CHAPTER TWO

Shina’s face beamed as he helped Tinu put her suitcase in the trunk of the car. After slamming it shut, he scurried to the passenger’s side, gallantly opened the door, and then stepped up the curb where Tinu stood hugging herself.  Shina planted himself before her, exhibiting his most disarming grooming smile.  “My darling; the love of my life; Tinu baby, you are the only wife in this world who doesn’t have a rival.  Gba bi mo se sofun e yen, omo.”   Unsmiling, Tinu tried to step back. Methodically, Shina reached out, wrapped his arms around her waist and skillfully pulled her into his arms.  “My baby, come’on, cheer up noooow.  Jo, let’s go.  It’s going to be quite fun. “

Tinu’s rigid stance began to make Shina’s heart rate increase.  He persisted, “Ha-ha, but I have apologized to you so much.  Let me make it up to you.  I’m telling you, I promise you, it won’t happen again, believe me.”  He brought his hands to the front and gently untwined her arms and guided them around his shoulders.  Encouraged when she did not yank them off his body, he drew closer, rubbed her back soothingly and guided her wrapped head onto his shoulder.  He continued to caress her back while whispering into her ear.  “I’m sorry; I will never hurt you again.  You are my world; my life.  I love you so so so much.”

After a short while, Tinu spoke soft into Shina’s ears, “You know how many times I’ve heard you say that before, Shina?”

“I know but this time is different,” he replied.  “I don’t know what came over me that made me lose my temper like that.  You know I love you more than life itself, right?  You can’t imagine how miserable I was throughout those days that you isolated yourself from me.  I thought I was going crazy.  It made me realize how bad I’ve hurt you and I don’t wanna do that again. ”

She shook her head.  “I really don’t know if I can believe that you won’t do it again.”  Lifting her head from his shoulder, she searched his eyes.  She truly wanted to believe him.  Tinu thought she sensed that reassuring certainty.  She sighed and smiled back at her husband.

“I promise you, Tinu-mi, Tinu-temi, it will never happen again!  I love you so much.  I could give my life to you.”

“Umh - umh”, she shook her head. “Don’t give me your life; just don’t beat me up anymore.  I don’t even want you begging me; I just don’t want us fighting like this.  Whatever you want me to do, I will try my best.  And whatever we don’t agree on, we can just talk about it and compromise.”

“I agree.  I know. I have accepted your request.  I don’t like it when we fight either.  Okay, let’s get going, babe.”  Shina gently led her to the open car door, waited patiently till she climbed in, scooped up the rest of her skirt that had spilled out of the car, and then shut the door.  He bounced around the car to the driver side and got behind the wheel.  After starting the car, he glanced at his wife, reached over and planted a kiss on her cheek.  “Let’s roll out, baby.  This is going to be fun! You’ll have a good time, you’ll see.”  Tinu giggled and thought his bubbling excitement might tip the car over.

Shina scanned the empty street and rolled the car out onto the road.  At the end of their street was the busy Azkary Street that leads to the Aalamiyah Highway.  Getting out of town was a bit hectic this evening with traffic.  Aalamiyah Highway ran parallel to the Seaside Highway on the other side of town.  The further they drove, the dryer the air that blew through the car became; the sea mist that made the atmosphere bearable had all but vanished.  This time of the year was the only time that the sun allowed moisture to linger, unlike during the summer when the mist from the sea would get absorbed greedily by the parched atmosphere.

Tinu sat in thoughtful silence while Shina chatter boxed trying to engage his wife in conversations.  From time to time, Tinu smiled, mumbled, nodded or gave one syllabed answers.  She knew where they were headed but she was not as enthused as she had been the last time they went to the private Bedouin camp.  She recalled the Bedouin camp with the incredible man-made oasis at the tip of the Aalamiyah Desert.  Tinu knew that Shina intended a repeat of that rendezvous.

One of Shina’s Shamsiyan friends, Ahmed An-Nahwu had invited Shina, Tinu and three other married couples who were mutual friends to his father’s private camp for a weekend out of town as a wedding gift to Shina and his new bride. The other friends were migrants from the USA, Britain and Ghana working for different corporations that belonged to the An-Nahwus, one of the richest families in Shamsiyah.  The Americans were blacks from Boston, the wife worked for Lockheed Martin Company as an executive administrative assistant.  The British couple was White, the wife was a medical doctor employed at the Shamsiyan University Hospital.  The Ghanaian man was also a medical doctor while his wife traded gold and precious stone jewelry between Shamsiyah and Ghana.  She traveled frequently to Accra.  She disclosed to Tinu once that it was a quite lucrative business.  Tinu had observed that Shina seemed uncomfortable whenever this group of their friends engaged in conversations related to their respective jobs.  She tried not to share her work related stories on such occasions for that reason.  She tried to remain conscious of his sensitivity to the academic crisis he had shared with her at the beginning of their relationship.  His voice betrayed deep emotions during the narrative. 

