Tahir peeped into the room and said: ‘We would like some tea in the balcony Bint. I am with a friend.’
‘Alright, give me a few minutes’ I said before rising from my bed to go to the kitchen. A friend home from work? I wondered looking at the time. I can’t remember the last time Tahir came back from the office with a visitor. Usually, he would return alone and then tell me someone was on the way for either dinner or iftar. Anyway, what does it matter if today he decided to do things differently, I said to myself before stepping into the kitchen.
‘Assalamu alaikum’ I said walking into the balcony, in Tahir’s apartment, with the tea tray in my hand. ‘You are welcome Alhaji’ I said to Tahir’s visitor, whom I recognized as Alhaji Hadi, his office colleague.
‘Thank you Hajiya Bint. I hope you and the children are fine.’ He replied, rising up to take the tray from me.
‘No, no there is no need to bother. Let me just place the tray here’ I said, refusing to hand it to him and putting it on the table between the two of them. ‘What a coincidence, just now when I was setting the tray, I saw the mug I was given as a souvenir at your daughter’s wedding. It still has their lovely picture on it. I decided against using it because it was only one and I wanted to bring you two identical cups. If I knew you were here I would have included it. I’m sure they are happily enjoying their marital bliss.’ I concluded.
‘Yes, yes, thank you.’ Alhaji Hadi answered avoiding my gaze.
‘It must be about a year since the wedding.’ I continued.
‘Yes, it’s actually eleven months.’ He replied, busy pouring tea from the kettle into his cup.
‘Ma shaa Allah, I’m sure you’ll be a grandfather in no time. Or has she already delivered?’ I asked.
‘No, she hasn’t.’ He answered.
‘Well, it won’t be long, in sha Allah, before we begin to call you Grandpa.’ I enthused.
‘Yes, in sha Allah.’ He echoed before lifting his tea up to his mouth.
‘Let me get you some snacks to go with the tea.’ I offered, looking towards Tahir, before I walked back into the sitting room.
Walking back with steaming hot Samosas about ten minutes later, I was surprised to see Tahir alone.
‘Is your friend in the bathroom?’ I asked laying the snack’s tray on the table.
‘No, he has gone.’ Tahir answered drily.
‘Gone? Gone where when I had told you both I was going to get some snacks?’ I asked, perplexed.
‘Well, you did offer him snacks but you also chased him away with your chatter.’ Tahir alleged, pouring the tea into a cup.
‘But how can you say that when all I did was to greet him and ask about his family?’ I complained.
‘Yes, but you obviously brought up something that got him upset.’ He insisted.
‘Really? And can you tell me what it was about our conversation that could possibly upset him?’ I asked, confused.
‘You asked about his daughter, referred to her marriage, asked whether he was already a grandfather, without thinking for a minute whether that marriage is there or not. In the end you got him so upset he had to leave before you return and say something worse. You see, at the office he had asked to follow me and take some tea here because, he said, I have quiet a collection of them and it’s always a pleasure drinking tea here. Now he had to cut short his visit, all because you couldn’t control your big mouth.’ Tahir declared, accusingly.
‘Oh God, I am truly sorry. I had no idea the marriage had ended. It was a beautiful wedding and they were a lovely couple. What could have gone wrong? But don’t blame me for sending Alhaji Hadi away. You ought to have told me the couple had divorced. Or did it just happen?’ I asked.
‘No, the marriage only lasted seven months. They’ve been divorced for months now.’ Tahir replied.
‘Then why did you never mention it or did he keep it from you too?’ I queried.
‘No, he told me even before the divorce was finalised that the marriage had failed. I just didn’t see the need to tell people something that isn’t good news. What is there to tell?’ He asked, rhetorically.
‘I see so I am also ‘people’ to you? That’s great, now you see what happens when you don’t tell ‘people’ the things they deserve to know. So please don’t blame me for your friend’s hasty departure, you are squarely to blame for what happened.’ I observed and started picking the plate with samosa to take back with me.
‘No, please leave the snacks behind. I wouldn’t mind a few myself.’ Tahir said, stopping me. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Duduwa’s divorce. Like I said, I really didn’t think it was worthy news because it was a very sad thing. According to Hadi, he wasn’t comfortable with the idea, because everything was happening so fast and they didn’t know much about the guy. But his wife insisted that the young man was highly eligible, you know, a graduate, a good job, nice car etc. In short the type they call a ‘ready made’ man.
She kept telling him that their daughter was lucky she won’t be saddled with someone who will depend on them for anything. Additionally, their daughter chose him, so they must not do anything to make her unhappy. Reluctantly, Hadi gave his consent and that grand wedding you attended took place. But within months, the groom’s true colours showed. He was a ‘ready made’ man but also a guy about town. He kept late nights, sometimes returning home drunk and turning abusive when she protested his lifestyle. And in order to keep up his way of life, he was always broke, so he took hold of her ATM card and asked for her PIN. Then he withdrew whatever he wanted at will. Duduwa never told anyone until she became totally broke and had to send home for money to buy basic things.’ Tahir narrated.
‘But that’s really sad.’ I said.
‘Yes it is, and you know she got married straight from NYSC, without having found a job. So all the money in her account was from the wedding gifts she got from her parent’s friends and relatives. But that groom mercilessly spent everything. That’s why her parent’s stepped in ended the marriage.’ Tahir concluded.
‘That’s better for her but I hope they have learnt their lesson from this. I mean how can they be content with a suitor being ‘ready made’ without doing a background check on the guy? They would have saved their daughter a lot of heartache by just doing that.’ I suggested.
