by Emma Easter
She took a wrapper from her bed, carried the bundle, and tiptoed out of the tent. Once outside, she ran to the spot where the truck was parked, waiting for Miriam. Leila had timed her departure to the day Miriam usually went to town. She knew Miriam went on a Friday every month. Since this was the last Friday of the month, and Miriam had not yet gone to town, Leila knew today was the day the truck would come to get her. She also knew from having observed it several times that the driver hardly ever stayed near the truck when he arrived. He usually roamed the camp until Miriam was ready to go.
It was just before dawn, light enough for Leila to see the truck, but not enough for her to be spotted by someone who was far away. She climbed into the back of the truck, covered herself with the wrapper, and then with a tarp which was always at the back of the vehicle.
Her heart raced as she listened for the driver and Miriam. If, for whatever reason, either of them checked the truck bed, they would notice a huge bundle covered with a tarp. Hopefully either of them would think the bundle belonged to the other. If both of them checked at the same time, though, she would be discovered. Without a doubt, Miriam would send her back to the camp. She whispered a prayer, asking the Lord not to let that happen. However, she wasn’t sure God would answer her. She hadn’t exactly asked if this quest to find Malik was His will or not. She had a niggling feeling it wasn’t, but she wouldn’t pay attention to that now.
She took deep breaths as she waited. It seemed like she’d waited for an eternity when suddenly she heard voices and felt the door to the truck open and then shut loudly. She held her breath and waited as the truck began to move. As it picked up speed, she became more and more exhilarated. The truck finally settled at an even speed and she breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that she was not going to be found out, at least for now. If they later discovered her here, it would be too late to send her back.
The truck drove for a long time and Leila slept on and off. She made calculations concerning what to do. Once she got into town, she would take another bus to Kazi, a town near Zainah’s small community, and from there, she would get a taxi or bus to take her to Nira.
She kept sleeping while thinking about her plans to find Malik. The truth was that she had made none. Her only plan was to go to Nira to find him and make sure she wasn’t seen or caught.
For a long time, she slept, dreaming about seeing Malik, holding him, kissing him. She dreamt that someone saw them together and reported to his father. They were inevitably separated and she was thrown in that terrible shack where she and Zainah had been held when they’d gone to Nira months ago.
Leila awoke groaning and then she remembered where she was. She pressed her lips together, scared that she would be discovered, and waited. But neither Miriam nor the driver lifted the tarp she was under.
She fell asleep again after some time and it seemed the dream picked up where it had stopped. She found herself in the shack, weeping and wondering what had become of Malik, why he hadn’t come to find her.
Leila awoke sometime later, more exhausted than before she’d slept. Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized she’d slept for a long time and they were still moving. What if the driver had dropped Miriam off and had turned around again? She wouldn’t be able to go to Nira.
She slowly opened the wrapper and tarp and peeped. The truck suddenly came to a stop and her heart jumped. She quickly covered the tarp again.
She heard Miriam’s voice thanking the driver and heard the door open. This was her chance to get out of the car. She threw off the tarp and without looking to see if the driver was watching, she jumped down. The driver drove away almost immediately and Leila sighed with relief.
She looked around her. It was nightfall. Even the usually busy Blima market had mostly emptied of people. There would be no more buses going to Kazi now. She had to find her way to Fatima’s.
She began walking in the direction of Fatima’s home. She felt slightly scared as the road was almost deserted. When she had first come to this town, she’d been in the company of Zainah and it hadn’t been this late at night. Fatima had met them through a divine direction and had taken them to her home. Leila had gone out to this market several times when they were at Fatima’s, but usually with Fatima’s daughter, Safia. She felt a thread of excitement go through her at the prospect of seeing Safia again. She hadn’t told Fatima she was coming, but the woman would be happy to see her.
She came to the road before Fatima’s and her heart began to beat fast as she heard a deep male voice leering from behind her. Without turning, she began to walk fast. She heard footsteps behind her and turned slightly. A tall man wearing a cap was following her. She couldn’t make out his face in the darkness, but his lewd words stunned her. She picked up the pace and he did as well. She began to run, her heart in her mouth. When she heard him running behind her, she ran faster.
When she came to the field of flowers before Fatima’s, she stopped and turned around in fear. The man stopped too and gave a chuckle that made her tremble.
“You have nowhere to run now,” the man said.
Leila turned abruptly and dashed into the field. When Fatima had led her and Zainah here the first time, she had been surprised when Fatima had parted the flowers and a small house had emerged. She raced for the house now, knowing the man was following her.
She got to the front door of Fatima’s small bungalow and pounded on the door. “Lord, please let someone open before this man reaches me.” The last thing she wanted to do was lead the man right into Fatima’s house. The woman had two small children and two teenagers. That would not be good. But she couldn’t afford to have this man catch up…
A huge hand went around her throat and she gagged.
“Shh, don’t scream or I will strangle you,” the man whispered.
