He knew she was lying. ‘You will finish your lies when I come back.’ He saw the spark of fear in her eye and knew he was master of the situation.
The conversation of the men in the other room came faintly to them. Freddie heard the phrase ‘When I was in England’ leap suddenly out of the general chatter. He knew then that he had assessed them right. They were trumpet-blowers out to impress Jagua. ‘Been-tos’ who had been in England and acquired professional skills were regarded with great favour by the women. And since Jagua did not have a man of her own, why wouldn’t they show her how superior they were to other men in Lagos. That phrase awakened nothing but anger in him. He was angry because – rightly or wrongly – women like Jagua automatically became the property of men like the three in the room. He was angry because he had already known his true position with Jagua. But now these men focused it for him.
He was the glamorous young man in Jagua’s life, the lover of the elderly beauty who must not press forward when those who paid for her luxuries were around. There was nothing he wanted more now than to take his proper place. To remain in the background till they were gone; and then – for his sporting spirit – he would be allowed to play as much the lover as he chose.
He made abruptly for the door. Jagua held his sleeve. ‘Freddie, you goin’? Listen, when de strangers leave, I will come an’ explain.’
He did not answer. He did not want her explanation. She was still talking when he strode across the sitting room, holding his breath against the pungent fumes of smoke.
His room was at the back, on the ground floor: one of ten rooms which bounded a narrow corridor. Each floor had a communal cooking place, a bathroom and a lavatory pail. There was a small yard at the back where the children played and hawkers came in with their wares and wood was split and gossip exchanged. The owner of the building was a retired Civil Servant who erected it out of his accumulated savings over a thirty-year period of service. Freddie was tired of taking complaints to him, because he did not believe in spending any more money to maintain the house. He simply sat there in his own room and parlour, gazing out of the window and into the street, waiting for the end of the month when about one hundred and twenty pounds would be paid to him.
Freddie returned to the comfort of his own room and tried to compose his thoughts in the stifling air that exuded from the hot cement walls. He put aside his shopping and took a book from the shelves. He sat down in a low chair, turning the pages casually and thinking of Jagua. The noisy rhythm of children drumming and singing in the street, the chugging of a railway engine, the harsh triumphant laughter of a man winning his game of draughts under the mango tree outside … he felt them all and hated them because he felt powerless to control them now that he wanted some peace. Above them all the mocking voice of Jagua kept imposing itself on these noises, and suddenly he felt the sharp pain of degradation by the Syrian from the Tropicana who knew he could ‘get’ Jagua because he had the money and therefore insulted him; the false superiority of the three men now in her room; the torture of being held in sexual bondage by a woman very much older than he was, more cunning and more ambitious and infinitely more possessive. But if he decided to break away from her, he would be losing his chance to go abroad and study. Such a time did not come twice in a lifetime to a Nigerian.
He heard a knock at his door and Jagua came in. She put a hand on his head and he quickly shook it off. ‘Freddie, you vex, not so. I sure you misunderstan’ de whole ting. I goin’ to show dose people some place.’
He did not say a word. She went to the door, and from there said: ‘I goin’ to show dem some place in Lagos an’ I soon come back, so I kin clear de whole misunderstandin’.’
Suddenly he seemed to notice her dress for the first time. She had changed and she had thickened the make-up on her face. The eyebrows were marked out sharply in wide sweeping arcs that extended the natural curve by an inch on either side of the cheek. She looked like one of the masks from a collection Freddie had seen in the museum sometime. She obviously did not know how she had cheapened herself, for she gave him one of those coquettish glances with the word whore written in them.
‘Jagua, how you dress so loud? Because of de three men who ‘been-to’ England? You sure you coming back dis night?’
‘Jus’ now.’ She smiled. ‘I only goin’ to show dem some place, den I come home! What I got to waste time dere for? I got plenty to do in de house.’
Freddie began to laugh, a laughter that mocked himself too. ‘Jagua, who you tryin’ to deceive? I know you goin’ to do business widde men.’
‘Never!’ She came towards him. ‘Ah swear Freddie! So you don’ trust me?’
‘Swear proper, Jagua.’
She put a finger on her tongue and raised the finger to the sky. ‘If I goin’ to do business widde men, when I reach de main road, make motor kill me dead. You satisfy, now?’
