I HAVE DRUNK STRANGE WATERS - EPISODE 46

 EPISODE 46

"Yes? Why are you disturbing me?" She snapped.

"Get down here right now! If I have to come over to get you I'll give you a public disgrace you'll never recover from. Why did you pay people to attend our weddings?"

I saw someone tapping my glass window a few minutes later, I winded down the glass and unlocked the door. She entered and sat at the back, I expected her to look angry but instead, she was looking weary and tired. 

I lifted her face with my hands and discovered that her eyes were red and swollen.

"Why are you looking like this Babe?"

"Why won't I look like this? I should give Kike an award for tolerating your mother all these years, she was just my mother-in-law for a few hours and I'm already losing my mind" I saw fresh tears about to fall from her eyes and I handed her a handkerchief.

"What happened?"

"We already kept food for everyone, It was our locally made food and the most expensive one. I asked one of my relatives to give Mama the food, she came back to the party to embarrass me"

"She thought it was solid pap and moi moi" I said in Mama's defense.

"She should have asked and I would have explained to her. She was shouting at me and calling me "Erugu" in Yoruba. She said I was lavishing your money on makeup and eyelashes. She told my friends I wanted to kill her son with high demands and called me a secondhand wife"

"Mama said that?" I asked in surprise.

"That is just a little out of what she said. She called my entire family a beggar, she said we are swimming in poverty and we want to kill her son with the burden of our generation"

"That is too much," I said before I could help myself.

"I didn't say anything, I was holding everything in until she started insulting my parents. I told her we are not Almajiri, we are taking what is our right according to our custom. She slapped me Femi, I didn't know what happened, I just lost control of myself."

I came down from the driver's seat and came to the back to join her, I gathered her into my hands and she wailed like a baby. She calmed down after a while.

"I thought Mama loved me, I wouldn't have married you if I thought otherwise. Is it because I am not from your tribe?"

"I want to assure you that Mama loves you very much, whatever happened is the work of the devil."

"What is Erugu? She said her son shouldn't have married me because I am Erugu." She was mopping the leftover tears from her face as she speaks.

"It is Arungun, not Erugu, it means a wasteful spender. I'm sure Mama does not mean half of what she said, she was just angry. You shouldn't have slapped her."

"I didn't mean to do that. I love her so much, do you think she can forgive me?"

"She already decided to forgive you. What you did is a taboo in our custom, you have to apologize to her publicly."

"Is that all? I'll do that if it will get her to forgive me and accept me."

"Didn't I tell you Mama loves you? She prefers you to Kike"

"That your wife must be the head of all the witches in Nigeria, her witchcraft is so strong" Cynthia shuddered in fear.

"Didn't I tell you we serve a living God? You don't have to be afraid of her, she can't harm us. I already know she's responsible for what has been happening since we got here, I'll find a way to clip her wings once I get back to Lagos."

"You sounded angry on the phone? I thought you don't want to marry me again"

"We are already married Babe, what is this one that I heard from the boys today? They said you went around town paying people to attend the wedding."

"Who said such rubbish? It is our custom to share a portion of my bride price with the youth in the village so that they can take care of my father's house while I'm gone. We carried their portion to them after giving the elders their share yesterday."

"So that is what happened," I said to myself feeling like a fool again.

"What did you think happened? Femi, I think you don't trust me. What is the essence of this Marriage if I have to be defensive all the time?"

"I'm sorry babe. From now on I promise to trust you wholeheartedly. Let's go and beg Mama so that we can go on with the ceremony."

I took Cynthia to Mama and she knelt to beg her, all her friends joined her on her knees.

"My beloved Daughter-in-law, I have forgiven you. I know where all this attack is coming from, you are a good girl. I have accepted your apology, you'll give birth to twins and triplets for my son. Our compound will be filled with your children and grandchildren "

Everyone shouted Amen and Mama embraced Cynthia, things started getting better from that moment. We ate, drank, and dined all day. What Mama referred to as Eko and Moi Moi was their local food and the taste was great. I decided to take some with me back to Lagos.

Mama and her friends kept dancing and spraying money even though they didn't understand half of what the musician was saying. We were able to salvage the moment and I was glad.

It was very dark before we got back to the hotel that night and I was drunk. I didn't know how potent their local wine was and I had taken more than I could contain. I had plans for the night but I could hardly take off my shoe when I got back to our suite. Cynthia helped me undress and get into bed that night.

I woke up in the middle of the night to an empty room, I was half asleep and half awake. I was trying to embrace Cynthia when I discovered she wasn't there, I kept on groveling and turning on the sheet until I touched the entire expanse of the bed and she wasn't there. I was feeling sleepy and thought she had gone to the toilet to ease herself so I went back to bed.

I woke up two more times in the midnight but still could not find her, my body felt heavy so I couldn't lift myself from the bed to go after her. We were supposed to check out from the hotel rooms by 6:00AM so I had set an alarm to wake me up by six the previous day.

When the alarm sounded by six it was loud enough to bring me back to my senses, I was fully awake and was about to get out of the bed when I heard the sound of someone banging the door.

"Femi! Femi! Femi! Open this door"

"Mama!" I shouted in alarm and got out of bed.

To be continued...

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