A blind recognition

‘I don’t know, I couldn’t make it on time. I arrived just as they were exiting the hall.’ I replied sadly.‘But how come? Two days ago you were talking about nothing but this graduation, how did you manage to miss it?’ Asabe enquired.‘It’s a long story dear. But the worst part was not my missing […]

‘I don’t know, I couldn’t make it on time. I arrived just as they were exiting the hall.’ I replied sadly.
‘But how come? Two days ago you were talking about nothing but this graduation, how did you manage to miss it?’ Asabe enquired.
‘It’s a long story dear. But the worst part was not my missing out on my son’s very special day, it was what I actually encountered where I chose to go instead.’ I replied.
‘I’d say that was Nemesis catching up with you, if I were Mahmud. How could you just go somewhere else when you should have been there celebrating with your son on the very important milestone of his graduation from primary school?’ Maryam demanded.
‘And especially after he told me he will be performing on stage in his school play and was hoping to receive some prizes for academic performance; but I missed it all.  But I did not really set out to miss the graduation ceremony, I was told that the other event I went for will begin at 10am, so I went there at exactly 10 hoping that it will be over by at least 11.  It was a pre-wedding event for which I only received notice last night.
 But knowing that those school events usually begin at 11am, after everyone was seated, I decided to accept that invitation. After all it was a family pre-wedding event. Unfortunately it didn’t start till after 12 noon and ended a little after 1pm.’ I explained.
‘But why didn’t you ask to leave seeing that you were there on time and you had something else to do?’  Maryam queried.
‘I had thought of that but didn’t want to be the odd one out, you see everyone was patiently waiting for the event to commence, I didn’t want to seem impatient or inconsiderate.’ I answered.
‘I suppose it was while waiting patiently, trying to do the proper thing, that you encountered your nemesis.’ She observed with sarcasm.
‘No, I met my nemesis the moment I arrived on the scene. Do you two remember Hajia Laure, that big married lady with whom we did our pre-degree course at the university?’ I asked.
‘Of course I do. She was the eldest in our class I think, so we were all into calling her Anti and Yaya, not one of course dared just call her Laure, because we were so respectful. Do you also remember her Maryam?’ Asabe asked, turning over to face her.
‘Yes I do, what about her?’ she replied.
‘Well, she was the first person I saw when I walked into a room wherein I heard voices. I thought that was where the event will be held. As soon as I did the salam she answered and recognized me. I went round and shook hands with her and the other ladies in the room before sitting down. But the moment I sat down, she raised her head and said:
‘Sorry Bint, I forgot to condole you on your great loss.’ I looked up at her, wondering which condolence it will be, since a few of our course mates had died over the years; but at the enquiring look on my face, she just added:
‘I wanted to condole over the death of Michael Jackson.’
‘Michael Jackson? I thought you were going to condole me over the loss of our classmates, like Halima and Hindatu but Michael Jackson?’ I asked, totally bewildered.
‘No, I wanted to condole you over hiss loss because I remember what a huge fan of his you were. You were such a crazed fan that you had a life-size poster of him in our room when we were students.’ She declared.
‘A life-size poster of Michael in our room when we were students, are you sure you are not mixing me up with somebody? I can’t ever remember having any Michael poster in my room when we were in SGS, let alone a life-sized one.’ I answered, feeling confused.
‘But you did, you really did. In fact it was the reason I decided I couldn’t remain your room-mate.’ At this point she turned to the other ladies in the room and repeated the phrase by saying ‘honestly I had to ask for her to be moved to another room because I couldn’t stand that poster.’
By now I was completely sure she was getting me mixed up with somebody because I was never her room-mate. I looked at her and said ‘But we were never in the same room, how could you have chased me out?’
‘Yes we were, you must have forgotten.’ She insisted. Before I could say more, the groom’s mother came and invited me to the next room to view the bridal gifts we will be delivering to the bride’s family, as part of the event. I followed her to the next room to view the contents of the suitcases, but all the time my mind was on going back to finish that confusing conversation.
I mean I was only 17 when we were in SGS and she was around 24 or 25 years old and also married, so it’s not possible for her to remember everything that happened over two decades ago while I couldn’t remember a thing.  So I went back after the viewing and by now the room was more crowded because many more people had come. But since I was desperate to get to the bottom of that confusion, I brought back the topic carefully. I didn’t want betray my desperation to set the record straight, so I said:
‘You know I still can’t recall that room with the giant Michael Jackson poster, but I’m sure it’s not mine.’
‘It was ours, just try to remember that was the main reason I said I wouldn’t continue to be your room-mate.’ She repeated that lie in a room full of at least a dozen women now. At this point I decided to be very direct with her, I could feel myself getting angry but I didn’t want display that in such a gathering. So I said.
‘Look, you and I were never room-mates I’m sure of that. My only roommate in SGS was Safiya. So this whole story couldn’t have happened since we were never roommates. If only we can recall who it was that had that poster in her room, we will be able to solve this mystery.’ I was trying hard to be calm.
‘Oh oh, it might have been you or late Hindatu or any of your other friends, but I do know that was the reason we couldn’t be roommates anymore.’ She at last capitulated that it might have been someone other than me.  By know everyone in the room was quiet, listening to us and I was about to defend late Hindatu by saying that her roommate was never one of us, she was already an undergraduate known as Halima but two more guests arrived at that very moment.
As soon as they greeted everyone, we were told it’s time to leave for the bride’s family house. I couldn’t pursue the conversation anymore. We reached the bride’s family home and the formalities took another hour. By the time we were through and I had to rush home to see whether I could make Mahmud’s graduation, it was already 1 o’clock. I went home and observed Zuhr prayer before rushing to the event’s venue. I saw Mahmud coming out tearfully, his two prizes in his hand, and Little Bint following behind.
I explained to him why I was late and bribed them both with ice-cream on the way home. I was wondering how to tell Tahir, who was out of town, that I had missed the graduation when he suddenly called to ask where I was that no one saw me at the event. I told him that I thought I could make the two events on time that was why I went to the pre-wedding thing. I also asked how he knew and he told me that his friend Abdul had phoned to ask where we were when Mahmud did a heroic drama performance and collected outstanding academic awards.
Tahir said he told Abdul that I was there but Abdul insisted that he never saw me. So you can just imagine how I feel. After disappointing my son I had to suffer at the hands of a confused Hajia Laure.’ I concluded.
‘I don’t think that lady was confused Bint. I think it was a deliberate attempt to tarnish your image.’ Maryam asserted.
‘Really, why do you think so?’ I asked.
‘Well for one, the room with the large Michael poster was Hauwa Kulu’s room. Hauwa’s roommate was Habiba both of whom are alive and still in-touch with me. I can call them to confirm this to you. So for her to substitute you and her in a room you never lived in and allege that she chased you out of the room because of that poster is a calculated attempt at slander.’  Maryam explained.
‘Yes, it is possible that the people in whose house you were, always spoke highly of your moral rectitude and she wanted a way to dispel that, so she made up her slanderous tale to achieve it.’ Asabe concurred.
To be contd.