Minutes later, the mother-in-law\u2019s whining started \u2013 the pap was lumpy, the fried bean balls were too hard \u2013 on and on she went.\u00a0 \u201cMama\u201d. Snapped Amina, \u201cyou know the maid left last week \u2013 I don\u2019t have six arms. It wouldn\u2019t hurt if you get up early to prepare the type of breakfast you would have preferred.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman was gubsmacked.\u00a0 \u201cAre you talking to me\u201d, she wanted to know. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing that you could even talk back to anyone after what you did. I mean how many wives would runoff with another man for close to a year and still come back to their matrimonial homes?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cStory, story\u201d, Amina jeered.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not your fault\u201d, her mother-in-law continued.\u00a0 \u201cGod knows the type of potion you\u2019d put in my son\u2019s food. Or was it somewhere else you put it?\u00a0 The shame of it. Always being laughed at by his friends because of his wife\u2019s insatiable appetite for sex!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAh mama, how could you say all that?\u201d, admonished Amina as if that would be the first time her mother-in-law would twist the knife in her wound of shame.\u00a0 \u201cYou, more than anyone else should know how grateful I was to come back.\u00a0 You remember the same ting happened to you all those years back when Papa sent you packing after catching you red-handed in the company of one of his friends. You too were able to come back after months of pleading and with an undertaking that it wouldn\u2019t happen again!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother-in-law reacted more violently than I\u2019d imagined\u201d, Amina went on.\u00a0 \u201cShe leapt up from the dining chair, came to where I was in the kitchen and lashed out at my face. I tasted blood. `How dare you, you trollop!\u2019, she yelled, her face contorted with anger.\u00a0 As she continued to slap me, I started hitting her where it would hurt without the marks she left on me. We were both stark raving mad. All the resentment and anger, the frustration and humiliation of the past months gave me strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cI yelled after accusations at her and she hit me gain.\u00a0 I punched her repeatedly in the stomach. In\u00a0 my blind fury, I didn\u2019t know to what extent I was hitting at her until she was on her knees, sobbing and yelling for the neighbours to come and save her before I killed her!<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was when I left her and ran to the bathroom.\u00a0 My eyes were puffy where she\u2019d slapped me and there was this little cut on my lip. The woman must really hate me to have packed so much power into her blows.\u00a0 It\u2019s true I\u2019d been unfaithful to my husband. After four children, it was flattering to be wined and dined by a prominent director in my office.\u00a0 My marriage wasn\u2019t as exciting as it once was and Femi, my husband, had had his flings too. But things got out of hand. My lover showered me with presents and when my husband eventually found out what was going on, he threw me out.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy lover welcomed me with open arms, gave me one of his flats and bought me a brand new car. I also resigned from paid employment and started my own business.\u00a0 My husband nearly went mad. I guess husbands can\u2019t really hand it when they throw out their wives and such wives flourish. In the end, reconciliatory moves were made and my parents insisted I went back to my husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly my mother-in-law was aghast. She thought I should cover my face with a carrier bag or something and work like a slave as a sort of penance. As luck would have I, I complained to one of her relations. She was the one who told me she was surprised at my mother-in-law\u2019s stance since she too was once guilty of the same offence. She then gave me details of her sordid past. I was so grateful that I plied her with a lot of gifts, I then waited patiently for pay-back time which came that morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stayed in my room most of the day and avoided her.\u00a0 As luck would have it, Femi had never mentioned anything about his mother\u2019s indiscretion. When he came in, I heard a muffled conversation from his mother\u2019s room.\u00a0 He looked really defeated as he came to our bedroom, wanting to hear my own version. I\u2019d already exaggerated the bruises on my face with red and purplish makeup. Femi gasped when he saw my face. By the time I finished giving distorted version of what happened, he didn\u2019t know who to believe. My mother-in-law didn\u2019t even let on what referred to her infidelity. So what would have been my reason for attacking her so violently as she alleged?<\/p>\n
\u201cA sort of truce was called and it was decided that since I was her `wife\u2019, I should beg my mother-in-law. I did, pretending to accept the truce in the name of peace.\u00a0 Since then, my mother-in-law has been on her best behaviour. She\u2019s never once mentioned anything about how grateful I should be and in return, I\u2019ve been very good to her.\u00a0 Once a while, I catch her giving me some funny looks but I smile to myself. She can\u2019t touch me any more because she doesn\u2019t know the type of ammunition I might still have in my arsenal!\u201d<\/p>\n
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