The Termagant
She had always been hot headed
As a young lady she was the official termagant of their area
Before the age of 12 she had beaten all the boys her age and some older ones to make a name for herself
They call her Brutal fists
Once she got provoked nobody could placate her
By the time she was 16, police cells had become a second home
Police officers sometimes didn’t even bother to arrest her
What would be the point?
She would only make more trouble in the cell
Everybody told her mother she would eventually calm down
She didn’t
Her mother gave up when she turned 17
Some rascals from another area baited her
She fell for it and went to their area with some boys to retaliate
The boys grabbed and raped her
To teach her a lesson
When her mother got to the police station to report
They dismissed her
She ran to the hospital, her daughter was treated but it had come to a head
Her mother invited her uncle in the north to come and take her
They had to drug her without her knowledge
She was halfway to the north when she woke up
She cried bitterly
Her uncle was a match for her
She became a Tailor’s apprentice by day and attended GCE lessons in the evening
She finished her apprenticeship and proceeded to the polytechnic
Six years after she sneaked to the north, she returned to the south for her industrial attachment
Her area had changed
Many of her friends had either died, gotten pregnant, in jail or resettled somewhere else like she did
She went back to the North for her HND
It was during her NYSC that she met him
She didn’t know why but she was drawn to him
He was smallish in stature, timid by nature, wears a set of thick eye glasses
He saw the signs of her affection and welcomed it
They got married
From Day 1 of the wedding, she was a warrior
She wouldn’t cook and if he refused to drop the money for soup she would lock him in, if he comes back home from work a minute late he would land in trouble.
When she started having children it became worse. She wouldn’t cook. She would collect the feeding allowance and watch her own children starve.
The neighbours told him what was going on. He got a house girl, she beat the poor girl blue back claiming he brought home a second wife.
He started cooking. Sometimes he would give the local food vendor some money to take food to his house three times a day for the children
Everybody spoke with her
Pastors, Bishops, Muslim clerics, her uncle, her mother, everybody!
She didn’t change
In all she had four daughters
One day she saw him talking to a young lady very close to their house. She took one of his belt and flogged him mercilessly. When he ran, she chased him into the streets until he lost his glasses. By the time he got home, his body and legs were badly bruised
Ten years into their marriage he was transferred to the south, he traveled ahead with his daughters and told her to meet him at his posting station once she was able to secure transfer from her office
He disappeared
She came to the south only to discover he was not transferred but he had relocated abroad with her daughters
She returned to the North and continued her life as a typist.
Seventeen years later, she got a phone call from him. Their first daughter was getting married and they will all be returning home for the occasion. Would she like to be the mother of the bride?
She agreed
The wedding was a very successful affair
He had remarried with two sons
She never remarried
PS: She said she chose not to remarry because she was comfortable alone
He said he had to consider his children. She was not just abusing him, she was abusing his children and creating a very bad picture of what marriage should be for them. It took him time but he executed his escape plan flawlessly
Ogechi
Wowwww. No other word comes to mind