Getting married to Richard

The Love of His People

It took so much for Richard to convince Eva before she agreed to come back to Nigeria with him: he said he couldn’t just get married without her having a taste of his people. He made it seem as though he was obsessed with his people; he sang their praise like the weaver bird. Richard would be on the phone for hours with one of his people, and at the end, he would turn to Eva with how that uncle contributed so much to pay his school fees while he was a medical student in the United States.

Next minute, Eva would catch him scribbling something to go send to Western Union, and when she asked, he would say that he had to help pay a niece or nephew’s school fees. Eva found it very difficult to understand, because she believed he owed nobody.

Unannounced Guests

They met while in medical school. She was a nurse while he was a medical student. It was two good years into their relationship, and on the night Richard proposed to her, it came with a request: to accompany him back home to meet his people. Whenever he said his people, it sounded like a crowd or community of needy people; Eva hated crowd.  Eva hated to travel, and it took Richard the next six months to get her to agree to have a feel of his land.

Richard made it clear that it was custom to bring home a woman to the family she was to be married into. It was the first time to hear that a woman wasn’t just married to her husband, but to the entire family. It sounded too weird to be true.

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In her two years of dating him, it was the first time she had visitors without announcement. Richard often said that at home, people called on family or friends at odd hours and a host must be ready with a bottle of drink or something to offer his visitor. Some brought food, and stained her white table cloths, pots and plates with what was called palm oil, and ogiri: their food left funny smells on her plates and pots that lasted for weeks.

She was jealous each time she saw Richard settled on the table with his cousins to eat. She watched him closely as he rolled his eba in big balls, dipped it into a soup that drew like mucus, and threw it into his mouth while in the middle of a loud conversation. She nearly choked at the movement of Richard’s Adam’s apple; each time she prayed that he wouldn’t choke over his food while talking.

They would always go down to speaking in a language that sounded like that of the preachers on Sunday when she was very small. She knew what they talked about. They remembered their childhood: the feeling of dancing under the rain naked; going down the stream for a swim or fetching water, playing under the moonlight and acting naughty when no eyes were watching. At the end, when they were all gone, Eva would be busy clearing up while Richard hurriedly got ready for work. At some point, she didn’t see her place in his life.

Home

They had been on a tiled road before their car joined a dusty path. It was not long before their car stopped right in front of a graybungalow. It looked too quiet to have people living inside it. Richard got down, and came over to help her out. Before he shut the door, an old woman came out of the house; she was leaning on a walking stick, bare-chested, a wrapper was tied around her slim waist.

Richard left Eva and ran to the woman; he placed his face on her rightbreast, and said something. They had each other in their arms for seconds before the old woman let go. She busily examined him from head to toe, and smiled in such a way that made the hidden obvious. Richard had often told Eva about his paternal grandmother; they ran to her when his father made their mum leave home.

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In no time, other people started trooping in, and soon, Eva found herself standing by the corner like a spectator. Each person did the exact thing the old woman did: it was obvious that Richard was a very dear boy to them. After some times, Richard took her by the hand and started the introduction. Some were happy, or pretended, while others didn’t hide their resentment.

The compound was full of people, and in no time, Eva started seeing faces that looked more like that of Richard’s.  She took her time to survey the compound, and met some young ladies cooking at the back of the house; they didn’t invite her over, it was as though they expected her to know what to do. In no time, they were called to eat. Families sat around each other, and dipped their hands in the same plate. And as they ate, they talked and made loud laughters. It reminded her of Richard eating with his cousins back home.

That night, she got ready to leave, but was surprised when Richard busily brought in their things from the car. It was not enough that he abandoned her for his people the whole day, and he still hadn’t talked to her. She took a good look at him, and asked:

“What are you doing?”

He looked surprised at the question, but decided to answer:

“Bringing in our stuffs?”

“Are we going to sleep in this dumpsite?”

She was surprised at his answer.

“Yes.”

“How far is the nearest airport?”

“Eva?”

“How far is the nearest airport!”

Before he could reply, Eva had grabbed her bag, and walked right through people talking. Richard knew what to do.

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Leaving

They avoided any form of conversation while on their way to the airport. At the airport, they patiently waited for Eva’s flight to be announced, and when the voice came over the speakers, she picked her bag, turned to Richard, and asked:

“Are you not coming home with me?”

He looked coolly at her, and said:

“I am home. I applied for leave before coming back.”

Eva looked at him, out of shock.

“By the way, I never got to meet your parents?”

“Because you never asked?”

“What do you mean?”“Those people you saw there? Guess what? They sold their lands and farm produce to pay my way through school in the U.S. I owe everything to them. They are my parents.”

Eva felt bad, because she had made a big mistake.

While on her own side of the plane, she felt cold and quiet; she had lost a friend.

Written by Oluoma Udemezue.