BRAVE

Chapter Seven

It had been more than a week since Ahmadu left and Lami had fallen into the sequence every normal local housewife would have.
Wake in the morning, pray, prepare meals, take her bath and rest. The sequence would repeat itself again and again and as the days went by, she found herself getting bored and restless, not that she had anything she could do anyways.

Sometimes, Laila would come to her side and stay with her to exchange some words. She knew it was all Indo's doing, the woman didn't want her to feel lonely.

Other times, they would sit outside, all three of them on a clear day and stare at the big moon, every woman with her thoughts.

It frightened her just how much she missed Ahmadu. She felt his presence everywhere the moment she stepped into their room and everywhere. He was on the bed, warm and comforting. He was sitting on the leather covered floor, legs stretched long and smiling, telling her tales of the city.

He was in the compound, teasing his sister. He was in the kitchen, insisting to help prepare the meals. Lami did not know what to make of it and she had no one to talk to.

Before she married her first husband, they had been in love or so she thought. But she didn't think of him all the time, she did not dream of him every night, she just felt that she would be comfortable living with him as man and wife.

Today was no different from other days. The sun still rose, only brighter and giving a clear sky. Lami felt the weather was good and so had a happy feeling all through.
After saying her prayers, she spent a longer time praying for her husband and her life. She had taken her bath and spent much time in cleaning herself thoroughly. She prepared breakfast of alale and kamu for all three of them, humming as she worked and returned to bed to catch the early morning sleep.

She was getting lazier with all the comfort, Lami knew that. Thank you very much.

Finally, when the sun had made its way to the center of the sky lazily, Lami woke from her morning nap and set to doing some laundry. She now led a worry free life so much that she even took a morning nap. The thought amused her even.

She had finished washing and was drying the clothes on the long rope tied around two long sticks far from each other at the back end of the house, when Laila walked to her. Collecting the shirt she was holding, she greeted her and hung the clothes as she spoke.

"Mama said I should call you. She's in her room, you can go on I will complete this"

Lami had noticed one very distinct trait that made the family stand out from the rest she had known, not that she knew many to compare anyways. They all spoke quietly and gently, as if afraid they would hurt or offend you.

But in that quiet tone they would use, a feeling would emerge in your heart. The feeling would envelope you and make you seem almost unable to refuse them. It was low, bewitching and hypnotising in a way.

She admired that trait with all her heart. Since her arrival a month now, she never heard her mother in law shout though quarrels and loud voices flew from the neighborhood. Women shouting and fighting with their co wives, husbands cursing and children crying. But neither of this happens in her home.

'But who do you have to fight with?'

Her brain taunted her and she realised the truth in its words. They were only being this way because they only had themselves and no body else. There was no co wife to quarrel with, no children to hit and cry, no brothers to have dispute with. They only had themselves.

Indo sat on the bed and watched lami from a distance as she walked to the room. They were so much alike though the only difference being she didn't have anyone to save her during her days which led her to living the life she lived before. It was not that she didn't regret it, no she did and there are still some memories that when she remembers, her heart shudders slightly and  painful scars reopen to bleed again.