Omar glanced at his wrist and looked up. “You married a Boon man, and I did nothing.” Omar was angry.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Omar didn’t hear or didn’t want to hear. “I avoided gatherings because others mocked me. Even my closest friends, people I would have expected to support me, whispered as I approached and stopped talking when I joined them. But I didn’t blame them. I deserved such treatment because I was the coward who didn’t rescue his sister from a shameful existence.” He continued to stare at the shackles on his hands.
“Where did you get that bracelet!” I tried to force Omar to focus on the question, but he was moving farther and farther away from it. My plan to gather information and keep the meeting under my control was going up in flames.
“I should have done it sooner. Before the children. You weren’t supposed to have any. Mother said she was sure you wouldn’t have children, but you had two. None of that would have happened, if I’d done right from the start.” His hand caressed the rough surface of the table, and his lips quivered.
“All I am asking is where you found that bracelet.”
Omar slammed the table with his shackled hands. “Please forgive me! I failed you. Jamac couldn’t understand why we allowed such a travesty to take place. He wanted you so badly.”
Jamac’s image, violent and vicious, filled my mind. I felt nauseated and swallowed hard. “So, he raped me instead.”
Omar sat up, strong and unwavering. “I know Jamac is selfish, but he didn’t rape you. He made love to you, showed you what you’d given up when you married a Boon.”
I rose so quickly that the chair clattered to the floor behind me. The guard looked in, his ample body filling the doorway and blocking the light. I moved backwards, away from Omar. He had limited mobility, but I was still afraid he might come after me.
“Wait! You didn’t hear Sidow’s story.” For the first time, Omar called Sidow by name.
I hesitated for a second, wanting to go back, but my insides twisted. I had to leave before my stomach heaved again. The guard stepped aside to let me pass.
I staggered toward Elmi. He opened the car door and let me in. “What happened?” he asked as he climbed in the driver’s side.
“He apologized for not protecting me from marrying a Boon.”
“You should never have come here. Nothing good is ever gained from dealing with him.” Elmi took a deep breath. “What did he say about Sidow?”
“Omar spoke about his cowardice for not ‘taking care’ of Sidow sooner.”
“Even when we were children, he viewed torturing living creatures as a sport,” Elmi said.
“He says Jamac didn’t rape me.” I covered my face with my hands, trying to piece together what had happened.
“We share blood with such evil.” Elmi inserted the key in the ignition, but didn’t start the engine.
For a few minutes, I sat in the car, trying to calm my racing heart and sick stomach. “I think I have go back,” I told Elmi.
“Are you sure?”
“If I leave like this, they’ll think I don’t want to work with them.”
Elmi removed the key from the ignition, walked around the car, and opened my door without another word.
*
Omar was still where I had left him, his head between his hands, that same guard sitting across from him. The man stopped talking and got up as soon as I entered. “I will wait by the door,” he said and stepped out of my way.
Omar looked up. “Thank you for coming back.”
“What did you say about Sidow?” I asked, trying to take advantage of Omar’s relief at seeing me.
“I did what I should have done in the beginning.”
“What did you do?”
Omar stared into the distance as if watching the events unfold before him. “Sidow wanted to leave as soon as he realized it was all a trick, and there was no job for him. He wanted to run home to you like a whipped dog.”
“You…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“He had no right to be with you.”
“What did you do?” I forced the words. I had suspected my family played a role in Sidow’s death because of the way Mother had found him in that alley, far from where she had any business being. Still, it was hard to take in.
Omar shook his head. “It was my duty as your brother to protect you, to make sure you did what was right by marrying Jamac, whether you agreed or not. But I didn’t.”
“So, you killed my husband, the father of my children?”
Omar spoke again. “Sidow laughed at me when I proposed that he divorce you. I promised him no harm would come to him or his children if he gave you your freedom. I even offered him money, but he looked at me as if I was crazy for suggesting such a thing. He said no, so I struck him. I knew you wanted to be rid of him, to be free from your mistake.” Omar tried to reach for me, but the chains on his hands prevented him.