‘Jagua.’ Freddie rose from the deep chair. ‘One of my frien’ tell me say you done begin stroll in de night. You doin’ what dem call solicitin’. You strollin’ so de white men kin pick you up in de car and take you home. You fit swear say dat one is lie, too? I hear dis long time, but I jus’ keep quiet, because am only poor teacher who got no money to maintain Jagwa woman.’
‘Lie, Freddie! Wicked lie! I never done no solicitin’.’
Freddie raised his hand in warning. ‘Jagwa, one of dese days we goin’ to prove all dis thin’. Mind you, Jagwa, I don’ care de hell what you doin’. Is not today me and you been goin’ steady. But what use to anger me: you tryin’ to show me you be virgin. You never known anodder man in dis Lagos, or anywhere you go but young Freddie Namme. Das what use to make me vex too much.’ He caught the merest flicker of doubt in her eye.
‘I mus’ go now. De people waitin’ for me.’ She twisted the door knob. ‘In de name of God, I done no solicitin’. Don’ lissen to dem, Freddie. In dis Lagos, people mus’ poke nose. Dem never try mindin’ dem own business.’
She went out and he heard the sound of the car. It was one of the long ones, driven by a chauffeur. He remembered seeing it as he came in, but had not really associated it with Jagwa. She was indeed Jagwa, he had to admit. His jealousy had accomplished nothing. She was still Jagwa. But was it natural, he asked himself, for all women to uphold their innocence – even Jagwa? What would she do if he caught her red-handed in bed with a man? He wanted to know that one. Half his mind told him she would still deny; and he had a feeling that she would convince him it was a misunderstanding.
Jagua did not come back home that evening.
Freddie was sitting at his desk the following afternoon writing, when he heard a knock at the door. It was Nancy. She looked sweet in a simple white dress with a black belt in the middle. Her complexion glowed with youthful good looks; her eyes were dark and eager. She had a parcel in her hands and she hesitated at the door.
Freddie smiled at her. ‘Come in, Nancy. You always come when my mood is bad. Don’ be afraid. Jagua not at home.’ He placed the back of his hand over his mouth and whispered, noting the sparkling eyes. ‘She done gone out with three men since yesterday afternoon and she never return. You know what she tell me? “I come back jus’ now,” she say. “What I goin’ to waste time for? I got plenty to do in de house!” Ha, ha, Nancy? You ever beat dat one? Jagua got plenty to do in de house and she go ’way with three men in long car since yesterday an’ she don’ come back to dat house. Come in, Nancy, I feelin’ very low …’
She looked at him with tenderness. ‘You talk like you drunk, Freddie!’ She came and took his head in her hands. ‘You feelin’ hurt? Dem wound your vanity. Dem show you you got no power and no control over de woman you call your own!’ She sighed. ‘Sometime I sure dat you really love dis Jagua woman.’
‘Sometime. But also he kin be dat I got into de habit of Jagua, an’ I kin not shake off de habit. She weaken me too much.’
‘Das wat I suspect, Freddie. De woman done give you love medicine, an’ you drink de medicine in some
sweet soup.’
Freddie looked at her with fear in his eyes. ‘Love medicine – but why Jagua go worry for make love medicine for me?’
Nancy put her parcel on the table and looked about the room. It was very disorderly and the only available sitting space was the bed. To Freddie’s delight, she sat on it.
‘Woman like Jagua, who been in dis business a long time, dem get plenty power. Dem practise witchcraft. Dem spen’ all dem money with the medicine man to make dem juju so dat man kin like dem. Jagua know dat her medicine done catch you, so she don’ worry at all.’
Freddie felt hopeless. There could be some truth in what Nancy was saying. If not, why could he not shake Jagua off? She was not a respectable woman, for all her attractiveness. He knew that. He knew also that she was subject to caprices and impulses. Just as she had lavished much money on his study course in England, so also could she suddenly decide on something quite unexpected and he would be left floating.
He turned his attention to Nancy. ‘Sorry about de room, Nancy. Everythin’ tupsy turvy. I packin’. God know de truth. As soon as I enter de boat, ah will be a happy man. No one kin trouble me. Anythin’ Jagwa like, she kin do. Is when I see all dis nonsense with me own eye; das when it pain my brain too much.’
