by Maya Rossi
We filed inside the shop like captives rushing to escape their captors. The stares of the few shop owners followed us.
Benita took a seat and covered her face with her hands. “We’re not going, are we?”
Merrick pushed his hands into his pockets and lowered his head. Madam laughed mirthlessly. Finally she stopped, went to the door and looked through the gap to the outside. She shook her head so vehemently her scarf fell off. She had brought out her best lace and jewellery for the journey. And now she wasn’t going.
I glared at Merrick. How could he do this to his mother?
She paced, muttering and praying. “No weapon fashioned against me or my family, especially my son will prosper. We’ll have a safe journey. Nothing will stop this trip.”
On and on she went. Merrick said nothing, just waited her out. Benita began to cry. The soft cries brought Madam back to reality like nothing else would. She stopped her pacing in the middle of the shop and stared at her son with tears in her eyes.
“Please, no. There must be some mistake.”
“We’re not going!” Benita wailed.
Madam whirled, descending on her youngest daughter. She clamped her hands over Benita’s mouth. The bright purple of her newly painted fingernails catching the light. “Shut up and keep your voice down.” She glared at Merrick. “We’re going, aren’t we?”
He swallowed. “No.”
With a soft cry, Madam dropped to the empty chair beside her daughter. She was in shock. Mouth open, eyes staring unblinking.
“I told you,” Benita cried. “Every time I go to his room, he’s on the phone. And he stops. He stops every time and I know he’s not talking to a girl.”
“We’re not going,” Madam repeated. She took off her new wristwatch and held it out, watching the hand clock face. “We‘re boarding by five o’clock,” she said tonelessly. “To see your school and house in Canada, but we’re not going.”
She grew quiet, barely breathing, just staring off into space. Then she covered her face with her hands, much like her daughter. “Merrick you have killed me. What am I going to tell those vultures outside waiting to see if I really forgot something in the shop? Our neighbors, my friends.” She dropped her hands, features drawn in a horrifying mask as the full ramifications of the lie hit her. “We had a party, Merrick. We cooked and drank and danced because we were going to Canada. What were you thinking?”
Merrick ran a hand over his hair. “If you let me talk mom, I will explain everything.”
“Talk.” Madam laughed.
“Talk.” She looked at me in bewilderment, can you imagine what this fool is talking about?” She vaulted off the chair, walked up to her son and slapped him hard across the face. “There’s nothing to talk about. We’re going to Canada.”
Merrick nodded. He looked around, smiling without humor. The dark shades giving him a sinister look, like a stranger than his mother’s son in that moment. “Sure. Let’s go, I’ll drive.” He raised a hand. “Except, where are you going to stay?”
“We booked a hotel,” Benita said eagerly, looking on board with the idea.
“I will not allow you to put me to shame,” Madam gritted out.
Merrick nodded in agreement. “I will just be your driver then because I don’t have a passport.”
Silence.
Madam blinked and blinked. Then she staggered backward and fell. I rushed to push her seat under her, cushioning her fall. She didn’t even notice. Her eyes was on Merrick.
“You didn’t book your flight?” she asked dazedly.
“Did you book ours?” Benita faced off with the brother she adored. “Dad said he sent you the money for our flight months ago. The boarding pass is with you, are they real?”
Madam covered her mouth with her hands, crying softly. “Merrick has killed me. Your father warned me many times, and I didn’t listen. Oh, God.”
“Mom, what are we going to do?” Benita asked. “Those people are waiting outside.”
“Your brother has killed me, o.” She threw out her hands dramatically. “Everyone thinks I’m going to Canada. I’m here in my shop. Almost three million naira, your brother has killed me.”
And on and on she went. Merrick remained unmoved. At a point, he walked to the door, and leaned against it. I wanted to slap him, but I settled for sitting close to my Madam.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She sniffed. “Did you know?”
I blinked, stunned. “Know what?” I asked carefully.
Merrick turned, he looked amused.
“About this?” Madam took my ear between her thumb and forefinger and twisted savagely. “I knew it, I knew something was going on between you. Why else would he beg me to let you go with him?”
I was so shocked, the pain in my ear didn’t even penetrate. When the ear twisting graduated to slaps and beatings, Merrick caught her hands.
“Enough. She didn’t know. Will you allow me to speak before your neighbors come ask what’s taking long?”
Breathing hard, Madam reached a trembling hand to my cheek in apology. “I’m sorry, oh, God. Oh, God. What explanation could you possibly have?”
Merrick stooped to his haunches before his mother. “I know I hurt you and I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “You’re not sorry. Not really, wait until your father hears this. My friends will shame me, do you understand? They think I’m going to Canada.”
Merrick rolled his eyes. “You’re worried about saving face?”