“Sidow fought back. During the struggle, he reached into his pocket for this.” Omar extended the wrist with the bracelet and held it out. “There were two. What happened to the other one, I can’t say.”
I proceeded to remove the bracelet from Omar’s wrist, and he didn’t stop me. As I unfastened it, I could imagine Sidow reaching for the bracelets and taking comfort from them. I closed my eyes to shut the image out, but only succeeded to blur it for a couple seconds. Soon it was in focus again.
Omar continued with the story. “I kicked and punched him until all the rage and anger left my body. Finally, I had done the right thing. I took care of you as a brother should.” Omar leaned over the table as far as the chains would allow and smiled.
“You killed my husband!”
“But you understand why it had to be done. It was long overdue, I admit, but I was no longer the man who let his sister marry a Boon and did nothing about it.” He dropped both hands in his lap and looked at me with those evil eyes.
“You didn’t free me, you selfish moron. You killed my husband!” I yelled so loud that the guard poked his head in and cautioned me to keep it down.
Sweat dripped from Omar’s face as he relived the memory of killing Sidow. “Instead of acknowledging my selfless deed, Father yelled at me for killing Sidow, instead of convincing him to divorce you. Father and I had tried once before to scare Sidow into giving you your freedom. First I had my men beat him and tell him that if he didn’t bring you back to your family, he would pay the price. They brought him back to you and he was given a week to do right. He didn’t seem to understand the message.”
“Sidow said he didn’t know his attackers.”
“Why would he tell you when he knew you would leave him and return to your family?”
“Sidow knew I loved him and would never have left him.”
Omar rested his head on the table. “Clearly he didn’t. I tried to make him divorce you, but he refused. You see Idil, I had to kill him to secure your freedom.”
My heart raced. “I loved Sidow with every ounce of my being!”
“Well, the man is dead now. No harm in saying you loved him.” Omar’s words were hard and cold. “Now that you are free, I need your help.” Omar smiled. “It is time for you to protect us.”
The switch from telling me he’d killed Sidow, to asking for my help came at a dizzying speed. I wiped my tears on the sleeve of my dress and sat up straight. “I have nothing left to protect.”
Omar smiled, mocking. “Ah, but you have so much to lose starting with that baby of yours.” His voice was even. The statement was not only a threat, but a promise with precise consequences.
Omar was just sitting across the table, but his words came from far away. “I want you to tell the tribal elders that you will marry Jamac. You don’t have to marry him; you just have to say you will.”
“Are you crazy?”
>
Omar lifted his hands in full view and the clanking from the metal rings filled the room. “I’ve done my part and made you free. Now it’s your turn to return the favor. Free me from these shackles by promising to live up to your end of the bargain.” Omar let his hands drop on the table to punctuate the sentence.
“Speak to the elders Rhoda takes you to next week and tell them you are ready to honor your the commitment to marry Jamac. Tell them you’ll marry him in two weeks, but that you want to go back to Somalia to do it. I will take care of the rest.”
“Why go back to Somalia?”
“Jamac was angry when you married the Boon, but he was enraged when you escaped the second time. He blamed Rhoda for not letting him guard you until the marriage was complete. He blamed Mother for not delivering her part of the bargain, and me for not convincing the Boon to divorce you. Above all, he hated Father for suggesting that he forget about you and find another wife.”
“So Jamac is holding Father until I agree to marry him?”
“You see Idil, it is not the marriage so much as it is the man’s pride that was damaged by your actions. Father allowed Jamac to move into the house with him so he could help Jamac get over your betrayal. I told Father it wasn’t safe to keep him around. Anyone could see he was a dangerous man. But Father thought that keeping him close would prove to Jamac that we were on his side. Father even searched for another wife for Jamac, but that only made the situation worse.”