‘Is all right, Freddie.’ She put her hands between her knees, swinging her legs playfully. ‘I soon go, Freddie. Mama sen’ me come to know how you packin’.’
‘To me … You mean dat?’
‘Why you actin’ surprised, Freddie? You tink she don’ know about you and me? I already tell her.’ She pointed at the parcel on the table. ‘She say give you dat parcel.’ Her eyes shone.
Freddie went over and took the parcel. It carried a London address. He looked at her with a question in his eyes.
‘Is home food,’ Nancy explained. ‘Home food – gari, pepper, okro. Is for our cousin. He livin’ in London and studyin’ engineering. Say to him Mama sen’ her love and Nancy joinin’ him soon. You know, those boys in London, them use to feel homesick and when de news from home come like dis, it kin make dem heart strong enough to put dem head for de work.’ She tensed her brow and her eyes. Her seriousness interested him.
‘I mus’ see dat it reach him safe, Nancy. Unless I don’ go again!’ He smiled. ‘As you know, not me sendin’ myself.’ He looked at her more closely and felt a twinge of remorse. ‘I never offer you nothin’. What you will drink, Nancy? Ah kin sen’ Sam to buy you some cold coke.’
‘For me? … No Freddie. I mus’ go now.’
He held her hands. He saw the flush come to her face. Instinctively her eyes went to the door. He sat beside her on the bed and took her wrist and laid it in his hand, examining the long and shapely fingers. She turned her face towards him, and, though he could read the cautionary message, he kissed her and her eyelids slid down and the soft eyelashes fluttered against his cheek. The anger was melting away and the world had become sweet with Nancy Oll and her fine skin and bewitching fragrance.
He felt the gentle push and the gentler voice. ‘You come again, Freddie. You always wantin’ dat. Anytime you see me always you wantin’ dat one. Is all you like me for, Freddie?’
He slid his fingers along her bare shoulder and into her blouse. There was nothing else he could have done. The blouse was cut to be slipped away. She did not even wear a brassiere and her breast was dancing in his hand.
‘De door open, Freddie.’ She was hissing now.
He squeezed her again, then went to the door and bolted it. ‘Don’ fear, Nancy. Nobody fit enter now.’
‘But is too hot now, Freddie. Is too hot for doin’ anythin’. True. Let it be anodder time.’
‘Yes, dear.’ He had taken her in his arms and was squeezing her close. Through the drumming in his ears, he heard the last lonely cry of Nancy the girl reaching out for help she must know would never come from the wolfing Freddie. ‘Freddie, Freddie – Oh! … I beg you, make we keep it till anodder time. If you love me, Freddie … But I not goin’ to run. Is for you Freddie. I not goin’ to give it to anodder man, while I love you.’
The drumming had become a roar. The fingers were trembling around the buttons, the intricate knots which showered the clothes she had on. He caught his breath. Her superbly tanned and shapely young body stood revealed. He could not help leaning back for a moment and devouring the slim shoulders, full breasts with the long nipples. He kissed them now and they reared into a gooseflesh with a sharp intake of her breath.
‘Gently, Freddie, you will rumple me clothes. Me Mama will know what you done.’ She wriggled out of her frock and chemise. Her waist was so slim and her belly so flat that he laid his palm on it to believe what he saw. She had small buttocks unusual for a Nigerian-bred girl, but they were silky smooth with an eel-like electricness that sent shivers of madness through him.
He took that slim waist and marvelled at it and pressed her to him and was entwined in her teenage athleticness. The heat and sweat, the odour of mating, fused them both in a reeling bout of insatiable lust. She was crying too loud for his comfort.
‘Freddie, I die! Kill me, Freddie. I die! … Oh, God! …’
He bit her ear. He felt golden-sweet with this release of his pent-up tensions. The pleasure he had found in Nancy’s youthfulness, her sensitivity, came as from a fable. He could not help contrasting her skin which was firm and elastic, with Jagua’s flabby and soggy for all the artifice. When Nancy cried, it was because she felt pain or pleasure; not because she had rehearsed it and timed it in advance. Her eyes rolled in ecstasy, and when she sat sobbing after he had had her he was disturbed and he kissed away the tears and smoothed her cheeks. She was genuine. Did genuine mating exist? Freddie asked himself. If only Jagua knew it, this was the greatest betrayal she had ever faced.
