Senami
by
Adebukola Bassey
Prologue
"He is going to bring it up;
I just know it," Pastor Joshua thought as he looked the church accountant
over. "Well, rules are rules, and that is that," he tried to bolster
his mood, looking at the Secretary to force his attention back to the
proceedings.
"The Head of the Ushering
unit has accepted to meet and create a subunit within it so that we will have
people patrolling the planned car park during service. We look forward to
getting your report in a week, sir," the Church Secretary paused, and when
the Head Usher merely nodded, he continued, "And that brings us to the
next matter on the agenda —AOB. Is there any
unlisted issue that anyone wishes to bring before the house? Please indicate
via a show of hands if there is any other business you…"
"I have one," the calm,
deep voice of the Finance unit head started, but the choir head was already on
his feet.
Pastor Joshua watched them both
without moving, thinking of his planned responses to the issue the head of
Finance was surely about to report to the church's management. I can't stop him. It's his duty to report
any untoward activity in the church accounts." His chest heaved up and
down within a second, but he stifled the sound of his exhale and shifted his
consciousness back to his surroundings.
"…also to remind the
executive committee of the planned Holy
Majesty Worship Service and submit our budget," the choir head
concluded and started to slide a slim document towards the Secretary, who
pointed to the head of Finance opposite her. She smiled at the taciturn man and
slid the document to him before taking her seat.
He muttered "thank you"
and moved the paper the rest of the way towards himself as he stood up to
speak.
"I brought an issue to the
Pastor's notice five days ago, as required by the church's constitution, and I
think we should discuss it here. I believe he has more information on the issue
by now, so I will leave the details to him to present before this honourable
gathering," the soft speech from the church's head accountant got
everyone's attention as they looked from him to their Pastor, who stood up with
a sigh.
"Thank you, Brother Segun.
Brethren, if we are not prayerful, we may witness a family breakup this
year," the Reverend John Oluseyitan Obiekwe, General Overseer of Christ My
Strength Revival Ministries, paused for effect.
"Jesus!"
"God forbid."
"The Lord will cancel the
devil's plans."
"Our homes are secured in Jesus'
name."
He waited for more responses,
struggling for the right words, but all his nine executives looked to him to
continue with the bad news that seemed to have affected their finances and may
break a family in a church with zero divorce rates in the last twenty years.
"It is even more painful
that this is a home that was established in this church by a couple we nurtured
from a young age and who have also been seen as a model couple and parents. If
I remember correctly, their names are among those being considered to
understudy Daddy and Mummy Ilufemi, our couples' coordinators. My people, we
need to raise the Williams family up in prayers even as they consider divorce
this year."
This time, the exco exclaimed,
"Ha!" and the weary Pastor repressed the urge to spill all he knew.
"The devil's efforts will be
frustrated in Jesus' name!" The children's coordinator seemed to have
gotten a grip.
"Amen!" came the
emotional responses.
"Sir, why is this being
discussed here? I understand that this is a weighty matter, but it does not
fall to the Executive to discuss or resolve. It should have been referred to
the Couples' coordinators, and how come you knew something was wrong with a
family through the church's bank account? I'm a bit confused here," the
church Secretary objected.
I understand you, Brother
Roberts," the Pastor started as he took his seat," ordinarily, this
information does not belong here, but we have to bring it up because of the
constitutional provision that stipulates that the sources of all unusually
large donations be investigated and documented, all also, that all such monies
be held in escrow for a year before it can be classified as a normal
donation."
"Yes, that's what it
says," Brother Roberts confirmed as his memory unveiled the intense months
of redrafting the constitution drafting committee went through under the eagle
eyes of the officers the government assigned to them as pre-condition for
church registration. "But…"
The Pastor held up his hand to
cut off his right-hand man, "When Brother Segun received a particular
credit alert in the church's account two weeks ago, he contacted his deputy,
Brother Augustine, and they both visited me the following day, as required by
the constitution. They informed me that Sister Senami Williams paid 500 hundred
thousand naira into our account and labelled it "war vow."
He waited for the various
exclamations to die down before continuing. "One, sister Senami may have
that amount of money, but it would form such a big part of her business capital
that it would be unreasonable for her to give it away under normal
circumstances. Second, what did she mean by "war vow?" Third, the
constitution mandates the church's executive committee to be informed as part
of the process of inquiry, so, here we are, brothers and sisters in the
Lord." The Reverend sat back with his head resting in the plush leather
headrest and watched his excos struggle to compute the information.
