Not what she seems

‘Which woman?’ He asked guiltily shifting his gaze back to me.‘The lady on the veranda, who is very likely waiting for her driver.’ I replied.‘Well if you have caught me looking, you must have noticed the man standing next to her, holding her hand. I just caught a glimpse of them and wondered what a […]

‘Which woman?’ He asked guiltily shifting his gaze back to me.
‘The lady on the veranda, who is very likely waiting for her driver.’ I replied.
‘Well if you have caught me looking, you must have noticed the man standing next to her, holding her hand. I just caught a glimpse of them and wondered what a handsome interracial couple they are. They do look great together don’t they?’ He observed.
‘May be, I am not particularly impressed you know.‘  I said looking away.
 ‘You are not impressed, that’s amazing because I thought you are the one that’s incurably romantic, yet today you see these lovely-looking newly-weds and fail to be impressed? This is amazing.’ He remarked, finally driving out of the parking lot because the cars blocking us had moved on. We had just attended a retirement dinner in honour of his older colleague. The couple we saw must have had a private dinner in the same restaurant.
‘Who said they were newly-weds?’ I asked him.
‘Isn’t it obvious from their body language? Anyway you are supposed to be the specialist in these things. If you can’t see anything today because they are interracial then I have no business forcing you to. But is that the problem Bint, is it because he is a foreigner? Are you deep down a closet racist?’ He teased as he drove on.
‘I am not a closet anything and you know it. The truth is these people are not married. So I fail to see why you were impressed.’ I explained.
‘How do you know that?’ Tahir demanded.
‘Because I happen to know the lady, I’ve met her twice, this is the first time I’m seeing her from a distance. She is Falmata’s business partner.’  I answered.
‘Falmata’s business partner? Well she does look way younger than your friend and definitely looks more like a fresh graduate than a business person.’ He added.
‘Yes, she’s the lucky type, with eternal baby-face and a string of young admirers.’ I answered in disgust.
‘You don’t sound like you like her.’ Tahir observed.
‘Like isn’t the word, I just don’t approve of her lifestyle.’ I stated.
‘And what could you possibly know about her lifestyle?’ he asked.
‘Well, like you I was immediately struck by her beauty. This same guy was waiting for her in the car when we met the first time. I arrived just as she was about to leave Falmata’s. So we were introduced to each other. After she left, I asked my friend whether the white man I saw in the car was her husband, and she said to me “No he is just her admirer, he is an Indian actually.”
‘If he is already driving her around town then she must be considering him for a husband.’ I insisted.
‘I am not sure she is ready to settle down yet.’ Falmata replied.
‘Not ready to settle down yet?’ I echoed ‘But she isn’t exactly a little girl, this young lady must be in her mid-twenties.’ I observed.
‘How lucky can she get?’ Falmata asked with a laugh. ‘Ladi is actually in her mid-thirties, a divorcee with two adolescent children.’
‘Mid-thirties, two adolescent children? This young woman that I saw?’ I asked, perplexed.  ‘But what kind of a fool will divorce such a beautiful lady?’ I added.
‘The kind who has seen through her beautiful facade.’ She explained.
‘I see. It’s truly sad to see young families breaking up, but I suppose some things just can’t be helped.’ I said.
‘No they can’t, however this is not to say that the lady deserves any pity. In fact she is entirely the architect of her fate.’ Falmata declared.
‘Really, how did you know that?’ I asked.
‘Because she told me part of it and I heard the rest from people who knew her. Apparently she came to this town with her brand=new groom and they had their two children here. Everything went well until she hooked up with a group of friends who had a secret lifestyle. They call themselves young business women but are actually porn artists. They lured her into their ring where they go to secret clubs and play strip-tease to the delight of depraved dirty old men. They get rich quickly because those rich old fools shower them with money and cars. But whenever they get busted, that is the end for them. Especially if, like Ladi, they happen to be married. That was what happened to her. Today she is very rich and has all the comfort that money can buy but no decent family life. These young men that come into her life for the money, come and go as they please, I don’t think there is any desire for commitment from either side.’ Falmata explained.
‘But how did you ever get acquainted with someone so immoral?’I asked amazed.
‘Our children go to the same school. One day she walked up to me and said she was in the business of selling things and that I should come to her car and see them. I obliged her but also told her that I own a shop where I sell things too, so I may not be in need of anything she was trying to sell. So I went and had a look and true to type she was selling the same stuff as I. Therefore she brought up the idea that she will be supplying my shop at a lower rate while I sell at the normal price to earn a little profit. I agreed. Subsequently she found her way to my house and confided in me that she was a divorcee.
She said she was framed by jealous friends who made her lose husband. So now she buys and sells to survive. Without asking for details, I took pity on her and accommodated her more into my life. But my cousin Rabi came to visit one day and saw her here. They greeted like old friends and my cousin told me they used to be neighbours. Afterwards she called to tell me the real reason Ladi’s husband divorced her. She warned me to keep away from that harlot. I must have sounded sceptical because she offered to bring me the man who exposed Ladi.
I accepted her offer and the next day she came with Ladi’s husband’s driver. He used to drive her anywhere she went. But whenever she was going for her escapades she will insist on driving herself. The day she got busted, she used the car and forgot a video CD of her strip-teasing adventures in the car. He took the tape to his room and viewed it before giving it to Ladi’s husband to see. That was what nailed her down. When he repeated the story to me and even offered to bring me the VCD because he had made a copy, I quickly said I had heard enough and didn’t need any evidence.
Since then I have been looking for a way to chase her out of my life. I have stopped buying her things, I make up stories to keep her from visiting me but whatever I do she is still hanging on. Like today she actually dropped by unannounced saying that she came round to greet because we haven’t seen each other for a while. I also asked whether the Indian man was her fiancé but she said he was just an admirer. The last time she came to my shop it was with another admirer, a black man. She likes having them drive her around though all the cars are hers.’ Falmata concluded.
‘All the cars, you mean she has more than one car?’ I asked in surprise.
‘Yes she has all the latest cars in town. About four of them, I have never been to her house but I heard she lives in a beautiful mansion. All of these are proceeds from her licentious lifestyle.’ Falmata observed.
‘You mean she’s still into it after the way it cost her her marriage?’ I was incredulous.
“I believe she is, where else will she be getting the money to live the life she does? I think she is still entertaining her old men.” Falmata said sadly. So you see this is the reason I am totally unimpressed with that lady and her foreign admirer.’ I said to Tahir, just before he turned into our street.
‘Personally, I don’t think she should be left to her wayward ways. Tell Falmata to come clean with Ladi and preach to her that her self-destroying ways will not benefit her here, in later years, and in the hereafter. She must urge her to seek God’s forgiveness and mend her ways.’ He advised.