Desiree (E1 – E5)

E2 - 3 Days to the Wedding

John took out the wedding invitation from his trouser pocket and looked at it for what felt like the hundredth time just that day, staring down at the writing as if the ink would disappear. It didn’t.

 “Daniel weds Dami” it read in bold, gold letters. “Come and join us in joyous celebration as Daniel weds Dami,” He scoffed, it really was the season of love, he thought to himself as he shoved the piece of cardboard back into his pocket. John felt a gentle hand on his back; he knew it was Bamidele before she poked her face into his line of sight. He was familiar with the smell of her fruity perfume.

“John, you still haven’t eaten anything? Honestly, the ewedu is banging, you have to try it,” She said as she lowered herself onto the seat next to him and placed the large, steaming bowl of soup on the table. 

The scent that wafted into his nose was heavenly but he was not in the mood to eat, “Bams don’t worry, I’m fine,” He said, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. It was becoming increasingly harder to put on an act. He wasn’t up for the wedding this weekend at all but if he missed it his family would disown him, for good this time.

 “No no no no… John, you must eat ohh, I have been running around making sure everyone around here is fed, at Tola’s request and I haven’t even seen you pick up some puff puff,” Then she put a hand on his, “Eat, it will make you feel a little better,”

John looked at Bamidele, touched  by her concern. He told her he was having migraines earlier, trying to excuse his occasional sulk and she’d been mothering ever since. He wondered what it would be like to be in love with her. Easy. She was attractive, her chocolate skin was so fresh and smooth, he liked that. She was skinny and tall, her make-up was always on perfectly, her hair always seemed expensive and her clothes stylish. She walked around like a supermodel and it was sexy. But the biggest pro of all was his family, they loved her, probably more than they even loved him. Being with her would be easy; marrying her even easier. She had made it clear since he got back that she was attracted to him so nothing was standing in his way. But the fact she was Tola’s best friend, stopped him. It just didn’t feel like it would be a good idea to hook up with her. At least not again.   

 He gently pulled out his hand from under hers, “I’m a little tired, I think I might just go back to the hotel,”

 Bamidele was quiet for a moment, then she looked up at him, “Fine, but you should still eat something,” then, without waiting for his argument, she beckoned a waiter over with a slight hand signal. A young man was at her side in an instant, “Pack two bowls of small chops and make them full ohh, they are for this uncle here,” she gestured at him. The server nodded his understanding and moved to leave when she stopped him. “Ehen, did Jacob give you my instruction?”

“Yes ma,”

“No one serves that girl, you hear me? I don’t know why she is even here sef,” He nodded again and when he was sure she had nothing else to say he rushed away. 

John looked curiously at Bamidele but he decided not to ask, “Thank you,” he said simply. He made a move to get up but she stopped him with a hand on his knee.

“Maybe I will come and check on you later,” he knew what she was suggesting by ‘checking on him’. That would be a mistake, but then again people always made mistakes at weddings, right? And he did need a distraction.  He nodded his head in reply and got up quickly so the conversation didn’t have to go any further than that. He needed plausible deniability, so he could play dumb if he decided to change his mind later. 

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 John made his way briskly through the crowd, nodding and waving quick greetings at familiar guests and he was close to the exit when he spotted a crowd. It wasn’t unusual for this event, in fact, the whole place was crowded. But this particular tightly gathered group was attracting attention and blocking the cocktail bar where he was going to snag a quick drink on his way out. Curious, he tiptoed a bit to see what was going on. He could hear whispers around, “How could she be so clumsy?”, “Maybe she’s drunk…” “I don’t think she meant too…”

  There she was, right in the middle of the gathering, a young woman, looking so small amid all those people, yet very hard to miss. He moved closer to get a better look at her when he heard the yelling.