1
Cindy got up to open the Plexiglas door as she saw a
long shadow moving towards the landing on the first-storey shop.
"Good morning ma," she smiled wide when she
saw the shadow that had by then moved beyond them belonged to her boss. She was
big on customer service and liked the sales attendants extra attentive.
"How are you, Cindy? It's afternoon already, any
better?" The dark-skinned woman replied as she gladly released the four
packages she had lugged up the stairs into Cindy's eager arms.
"We thank God, ma. We sold a few things,"
Cindy replied as Dayo, the other sales staff rushed towards Cindy to share the
bags.
"Are these for the shops, ma? Should we—"
"No, not yet, Dayo. Leave those for Cindy and get
the rest from the car. I left the boot open. Cindy, place those beside my table
and show me what you have sold today," she replied as she moved toward her
table, midway into the extra-large store.
"Yes ma," Cindy replied and hastened to do
so. She picked up a thick ledger from the table and flipped its thick, shiny
pink cover slowly, praying that Dayo had indeed written down the day's sales.
Nsogbu. Cindy had written the invoice but did not pass the
goods to Dayo to verify and note down. He watched the whole sales process and
even convinced the customer that five-year-old boys love Rakuten merchandise and the bag was a perfect fit. It may have been
the perfect school bag size for a five-year-old, but if the father did not know
his favourite cartoon, is it Dayo that will know? As far as the guy was
concerned, Sena Baby Stores had only one school bag in that size and the image
on it should not stop them from selling it. At least the boy was not there to
protest. It worked and the man was gone but did Dayo write the sales down?
Cindy sighed.
"Ma, only one person has come today and he bought
three school bags, so we don't have bags for toddler boys anymore. Even the
girls, it is only about four pieces left, ma."
"What do you mean by 'about'?" Senami
dropped her phone and tried not to let irritation show in her voice. "My
friend, go and count what we have on the shelves and in the store right now."
As Cindy turned away, Senami stretched and dragged up
her handbag among the bags Cindy dropped earlier and brought out her notebook
to write items she needed to restock. Mid-act, she smiled to herself and
exclaimed, "Habits!"
Cindy walked back slowly and called out, "We have
three toddler girls' bags left, ma."
"But you said four earlier?"
"Ehn, I was not sure. That's why I said about
four. It was when the man was looking through this morning that I told myself
that I must remember to tell madam to buy more bags."
"You know what? Don't worry about it. Very soon,
you won't be my headache again." Senami sat staring at Cindy, wondering if
it was truly inaccurate memory or her money had gone down Cindy's throat.
Dayo's entry ended the silent drama as he struggled to
open the door wide enough for him and the bin liner bag filled with clothes.
"Ma, there are three more bags. Maybe Cindy should come with me so we can
bring them up faster," he said as he turned to the door.
"And when you have brought them up faster, what
will happen? Are you travelling or do you have a wedding to attend?"
Dayo turned to face his boss, "No, ma. I just
thought—"
"Thought noni. You are fond of sharing chores,
trying to make sure you don't do more than Cindy does. I don't have time for your
nonsense today, and if—"
"No ma. It's just that—"
"Enough! How many school bags for toddler girls
do we have left?"
"Three," Dayo grumbled, "But we don't
have for boys at all."
"You see your life, Cindy? And Dayo met you here?
You had better learn to pay attention to your job, so you don't pay for what
you did not buy!"
"Yes ma," Cindy mumbled, looking nowhere and
everywhere.
"Dayo, continue your work. Cindy, bring the sales
record book," Senami instructed.
"Yes ma," they chorused.
Cindy raised her eyebrows at Dayo, who gave a quick
nod in return. She sighed in relief and picked the shiny book with more
confidence.
"Cindy, open the book to the middle and list out
all the items we have in the shop, the price and the quantity. Leave an extra
column for calculating the total. Then when you are done…" Senami brought
out sheaves of A4 paper from her bag and gave Cindy, "…copy them out here.
Don't make any mistakes, okay?"
"Please
ma, my hand is not straight for this kind of paper," Cindy's quick curtsy
moved the paper right back into her boss's hand.