Omar shook his head. “Jamac is such a treacherous man.He asked Father to bring you back, or to give him one hundred thousand dollars to compensate for your escape. We agreed to pay him, but then Sheila left with the money.
“In the end Father told Jamac to be a man and find a woman who wanted him. Father tried to walk away, but Jamac shouted after him to come back or he’d regret it. Father continued walking to the door, and I followed. That’s when Jamac pulled his gun and fired into the ceiling. When Father and I turned around, we saw that our guards were suddenly working for Jamac. We had four guns pointing at us.”
“Father’s guards sided with Jamac?”
“They believed Jamac had been humiliated and that he should earn his dignity back. A little extra money in their pockets probably helped too,” Omar said.
“Where is Father now?”
“He is here in this compound with me. As you know, he is a very proud man and he didn’t want to come to you, asking favors.” Omar rubbed his neck. “Jamac claims that if you marry him, he will free both Father and me. Otherwise, we will have to pay him off, or die.”
Now I am expected to sacrifice myself and my children to save Father and Omar.
The room was profoundly quiet, until Omar asked, “Did Rhoda bring you here?”
“I didn’t come with her. Elmi gave me a ride.”
Omar became visibly angry. “I cannot believe this! Elmi is here and he didn’t come in? Why not?”
“Did you want him to?”
“Why wouldn’t I? I need help. If he were in my place, I would have done anything to free him. He doesn’t want to face me because he is a coward. He is afraid I might ask him to stay here and take care of his family, instead of running back to Canada.” Omar sat back filling the room with rage.
My thoughts reeled. I knew, without a doubt, I was dealing with a madman. I regretted mentioning Elmi’s name. “Rhoda didn’t—”
“Rhoda! I don’t want anything to do with her! I am only pretending to love her until her brother releases me. Then I’ll get my money back from Sheila and kill Jamac for what he’s done. Our family needs to band together. And like you and me, Elmi must do his part. Mother is gone and Father is no longer in charge, so we must take care of each other. As for Rhoda, if she thought I would keep her, and she’d become the woman of the house now that Mother is gone, she would kill Jamac herself. I don’t want either one of them anywhere near me.”
Truly, Rhoda, Omar, and Jamac deserved each other.
“I need you to free me from Jamac and Elmi to help me get my money back from Sheila,” Omar continued.
“And where is she now?” I asked.
“Sheila’s disappeared. She withdrew all the money from the business because her name was on the account. Everything is gone. That’s why you must pretend to consent to marrying Jamac. It’s the only way to free Father and me. If you do as I say, you can have anything you want: money, Mother’s house, anything.”
“I don’t want your money or the house. I need nothing from you.”
“The Boon is dead now, so just apologize for marrying him and never mention the children again. We can even send them overseas so they get a good education. No one ever needs to know about them.”
“Deny my children?” I got up to go at the same time as the guard entered the room.
“Time’s up,” he announced.
The sight of the large man was a relief, but Omar continued to rant. “You will help me, won’t you?” He spoke urgently to fit in as many words as he could in the seconds he had left.
The guard’s impatient command came again, this time with a yank on Omar’s shoulder. “Time to go.”
Omar rambled. “You will come back. We will plan this together next time you visit.”
“All right,” I promised. “I will go with Rhoda to the elders and promise them to marry Jamac.” I prayed with all my being there would never be another visit.
*
Rhoda was sitting in my shack when we got back to the camp. “What did Omar say?” she asked. She had waited for our return and was obviously intent on hearing the result of my visit with her husband. I hated that she saw Elmi with me, but it couldn’t be helped.
“You know very well. He wants me to marry Jamac,” I said.
Elmi was livid about what I’d told him on the way back in the car. He stared angrily at Rhoda.
“Idil,” she said, “you only have to tell the elders you will marry Jamac. You don’t actually have to. That is the only way Jamac will allow your father’s or Omar’s release.”