“She wanted to kill me,” An elderly woman yelled in Yoruba, “But it is her own mother she will kill, not me. Stupid child! She poured it all over my body and it was alcohol, yes ohh alcohol can you imagine? See how she looks like a prostitute, her breasts want to fall out of her dress,” The woman throwing a tantrum was even smaller than the girl. She scolded the young woman like she was trying to amaze the crowd and her words got louder as she was egged on by a small group of similarly aged friends. The girl did not reply but she looked like she was on the verge of tears. As he got even closer, he felt an odd sense of familiarity but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“She cannot even apologize,” It seemed impossible but the older woman’s voice was getting even louder. No one intervened; everyone around either watched and murmured or assisted the old woman to harass her even more. 

“Mummy it is ok,” He said stepping in, he acted on impulse as he pushed through the crowd to get right in the middle. “I’m sure she did not mean to pour her drink on you,” He put himself right in between them with his back to the girl, as he shielded her from the old woman’s view. 

“No, it is a lie! She did it intentionally, she does not have respect. Leave her, let her tell me who her father is,” The woman yelled in his face. “Look at her, looking like a prostitute,” She continued.

John looked at the girl; in all fairness, the dress wasn’t doing much to help her case. She may have the height of a child but that figure belonged to a full-grown woman and her dress emphasized it.

“Mummy that is enough,” He said, refocusing his attention on the assault rifle masked in the body of a tender old lady. He spoke his Yoruba quietly but more forcefully this time, “Please calm down, you are causing a lot of commotion,”

For a moment she looked like she might begin to yell again but after a brief pause she only hissed and crossed her arms. Seeing her reaction her entourage began to close in on her with murmurs of consolation and one of them led her back to her seat.

He turned around to check on the victimized young woman and to his utter surprise, she had disappeared. He looked around but he couldn’t catch sight of her, she was fast. He was a bit disappointed, she didn’t even feel the need to stay long enough to say “thank you”, so much for being a good Samaritan.  He resumed his journey to the bar feeling more than a little unappreciated. 

“John! John!” 

John managed to stick the small bottle of rum he just bought from the bartender in his pocket before turning around. It cost triple the amount he would get at a supermarket but he didn’t have many options at the hotel.

“John, I have been looking everywhere for you,” It was Aunty Lara, Tola’s mum. “Bam bam told me you haven’t eaten yet,” She crossed her arms and stared him down like he’d committed a crime.

“Aunty, I’m fine…”

“Nonsense, Mfon is bringing your small chops now,” With an eyebrow raised, she narrowed her eyes at him, “Why are you leaving?” 

“I have a bad headache ma,”

She looked at him for a while before saying, “Hmm ok pele… just wait a little and take this, you might get hungry later,”

“Ma, I—”

“See? She’s already here…” she said, cutting him off as Mfon started walking towards them with a bag in hand, “My friend, will you walk fast,” She scolded, making the girl hasten her steps, “It’s just small chops, John, take it. I even made them myself, you’ll love it,” He doubted it, not her cooking skills because from experience that she worked magic with food but his appetite just wasn’t in attendance today. She took the bag from Mfon and gave it to him.

 The bag was heavier than he expected, he opened it and saw she had filled it with at least four bowls. He gave her an eyebrow raise of his own.

“Oya, you can go now,” She said and pushed the bag in his hand to him and walked away. He did need something to use to step down his drink. He opened his bag and sniffed the contents, he felt a slight rumble in his tummy. Maybe Aunty Lara really did have magic hands. 

 He had hitched a ride to the engagement with some of the groomsmen so that meant he had only his legs to take him back. He didn’t mind the walk, it was just a fifteen-minute walk back to the hotel. And he always enjoyed the fresh Ibadan air.

He saw her the moment he entered the reception. She was crouched on the waiting chair, with her head buried in her hands, gele discarded on the seat beside her and a tangled mass of braids trailed down her back. Her face was completely out of view but there was no doubt she was the woman he had just saved from a mini lynching a couple of minutes ago. He wondered if he should give her a piece of his mind about her rude disappearance, then it occurred to him that she might be crying there. She looked even smaller than she had in the tent; small and vulnerable the urge to protect her came over him again. He walked over and settled himself on the couch across her, reached out and gently touched her shoulder. “Are you ok?” he asked softly.

