C3 LONG WAIT

She kept her eyes fixed on the gate, wishing Quande comes home soon. She could hear the wall clock chiming away and the sound it makes burned her eardrums. She flinched as she adjusted her standing position again. This time, she felt her limbs getting weaker and her spine felt terrible.

Minutes later, she shifted her eyes to a seat but instead looked away. Then almost immediately the screaming tiny voice of Denly—her eight-year-old daughter caught her attention. Her heart pounded as she fixed her eyes on the kitchen door, where she knew her voice was coming from. She knew she had stayed away from the kitchen for too long. Panic spread through her nerves as she jerked and walked away from the window side. She was at the top of her voice seconds later. “What is the matter, Denly?”

Denly stood by the kitchen door and gazed at her mother. Gilly could tell she looked disturbed and unhappy. “Mum, the oil is hot and the ingredients for the stew aren’t ready. What’s going on? You left me all alone in the kitchen for the past forty minutes, Mum!”

She knew Denly was right, and she also can’t believe she had been standing by the window side for the past forty minutes. She scratched her hair in confusion and instantly remembered. She had an appointment with Tillas beauty salon. She hissed and looked again at the window. The thought of going to Tillas filled her mind. But instead, she shifted her eyes to Denly again. “Where is Tony?”

Denly gave her a worried stare. Now wondering why she asked. Her lips shut up for seconds to express her annoyance. Mum doesn’t even care if the fumes from the hot oil were snaking over the rooftop, she thought.

What a hell does she care about these days? She shuddered.

She looked away and then answered. “He is in the boy’s bedroom with Minlax. I think they are on their school assignment. But Mum, the oil—”

Gilly placed a finger on her lips. “Hush, please don’t start. Go in there and finish the cooking!”

Denly was shocked. She frowned and looked away angrily.

Seconds later, she fixed her eyes on Gilly, “I don’t know how to go about it Mum?”

Gilly glared at her. “How do you mean? This is your sixth time with me in the kitchen this last two weeks and you still have not learned the recipe, right? Now listen, you better go in there and finish the cooking or you make me mad at you.” She flared.

Denly straightened up placing both hands on her waist and ventured. “Let me have the stew recipe again, Mum?”

Gilly gave her a long ugly stare and then repeated the recipe. “Blend the tomatoes, pepper, onions, crayfish, and shrimp in the blending machine. Slice an onion the way I taught you and then peel the cover out. Put it in the steamed oil. Please don’t forget to lower the cooking fire. Then add the ground paste to the pot of steamed oil. Put the boiled meat and fish a few minutes later and let it fry for a while and then taste if it is ready. And please, don’t you ever forget the spices. I will come to join you soon in the kitchen but just go and do something. Something, that will make me know you are learning fast, okay!”

Something!

Denly knew Gilly want to be left alone.

What is it on her mind this time that made her forget they were both in the kitchen a while ago?

Perhaps Dad or what?

Gilly watched Denly hurry back into the kitchen and then she walked back to the side of the window. This time her heart was racing fast. She lifted her eyes to the wall clock again.

It was almost 10 am. She closed her eyes in agony. She felt cold squeezed through her stomach. She wondered why Quande was this heartless to leave home without even a word or a note on her desk of his possible where about. She opened her eyes again. She pulled the curtain to her right this time and then as if in a dream, she watched Quande drive into the garage.

She closed her eyes once more as she felt tension forcing its way through her frozen feet.

Seconds later, she watched as the door of the sitting room was thrown wide open. And Quande walked in with his usual fast strides. “Hello honey, hope you weren’t troubled. I’m so sorry if you are. I do not want to disturb your sleep that was why I sneaked out. Is my breakfast ready now? My stomach is screaming for food. I can perceive a beautiful aroma from the kitchen.”

He looked not troubled at all Gilly thought.

Now, Gilly was furious. She glared at him and wondered why some men are this crafty. And then she hesitated for a while. She knew two wrongs can’t make a right.

She shuddered and then reacted gently. “That was not fair darling. You should have waked me up for crying out loud. Today is Saturday and there is no way I would have hated it if you had woken me up early.” Gilly shifted from the window side. “You got me so nervous. I have not been myself, and you know what? You didn’t go out with your cell phone. I called your number several times only to discover your phone was ringing on your reading table. And that was frustrating. I felt sick inside of me. Now tell me, what exactly took you out this early that you couldn’t discuss it with me last night?”

Quande felt the weight of her question spreading through his entire nerves. He sat down and looked away. He glanced at his wristwatch and then shifted his eyes to Gilly who was busy waiting to hear him talk.

He knew Gilly love him so much but wondered if she now questions his authority in the house. She has become the breadwinner in the house after he lost his fat paying job and she had preferred to stay humble. Her humility has no shadows of pride underneath. She is such a peaceful woman with an amazing personality, he thought. He could remember how he meant her. In that quiet church down the east circular road, called Conquerors Assembly. She was so beautiful in the choir stand. Her voice was so lovely and piercing. It was as if she was commanding the heavenly angels to join her to worship God.

After the meeting, he walked up to her, and later on, she submitted to his love. Now she is under his roof with two lovely kids.

He looked at her as he withdrew his thoughts from memory lane. Now, as he admired her all over again. He knew she is such a beautiful woman with beautifully curved lips and well-shaped hips. Was he seeing her again for the first time? No, he wasn’t.

They have been married for nine years now. Perhaps her unfading beauty had never ceased to recapture his lustful eyes all over again.

Nine years?

Yes, almost nine, his thought sunk!

Seconds later, he cleared his throat and ventured, “If you must know. I went in search of wealth. Wealth that will change my life—our lives for the better,” he corrected.

Gilly walked close to him and gave him a surprised look. “I can’t understand you, darling. Where exactly did you go in search of this wealth in these early hours of the day? I thought you—”

She stopped as Quande interrupted. “Please don’t think anything. You ask so many boring questions and I don’t like that. Okay, I traveled to the moon to search for wealth. How does that sound, convincing? Women love wealth. I wonder why you are different. You seem to be content with little, while many are living in luxury out there. Can’t you see sweetheart that we need a change—a change of life? I mean the way we live. We need the best cars, a big mansion, everything. Why can’t we have them when the means are never farfetched? We can sweetheart!”

Gilly had not shifted her eyes from him up till the last word he said. She was confused.

What is he talking about?

This is not Quande talking. Was he under alcohol? Or some influences she was yet to discover, she pondered.

Her heart racing fast now, she struggled with how to start a conversation.

Conversations that will make him have a different mindset?

Or where will she begin?

Her heart pounded harder.