“You want me to help the man who admits—who is proud—that he killed Sidow because it was his duty?”
“Sorry.” Her apology was brief and insincere.
“Did you know of the plan to kill my husband?”
“No…I didn’t,” Rhoda said. The hesitation said more than her denial.
“What did you know?” I demanded.
“I asked your mother if Omar told her where to find Sidow’s body, because he came and spoke to her right before Sidow was found. Your mother said Omar wasn’t involved—that one of the workers told her where to find the remains.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Omar admits he did it. He gave me all the gruesome details. He was wearing this bracelet. Sidow had two when he left. The other one was in that can Father gave me at the funeral.”
Rhoda’s eyes opened wide as she confronted the undeniable evidence. “So that’s what was in that can! Your mother kept it so close to her. This is the first time I’ve heard anything about Omar’s role. I didn’t know he was in any way responsible. Believe me.” Rhoda was doing her best to stay calm. “Let’s just concentrate on getting Omar out of Jamac’s control so he can get the money back from the whore.”
“We don’t care about the money,” Elmi said.
“Well, maybe you don’t, but Idil has another reason, more important than money or pride, to do this.” Rhoda’s tone was calm as she played her last card. The renewed threat of losing my baby was not lost on me.
Elmi opened his mouth to say more, but I placed my hand on his upper arm. “Elmi, let it go.” His muscles relaxed under my touch.
I turned to Rhoda. “I will do it. Let me know when the elders are here, and I will say what you want me to say.”
Rhoda smiled, believing she had maneuvered us brilliantly.
Elmi didn’t sa
y a word until she was gone. “Let us pray your visas come before the elders do,” he said.
*
For the first time in a very long time, our prayers were answered. Only one week after my visit with Omar, I sat across from the officer conducting the final interview. I was uncomfortable under his scrutiny and shifted my weight from one side to the other, trying to relax.
The officer acknowledged us quickly and got down to business. “Thank you for sending the baby’s documents. Is there anything more I should know? Has anything come to light since our last meeting?”
“No, nothing has changed,” I lied. I was tempted to tell of Omar’s involvement with my husband’s demise, but I couldn’t take a chance on delaying our departure. Legal complications at this point would cost me time I didn’t have. If we were to leave with all three of my children, nothing could come to light. Also, Hasan and my mother-in-law were present, and I didn’t want them to hear about Sidow’s death like that. Later, once we were safe, I would have time to share the awful details of Sidow’s last day.
“Mrs. Moallim, do you have anything more to add?” the officer asked again.
“No, I can’t think of anything.”
“I am satisfied with your application and I’m ready to issue visas for you and your family. You are leaving next Wednesday, five days from now.” After wishing us good luck in our new home, he dismissed us, and the attendant led us out.
*
Five days later, we were looking up at the airplane that would take us out of hell, and into what we hoped—with no certainty at all—was heaven. I was grateful that Elmi was on the same flight back to Canada.
“Idil, come.” Elmi hoisted the baby up and stood at the gangway. “It’s time to board.”
“Mom, we have to go,” Amina yanked at my hand and ran ahead to catch up with Elmi, Hasan, and her grandmother. “Mom!” she yelled again. “Come on. Hurry!”
Adam followed her.
I suddenly felt caught between two worlds; the one I knew didn’t want me any more than I wished to stay in it, and the one I was not sure would be welcoming. Stoic and somber, I cried inside. I cried for the pain my husband had endured all his life, especially the years he was married to me, and particularly the three days he was held captive before he died. I cried because it was my own brother who committed murder under the guise of helping to rid me of my shame. I cried for Amina’s and Adam’s futures as they encounter those, including their own uncle, who believe people like them and their father are disposable. I cried for my baby because of his beginnings and his uncertain future. I cried for what might have been, what won’t be, the void that will never be filled. I cried for my lost love, my husband, my friend, and the father of my children. I cried for my Sidow.
Tale of a Boon's Wife Page 25