‘Freddie, tell me you love me.’ She kissed him.
‘I love you, Nancy,’ he murmured between kisses. ‘But why you cryin’? You so sweet, I wonder if I jus’ dreamin’!’
The tears came up again. He saw them fill the eyes, brown eyes that looked beyond him in a flood of grief. He took a handkerchief and dabbed away the tears and tenderly told her to get up and dress before lying back for a while. She slipped out of the bed and clumsily began putting the chemise over her head. He went and held her hips.
‘Where you come from, Nancy?’
‘My fadder and modder come here from Freetown, in Sa Leone. Long time. My fadder workin’ in de Secretariat before he die. Since den I live with my modder who sen’ me to school. She doin’ a bit of dressmaking and a bit of bakery – we got a nice shop where we sell cake and bread …’
‘So you say your modder know all about we?’ He handed her the blouse. She was getting into her knickers, and she held his shoulder to retain her balance.
‘I tol’ my modder dat I love you an’ I wan’ to marry you. She think I no serious. “Don’ forget, Nancy … We comin’ a long way, from Freetown. An’ if you marry dis Nigerian boy, den you mus’ forsake you fadderlan’.” So my Mama say, but I don’ lissen to her, so she jus’ go on talkin’. She tell me dat if I wan’ to marry you, I must kill Jagua firs’ before I kin get you. I mus’ kill Jagua firs’. She talk true, Freddie? Tell me, Freddie, is true dat if I want you Jagua will fight me? Answer me true – not because you and she quarrellin’ or anythin’. Answer me true, because I love you, Freddie.’
He looked at the pain her eyes tried to conceal. ‘No, Nancy. I not goin’ to marry Jagua. At firs’ I think Jagua serious with me. But is all lie, lie, lie! She got dis habit of runnin’ after men with money. Now if she don’ sleep with one man every day, she never feel happy. Den on top of dat, she takin’ me as small chil’ and she always deceive me under me own nose. If I catch her, she begin to tell long story. I got too much pride, Nancy. But jus’ now, it won’ be de right thing, if I let her know. Ah mus’ wait till ah enter de ship firs’. Till I land in Englan’. Den I will show my hand.’
She threw herself into his arms and he folded her, soft and sweet and dain
ty. ‘But Freddie, what you goin’ to do? Jagua put a lot of money on you head. How you goin’ to pay back?’
He stroked her hips. ‘Easy. Jus’ let me reach England and begin to study de law, firs’.’
‘You know what, Freddie? I goin’ visit your home town of Bagana. Before I cross over to Englan’ I mus’ go and know Bagana and salute you Fadder and Modder. I will tell Mama to take me wit’ her, so she too kin see dat Nigerian man is good for her chil’ to marry. Is true we comin’ from Freetown, but is here dem born me, and here I go to school. Nigeria is me secon’ home.’
Freddie kissed her again; then he heard the loud, insistent knocking on the door.
8
‘Open de door! … Freddie, open de door! … You hear me? Open de door quick, or I will burs’ de door!’
It was Jagua. She would bring the house down on their heads if he did not quickly calm her down. His first impulse was to dart through the window, to pull Nancy after him. But the meshes of the mosquito netting were too fine to allow that. Glancing at his bare legs he reached instead for his trousers, jumped into them, fastening the wrong flap buttons in his headlong hurry. She was banging the door now with a heavier object.
‘Just a minute! Wha’s de matter, Jagua?’
With one quick glance at Nancy and a finger pressed over his lips, Freddie went to the door and slid back the bolt. Jagua crashed into the room. She lunged straight at Nancy.
‘What you doin’ in dis room?’ she panted. ‘You good for nothin’. You call yourself decent gal. What you doin’ with my man with de door all locked up and—’
‘Is your man, then? Why you runnin’ about wit’ odder men, you can’t sleep in you own bed.’
Nancy’s nerve surprised Freddie. He immediately sensed the fight coming and stood on his toes. What a scandalous thing for his teacher reputation. ‘I beg you, Jagua. Don’ make trouble. Is a misunderstandin’. I goin’ to explain.’ His words had the reverse effect.
Jagua Nana Page 4