“My classmates think I’m going to Canada,” Benita added mournfully.
“You will not bring shame to my name,” Madam spat. “They are waiting for pictures and those free chocolate they share at the airport and--”
“Let’s go to the airport we’ll take pictures and you’ll get them chocolates. Is that all?”
For a second, she seemed shocked at his reply. Then she slapped him hard across the face. Merrick stared back, unmoved.
She crumpled. “Merrick why?”
He clenched his fists. “Remember when I was little, the difficulty I had in school?”
“You were a slow learner, we got teachers, you got better.”
He shook his head. “I never did. I endured the beatings from dad. His shame for having a stupid son. I was six, and I went to school with a different injury every day. Most of my mates could already read and write four, and five-letter words. I couldn’t. I tried.”
“I had a timetable, you woke me up to practise my letters. But they swam and flew in front of my eyes. I couldn’t learn it.”
Madam touched his cheek. “And that’s why I sent you to Gladys, my sister. She’s a teacher, she could help you.”
Merrick nodded. “She did. It was before she went to Canada. She really helped me. She took me to a doctor. They said I had a condition, dyslexia--”
“Dys-- what? God forbid.”
“It’s real, mom,” Merrick said bitterly. “At least I knew I wasn’t stupid. I managed. I learned. I finished secondary school. But after the abuse I endured with father, I knew I couldn’t come home--”
“That’s why you stayed with aunty,” Benita said.
“Yes. I also came to hate school because of everything that had happened. So when father came talking about University in Canada. You were there. I begged him. I didn’t want to go.” Merrick pulled back his shirt sleeves to reveal a long, white scar. “I couldn’t walk for two days when he was done with me. That was when I decided. I will take his money and do what I wanted.”
Tears rolled down Madam’s cheeks. “Does Gladys know?”
Merrick nodded. “I don’t want you calling her and shouting, it’s not her fault--”
“She should have warned me my son was scamming his father and lying to his parents!”
Merrick jumped to his feet. He pulled his shoulders back. Someone knocked. He glanced at his watch, a leather complicated looking watch. He cursed under his breath. “We’ve been here too long, let’s go. We’l
l talk in the car.”
Madam shook her head. “We will talk now. All the years was a lie?”
“Yes,” Merrick looked impatient. “Everything was a lie. I have never been outside Nigeria. I saved the money, every single penny. And I don’t regret it.”
“What did you do with the money?” Benita asked in a small voice.
“I bought a land, created my home.” He looked at Madam, vulnerable, pleading. He cleared his throat. “I have a farm.”
Madam grew quiet. She just sat there, a picture of devastation.
Merrick got close, pressed his cheek to hers. “I’m sorry, but we have to go. I really booked your flight. I just… I just wanted to tell you the truth. You can have your holiday. Away from father. Enjoy yourself, spend his money, you’ve earned it.”
Finally, she blinked, focusing on Merrick. “You won’t come with us?” Her voice was small, filled with sorrow. But strong. “You aren’t coming?”
“No.”
She sat up. I handed her a handkerchief, and she dotted it on her face, cleaning her tears but not ruining her makeup. “So, what do we do?”
Benita looked at me in triumph. “We’re going to Canada!”
“We’ll get to the airport. I will drive and you go.”
She nodded, looking irresolute. “Will we have time to see your place? I need to see it.”
For the first time he looked uncomfortable. “See--”
“Yes, see,” Madam chided. “I must see it.”
He gave a grudging nod. “Right but I’m going… with Ada.”
Madam looked puzzled. “Why? You know how much she means to me.”
My heart pounded sickly as I listened. This was my future under discussion.
“Who will do the work at home?” Benita asked.
Merrick’s expression turned pitiful. “You’ll see mom, I need all the help. It’s… a farm. A lot of work and I’m doing it alone.”
“Oh, my son.” Madam nodded. “Ok, OK. Let’s go.”
The door opened and Oga walked in, that small, smug smile that he’d worn all day, playing across his lips. Merrick lost color.
He really was afraid of his father.
I hunched my shoulders, making myself smaller.
“Don’t tell me I missed the family meeting.” He spread his hands. “This is a family meeting, isn’t it?” He turned and stuck his head outside. “Gentlemen, come inside.”
Two soldiers, complete with military gear and intimidating scowls, bust into the shop. They went to Oga. He patted their shoulders, muttered something. They nodded.
Madam stepped forward. “Steve, Papa Merrick--”
“Shut up,” Oga pushed his face into hers, almowt slamming their foreheads, “you did this. You trained them, took their sides, spoiled them. You’re a very useless woman giving me useless children.”
“And you,” he pointed at Merrick, “you were born stupid. Even when Gladys told me you were doing better, I never believed. Not for one second.” He paced the shop, asserting control. “Everything I have, I worked for. I never had the advantage you enjoy. No money, no education. I worked hard. I created my company. Only for God to give me useless children.”