 She bolted upright at his touch and looked at him in surprise, “Yes, yes I’m fine,” She said, quickly moving her hair out her face, slowly sitting up and leaving his hand hanging awkwardly in the air. Her eyes were dry but he did not miss the red colour growing at the corners. Again he felt like he knew this girl from somewhere, but where?

Not knowing what else to do or say he slowly withdrew his hand and stood up. “Well, I’m happy that you are fine,” He said as he started to make his way upstairs. He had a TV date with Captain Jack.

“I apologized to her you know,” she piped up suddenly stopping him, “Before you got there…before you intervened. I didn’t pour the drink on her, well not her body at least… I spilled some of it on her shoes. That’s all! She didn’t even know what I had done until I told her and I apologized,”

He turned around, maybe his drink could wait a moment.

“I shouldn’t have apologized; I should have acted like nothing happened, that would have been the smart thing to do. But no, I had to be respectful,” she looked up at him, “Thank you for helping me in there, with all those people staring at me I thought I would cry so I tried to leave before that happened. It was when I got outside that I realized I hadn’t thanked you… so thank you,” She still looked like she might cry so he went back and took the seat next to her putting her gele on his lap.

“Don’t worry about it, she pulls stunts like that all the time, you are only one of her many victims today. Yesterday she slapped one of the bride’s maids on the back for stepping on her shoes. Everyone’s already used to her drama,” She looked at him with disbelief, “I’m sure people barely noticed this one,”

She gave him a weak chuckle. “I don’t believe you but thanks for trying,” She let out a loud heavy breath, then she said “They can notice all they want because first thing tomorrow I am leaving and they will never see me again,”

“Just like that?” he said incredulously, feeling oddly disappointed.

“Yes, just like that, I think I have embarrassed myself enough. Besides it is not like anyone will miss me, I’m only here for the groom and I don’t think he…” she trailed off.

“Well if he invited you then I think he would miss you,” He leaned closer to her, “You don’t have to leave like that, yes, what happened was embarrassing but there are worse things in the world,” He was curious about her, curious about where he knew her from. He hoped if they kept talking it would come to him.

“Really? There are worse things?”

“Yes, there’s hunger, poverty, natural disasters, NEPA…”

That made her laugh; she turned away from him as if to hide her smile.

 “So are you still going to leave?”

“I don’t see any reason to stay, God knows I have enough on my plate,”

He knew exactly how she felt and envied her freedom, he wished he could just leave too. “Do you want to share?”

“What?”

“What’s on your plate?”

She looked at him, her forehead scrunched up in confusion, “No,” her stomach let out an involuntary rumble.

“I’ve got small chops,” he raised the bag to her eye level so she would see what was in it. “I can’t finish them all by myself,”

“I’m not going to sit in unburden my problems to a stranger in a reception,”

“What about in the lounge?”

She was quiet for a while and John was ready to take his loss. Suddenly she stood, packed her things, and walked to the reception door, “Are you coming?” she asked, looking at him inquisitively.

Without a word, he grabbed the food  bag and followed her.

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 Black agbada led the way to a small, empty lounge a short distance from the reception. Desiree was relieved to find it was not completely deserted, there was a waitress sitting at the bar watching TV. She was taking a chance running off to a strange place with a strange man to eat his strange food so it was comforting to see she wasn’t going to be alone with him. The girl at the bar jumped up from her seat when she saw them walk in but black agbada relieved her with a wave of his hand. He chose the table right in the middle of the room and began to empty the bag in his hand. There were four packs and a couple of canned drinks. She could already smell the juicy small chops that lay within the plastic prison and her stomach grumbled loudly again, “You didn’t by any chance put any love potion in this, did you?” she said to alleviate some of her awkwardness and cover up the sound of the demon in her belly.

“Ohh no, unfortunately, they were out of love spices at my local charm shop,” he said. Desiree smiled at him. She liked the ease at which he retorted. He didn’t even look up from his task.

“My name is Desiree by the way, you didn’t ask but I thought it would be weird to share food with someone when you don’t even know their name,” 

Yeah sure, that’s what’s weird about sharing food with a complete stranger.