"Put each one you need on top of the notebooks.
The lines will show through and guide you." Senami, who had already
started riffling through her drawer, moved her hand away and missed the frown
on Cindy's face. She still managed to scare the young woman when she said after
a pause, "When you finish, remind me to speak with your mum and Dayo's
aunt. It's important."
"Oh?"
"Why are you standing there? Get to work,"
the distracted boss snapped.
"Yes ma," Cindy curtsied even lower than
before. It is time to be extra careful
around this woman.
A phone rang and Cindy turned back, bent towards the
bags on the floor and identified a cool red leather bag as the source of the
noise. It was vibrating as she handed it over to her boss but the ringing soon
ceased.
"Thanks," Senami replied as she opened it
and brought out her second phone. She checked the caller ID and put the phone
on the table to go back to fiddling through her drawers, but the phone started
to ring almost immediately.
"Hello?" Senami asked as the shin of her
forehead folded in on itself. She stretched out her legs and laid her head on
the backrest of her chair, but her face was far from relaxed.
"I'm at the shop already," she finally
replied, "we will talk when we get home," she said into the phone,
then listened some more. After a while, her nostril moved up and down in
disregard before she spoke, "I've been busy all morning. I had to pack all
the goods we stored at home to the store because we need to reconcile accounts
and know exactly what we need to order next month. I already told you I am
planning a new direction, so I am quite preoccupied these days."
She yawned and stretched as she listened to the other
end, saying, "sure, later," as soon as she could and placed the phone
on the table.
zzzzzzzzzz
Dayo entered and a lady followed him in. She walked
straight to Senami's table with a grin that reduced as she sized up her
friend's slouch and demeanour.
"Glory mama! Iya to Gloria!" Senami brightened
up and hailed her friend. She sat up and reached out for a high-five.
Lola sat opposite her, continuing to look her over,
"Sena the Sena!" They high-fived again and Lola deposited her tote
bag on the floor beside her. "How are the children, Ore?"
"They are fine. Yours?"
"Fine. Glory finally agreed to resume her violin
lessons," Lola replied.
"That’s good news. Did you have to bribe her?”
“Yes, of course. Is it that girl? I’m just happy that
her needs are simple. She wants a cinema visit every weekend this month.”
Senami burst into laughter. “So you will be watching
animations for a whole month,” She teased.
“See me o. Yet it is much better than the summer trip
to France that her brother told her to ask for.”
Senami’s laughter rose another octave as she threw her
head back. “Lola, that boy will show you shege!”
“I know, right. He is so… so aware,” Lola beamed
happily.
“You mean he’s so like you.”
“What will I do now? Senami, I am hungry but before
that, how far with that issue? Today is Tuesday.”
“Yes, I have everything here,” Senami lunged for the
smallest of the bags she brought to the shop and gave her friend a brown
envelope, the size of an A4 paper.
“Lola, things are taking shape fast now and we will
conclude soon. Please don’t get tired now. I need you to be patient with me,
ore mi. Please ehn,” Senami’s face pleaded even more than her voice and
soothing words.
Lola’s motions slowed in response as she took in the
words, the envelope she finally held after eight months of planning, and she
smiled. “Senami… It is the vulture that is called a patient bird, not me. I
have tried; I will praise myself if no one else does. Give me food while I am
still hungry, ore mi. Let’s conclude fast as you said.”
“Thank you so much for all these years, and especially
the last eight months, Lola. I am doing my very best and will continue to do
so. And, guess what? I have found a way to make up for the crazy difference in
forex since January and, of course, to let you know that I am not taking
advantage of your patience,” Senami perked up.
“Really? What way?”
“Well, you see those bags of goods that Dayo has been
bringing upstairs?”
“Yeah?”
“They are from the last orders I placed a month after
we did the valuation for this shop. My neighbour here, Alhaja, had forex to
sell and I bought it before I remembered I was not supposed to be buying goods
anymore. I had so many things on my list with my supplier that I told my
neighbour to transfer directly and within two hours, everything was set to be
shipped. It took me a week to remember that I had sold off the shop. Can you
imagine?” Senami laughed.
“I can see how that happened. But how is that a gift,
babe? You paid from the shop’s money, right?”
“No, I didn’t. That’s why it is a gift. I called my
husband to pay naira into Alhaja’s account, which he did but told me not to
worry about paying back. It was his gift to me,” Senami explained.