He wagged a finger. “You nearly succeeded. Almost. I was happy thinking I now had a worthy son who I could pass everything to. But no, you had to ask for that big money, that what did you call it? A conference or something in Japan. I became suspicious and asked one of those computer guys to check it out.”
The soldiers stepped forward, big and black and baldheaded. Next to them, Merrick looked like a baby.
“I will not ask for the money back. But let’s get something clear. These guys will help me get my revenge. I never want to see you again. Ever. You’re not my son. No son of mine will be stupid or--”
“Papa Merrick, please.” Madam went to her knees.
“Is Papa Merrick now, abi? Father to an imbecile. Do you want to join him?” Oga asked blandly. “It will pay me. I’ll get a younger, beautiful wife and another son. Easy.”
I flinched.
“Make him bleed,” he ordered.
The soldiers advanced. They descended on Merrick. In a minute, he was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, nose and lip. Systematically, they worked Merrick, beating him up with a skill that showed it was something they had done many times. Blows, slaps, kicks. Merrick didn’t put up a fight. He hunched his back and took it.
It was terrible, brutal. The most fascinating beat down I had ever watched. I couldn’t take my eyes away. The men weren’t even breathing hard; it was scary. The matter-of-fact way they went about it, dedicated and single-minded, a thing of beauty and fear.
By the time Oga called a halt to the torture, I had my eyes closed. Benita and Madam were openly bawling.
Oga spat on Merrick, the spit disappearing into the mess of blood on his chest. “You’re not my son, remember that.”
He walked out, discussing with the soldiers like he hadn’t had his own son beaten to a pulp. I moved, rushing to Merrick’s side. He sat up, back against the wall, breathing heavily. His scent was masked, drowned in the metallic smell of blood. His right eye was badly swollen. His upper lips bulbous, reddish, and split in the corner.
I ran to the shop bucket in the corner where I kept water for our use. I took some with a little bowl. I grabbed a napkin from the hook behind the door.
I soaked the napkin in water and reached forward. Merrick ducked away. His slightly wheezing breath, the only sound in the room. I looked to Madam, but she sat folded on herself in the corner, stunned.
Benita wasn’t much better.
I tried again, reaching toward Merrick. He glared his refusal and winced when the action pulled at the cuts on his face.
Madam touched my shoulder. “Let me.”
I stood aside as she took over. Carefully and tearfully, she wiped his face clean. I changed the water three times. Three times! Every time I went outside, the one neighbor who was yet to lock up smirked.
No doubt about it, the gossip would be rife tomorrow.
When I walked in, Merrick stood with Madam talking. I waited by the door.
“No, no, no.” He held out his arms. “I’m fine. There was just so much blood. You forget I’ve experience with father. Those beating games to make me strong? I’m OK. Let’s go.”
Madam sent me to get some ice. Thankfully, the seller was just two shops down. Merrick pressed it to his side.
“You’ll miss your flight.”
Madam looked horrified. “I can’t leave you like this. I won’t.”
“Your flight is in an hour. If you leave now, you’ll make it. We’ll talk on the phone.”
“Mom,” Benita prodded.
“Go, I will be fine,” Merrick assured. “I’ll take it easy for a few days since Ada will be there.”
That seemed to pacify Madam. “Yes, yes.”
We got into the car. Almost immediately, the last shop owners ran out waving madly. Madam and Benita waved furiously back. The weather was cool, the traffic light as we set out. But we had completely forgotten something else.
“I have nothing, no clothes… my things.”
Benita made a face of disgust. “You should be happy. Those clothes are rubbish, rags.”
“They are my things,” I said.
At my rebuttal, I didn’t know who was more surprised, her or me? She just stared without speaking. I realized then how irreversibly my life would change. I really thought Madam would never let me go. I was to serve her until she or Madam Gold made other arrangements.
I had never thought of an end.
But the end was here. Because of Merrick.
“I don’t have any--”
“I will call Mommy Isaiah to pack up your things,” Madam caught my eye, “or you can wait until I return. Our trip is just for two weeks.”
No way I wanted Mommy Isaiah going through my things. “I will wait.”
Somewhere at Ikeja, Madam packed the car, and it was time for goodby
es. I stood on one side and the family on the other side. Benita cried a little, but with a whine of impatience. Madam held on to her son a little too long. She made her choice in the shop to remain with Oga.
There was no saying when she could sneak out to see Merrick again.
My eyes smarted. I stared hard at Madam. She never looked more beautiful. Her light skin contrasting with Merrick’s dark skin. Add Benita and there formed a circle of fair, fair, and black. Merrick somehow standing out both for his height and his skin.