. He nodded his head in appreciation of the wine he had sipped and then said,

"I will show them that I am more intelligent than they are. I am going to show them, that they have messed with the wrong family." Stella put her hands to her jaws and stared him. To her what he was saying didn't make any sense.

"Duke, who are these people that you want to destroy all in the name of family?"

"Those that put a young girl, my niece, through hardship and difficulties. They have made me their strongest enemy."
"Your enemies?" She asked quite perplexed.
"Yes, my enemies. Now I consider them scums, scums of the earth. And one by one, I will rid the earth of these horrible scums."

"Scums of the earth?" She asked. "And why do you want to make it your responsibility? I mean, to rid these scums, as you call them, from the face of the earth?"

"Stella, serve yourself some drink and stop asking questions. I know you want God to hand down judgment."

"So why worry about what will happen to them? Do you even care about me and Agnes?" She asked, as she went to serve herself a glass of wine.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, as she came back with the wine and sat down again.

"All your threats and intended actions against the so called scums. I mean, what if we cannot walk the streets of Lagos freely again?" Stella had the impression that the whole idea of a sort of vendetta against unseen enemies, was a made up story. But she knew her husband very well, and knew that he was up to something.