Silent Wives- Chapter 22- Help

The house was quaint and lonely. Supported only by the company of the maid and aunty- Claire’s mum. It looked like it had not seen another human in decades and the paint on the outside wall was weeping. I wondered how long it had been since Claire visited her mother for this was no condition for an old woman. Then again, with the way things were at Claire’s home in Lusaka, it was no surprise that she has not been to her mother’s home in a while. I would not be surprised if the mother did not feel welcome at Claire’s home with the way that animal of hers has been behaving.

Aunty brings a small wooden stool and asks me to sit on the stool whilst she settles herself on the impasa. The house is fragranced by the scent of munkoyo. The fermented maize meal drink owns the little house. It clings rebelliously to the clothes of anyone who dares to enter. Aunty does not seem perturbed by it at all. It seems like it has integrated into her way of life. She settles quietly in front of me and offers me the fermented beverage which I accept politely.

‘So what has brought you here after so long my dear Lara?’ I feel ashamed for in as much as Claire is her daughter, she is just as much a mother to me as she is to Claire but goodness knows I have no patience for travelling long distances. I get so sick when travelling. My stomach insults me and curse each and every turn that the bus makes. It is the very reason I dread travelling to Lusaka but given recent events, I have been forced to.

‘Aunty, I thought I would come and see how you are doing? Can’t a child come and say hello to her mother these days?’ I beat about the bush. She is ancient with mountains of knowledge to allow herself to be deceived by my pathetic attempt at a lie. She grabs a maize cob from the small train and digs her teeth into the yellow lines. Small little pieces remain in the gaps of her teeth which she extrapolates meticulously with her tongue. You could swear she was trained to do so.

‘I thought you and your friends had even forgotten about us here eh…’she giggles in a friendly hurt way that suggests that she does not believe me but will not hold it against me.

‘I cannot forget our mother but the recent events at my friend’s home have caused me to come and seek your advice.’

‘What is it….’

‘Hmmm aunty where do I begin?’

‘The beginning is usually advisable my daughter for where else can a person begin a tale if not from the beginning?’

‘There is no need for the beginning because since this issue has been getting out of hand and you already know the beginning. Aunty I need to come back with me and see your daughter. She has been beaten within an inch of her life once again. She is in UTH with a broken eardrum and they do not know how to fix that problem’ I watch her reaction and do not know what to make of it. If it were I, I would be up in haste and legging it down there faster than you can scream lightning! Aunty sits there calmly. Her legs lie straight ahead of her and her back a little hunched to support her frame since there is no back rest. She crosses her legs in front of her maintaining the same straight line they had before. The maid comes over with some change from an errand that she was sent on and then heads back to the house to start washing the dishes from the afternoon meal they had. Aunty says nothing.

‘She has a lot of wax coming out from her ear so they started to blot it out at first but to no avail. It just kept oozing out like honey. The nurse tried again to blot out the wax but it just kept seeping out that’s when they discovered that her ear drum was destroyed.’

‘Can they not fix it she asks?’

I shake my head no. ‘It is impossible to fix. They said it will take a miracle for her to be cured of it. I am telling you that man is an animal but I do not know why she just cannot leave him!’ I raise my voice slightly and it makes her hunched frame startled. She eats the rest of her maize cob and chucks the stem into the plastic bag posing as a bin.

‘OK, we shall go she agrees. Let me pack a few things and we can start off.’

‘OK ma.’ She gets up and goes into the house while I set off tidying the impasa. I roll the mat up and lean it against the weeping wall. It is almost as though it can sense the sorrow and heaviness that my heart bears. Taking out my phone from handbag I call Diana. There is no point calling Claire. She will not be able to speak anyway.

‘Hey babes, I have convinced aunty to come back with me. How is Claire?’

‘Mmmm, I don’t even know how this day is going to pan out. She is still swollen on that side of her ear you know! I could kill that man.’ Her tone is juxtaposed. She takes a deep sigh and then asks what aunty said about the situation.

‘You know what aunty is like. She is a woman of few words. Was she not battered herself when Claire’s dad was around? It is almost as though she does not find it surprising at all. She was very quiet and barely said anything!’

‘Ay Lara! It is her daughter and obviously if she has gone through it herself then she is feeling the pain ten times more. With her she had to be more of a silent wife do you know what I mean?’ I know exactly what she means. There had been an event when we walked Claire home form school. We had stolen guavas from Amake Chandas’ garden. The dog was not very impressed to see us climbing down from the masters’ tree. 

It chased us down the road and caught up with Claire. The problem was that the dog was too excited with its hunt that it opened its mouth too quickly and managed to grab only a fraction of Claire’s rear end. She escaped but still needed to be attended to.

It was on this day that we took a shaken up Claire home that we heard murder in the house. The house was locked and aunty was screaming in the house. We banged on the door several times but no one opened. Uncle had been beating her like in one of those kungfu movies. Desperately we looked for an opening through the kitchen window and climbed there. That was when we saw it all! Uncle had taken a wire and pierced it through aunty’s breast like the way the boys at our school placed an opening for their wire cars. 

She stopped moving. Claire stopped crying. We stopped looking. Uncle lifted himself from her and stood up. He turned to look at us at the window and this is when we all screamed at the same time. The neighbours came and banged desperately on the door when they saw Claire’s bleeding rear end, one grabbed her much to her displeasure and the other three banged on the door until uncle opened the door. They dashed aunty to the hospital in the neighbours’ car and the other took Claire to take a rabies shot.

‘I know what you mean.’ I confirm to Diana. Of course aunty still carried scars of a defected past. ‘We will be there as soon as she finishes getting ready. Just keep an eye on Claire will you. OK love ya too hun.’

I drop the phone and carry the rest of the items that were on the mat to the maid. Aunty comes out with her handbag and a slightly larger bag filled with clothes. Her eyes say she has been crying. Her body says all is well. The perfect composure of a silent wife.