Threshold of Tomorrow- Chapter Three

Atancho stood on the threshold of his house looking over the hills as the sky emptied its waters over his fields. he smiled to himself at the thought of his yields this year. his crops were doing so well. he had finished sowing his beans and corn right on time. the extra labour he hired was worth the pay. he looked over to his wife's kitchen. he could hear her whistling as she prepared the morning's food. for 30 years he has been married to her and each year felt like the other. 30 years put together felt like a year; a month; a week or better still a day. He was a happy man.

he walked back into his bedstead and grapped an umbrella. putting on his rain boots he made his way through the yard picking up the tune from his wife. he joined in the song humming in his deep voice as he made his way. he stopped to pick up a piece of plastic and dead wood strawn by the running water of the rain.

"Tabi", (meaning father of the compound), his wife called out peering when she heard him appraoch the kitchen door. "where are you going to in this rain?" she asked
"when has it become a crime for a man to join his wife in making the food?"
"since I got married to you"
"then it is a crime i will commit again tomorrow. what can i do to help?"
"What is in this pot here?" he asked as he took the lead off the steaming pot cooking on the hearth."hmmmm!" he said licking his lips as he always does, telling her as he always has everyday for 30 years what a wonderful cook she was.
"you'd find even stones are delicious", she said teasing him on his huge appetite.
he smiled as he lifted his shirt to reveal the muscles on his stomach shaped by years of work on the farm.
"I have not had anything to eat in weeks. see how flat my belle is." he said smiling.
"i am not suprised. you should have married another wife when i asked you too" she said
the smile vanished off his face and for a second the wrinkles that were begining to form on his fore head pulled closer. they always pulled closer when he was annoyed. but right now they parted as swiftly and the smile returned as she walked over to the chair on the far side of the kitchen.

She knew he would never accept to take a second wife no matter how much she insisted. Atancho was the only one of his six brothers who had one wife and despite his wife's suplications to take a second wife who will give him more children and above all a male child to carry his name, he chose to ignore her. He remembered how his mother died.

"This compound can hardly contain us two as it is. Where will we keep this new wife eh?" He said jokingly as he leaned over to part her shoulder. "life is good as it is."
"Yes, you always say that. I am not getting any younger. we only have one child. No male child to succeed you. All your brothers have many wives and children"
"Yea! Am I bothered about succession? Who says a girl child can't succeed her father eh?"
"But she's married." she responded. " I get bored and lonely living in the house on my own all the time"
"There are lots of children in the family. your sisters and brothers have children. Go and take one of them to live here with you. I thank God for the one child he gave us. There are lots of people without a child of their own. Be happy and grateful"
"I am" .

She leaned forward and shove a piece of wood into the fire. The flame flickered and little sparks flew out accompanied by a gush of smoke and ash. He raised his hand and in a sweeping motion blew the smoke and ash away from his face. He tilted his head to the side and looked at his wife through the maze of smoke and ash. He could see th pain on her face. It was not her fault what happened to her. He knew she still blames herself for not being able to give him more children even though they have tried so hard.

She should have listened to him, she thought when he told her not to go to the market that day.
She was already in her 7th month of pregnancy and he told her to stay at home and rest as he had always insisted from the day he found out she was pregnant. But she had not listened. She had decided to go to the market that day to sell another bucket of beans. She had promised Nemou Sam, (Sam's mother) from Buchi to supply her with an extra bucket for her children in the coast.
She had woken up that morning and prepared his food. She waited until he had left for the farm. She went into the barn where the crops were stored. She felt the bag that contained the beans which she had measured the night before. The bag seemed heavier than usual but she put it down to the pregnancy. Now that she was pregnant, she thought to herself, her strength is not the same again. But she will be fine with it she said. She stooped, lifted the back onto her left knee, waited a few seconds and will all her strength mustered into her outstretched arms she aimed the bag for her head. but her strength could only take it as far as to her face. She pulled it back gently onto her chest. A light wind escaped her body. She looked left and then right feeling embarrassed. With one last huff she lifted the bag first onto her left shoulder and gradually bounced it onto her head. She smiled to herself once the bag was finally balanced on her head. Gradually she made her way to the market stopping to greet neighbours and fellow villagers as she walked on. The sun was up but the wind stepped in to cool the temperatures. She felt a sharp pain in her lower back. She stopped for a moment, tilted the bag to one side and thought the bag must be exerting uneven weight onto her spine.  Then she walked again a few minutes. The market was not far now...a few hundred more paces and she shouldd start meeting folks from neighbouring villages thronging to sell their wares at the market. If only she could walk to the junction where the road from Nkonkah merges with the main road, she'd probably meet some folk to give her a hand with the bag. After all the people from these parts are kind. Who will refuse helping a pregnant woman to carry a bag of beans? Her husband is well known and respected by many. Just a few more paces and she'd get there.

The sun was hot now. She felt the sweat tickle her nose and she blew air from her mouth to cool her face. She felt the sweat running down her spine. Then down the small of her back. She was getting very hot. She quivered. She felt the sweat running down the inside of her legs. Hot sweat. She felt a sharp pain in her belle. She put her hand over it. It eased a little. A few more steps. One-two one-two one-two she counted in her mind. The pain again. This time stronger than the first. Then the sweat again but this time it did not feel like sweat. It was hotter and came from inside her body-deep down from her inside. She dropped the bag into the new bushes and lifted the loin cloth and peered underneath it. She ran her palm on the inside of her leg and stared at it. It was blood. Red fresh blood coming running down her legs. She was only seven months gone. She still had two months to go. this baby was not ready to come yet. Not now. Not today. Not here on the road to the market with no one to help her. she dropped to her knees and with the last strength in her she screamed for help wishing for someone to hear her. She tried to crawl towards the market but her legs won't move. she doubled over. She closed her eyes and let herself gently to the grown, leaning on her side then rolling over to lie on her back. She was looking directly into the eye of the sun. She couldn't see anything. She clouding feel anything. But she was aware of the glare of the sun piercing through her closed eyes. She felt the pain again. This time it was stronger and lasted longer. Gradually it eased away and she felt her muscles relaxed. It seemed the force pining her down was lifted. But she could not move. Then she heard voices from afar, drifting closer towards her. She heard footsteps. They stopped near her. She heard them murmur something about a baby and she drifted off to sleep.

"I am sorry!" she said breaking the silence that had descended upon the room. "I did not mean to sound that way".

He smiled at her through the smoke screen rising from the fire.
"We are blessed with a daughter who has taken her mother's good looks and brain and her fathers strength of mind. She's worth ten of my brothers and all their children put together", he said, never missing an opportunity to take a jibe at his brothers.

" Mind your tongue. walls have ears. Have you forgotten Ndimah so soon? He doesn't take kindly at you making fun of him" she smiled.

 "You remember when he chased me round the village because I called him Daddy long legs? Flinging his legs like a mosquito who has inhaled pepper" he said recovering from a deep throat laughter.