She frantically calculated what she could do as the man began to pull her away from the house. She knew what would happen if he succeeded in getting her away. With all her might, she elbowed the man and was gratified when he yelped. He let go of her and she screamed and staggered away. She got to Fatima’s just as the door opened slightly. Pushing it in with her body, she entered quickly and then closed the door. “Lock it!” She yelled and then saw Fatima staring at her with her eyes bulging.
“Someone’s coming, Fatima. Lock it now!”
The door suddenly began to open and Leila and Fatima pushed against it with all their might. But the man was too strong for them. Just as it seemed he was coming in, all Fatima’s children, including Safia, came out and immediately began to push the door. They shut it quickly and then Fatima locked it.
The evil stranger on the other side of the door began to pound on it, causing the two small children to jump.
“We can scare him away somehow,” Samir, Fatima’s thirteen-year-old son, said. “I can find a paddle or something and chase him away.” He began to leave the living room but Fatima ordered him to come back.
“You don’t know if he has a gun,” Fatima said. “What good will your paddle do if he does?” She asked him and Safia to check the back door to make sure it was locked. The rest of them stood staring at the door. Leila felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest as the man kept pounding on the door.
The pounding suddenly stopped and Leila blinked. Samir, who had returned to the living room, went to the window and drew back the curtain.
“Close the curtains!” Fatima immediately ordered.
“I think he has gone,” Samir said, closing the curtains and coming to stand beside his siblings.
A minute later, they all sat on the couch and sofas.
“How did you come across that man?” Fatima asked Leila.
“I was coming to your house. The road was deserted. I heard someone shouting at me from behind and when I turned, I saw him. He started following me here and when I began running, he ran after me. At one time, he caught me, but I managed to escape.” She took a deep breath and, in her heart, thanked God for His deliverance. She told
the others she had come because she was heading somewhere and it was getting late.
Ten minutes later, the kids went to bed except for Safia. Fatima looked at Leila and asked why she had really come.
“I met a guy some months ago,” Leila started. “We fell in love almost immediately… but something happened.” She looked at Safia and then turned back to Fatima. “It’s a long story. He promised to call me and that we would be together, but I haven’t heard from him since. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about him and I just have to find him.”
Safia shook her head. “Leila, you are still like this. But I guess it’s because you stayed out of the real world for so many years. Guys say what they don’t really mean all the time. If he was truly serious about being with you, he would have made the move by now. I don’t think he is really interested.”
Leila sighed wearily. “You sound just like Zainah.”
Fatima narrowed her eyes. “Where is Zainah, anyway? Is she back at the camp?”
“No.” Leila smiled widely in spite of herself. “You know that man, Faizan, that she was searching for when we came here?”
Fatima and Safia nodded eagerly.
“She found him and they are getting married soon.”
Fatima gasped while Safia hollered.
“Oh… thank God! I am so happy for her!” Fatima said. She laughed. “After all that worrying, she found that guy at last and they are getting married.”
“She is in America with him now.”
“Wow!” Safia exclaimed. “That’s so great.” She looked up with a dreamy expression on her face. “I hope I meet someone I love that much someday. Someone I will search for no matter what and not give up until I find him.” She smiled at Leila. “I guess that’s why you are going to look for this guy. I hope you find him, too.”
Leila nodded. “I hope so, too. I need to sleep now so I can leave very early tomorrow.”
Safia pouted and said, “Can’t you stay for one more day, Leila?”
“I wish I could, but I really need to start looking for Malik now.”
Fatima nodded. “Okay. You remember the way to the room you and Zainah stayed in when you were here?”
Leila smiled. “Yes, of course.” She looked at Fatima and then at Safia. “I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality. I’m really sorry I brought that crook to your door.”
“It’s okay,” Fatima said. “And I’m glad you came here. We’ve missed you and Zainah so much.”
Minutes later, Leila lay on the bed she’d slept in when she and Zainah had stayed here. She thanked God again for His protection. After that, she prayed that the Lord would wake her up early tomorrow. Most of all, she asked that she would find Malik once she got to Nira, and that he would still be in love with her. Because she was still madly in love with him.
*****
Malik took his three-year-old daughter, Fanta, from his mother’s arms. He hastily thanked his mother for looking after her while he was at the farm and then left the house. He walked in hurried steps and didn’t stop until he entered his house, a short distance from his father’s.
He sat her down on the sofa and bent down to look her in the eye. “How was your day?” he asked her. He knew she would tell him the same thing as yesterday—that it was fine and that grandma had given her biscuits. And that was what she told him with a huge smile on her face.
He looked her over as he’d started to do since that awful day a few months ago. As usual, he saw no mark on her. Nothing that indicated that she’d been maltreated by his parents. He shook his head. Why should he expect anything different, though? They loved Fanta—his mother and father. They would never hurt her. It was just him they didn’t mind hurting.
He was very thankful they’d never hurt Fanta, but he felt resentful for having to still depend on them to watch her whenever he went to work. His mind traveled to Leila as it had done countless times since he’d first seen her. She would be a great mother, he was sure of that. Unfortunately, she would never be a mother to his daughter.
He’d dreamed about Leila so many times since she’d left Nira that it had become strange for him if he went a night without dreaming about her. The dreams, though, were not just dreams. Many of them were nightmares.
