By Maryam Altine Baba
Chapter eleven
“Where is it?” he’d asked, searching like a lost person.
“Where is what, Ali?” she asked, a bit confused.
“It was in this pocket when I hanged it earlier today. Now it is gone.” He held an almost worn-out trouser as he kept searching almost frantically.
Realization dawned, “Oh, were you talking about a wrap of weed that was in the pocket?”
He looked at her with puppy dog eyes and almost tripped to beg her, “Yes, a wrap of life. Where is it?”
She creased her forehead in to a deep frown, “Well, I have thrown it out and burned it.”
“You did what?” he asked, stunned. He almost couldn’t believe he’d heard her correctly.
She knelt beside him, mustering all her strength and affection. This is it, she told herself, it was time she took that bold step to make her future, the future in which she sees a better Ali, a great husband and father to her children, if she had any.
“It’s alright now my love. I am here now and will make sure to make everything better from now onward.”
He sucked in air to his lungs and shuddered in the process. His eyes were reddened, no doubt from all the side effects of the drugs he took. They’d masked a deeper frown. He could not think of not taking his daily dose. It was a requirement. More like a life support line.
“No Zee. I don’t feel alright now. I feel like I am about to die.”
“If you continue to take this, you will die.” She said, more determined than ever to save him from himself.
“No, I can’t stop, it is too late.”
“Nothing is too late. We can work it out together, trust me please.” She rose up, “All you need now is good food and prayer.”
She brought the food that was reserved for her and sat gingerly beside him. She wanted to make him forget the anguish the lack of drug was causing him. He had a pained longing in his eyes, one that made him antsy.
She was filled with revulsion and a sudden need of protection overwhelmed her. Yes, she was Ali’s savior and had better worked on saving him for both their sakes.
“No!” Ali cried out exasperatedly. “I need it now!”
She looked at the man she’d renounced the world for. His eyes had a cold demurring look, his face uncouth. He wasn’t particularly handsome. He had a broad face, jagged chin and a short flat nose.
She’d always found his nose to be cute and attractive. It was one thing that was easily noticed on his face at first sight.
“Look, I know you were lonely before, and that was why you decided to rely on drugs to soothe your pains. But I am here now, and I understand your pains, because I have been lonely too. I vow to make it all go away if you’d just give me the chance to.”
She made sure her voice was soothing enough and had convinced him enough. She related with him and his sorrows. She believed he was an abandoned little boy who was maltreated by his cantankerous father despite his mother’s presence almost all his pathetic existence.
She was lucky to have Asma’u to defend her from their grandmother. Ali had no one. He was pushed so hard to the wall that it drove him insane and plunged him in to abyss of darkness. No one understood him, no one knew his pains. That was why he was denunciated, banished by his very own family.
At least that was what she believed, because it was what he had told her and wanted her to believe in. He had however, lied about everything to get her sympathy, to get her love. He wasn’t lonely, he wasn’t denied anything. He just had a different passion that soon became an addiction that wasn’t enough to satisfy his sadistic thirst.
But love didn’t satisfy his kind of addiction. He was Ali, king of his domain, always high and intended to remain so. He had other ways of getting what he wanted. He always got what he wanted!
“If you love me and have sympathy towards me, you should take pity on me and help me Zee.” His eyes were filled with sadness, his voice strained.
“I am trying to Ali, please let me help you.”
“You will…. but you know things don’t work out as we want them too. We should take things slowly at a time. Only Allah has the power of deliverance.”
She sighed heavily. Aliyu was right. These things took considerable time to actualize. If she wanted to really attain her dreams, achieve her goals, then she would have to trust Allah and take things very slowly. Slow and steady wins the race as the saying went.
That night, she’d managed to convince him to stay sober, had promised to keep showering him with pure unadulterated love. By morning, she was truly pleased with herself and how much she’d achieved in so much little time.
She rode higher on the tides of fulfilment the whole day, feeling justified for having staked herself out for her marriage that she basked in the euphoria. Everything felt so surreal.
For the couple of days that followed, everything had worked exactly as she’d wanted it. She couldn’t contain herself, couldn’t wait for those who’d thought she was crazy to have given true love a chance; those who’d felt she was going to be out on the streets before she could spell the word to see for themselves that true love had prevailed.
She knew she was right and every other person was wrong. Especially her father! She would never forget that fateful night he’d cut off all ties with her, had forbidden her from venturing in to his house ever again, in other words, disowned her!
Zainab sighed. Thinking about it wasn’t doing her any good. She had vowed never to set foot on his house ever again and she intended keeping her vows seriously. She would do everything possible to live her life according to her will. She’d fought so much for love and it had paid off. She couldn’t be happier.
