The Bride Price: An African Romance (Chitundu Chronicles) (14 page)

A year later, Daisy arrived.  She was slight in size but had powerful lungs that never stopped crying.  Even the thick walls of the rondavel could not shut out her shrieks.  The other girls would go out by the calves to avoid the sound. Iris, the one year old, who could not avoid the screams, would join in. Festal built a second small rondavel for himself a little distance away so he could escape the cries.  In desperation, Festal visited the healer; he had been patient long enough.

CHAPTER 22
FESTAL VISITS FETISH PRIEST

Emmanuel Kafuma saw Festal approaching and donned his traditional robe. He waited for the man to state his problem.

“Hello. I am coming to you for medicines for my wife. She has been having only girls and she needs something so she can make sons,” Festal blurted.

“How many children do you have?”

“Four girls.”

“And how long have you been married?”

“Five years.”

“And how old is your wife?”

“She is nineteen years.”

“You have many years to make sons. You need to slow down. If you give her some time between children, you are more likely to have sons. I have no medicine for her. Just this advice. Get her some help with the children and wait before trying again. I am not charging you for that advice, but it is not easy medicine to take.”

“I will try. Thank you.”

Festal could not abstain more than he was.  They had not had sex now for three months and the baby screamed on.  Only when he carried Daisy against his chest with his shirt off would she stop her screams. It was a dry season, with not enough grass for the herds.  The calves dropped weight, then died. The duiker that they had loved disappeared from their house.

Then Lily Wonder, the first born child, fell ill.

CHAPTER 23
LILY IS LATE

At first Lily had diarrhea and a fever.  Then she could not eat and everyone advised them to cut back on her water, since it was going right through her. Myrna did not follow this advice, instead giving the child tea made with boiled milk. When Lily did not improve, Festal harnessed the donkeys, put Myrna and the child on the cart and galloped the five miles to the clinic. By the time they arrived, Lily was unconscious.  Myrna was frantic. The doctor tried to give Lily fluids, but it was too late. Lily was gone. He asked Myrna to come into the examining room and be checked. She did not have dysentery, but she was pregnant. Within a few minutes of examining her, he reported to Festal.

“We could not save your daughter. This diarrhea is difficult to treat and you did all the right things. Only an antibiotic might have saved her.  You will need to watch the other children and your wife.  She is distraught with grief, but she is also pregnant with twins. She should stop nursing the baby and save her energy for the next children. We will watch her closely and she must come in for checkups. Even though she has had easy deliveries in the past, this is what we call a high risk pregnancy. Do you understand?”

“Yes. You mean I could lose my unborn children and my wife as well.”

“Yes. Bring her in once a month so we can make sure everything is going well. I am so sorry you have lost your little girl. I know she was a happy and a healthy child until this illness.  I would recommend you get some help for your wife as well, as she should do no heavy lifting and should avoid getting too exhausted.”

“Thank you, Doctor. I will take care.”

Festal suddenly leaned forward and hugged the doctor, then hid his face in his sleeve before going back inside to gather up his daughter and wife. It was a quiet drive back to the ranch.

When Dodge heard of Lily’s death, he sent word that he was coming and offered to pay for the funeral. Festal told him not to come, the child was his, he had brought her into the world, and she would be sent out of it with his labor.

Festal spent the night digging the grave for Lily, and buried her next to the gate, and the wall on which she would sit to welcome him home every night. He regretted every harsh word he had said about having daughters, although he still thought there had been some spell cast on Lily. He hugged each of the girls and tucked them into bed, telling them that Lily would be in heaven and would hear their prayers each night. He then went in and took Myrna in his arms.

“I am sorry that I ever said I was disappointed in our girls. I hope both these babies are girls and I pray for God to forgive me for not being grateful for all my children. I pray that these children will both be girls.”

“Both?”

“The doctor told me we are having twins.  He wants to see you each month, and you need to stop nursing Daisy. You need to be strong for them to make it.”

Festal was sure that his complaints about having girls was a curse coming back on him, and now with twins, he might even lose the mother. He was superstitious about having twins and was sure they would be sterile if they lived. This had been the case with cattle twins, as the government inspector of livestock had informed him when one of the heifers he purchased never produced a calf.  Festal felt guilty that he had not abstained and given the mother more rest. Day and night he hovered around the rondavel. He did not sleep in the small hut he had built for himself.  Instead, he lay outside the doorway, listening for the mother to call for him, hushing the children when they cried, and awaiting his fate.  Life had been too perfect.  All the old shame and guilt returned to him. It was all unraveling. He lost weight and became increasingly nervous and peevish at the slightest provocation.  The children began avoiding him and even his hunting dogs would sleep out by the calves.

He comforted Daisy in the night when she wanted to nurse, and gave her small sips of boiled milk with sugar. She went back to sleep and Myrna was able to sleep through the night. He went to town to the nursery near the market and bought a plumeria seedling. The fragrant blossoms would remind him of his devotion to his family. Together with the girls, he planted it over Lily’s grave and put a circle of stones around it.

That afternoon, he went to the pastor at the Full Gospel Church and took him a bull calf. He asked the pastor if he could baptize the children, and pray for Lily. The pastor assured him the child was in heaven, and that he would be happy to baptize all the children, and pray for the unborn twins. He also suggested that Myrna would need some help once the twins were born.  Festal thanked him.

That night he asked Myrna to read him a verse from the Bible. She was tired and the kerosene lantern gave off a yellow beam that made the words hard to see. But she read him Psalm 16:6 that said,
boundary
lines are laid for you in
pleasant places, and indeed, you have a beautiful inheritance
. He had no idea what this meant, but as he tended his cattle the next day, and fed the calves that evening, he pondered the meaning. He had no fences on the range where he pastured his cattle. The lines must be a spiritual boundary that was laid down for him. A
boma
where he would be safe. The twins and all his children were his inheritance.  If he could understand and believe this, he would have a beautiful inheritance. He let the idea rest in his mind, seeing what other meaning might come to him.

