KASAO

1

AS KASAO WAITED at the far end of her mother's hut, she couldn't get Dela off her mind. She wished she hadn't saw the lashing the poor girl had to suffer. As it was typical of her father, he had made her and her sister go watch Dela's punishment, wanting them to see what happens to anyone who disobeyed the law.

It was heard that Dela started her menstrual flow at an early age and hid it from everyone for almost a year. How Dela pulled it off amazed Kasao. If it had been another circumstance, she would have hit her palms together and praised Dela. She loved such recklessness.
Her mother had found her clothes soaked in blood and had called the attention of her father thinking Dela just had her first flow but unfortunately, Dela's sharp-mouthed sister explained that she had found lots of clothes with dried blood hidden in Dela's part of the hut. Her Papa, same as every other father, took the case to the Elders.

The Elders, being the Elders, punished her by having her receive 30 strokes of whips made from Crocodile's tail. No one, not even her parents had cared about Dela's feelings. She wasn't ready for marriage but no one cared. As was the custom, nature had called and she was never to refuse it's call.

          Kasao gingerly peeked through the bamboo fence one more time, squinting her eyes to see through the thick night. She was tired of waiting. What if someone saw her?
It was getting late already and Papa mustn't find out she was not in the hut.
She shuddered at the thought of what Papa could do to her if she was found outside at night. But her heart always ruled and she never cared to access it's judgments. She had tiptoed once again, to meet her lover. Her braveness had always been a wonder, even to her.

Wadam, her lover, was supposed to meet her by the hut, as was customary for them every fortnight. This night, he was getting unusually late. She puffed and kicked at defenseless stones beneath her feet which later elicited a silent groan when she kicked a pointy stone that retaliated. He was supposed to be on his way as soon as the night drum sounded. Where was he? She wondered.

          Wadam was who she wanted to marry but it was only right for the man to make it official and let his family and the public know of his interest. It was considered wrong for a woman to tell her family or the public who she wanted to marry. It was considered a sin even. Promiscuity, they termed it.

They had secretly been together few months before she started her flow. It was an atrocity to have a lover before her menstrual flow but she had fallen in love. He had assured her he desired her and would marry her as soon as she began her flow. She had patiently waited until her first flow before she had asked Wadam to meet her papa for her hand in marriage.
"I want to expand my farm Kasao. So that I can take care of you, eh?" He would say whenever she asked him to meet her parents.
She would always consider it a very good reason. He wanted to be able to take care of her. And then she'd smile and wait for him. Just as she was still waiting late in the night.

          She cautiously peeked back at her father's hut. He had put off his lamp, indicating he had gone to bed. She dramatically heaved a quiet sigh as she sat on a pile of bamboo sticks. Papa could be likened to hurdles and she had successfully jumped past one of many tonight.
If Papa found her outside the hut that late, he wouldn't hesitate to drag her to the elders the next morning and ask them to flog shrewdness into her. Yet, she sat on a rotting pile of bamboo sticks deep into the night, waiting for her lover.

          She half jumped from the bamboo sticks as she heard approaching footsteps. Wadam? Oh, she had a lot to tell him! She would tell him of Dela and probably put in their marriage plan too.

"Wadam? " Her voice, barely above a whisper.

"Kasao, It is me." Her lover's voice whispered back as his long legs climbed over the bamboo fence with so much ease. He was so graceful. She ran over to him and all the annoyance of having to wait for long flew into the night. Oh, how she missed him!

"Why have you come late, eh? I have been waiting!" She whisper-shouted at him, trying, yet failing to make an angry face. Could she ever be angry at him?

"I had something to settle. Kasao, I come with bad news" He said quietly. What was wrong? Why did he speak so quietly as if to calm her?

"What is it?" She curiously searched his face in the dark for any hint of what he was about to say. Has something befallen his farm?

"Oh Wadam! Your farm?" She cried as she picked his hand.

"No Kasao. My farm is well"
He held her other hand a little too tight as he relayed the bad news.

"My Papa and Mama want me to marry Bedar. I tried to..."

"What? Marry? Who? Bedar? You mean my sister? My younger sister?!" She hissed all the questions, her voice no longer a whisper.
She squinted to see his expression in the dark and realization dawned on her. He had agreed to marry her sister. She gasped and snatched her hands away from his, staggering slightly from the force. What?!
He reached out to stable her but she danced out of his reach.

"What are you telling me? Eh Wadam" Her voice broke and her heart did the same.

"Kasao, lower your voice, eh?" He pleaded.

"You are going to marry my sister? Why did you not tell your Mama and Papa you want to marry me instead? Why Wadam? Eh?" Her eyes stung and she frantically blinked back the tears that was pooling. Her legs were going to give out anytime soon and she wished she had not stood up from the bamboo sticks.

"When your Papa came over to tell my Papa and Mama that Bedar had started her flow, my papa asked for her hand in marriage. I tried to talk to my mama that I am not ready to marry but she likes Bedar" He spoke slowly, with his hands stretched in front of him as if he was trying to tame a wild animal.

She paused. I am not ready to marry. Wadam's statement rang in her head. Had Wadam been lying all along? He had made her believe his papa and mama knew he had interest in her. If they knew he had interest in her, they wouldn't have proposed his marriage to Bedar. Wadam had lied to her. She gasped and held her mouth, trying to suppress the surge of anger that was threatening to come out as screams.

"You did not mention me to them, did you? All this while you said you told your Papa and Mama about me, it was a lie?" She was shouting already and she didn't care.
What more could her papa do that would hurt her more than the way she was hurting? Take her to the Elders and have her flogged? That would be nothing compared to what she felt.
When he made no move to give a reply, she hit his chest. Once, twice. And then she repeatedly pushed him, willing away all of the pain she felt.

"I... My Papa threatened to take his farm if I do not marry Bedar. I tried Kasao, I really..." He tried to hold her still as he began.

She could no longer bring herself to listen to the tales he told so she ceased pushing him, wrung free of his grab, turned her back to him and walked away. She walked away from her mistake. A mistake that stood behind her in form of a man. The lying bastard.

"Kasao, I am sorry" Wadam called after her as she left.
She scoffed and then whimpered. Sorry? He was marrying her sister! How was sorry to fix the atrocity?

          Her tears blurred her vision so she had to find her way back to her hut with her mind's eye.
"Fool." She kept calling herself amid tears as she traced her way back.