BED OF TETHERS

The persistent soft knock on the window brought me out of
dreamland. My foggy brain took a minute longer than normal
to register that the sound that woke me was a knock on the
window. I yawned and stretched on the bed lazily before the
soft knock came again. My head jerked instinctively to the
direction of the noise and I wondered what could be making
the noise. A quick look at my bedside clock told me it
was 1:47 a.m. Alarm bells went off in my head and I jumped
off from the bed as my thoughts flew to a possible burglary.
The knock came again, this time a bit harder and I tiptoed to
the window. I heard the soft hissing sound of Kasali’s voice.
“Bimpe open the window, it is me Kasali.” My heart fluttered
in my chest and I quickly unlatched the window from the
hook to let him in before going quickly to my bedroom door
to lock it. He was standing there looking just as handsome
as when I had last seen him which was the day before.
“What are you doing here Kasali, have you gone insane?” I
whispered trying to control the excited tremor in my voice. If
my father met Kasali in my room, going berserk would not
begin to describe the way he would react. Father couldn’t
stand Kasali because he was a welder’s son and so father
considered him beneath me, a university undergraduate. If
only father knew that despite’s Kasali’s lack of tertiary
education, he was a smart and caring young man with a good
heart. But what did father know about love? Absolutely
nothing!
Kasali stood there unsure of what to do and I realized my
questions must have left him unsure of himself. I went to him
and hugged him, forgetting we were under my father’s roof
and that he had climbed a three storey building just to come
see me. I shuddered when my mind went to the thought
of him falling off while climbing. He mistook my shaking for
cold and wrapped his arms tightly around. I sagged into him
and let him hold me close. No words were exchanged as we
held each other close with no other witness but the moon far
up in the sky, its light rays peeking into my room to catch a
glimpse of our forbidden affair. I took his hand and led him to
my bed, as we began to converse in hushed whispers. Kasali
was his witty and humourous self and for a moment I forgot
myself and laughed out aloud at something he said. My heart
stopped in my chest as I realized what I had done and we
both stood stoic still, waiting for footsteps to announce that
we had been found out but nothing happened. After about
five minutes of waiting in dreaded silence for the impending
doom with nothing happening, we continued our
conversation and loving embraces.
“Open the door this minute Bimpe!” Father’s booming voice
came from the other side as a loud rap followed by a banging
sounded on my bedroom door. Kasali and I sprung apart and
I could see the fear on his face. He looked around the room
desperately before running for the still opened window even
as I made for the door. I paused to make sure Kasali was out
of the window before I opened the door. Father barged into
the room, looking like he was ready to commit murder, his
whole body shaking with rage.
“Where is he? Where is the bastard?” Without waiting for an
answer, his palm connected with my cheek and whatever
answer I had been about to give died on my lips. He looked
around the room again and this time his eyes caught the
open window. He headed straight to it.
“God help me and you if I catch you riffraff. Oloriburuku, omo
ale,” father’s voice sounded louder than ever in the silent
night. His voice must have frightened Kasali as I heard
Kasali’s scream even as mother came into the room.
Together we rushed to father’s side by the window to
see what had happened. Kasali lay on the ground below,
sprawled on the floor unconsciously with his life oozing out
of him. Father reeled from the window obviously still angry
and landed another slap on my face,
“I hope he is dead!” With that he stomped out of the room
like an angry bull while I slumped to the floor crying and
praying Kasali would be alright.
I heard father order Akin to make sure all the doors and
windows were locked to prevent silly educated girls and their
more foolish lovers while he instructed mother to stay with
me to ensure I didn’t do anything stupid like climb out a
window like Kasali had done. I shut my bedroom door to
conceal my shame from Akin’s probing eyes which held a
mix of pity and curiosity in them. The tears flowed down my
cheeks unhindered but I dared not cry out so I sobbed into
my pillow.
Father’s chiding hurt badly and at that moment, I was torn
between not knowing the fate of my lover and having
provoked father to such fury. Mother sat looking at me
without saying a thing in the characteristic manner that
defined her. She dared not contradict father even if her heart
went to Kasali as I could tell it did judging from he frequent
glances at the window. After about ten minutes of sobbing,
my tears abated and turned into soft sobs. I tried to muffle
the sounds with the edge of my wrapper so as not to arouse
father’s anger again if he heard me crying. I wanted to go see
that Kasali was well. I loved him, father or anybody else
couldn’t change that. He is my life, I thought to myself.
Thoughts of elopement crossed my mind but then I was
scared of missing out on my father’s blessing and having to
do without mother’s grace. That part of my brain that was
still functioning well with reason held me back.
The led light of my phone suddenly caught my attention and I
rushed to the dresser. Grabbing the phone, my hands shook
as I saw it was a text message from Kasali. The phone
clattered to the ground in my hurry to input the pin and I
swore under my breath as I picked it up and tried to still my
shaking hands. My misted eyes scanned the text
“I can’t do this anymore.” That was all it said but it was
enough to send my thoughts spinning like a whirlwind. I
could not understand what it meant. “I can’t do this
anymore?” Many thought passed through my mind; it could
mean a million and one things. Could this mean he was
leaving me? Was he tired of the hide and seek games and
finally ready to face father square on? Mother was fast
asleep in her chair where she was to keep guard over me so I
made for my closet and quickly discarded the wrapper
throwing on a brassiere and slipping into a gown and flat
slippers as quality as possible.
Opening the door without making a noise seemed to take
forever but I managed to do that without arousing mother. I
said a silent than you prayer to God when I saw Father’s
bedroom door closed. I tiptoed out of my room and hoped
the rich Persian rug would muffle the sounds of my
footsteps. The wooden staircase creaked in protest when my
feet landed on it however and the sound was like the
explosion of a gun going off in my ears. I paused for a
moment to see if anyone had detected my actions.
“Where do you think are you going madam?” Father’s voice
sounded behind me in clipped tones. My heart stopped in my
chest and I stood still unable to face him before my
rebellious heart flared up again and I spun around to face
him with my the emotions flashing on my face
“I am not telling you,” I barked at him.  I was surprised at the
sound of my own voice as this was something I would not
have done on a normal day but today wasn’t a normal day, I
had witness my lover falling from a building, gotten a
text that left me confused. I needed answers, I couldn’t go
on living in fear of father at twenty-seven. Father’s face
registered surprise and his face contorted in a mask of rage
for what must have been umpteenth time that night
“If you go out of this house, don’t bother coming back,”
father barked back at me. His words hit me hard and my legs
wobbled. My first thought was to bow my head in defeat and
walk back to my room silently but my emotions were running
high. I had reached the end of my tether, I have allowed
father control me for too long. He was always the one that
had the final say and the woman emerging in me wasn’t
going having any of that anymore. I had to find out the
meaning of Kasali’s text, I had to know he was alright and
most of all I had to speak out and free myself of father’s
prison. Mother was behind him watching the whole scene
with saucer big eyes. It hit me then that she was just another
of his slaves, obeying his every command.
Kasali’s text had read “I cannot do this anymore.” Father
words were “If you go don’t come back to this house”. I had
to see my midnight lover, I had to do this for me and without
another word, I ran down the flight of steps without a
backwards glance. As I busted out through the door, I felt
truly free for the first time in forever. All that mattered was my kasali.
Where was kasali? I rummaged the entire feeder links to our house. I cupped my breasts as I ran towards the boulevard where he usually waited. Oh, my kasali! Was he truly gone? Was he fed up of me? Was he fed up of the whole drama? Was he leaving me for a greater good?

To be continued...

AKINWALE (UNILAG)
&
MR. POSSIBLE (UNIBEN)