By Maryam Altine Baba
Chapter eight
The news of the marriage spread like wild fire throughout Gaji and even its neighbouring villages. By mid-morning, it made headlines and it became official, that Zainab and Ali became the couple of the moment, celebrity style.
The bold ones went to see for themselves. They went to congratulate Khadija and Malam over their daughter’s wedding shamelessly. Malam made himself less available, so his wife dealt with the situation.
Aunty Maijiddah was so furious with her brother that it was a surprise she didn’t catch on fire by herself.
“What do you mean Malam? That if Dabbo were alive, you would have just married your daughter off without informing her?”
Malam kept his head concentrated on the harvest from his farm, as he tied bundles of sorghum from last year, to enable him enough space to keep the millet and groundnut in his granary.
He had already separated the grains to be given out as alms or zakat and kept aside. Although he wasn’t a large-scale farmer, the little he produced was more than enough to take him almost the year round.
“Probably.” He asserted and looked from where he squatted at her briefly, “But you are not Dabbo, so stop trying to claim rights that aren’t yours.”
“You see, you see? Your wife has beguiled you to the extent that you don’t see anyone but her. You no longer respect our late mother. By Allah, I think your daughters’ waywardness is a clear testimony of your failure as a father.”
Malam closed his eyes briefly as he registered her words. He then looked at her narrowly, “Yes, I agree. But instead of focusing on my wayward daughters, you should focus on your good sons and let me be.”
It wasn’t a secret to everyone that Imran had been recently branded as the crops thief of the village. He was trudged half naked and made to dance the tabakaka, a shameful dance that thieves like him were subjected to, with the stolen item placed on their heads through every lane of the entire village. On top of that, he was flogged twenty of the horse whip.
Maijidda had shamelessly defended her son and claimed that he was being framed. She had even threatened brimstones and wild fire if the defamers of her son’s name weren’t brought to justice. She even vowed to burn their fields until Yaya Ibrahim intervened and resolved the issue once and for all.
Hopefully, it remained so. With Maijidda, one wasn’t sure. And she always had the nerve to talk ill of his daughters.
“You think I am interested in poking my nose in to your business? But for the sake of Dabbo, I would not have spared you more than just a glance!”
He gave her a constructed smile, “Will you stop mentioning her name like she was my creator? Please, she gave birth to me. As what goes for you, it is time you relieved yourself of all your poke nosing businesses. You should pack and leave my house.”
She was dumbfounded for a split second, and then retorted, “Why should I leave my mother’s memories behind? You are heartless!”
He folded his arms round his chest in a stubborn gesture few people know him for, “Yes, I don’t have a heart. You went to Bauchi, brought Alhaji Tanimu and sold off Dabbo’s two rooms and the courtyard. I built the rooms by myself, without anyone’s help.”
“I had to! It was part of my inheritance in case you missed that. Since she owned the rooms, it was fair that I get a share of them after her demise too, you know. And thank Allah I made that decision, because Alhaji had given me the part to live in with my family. There’s no reliance on you since you have been bewitched by your useless wife.”
Malam shook his head and gave a sigh, “Alright. Since you’re staying on part of another man’s property, then you have given me a way out.”
“What do you mean?” She shot daggers at him, daring him.
He gave a secretive but determined smile and left without saying a word. It hurt him that his sister was only concerned with her pride and not his pains. She behaved as if he’d planned to give his daughter away by midnight yesterday. He’s had enough.
That day, he called Barau, the mason and showed him where he wanted him to erect a very tall wall, between his house and that of Maijidda’s. Since the granary and kitchen were by Dabbo’s, he used his room as a temporary store and his wife cooked by his door.