“Awwwn, come on, babe! How will you give me such a
gift? It’s unfair to you. Let’s calculate the total and remove it. I can’t bear
the thought,” Lola protested.
She made to stand up but Senami held her hand. “Lola,
let it be. Already, you bought this place at the exact amount it was worth,
agreed to keep the sales attendants, agreed to wait until my travel papers were
complete; you paid me in full and still waited for eight months. Come on! Where
is that done? Which businesswoman does that in this climate? This is beyond
friendship, Lola. I don’t know how I came to deserve you as a friend…” Senami’s
voice broke.
“Haba! What happened? Abeg o. You know your staffs are
with us? Calm down, please. If I am not all that with you, who else would I do
that for?” Lola held on to Senami’s hand but made no other move, unwilling to
attract attention.
“Senami, I can do even more for you and that is a
fact. I understand your need to get better care for Folu overseas and would not
even think twice before doing it all over again. You are worth more than that.
You have proven yourself over and over again to be a great friend. Remember
when we had or children at the same time, but I had that HIV scare? A lesser
person would have shrank away from my family and me but you offered to
breastfeed my baby instead! You housed us for months until we weaned both of
them, Senami.”
“That’s only because I knew you could not afford baby
food now. I thought you would have to use house rent and become homeless and
you and your husband will shrink in size. I can't let that happen,” they both
giggled.
“But your imagination is crazy sha. Shrink in size. I am just glad I didn’t
have anything o. I only missed the experience of breastfeeding that loud-mouthed
boy,” Lola’s eyes misted.
Senami watched idly as images of tough decisions ran
through her mental plate. Nights that they stayed late talking while she pumped
breasts dry, restive babies joining the party, and Lola’s husband shuffling
between two houses until repeated testing showed Lola was not HIV positive. She
never once doubted her need to help out but also felt the need to keep her own
baby out of any possible infection. It was the only assurance her husband,
Fred, had requested. No latching.
“We have been through hell together sha. Why do we
have to part, Lola? Loneliness will finish me in that Canada!”
“Don’t worry, dear. We will video chat every day. And,
of course, we now have a new favourite holiday destination,” Lola assured her
friend as she placed the envelope containing the shop’s papers in her bag. She
sighed inwardly in relief that she had not made a bad bargain. At some point,
she had started to think that Senami would make things tough, and she had no
friendly way to handle it. Now, it is all going to end well.
She turned back to her friend, “Sena, I told you I am
hungry. I need that your neighbour’s amala in my life right now.”
“Ahn ahn! You and this amala. I can’t wait for you to
resume here so that you can get tired of it fast.”
“That will never happen. I can’t afford to get tired
of it because that means I will be left with only my own amala, and that is
dangerous, dear,” they both laughed out so loud that Cindy hazarded a peek from
the other end where she sat writing.
I
like when this woman is around. Madam is always relaxed.
2
“So you are
really going through with it, Sena?”
“What do you think is the better decision?”
“I prefer you to stay.”
“What you prefer for us and what is good for your
child seem to be on opposing sides. Why is that, Fred? When you made that
preference, were you thinking of Folu or yourself?”
“I don’t understand you.”
Don’t
fall for that! Senami slumped
on a sofa opposite her husband, who was cradling a soda bottle after his
dinner, looked around the spacious sitting room filled with furniture in
different tones of blue and gold, their wedding colours, and her eyes rested on
the biggest picture hung on the wall just beside the TV. Husband, wife, baby. Happy family. She looked away as bile started
to rise in her throat.
“Let me be sure Folu is asleep,” she said curtly and
made for the inner part of the house.
“Wait, Sena. Let’s conclude on this matter tonight. I
don’t want you to go to bed in this mood,” Fred reached out as his wife passed
by him.
She stopped and looked in his face, trying to force
back the emotions lunging upwards from depths that surprised her. After a few
seconds, she found her calm and replied, “I don’t understand.”
“Ahn ahn… babe… why would you say that? I know you are
upset and angry about this relocation matter. Don’t say you don’t understand,”
Fred persuaded.
“I truly don’t, Fred.”
“Okay, tell me the reason you really want to go and
live in a cold country apart from Folu.”
