The price of wealth

‘Why don’t you just pick the phone and attend to the caller. He or she seems so determined to get you we won’t have any peace until they do so.’ I urged.‘It’s my aunt, Huwaila. I can’t bear to talk to her now. Let me just put off the phone so she won’t continue to […]

‘Why don’t you just pick the phone and attend to the caller. He or she seems so determined to get you we won’t have any peace until they do so.’ I urged.
‘It’s my aunt, Huwaila. I can’t bear to talk to her now. Let me just put off the phone so she won’t continue to disturb us.’ Barirah replied, picking up her phone in order to do so.
‘But why would you want to avoid talking to your aunt when she is so persistent? Don’t you know it could be an emergency?’ Asabe observed from the seat next to mine.
‘No, it’s not an emergency. Believe me I know what her call is all about. But it won’t help matters, whatever she has to say can’t change anything her daughter has done.  This is why I don’t even want to go through the trouble of listening to her.’ she explained.
‘What did her daughter do?’ Maryam asked from the chair opposite Asabe’s .
‘She travelled with my husband to Europe.’ Barirah stated, flatly.
‘How do you mean?’ Maryam asked again.
‘I mean posing as his wife, my cousin Mairiga followed my husband on an official trip to Germany.’ She explained, painfully.

‘Whaaat???’ We all shouted together. ’How did you find out?
‘It was apparently meant to be a trip for ministers and their spouses. But he said he was going alone and I had no reason to believe I was expected along. The wife one of the other ministers, Hajiya Hauwa was the only one who knew me, but she didn’t know much about our family situation. So, as soon as they returned from the trip she came to see me. She teased me about what I missed on the trip, asking why I allowed my husband to travel with his younger wife when we could have had such fun together in Germany. Thinking she was mistaking my husband for somebody else, I simply said.
‘My husband didn’t travel with any wife, he went alone.’
‘Oh so that was what he told you? Wallahi, it was your husband I saw with his other wife. Even she didn’t seem keen on being with the rest of us. She was always absent during our scheduled spouses’ tours. I couldn’t even help wondering whether she was newly-pregnant. You know some women can’t stand being with crowds at such times.  Anyway we only ever saw her when they wre going out together or sometimes at breakfast.’ Hauwa narrated.
‘Are you sure that was my husband you saw?’ I asked, incredulous.
‘Of course, it’s him. Don’t you think I know him well enough? We were with them the day they were inaugurated as ministers weren’t we? And that was the day you and I met. I can see that he really managed to convince you that he went alone. Well luckily, the other day I was trying to take the picture of a beautiful flower-bed just beside their breakfast table. I had no idea I had caught them in the picture till after I’d snapped it. I will show it to you the moment I print it so that you can have it as evidence that the next trip is yours since this one was enjoyed by his amarya.’ She promised.
‘You don’t understand Hajiya, my husband has no amarya anywhere. I am his only wife. This is why I find it hard to believe it was him you saw.’ I explained. Shocked at what I said and realizing the gravity of what she had done, Hauwa suddenly said, in a low voice.
‘I think you are right, I must be confusing him with another minister. I am very sorry if I have upset you in any way. Or she might be a ministerial assistant, that was why she wasn’t joining our group tours. Either way, it’s a huge error on my part and I apologise for jumping to the wrong conclusion.’ Hajiya Hauwa said, rising up.
‘Please don’t apologise and since we all know how our men are, especially when they in positions of wealth and influence. Again nothing can explain why my husband didn’t invite me on the trip since all wives were expected, it stands to reason that he had someone else with him. There was no reason for him not to take me along when I was hale and hearty when he left.’ I observed.
‘No Hajiya Barirah don’t give in to suspicions. Though I must take the blame for making you suspicious, still I urge you not to let anything disturb your mind.’ She advised, rushing towards the door.
‘Don’t rush out Hajiya, I am following you home to see that photo you took of the couple near the flower-bed. That will put all suspicions to rest if it isn’t my husband there.’ I suggested, rising up to pick my veil.
‘But you can’t see the picture now because it has not been printed.’ She protested.
‘Yes, I know but I can see it on your digital camera can’t I?’ I insisted, following her outside. Needless to say, she was very reluctant to let me see the picture. In the end she gave in and brought the camera from her bedroom. She scrolled and got to the photo and showed it to me. There, facing each other happily at breakfast were my husband and my cousin Mairiga. I almost let out a huge scream at the shock of it all, it took a super human effort on my part to suppress the scream and settle for ‘inna liilahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un’ instead. I don’t’ know how many times I repeated it or at what point the tears began to fall, all I remember was Hajiya Hauwa’s voice saying, ‘How I wish I never said a thing’ before she moved over to place my head on her shoulder. I cried for a little while before I said to her:
‘Don’t blame yourself. It was God’s will that I will find out this way. Actually the most painful part is not that it’s my husband in the picture. It is that the lady is my first cousin. Her mother and mine are full blood sisters. I don’t know what this means or how long it’s been going on but this is really the cause of my distress.’ I explained.
‘Your first cousin?’ Hauwa asked, incredulously. ‘Does he know her?’
‘Of course he know all my cousins.’ I replied, rising up from my seat in order to walk out.
‘Please, whatever you do,’ Hauwa said, her hand on my shoulder ‘don’t let emotions rule your reasoning. Remember that you have the most to lose if your marriage falls apart because your cousin is probably looking for a way into the house and your husband may not be averse to the idea since he is already in some kind of relationship with her. In short, whatever step you take on this issue, be sure you’ve thought it out well. I am very sorry about this. May God guide you to what is best.’ She added, walking me to the car. I first drove home to my mother and poured out my heart to her on the issue. That was when she summoned her younger sister Inna Huwaila and narrated everything to her. My aunt fell on her knees and began to cry, confessing to my mum that she had no idea what her daughter had been up to ever since she insisted on moving out of the family home a year after her divorce. Her excuse had been that the family home was too far from the bank where she works so she needed to move out to avoid always being late. Inna Huwaila promised mother she will investigate and deal with her daughter for such shameless and immoral behavior.
Both of them urged me to go home and try to find out the truth from my husband but that I should be calm and matured about it.  I returned home and waited for him to return from work. When he did, I confronted him and all he could say was that he ran into her at a shop in Germany and she said she was on an official trip.  He invited her that once, for a meal, and that was when someone mischievously snapped the photo that was shown to me. I asked why he never mentioned it before and he said it was such an insignificant incident that it completely escaped his mind. I knew he wasn’t telling the truth but to give him the benefit of the doubt I went to the bank where my cousin works to find out whether she really went on an official assignment abroad. I was told that she was on her annual leave but that she did say she will be travelling abroad during her leave.’
To be contd.