Scarred For Life

Chapter 79

*

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Halima said. "And I know how cliché that sounds, but it really does feel like yesterday even though it was almost thirty years ago."

Adnan tilted his head to the side, trying to detect a hint of deception in her words.

"I was a little girl, so foolish and ignorant. I guess I've always been like that. But we can say that my ignorance and foolishness were somewhat exaggerated at that point in my life. Before I tell you how it happened however, I think you should understand the beginning of it all. I believe I was on my way to my uncle's house that day. I'm sure your father told you all about the village we grew up in."

"Bakura," he replied indifferently.

"Yes," Halima replied, twisting her hands. "It's a small settlement, and we grew up so close that everyone knew the name of everyone else. It was so small that it was impossible to leave home without everyone being able to give a detailed account of where you went. Your paternal grandfather and my father were friend's of course, although my father knew your grandfather through this uncle of mine, whose house I was on my way to on that day. And so it happened that whenever I would visit my uncle, they would always be together. As it happened that day, they were together as always. But the sun was setting by the time I arrived at his house, and so he asked his son to escort me back home. That was the right thing to do after all.

"He had two sons, of course. Only a year apart, as it happened. And so I was to be escorted back home by one of them. He was so handsome in the evening light , so tall and graceful that undeveloped as my brain was, I knew I liked him. He was said to visit the city regularly, and so I asked him about it. He was very polite, and so full of wisdom as he spoke about the tall buildings in the city with the buses speeding across the road and strange devices which allowed you to communicate with someone in another house without leaving yours. He told me about the tempo of it all, and the buzzing of city life which was so uncharacteristically foreign. All I did while he spoke was listen, and I allowed his words to paint my thoughts like a blank canvas. He never stopped, and it was like I had awakened a fire in him that had been lying dormant. He must have been aching for someone to ask him about his trips to the city. But we village-folk are not so bothered by anything beyond the scope of our day to day lives.

"I think that was the day I fell for him. Of course even I could tell at the time that it was nothing more than a simple infatuation. He was too old for me; too sophisticated, and far too good for me. But it didn't change the way I felt. I never stopped thinking about him after that evening, and I would strategically position myself in the places where he would discover me. For the most part, he indulged me as well. He would sometimes leave his friends and come to me, even when I was surrounded by my friends. When my mother and I went to visit my father in the farm on Fridays, he would come with us and carry the food all by himself. My father sometimes let him eat with us, and I would always blush at how his eyes never left me while he ate."

Halima wiped her eyes, sodden with tears. They weren't grievous, the tears; that would be uncharacteristic to the tale. Instead it was out of fondness, of a memory she would never forget, but would always treasure in her heart.

While she took the time to compose herself, Adnan watched her keenly. He was not a man famed for his patience, and one could easily tell by the set of his shoulders that he was getting impatient. A part of him wanted to tell her to hurry up, but he had to give her enough to time to tell him everything, so she wouldn't leave any part out.

Onwards and upwards.

"And then the day came when he would have to leave for Lagos, to work under some business mogul who came back to the village looking for young boys to tame into civilized men. I was a teenager then, still clouded by the love I believe I felt. As it happened, I was not informed of his departure. I came to learn of it from my mother when she was having a conversation with her friends. I'm sure you can guess what happened after I heard the news."