“Folu is enough reason, Baba Folu. If she is not
reason enough for you, then I am sorry, I don’t understand you,” Senami started
to pull out her hand from her husband’s grip, but he would not let her.
Instead, he put the bottle down and pulled her towards him, shifting on the
sofa at the same time.
Trying not to let her reluctance show, Senami sat down
and affected a fake calm; placing her elbow in the armrest and her face in her
palm, she looked in his face, taking in his features. They were less angular
now after ten years of marriage. It helped that they had more money now, and he
has all he needs from life. Now I have to
go after my own needs.
“Senami, first, let us look at the economic side. I
earn in naira, and your relocation means I will have to convert that to dollars
to send to you, which will reduce the value of whatever I am sending across to
you. How will you survive on such small amounts?”
“Is that all?”
“Is it not enough reason?” Do you want people to say I
sent you overseas when I knew I can’t afford it?”
“Now you care about what people will say?”
“Well, not so much, but how can I bear thoughts of you
being in lack?” he blustered.
“Is that all, Fred?”
“Senami, let’s look well into the tomorrow we want so
that we can make the right decision today. We can’t afford this move. It is
cheaper for us to put Folu in another school than to leave Nigeria altogether.
Please, let’s explore this opportunity,” Fred’s eyes had become soft as he
rubbed Senami’s cradled hand slowly. He made to pull her shoulder closer to his
but Senami held her hand up.
“Let’s look into the future together once more,
Adedolapo Frederick Ademiju. In the future, I see Mofoluke Christiana Ademiju
living independently with increased intelligence, a good knowledge of her
environment and the world she lives in, and an ability to earn some sort of
income and dispose of it responsibly. In this future, in a land where sincere
effort is made to leave no child behind, I see this same child using her gifts
and talents even within the incapacity she has to live with. In this future
that I see, when we are old and gone, her country's government will take over
her care and ensure she doesn’t become destitute just because of her situation.
In fact, in this future, we have access to more infertility solutions, so Folu
actually has loving siblings around her to enrich her world and be a source of
comfort when we are no more!”
Wura, their house help, rushed out with a face so
scared, it told Senami that she had been shouting. I had better not wake Folu with my noise.
“Aunty, what happ—“
“Get inside!” Fred snapped.
“Sorry sir,” the young woman said and turned back
inside.
Senami got up and followed but did not check Folu as
she had meant to. Wura was still awake anyway. She made for the room she shared
with her husband at the end of the short passageway and threw herself in the
bed.
You
should not have lost your temper. You have to calm down, Senami. Don’t lose
this battle now… you are almost winning….
Her phone rang but she ignored it. Whoever it was
tried once more, but Senami could not be bothered as she lay on the bed shaking,
hoping her husband will take his time before entering.
3
“Brother Fred, good evening. I hope your day went on fine?” Daddy
Ilufemi asked cautiously.
“Oh yes, it did sir. Thank you. How’s the family sir?” replied Fred,
glad for the distraction from his environment.
“We are all fine. We bless God. I am calling to fix an appointment to
visit with you and your wife this weekend. Is that fine by you?”
“It would be lovely to have you sir, but I won’t be in town. Work. I
hope all is well?”
“Uhm, it is well, Brother Fred. This is a social visit but of course, we
also, as per our ministry, will love to have tete a tete concerning your
marital life. You know, pray with you and share stories and generally enjoy one
another’s company.”
“That sounds like a great time, sir. I’m sorry it can’t hold this
weekend. What about the Saturday following that, sir? Fred enquired. These people might convince Senami to dump
this plan of hers.
“Unfortunately, we won’t be in town by then. Our daughter, Pauline, I
graduating from her Master’s programme and we already planned to be there and
also use that opportunity to holiday for a while.”
“Congratulations sir! That’s great news,” Fred adjusted in his seat and
adjusted hi mind to dealing with Senami all alone. “Please convey my hearty
congrats to Pauline and mummy too,” he enthused.
“thank you so much, my brother. I will surely pass it along. Is your
wife awake, can I say a good evening to her?”
“She is asleep already sir. Left for bed an hour ago,” Fred lied.
“Okay then. Do tell her I asked of her and wish to book a session to eat
that pepper soup again,” Daddy Ilufemi laughed and Fred took it up too.
“No problem sir. We look forward to having you here sir.”
To Be Continued