“I’m John” he put out a hand to shake hers and she took it. His fingers were long and his palm wide, when she put her hand in his it completely disappeared. He held on long enough for a firm pump and let go. “Desiree… I like your name… it’s interesting… Desire…” he said as he settled down on his chair, she followed suit taking the one across from him.

“Don’t do it,”

He looked up surprised, “Do what?”

She smiled knowingly, “Say the dirty joke about my name that just popped into your head…”

“I…I … wasn’t going to…” he stammered looking guilty. Desire bent her head to the side as her smile got wider. “It wasn’t going to be dirty.” He said suddenly giving in.

“Right,” She said sarcastically.

He chuckled, “So you get that a lot, I assume,”

“More than a lot, just a minute before the debacle, an older gentleman was trying to show me all the things he can rhyme with “desire”, and somehow they were all dirty,”

That made him laugh, “Well what I was going to say definitely can’t top that,”

“I thought so,” she said, joining in on the laughter.

The laughter died slowly and an awkward silence fell between them; Desiree looked away, breaking the weird eye contact, “Uhh the small chops…” 

 He looked confused, then at the table, “Ohh sorry…” he said and started opening the plastic bowls, he placed one in front of her. 

 She reached for a spring roll on top and took a big bite. She let out a satisfied groan, “You are God sent,” 

Closing her eyes as she chewed, her face filled with utter delight, “These are so good,” She said then practically stuffed the rest in her mouth.

 Ohh, very ladylike. 

She caught herself and tried to chew a bit slower. She reached for one of the soft drinks, opened it and took a swig. As the drink went down, she began to feel herself bloat and the dress get a little tighter. She shifted uncomfortably.

“Yeah, I can see that from the look on your face, ” He said, grabbing a pack of his own. 

“See what?”

“That the small chops are nice,”

“Ohh…” She just smiled and looked at him, “Wait, aren’t you going to go back to the party?”

He shrugged, “No, I was turning in for the day when I saw you,” He said, “You were not the only one not having the best time,”

“Really? Did a mean old person harass you too?”

He laughed at that, “I’m sorry I wasn’t so lucky,”

“Not a fan of weddings?”

“Not right now, I guess,” he shrugged, she could tell he was being intentionally vague so she diddn’t push.

She plopped a peice of puff-puff into her mouth then let out another groan, this time in pain.

“What’s wrong?” John asked noticing the tone change in her groan.

“I need to get out of this dress,”

His eyebrows shot up so high it almost got lost in his cap.

“Ohh uhh… I didn’t mean to say it like that. Its my dress… my dress is too tight… it’s hard to eat,” she hoped she didn’t look as embarrassed as she felt.

 “Do you want me to help?”

She looked up, suspicious. 

Raising his hands in defence, he said “I meant I could give my agbada to cover up if you wanted to zip down a bit,”

She looked thoughtful now, she took a sip of her drink then put her hand at her back to try to pull her zip down. After several attempts, she dropped her hands in frustration and stood to face her back at him. “Please help me,”

John stood up to help, when he got close she could smell him, he smelled so nice, like chocolate and cigarettes. “Don’t look…” she said quietly, she knew that couldn’t stop him from doing just that. He slowly dragged her zipper down close to her waist. 

“Stop,” she said “That’s enough,” Any lower and he would have gotten a good view of her not so attractive magic undies.

When she turned around his eyes were closed as he pulled off his agbada and stretched it out to her. 

“Thanks,” she said. He opened them as she was turning to face him; she draped his big sack of material across her shoulders and sat down. She looked up to see the bartender had suddenly lost interest in her show and was now staring at them intently. They looked at each other and laughed loudly.

“Don’t go,” he said suddenly. “Don’t leave tomorrow,”

She looked at him, her brow furrowed in confusion.

 “When did you get here?” he asked.

“Today,”

“So you just arrived. Stay, at least another day, tomorrow might be better,”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, I really want you to stay,”

“Why?”

“Uhh… misery loves company and all that, please

She laughed, she wondered what was making him miserable, “Ugh I don’t know,”

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

She looked up at him. 

Famous last words.