Chapter 38

The priest smiled and said softly to Nduka. "Mr. Nduka, please bear with your wife, bear with her. She doesn't even know what she's doing. The deliverance is for her own good! Anyway, the lord has just also revealed to me that you should not sleep with her anymore. From henceforth, she has to be sex-starved or your own life will be at stake for the spirit husband is a very jealous one. Please, Mr. Nduka, you should understand that I'm doing this for your own safety just as the good Lord has instructed me to. Please endeavor to make sure that your wife comes to see me thrice in a week until the deliverance is complete."

"Thank you, father. I'll do as you have said. Thank you for the revelation too." Nduka thanked the priest.

"We should bless God..." Father Thomas replied. "And thank you for your ceaseless hospitality once again, but I've to take my leave now. This house remains blessed." Holding his rosary, he made the sign of the cross in the air and walked out of the house while Mr. Nduka saw him off as usual.

After the men left the house, Oluchi slumped on one of the dining room chairs in despair. She felt helpless. She knew that all that the priest had said was nothing but blatant lies! She was almost certain that God would never reveal anything to a fornicator! She had heard rumors about how the priest went around secretly sleeping with married women and he had been boldly hitting on her for two months now. 

It was because of this disgusting priest that her husband flogged her often and she wanted to be rid of him, and if possible, also this oppressing marriage for good. She had married her husband who was ten years older than her when she had just finished her WAEC and was eighteen. Ever since she got married to him, he had refused to let her continue her education even though he had promised to sponsor her through school before he had married her. 

She knew that she had no spirit husband and she also knew that this was just a ploy by the pervert priest to finally lure her into his bed; Only if her husband would listen to her, but he was too blinded by his love for priests that he would never listen to her. She was tired of everything, yes, tired. Whenever she slept with her husband, she never enjoyed it and ever since he started flogging her, she had grown to hate him.

 Now, that she thought of it, if really she had a spiritual husband known as incubus, then why was it taking this spirit husband so long to kill her husband and the priest so that she could be finally free from both men. She had thought of running away severally with her son, but what held her back was fear of the unknown.

Oluchi stared at her nine-year-old son lovingly and stretched a hand towards the boy. The boy got up and approached her and she placed him on her lap. This boy was the only reason she remained in this marriage. In fact, he was the only reason she still chose to live. She had contemplated suicide several times but her love for her son, Vincent, had made her stick to life.

"Vincent, you know that what the priest said is a lie, right?" She asked him.

He nodded but said nothing. Just then, Nduka walked into the house with an angry look on his face. "Get down from your mother's lap this instant!" He barked at his son who gasped and flinched in shock as he quickly jumped down from his mother's lap. "You are not a girl; you are a boy who'll grow up to be a man someday! Do not let your mother spoil you into becoming a weakling!" Then he focused on his wife now. "You see yourself? You see yourself?! The devil has finally attached himself to you because of your disobedience and that's why God has refused to open your womb so that you'll not bring forth an abomination into this world! Despite making sure that you were circumcised in order to tame any promiscuity or lust, you still managed to attract a spirit husband! Anyway, you'll do that deliverance father Thomas had recommended, but before the deliverance begins, I'll have you for the last time since I'll be traveling back to the city a day after tomorrow! Get up!" He ordered.

Without saying a word, Oluchi rose, turned and moved into the bedroom. Nduka glanced at his son and said imperatively. "Vincent, go and kneel down in that corner, close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears!" He pointed to a corner between the old couch and the wall and the boy hurried to do as he had been told.

When Nduka got into the bedroom, he bolted the door. His wife was already naked and lying on the bed, waiting for him. He quickly undressed and got on her after spitting on her vulva. Her labia had been trimmed down and her clit had been cut off during circumcision and that made it difficult for her to get wet from clitoral stimulation. As a matter of fact, she hated sex but she dared not tell her husband such or refuse him whenever he wanted her.

Nduka lowered himself on her and was soon pushing himself into her dry womanhood. Oluchi winced in pain but quickly bit down on her lip to stifle the sound. Her husband pulled out of her with a disgruntled look on his face. "You are too dry, do the right thing." He ordered.

It was not the first time that he was asking her to artificially lubricate herself, so she did what she always did- she brought her four fingers pressed together to her mouth, coated it with her saliva and rubbed herself with her own spittle. When he was satisfied, into her he went again and as he began to angrily thrust in and out of her, she forced herself to moan out loud to please him and make him feel like a man, lest, she received another beating.

                                                                                  ★★★

One bright afternoon, Ewatomi was sitting under a tree in the village square which was not too far from her house and where most of the little children in the village always gathered to play after doing their house chores. 

As Ewatomi grew up, she had been continuously discriminated against and most mothers had strictly warned their children never to play with her, and Ewatomi who was now six years was feeling so lonely and bored that she had a sullen look on her face as she watched the other children play local games like suwe, tinko-tinko and ten-ten and they were all totally ignoring her while they had the fun of their lives. 

As she remained seated under the big tree, she kept fiddling with her fingers on her laps while she longingly watched the other children play. It made her almost envious and angry. Unlike the other children who were clothed in clothes sewn out of beautiful tie and dye materials, she was only clad in a white wrapper with white beads around her head, neck, wrists, waist and ankles. Her hair was also the longest in the village.

After watching the children play for a while, Ewatomi grew bolder but annoyed. She just couldn't sit back and watch the children treat her like she didn't exist. Rising to her feet and approaching them, she tried to join one of the games but the children in that group either turned away from her or pretended she was not there.

 After trying in vain to get any of them to play with her or involve herself in the game by deliberating squeezing herself into their midst, Ewatomi gave up on the Suwe group and moved to the next group, but the same thing happened. She was ignored and rejected. 

When she finally got to the last group which was ten-ten and which was contained Kikelomo, the princess and her friends, the princess suddenly shoved Ewatomi on the chest in such an aggressive way that Ewatomi fell hard on her ass.

"We don't play with people like you!" Kikelomo spat. "Nobody wants to mingle with a cursed child! Ige oshi! (name for a child born feet first)" She hissed in distaste.

All the children paused their games then turned to laugh and jeer at Ewatomi and they began to chant as they pointed their fingers down at her. "Ige! Ige! Ige!" 

In shame and also at the verge of tears, Ewatomi rose to her feet, dusted her wrapper and returned to sit down under the tree, now sulking. As she continued to watch the children who had resumed playing, she got angry at how mean they keep treating her. Her eyes suddenly blinked white as she glared at them. 

Suddenly, big black ants began to pour out of every hole on the playground. The children didn't notice it until the ants swarmed out in their numbers and began to bite the children's feet. 

There was sudden chaos as the children began to scream at the top of their voices and hop around, picking or shaking the ants off their legs. When they could not stand the painful bites anymore, they all dispersed and ran home as fast as they could, screaming and scratching their legs and feet and forgetting all about their games.