Each day, Festal and Myrna boiled water and milk for the children. They were careful to wash the dishes with the water from the boiling pot. None of the other children came down with the dysentery that was sweeping the village. Five other families that they knew also lost children, including Lottie. Death from diarrhea was an everyday occurrence and Festal was paralyzed with the fear that he would lose Myrna and all would be lost. Myrna was numbed by the loss of her daughter, and only the determination to have the other children survive, and to successfully deliver her twins kept her sane. She made herself follow a routine with her housework and childcare, so as to allow time to visit the women in her village and comfort them, as they had been so kind during her loss. It was difficult not to console herself by nursing Daisy, but she followed the doctor’s instructions and in the heat of this dry season, her milk stopped flowing. When Myrna switched the baby to more solid foods and boiled milk, Daisy’s screaming also ceased.

CHAPTER 24
TWINS

Six months later, Myrna began having contractions and Festal rushed her to the clinic, after taking their three daughters to Lottie’s house for safekeeping. Festal was afraid to say anything to the nurses and paced the floor of the waiting room, only to hear the strong cries of one child, then the next. The doctor called him to come and hold his sons.  Festal was faint at the sight of the blood and the cords, which the doctor had him cut. He could hardly glance down to see their maleness. When he did, they were huge. No one else remarked on this, so he was silent and let up a fervent prayer of thanksgiving. They were healthy. Maybe they would not be sterile as he had feared.  The two boys were soon washed and placed on his chest for warming, while the doctor stitched Myrna’s tears. Myrna asked him what he wanted to name them, and without hesitation, he called out, “Samuel and Reuben.”  Myrna gave them their character names, Self Control and Kindness, after the fruits of the spirit.

Within a week they headed home with the twins strapped to Myrna, and Festal walking beside the donkeys to keep them from bouncing the cart and its cargo around. Festal was very relieved to have Myrna safe after the delivery of the twins, and most grateful that both were healthy. He did not boast of having sons, but went immediately to the church and made the donation of a bull. The pastor welcomed him and said when he was ready, they could baptize the boys, and the other children as well.  He asked if Festal had located someone to help his wife, as she would be exhausted continually nursing two babies and caring for the young girls. Festal told the pastor he had notified Uncle Dodge to find him a helper.

CHAPTER 25
DODGE PRICES GIFT

Dodge stopped in at The Big Banana Bar.  The counter was covered with small bubbles of Omo where the barmaid scrubbed at the surface with her cloth—cleaning up the spills and food from the night before.  Her hair was pulled back in a black knit bandana that framed her small, heart-shaped face. An indigo cross was tattooed between her eyes. She had a hesitant smile which she infrequently flashed, and when she did, it showed a gap between her front teeth. Her gums were also tattooed indigo. Between her full lips was a chewing stick, which she removed when she saw Dodge watching her.

“Do you want a beer?” she asked.

“What is your name?” he countered. “Do you have anything else to offer?”

“I am Gift.  We have barbecue eggs and fried yam, but the chicken is finished.”

“Give me a cold Mosi and a plate of yam.  How much do I owe you?”

Gift wrote down a number on a slip of paper, put it on a saucer, and slid it across the wet counter.

She counted out the change from the bills he handed her and placed it on a plate, then reached to open the beer for him and pushed a plate of yam slices across to him, along with a small napkin. Her full breasts hardly cleared the counter.  She was less than five feet in size.

Dodge watched her movements, noticing that she was not as slim in the midsection as her thin arms and long legs would indicate.  It looked as though someone had already gotten to this one, was his ungarnished thought on the subject as he chewed on his makeshift lunch.  Still, she was young and she might be a good second wife for someone. She might be a good worker. He would talk to her employers when they came back.  She was not his type as she didn’t seem to be one for conversation.  He disliked a girl who didn’t put herself out to please a man.  He glanced at her again, and asked, “Do you have a husband?”

The girl jumped at the question. “No.” she said.  Full stop.  No information offered.  Well, he would get a better idea about her when he saw her with people she knew.  Dodge knew how to bide his time.  This might be the proper servant to help out his niece.  Festal had been asking about getting a girl to help her.  If this girl was pregnant, that might settle her down to spend time caring for the children.  Who else was going to care for her or the child?  Dodge took his time sipping his beer.  He was in no hurry.  He noted how the girl methodically counted the money in the till, made her note of the amount, closed the drawer, and then continued her cleaning tasks.  She went over the counter with a dry towel, then buffed the hardwood with it and placed the napkins in their holder.  The salt was low.  She filled the small pedestal with more salt, placing a cracker inside to keep the moisture away.  When she had gone over each of the items in the tiny bar, she pushed her hands in her apron pockets, then asked if he was finished with his glass. 

He handed her the empty glass and watched her wash it, dry it, and return it to the row of six glasses on the shelf behind her. It didn’t occur to her to encourage him to drink more, or spend more at the bar.  He kept watching her, seeing the effect it had on her.  She turned her back on him and stepped behind the curtain.  No, she wasn’t flirtatious and she wasn’t shy in the least. Dodge prided himself on his ability to understand women.  This one was clearly a methodical, conscientious girl from the country. She was here because she served a function, like the lantern on the hook at the entrance to the bar, or the kerosene refrigerator below the counter. She could be replaced by the owner of the bar by any of a hundred more personable young women.  She was not an asset to what should be a pleasure setting. Dodge satisfied himself that his plans for her would benefit all of them.