Beyond his scope

‘Thank you Bint, but where am I?’ She asked, confused.‘You mean you didn’t know when they brought you here? I thought you were sedated after you were admitted. You must have had a real bad accident if you were unconscious when they admitted you.’ I observed.  ‘I didn’t have an accident Bint. Who was it […]

‘Thank you Bint, but where am I?’ She asked, confused.
‘You mean you didn’t know when they brought you here? I thought you were sedated after you were admitted. You must have had a real bad accident if you were unconscious when they admitted you.’ I observed. 
‘I didn’t have an accident Bint. Who was it that told you I was here?’ Dudu asked in a weak voice.
‘It is Abdul, your son. He phoned and told me you had an accident at home and were on admission here. I rushed as fast as I could only to find you half-dead. So what happened if it wasn’t an accident?’ I enquired.
‘She strangled me, in fact she openly admitted to me that she was going to kill me. The last thing I remember was the guard screaming ‘let go of her’ and lifting the mad woman by the shoulders away from me.’ Dudu narrated, the tears streaming down her face.  
‘The mad woman, which mad woman was it that tried to strangle you?’ I demanded.
‘The same one that Sabo brought into our lives five years ago.’ Dudu replied.
‘You mean it’s your co-wife who made this attempt on your life?’
‘Yes it was she.’ Dudu nodded.
‘But how come? And where was your husband when all this was happening?’ I asked.
‘Oh, somewhere in his room.’ She answered.
‘No, I don’t believe this. How can he be in his room when such an attempted murder took place in his house?’ I was incredulous.
‘Yes, he was there. I don’t know exactly what he was doing at the time. But you know that Talle moved in with us six months ago. For four and a half years he had kept her at a rented apartment in town. One day last year he began to build an extension within our compound and when I asked what it was for, he said to me it was for her to move into but that I shouldn’t worry because it will be a self-contained apartment. But his self-contained means we will have to share a courtyard, the kitchen and the main sitting room. In the last six months we have had issues with her in all of these places. For instance whenever she stepped into the sitting room and saw my children watching TV, she will change the channel to whatever she wanted without saying a word to them. They complained but I didn’t do anything until the day she did it while I was there. I told her to at least have the courtesy to tell them she was changing the channel. Talle didn’t answer me but she from then on she will announce that she wanted to watch something else before she picked the remote. Luckily for them I have a TV in my small sitting room and when that happens they will simply file out of the main parlour and go to mine to watch…..’
‘But why can’t she allow them to finish what they were watching? Why must she have her way with the TV?’ I interrupted.    
‘Because it’s her husband’s house.’ Was the response from Dudu.
‘But it’s also their father’s house.’ I replied, adding ‘Why did you get her used to having her way?’
‘Because if I didn’t, I will have to quarrel with her every day since every morning she throws her weight about trying to show both me and the house helps that she calls the shots in our house. Now to avoid any unpleasant confrontation, I decided to solve any friction as peacefully as I can by letting her get what she wanted.’ Dudu explained.
‘Which obviously didn’t help because it didn’t stop her from trying to murder you.’ I observed.
‘You are right Bint. It didn’t. This morning was my turn to have the laundry done. Before, the laundry man washed three days a week, one day for me another for Sabo and another for our kids. Then Talle moved in and my kids and I have to have our laundry done the same day. Because that translates into a lot more clothes than on any other day, it tends to occupy all the lines.  I walked into the courtyard around 10am and saw Talle piling my wet clothes on top of the others trying to create space to hang some things she washed herself. I protested by telling her to least let my things dry before she hanged hers because piling my wet things on top of themselves won’t allow them to dry on time. 
Despite the many times I’d allowed her to have her way in order to avoid trouble, Talle turned around and told me there was  no way she will remove her things; that she was fed up with the way I always behaved as if I owned the house. Before I knew it she was shouting on top of her voice that if I dared remove her clothes from the line, she will deal with me. I got instantly incensed and before I spared a thought to her size, I had dragged her clothes from the line and dropped them right into the bucket in front of her. I turned back to spread my clothes the way they were hung by the laundry man. Before I turned back she had dragged me by the hair and begun to fight me. I tried to fend her off but found it hard to do so because of her size.
While I fought to free my hair she got me down to the ground and dropped her weight on me. By this time she had her hands on my neck and was saying that she was going to kill me once and for all. That was when I realized that I was in a fight for my life. I began to scream for help. At first I heard the guard saying ‘Stop this Hajiya , please stop’ then he must have realized that verbal entreaties wouldn’t do, when he grabbed her by the shoulders and warned that she should let go of me before she killed me. He must have succeeded in lifting her up. All I remember was my son’s voice asking what happened to me, then I passed out. And I just woke up to see you here.’ She concluded, wiping away her tears.
‘But this is too much Dudu. And you are telling me that while this was going on your husband was in his room? What was he doing that it had to be the security guard that came to your rescue?’ I asked.
 ‘I have no idea, but I do know that he was in there because I had just served his breakfast before I went down to the courtyard. The younger kids had gone for their weekend Islamiyyah lessons in the neighbourhood madrassah. We were alone, except for the house helps. Abdul must have returned from his exam to witness the commotion. I still don’t know what happened after I was rescued from her grip.’ Dudu added.
‘I suppose she is at home now enjoying her husband’s company. Well, I am going to a police station straightaway to report this and have her arrested. There is no way we will allow this to happen again. Who knows what would have happened if there was no one around to hear your screams?’ But before she could reply I heard footstep behind me and turned round. There, walking towards us was Dudu’s husband Sabo.  ‘Welcome, you are right on time.’ I said ‘I was just telling my cousin that I am going to your house to have your mad wife arrested by the police.’ I threatened.
‘No, no there is no need to go to such extremes Bint. I have already warned her never to try such again and I don’t think she will do it.’ He replied, smiling at me while he stood by his wife’s bed.
‘Do you think we will accept that? And who is going to extremes between us and the murderous woman who tried to kill Dudu? Look at how sick and weak she is. Look at the area around her neck where she was strangled. I am sorry Sabo but your mad wife has to sleep in a police cell or my name isn’t Bint.’ I insisted.
‘But what for? I told you she won’t try it again. How can you report it to the police when you know that that will only subject my family to a public scandal?’ He protested.
‘The only scandal dear in-law is that you remained in your room while your wife was being strangulated by her deranged co-wife. I will leave no stone unturned to make sure that Talle pays for her crime.’ I warned.
‘But I had no idea anything was going on. My windows were shut because the AC was on. The TV was also on. In fact I knew nothing until Abdul rushed in to alert me. There is no scandal there.’ He defended.
To be continued.