He carried Fanta to her room. She was already nodding off by the time he entered her room. Since his mother had already fed her dinner and bathed her, he put her to bed. His mind still revolved around Leila and the faithful day when his dream of a future happy family with the woman he loved were dashed.
He had hired a driver to take Leila and Zainah out of Nira before they were forced to wed men they hardly knew. Just as he’d left them, some young men had jumped out from behind a tree and grabbed him. He struggled to free himself from their grasps but he couldn’t. They took him to his father who had him locked up in the outskirts of the town for betraying his own family. Before his father left the small building where he was imprisoned, he told him Leila and Zainah had been apprehended by his men and would be married off by the end of the next day.
The pain he felt at his father’s words was indescribable. Even though he’d known Leila for only a short time, he had fallen irrevocably in love with her. They’d planned to get married soon and raise a family together. He could not bear to think that she would be given to another man. He screamed and screamed throughout that night and the next day until he was hoarse. He pounded on the door and tried to find a way to escape, but he couldn’t. By the third day in captivity, after he believed Leila was now married to another person, he sat on the floor, feeling completely hopeless. By the fifth day, when his father still didn’t release him, he began to worry about Fanta.
His father released him two weeks later, after he’d become sick with worry about his daughter.
“Where is Fanta?” he barked at his father when he was led out of the building. He closed his eyes as the sun briefly blinded him. He opened them slowly and, shading his eyes from the sun, asked his father where his daughter was again.
“Where else would Fanta be?” his father sneered at him. “She’s safe with your mother in the house. Do you really think we would hurt her?”
“I have to see her!” Malik yelled. “Right this minute, Father!” He tried to move past his father so he could go get Fanta, but two of his father’s men held him back.
“Listen, Malik,” his father said. “You did a very bad thing trying to sneak your sister and her friend out of Nira. You only complicated their problem. They are both married now and in purdah. That means you will never see them again. You will never get to marry that girl, Leila. She now belongs to another man.”
Malik roared in anger and made to attack his father, but he couldn’t escape the hands of his father’s goons. He settled for sneering at the old man. “I know the man Leila is married to. I’m going to get her out somehow, no matter how long it takes me.”
His father laughed and then stared at him. He said, “First of all, that is impossible. You cannot take another man’s wife or you will be killed. Besides, I’m going to make sure you don’t go anywhere near Dauda or Jibril, Leila and Zainah’s husbands. Fanta is with us now. The only way you will be allowed to see her every day is to behave.”
Malik saw red. He shouted, “If you touch my daughter…”
“As I said before, I would never harm Fanta. But you will not be allowed to take her home or see her again if you don’t cooperate. Your mother will still watch Fanta while you go to work. If you behave and don’t go near Zainah and Leila’s husband’s houses, you will get to see and take Fanta home after work. Before you go to work, someone will come and take her to my house where your mother will watch over her until you are back. If, however, you try to break Zainah and Leila out of their marital homes, you will never be allowed to see your daughter again. Is that understood?”
He had been forced to accept his father’s terms.
“And one more thing. I’m transferring you to my farm in Dogon. You’ll work for two week
s there and then come back here for a few days before going back again. That’s punishment for your treachery.”
He had raged and raged, but his father did not listen to him. He’d had no choice but to agree to everything his father had said.
He stretched out on his couch and took a deep breath. He had just returned from another two weeks of intense work at his father’s farm in Dogon. Every time he came back, he tried to spend as much time as possible with Fanta, knowing he had only a few days with her. His father’s men watched him closely to make sure he didn’t escape out of town with her. Even now, he knew they were watching his house.
He groaned and turned on the couch as Leila’s face appeared in his mind. Since his wife died, he’d been content to just be Fanta’s father, and taking care of his daughter had been his only priority. Until he met Leila. He had tried to forget about her after his father’s threats, but couldn’t. Every day, he was tormented with the knowledge that she was married to another man. She was probably miserable and he couldn’t do anything about it.
He shut his eyes as the memory of their last kiss flooded his mind. Groaning, he tried to shut her out of his mind, but he couldn’t. Knowing she was in this same town but he couldn’t even see her was nothing but pure torture. He sighed, got up, and went into his room to try to sleep. But sleep completely evaded him.
He sat up and tried to pray to Allah, but he changed his mind. He’d been praying for a solution since he’d found out that Leila and Zainah had been forced to wed men they didn’t know, but there was no help. But why was he expecting some divine help? It wasn’t like he would get that when he was asking for another man’s wife to be set free so he could marry her. It didn’t matter under what circumstances they’d been married, or what her present station was now. All that mattered was that she was a married woman. He had to forget about her, before he did something that would cost him his daughter.
But rather than forget about her, he did something that surprised him. He prayed that he would find a way to somehow free Leila and Zainah from their marital imprisonment so he could marry Leila. But he didn’t pray to Allah, the one he’d prayed to all his life. He prayed to the God who was against forced marriages and conversions, and practices like purdah. He prayed to Leila and Zainah’s God.