Shina was known to be exceptionally science-smart throughout his schooling.  Not only did he excel in academic performance, he had coached, free of charge, several students to pass their Secondary School Certificate Exams and went on to gain admission into universities in Nigeria and abroad.  Hence, when he applied for admission into the University of Ibadan to study medicine, it was an easy task to be accepted with a full scholarship and handsome stipend.  His parents were overjoyed and filled with pride that their son was going to become a doctor.  However, while waiting out the summer before school resumed, he decided to help his best friend, Tobi who had not passed the university entry exam by sitting for him.  Shina weighed the risks involved and decided that their features and complexions were quite similar.  He felt that the risk was minimal and that he could pull it through.  Shina and Tobi had been best friends since primary one.  They became friends after Shina stood up against four bullies who were teasing him for being dull-brained.  The boys were also the class smartest pupils apart from Shina.  He began to help his new friend with his studies.  Not only did he continue to help Tobi with his school work, he helped with socially.  Most of the students wanted to be friends with the smartest handsome student in the class, so they were forced to be friends with his best friend.  That was how the clique of friends who would remain friends for decades was formed.  Shina could not allow Tobi to be the only one unable to get into a higher institution.  He was determined to support Tobi through thick and thin.

On the day of the exam, Shina combed his hair backward and put the left side part that Tobi wore in the passport photograph attached to the exam admission ticket.  The friends agreed that Shina would easily pass as Tobi. The group walked Shina to the bus stop.  “Shina, I will never forget you, and I am eternally grateful to you for this.  God will bless you and meet you at your times of need.”  The other friends continually reassured Shina that the invigilators would not be able to tell that he was not the person on the picture, also praised him for his benevolence before he hopped on to the moving Danfo minibus that coasted along announcing its intended destination.  “Yaba – Yaba – Yaba.  Come in with your exact change o.  I no get change o”. Even though, Shina knew that he was taking a major risk, he felt no apprehension.  As the bus sped off from Itire towards Yaba, Shina was unaware of the presence of a mysterious co-passenger riding along.  At the Yaba bus terminal, Shina hopped off the minibus and walked briskly towards St. Peters Secondary School examination center.  He arrived more than an hour early but the line of examinees was already very long. He joined the queue.  At that moment, Shina recognized an uneasy feeling in his gut and he promptly offered a silent prayer.  Half an hour to the start of the exam, all the examinees had been processed and seated at the assigned seats in the testing hall.

By then, the uneasy feeling had dissipated.  At the command of the head invigilator, Shina commenced answering the exam questions.  His pencil was moving across the rough-work plain sheets of paper at a feverish pace; a congenial smile spread across his face.  This is even easier than my exam, he thought.  I will be done in no time.

It might have been 15 minutes since the exam started, when Shina felt that someone was hovering over his head.  His head jerked upward and stared into two pairs of eyes boring into him.  Suddenly, he heard loud sound thumping inside his chest.  His eyes dilated without prompting from him and his palms began to moisten.  He cleared his throat while his eyes queried the invigilators.

“What’s your name?” asked one of the men standing over him.

 Without looking around, Shina discerned that everyone in the room had stopped working and were all looking in his direction. He attempted to respond but his voice seemed to have absconded.

“I said, what’s your name?  Or are you deaf?” the man’s voice echoed louder through the testing hall.

Shina cleared his throat again; his armpit began to itch, his left brow to twitch, and his chest to heave noticeably up and down.  He remained unspeaking and immobile in his seat.

The other invigilator gathered and picked up all the papers on Shina’s desk and commanded, “get up and follow me, right now.”

When Shina remained in place, the first man drove his hand in between his arm and ribs, grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him to his feet.  “Move it!  Follow Mr. Akpan, now!”  Shina, lending from the invigilator’s force, gained the strength to stand on his feet and follow the man.  He was led out of the hall but not before one of his captors barked, “everybody, face your work!”

Shina was led into a large office with several teachers’ desks in a semi-circular arrangement.  A stocky stern-looking woman, arm akimbo, awaited their entrance.  She spoke in a surprisingly soft squeaky voice which Shina thought was incongruent with her features.  “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Shina shook his head as if in confusion and uncomprehending the question.

“Why were you taking the School Cert Exam for somebody else?  And what is your own name?”  She raised her voice, leaned in, and drew up her torso as if attempting to catch up to Shina’s 6 feet height.  In an attempt to appear more intimidating, the woman stomped her heel onto the floor.  “Do you know how much trouble you are in?  Pretence is not going to get you off this crime, you know.”

“Ma, I didn’t commit any crime, ma.”  He forced his voice through.

The woman turned to the two men who escorted Shina into the Teachers’ office.  “Mr. Akpan, tell this boy what you told us.

Shina’s neck snapped sideways to face the Mr. Akpan, wondering how he could possibly have found out about his true identity.

“As I was waiting this morning at the bus-stop by my house in Itire to come here for the invigilating assignment, I saw one of my students, named Tobi Williams from Adelabu Secondary School with many other boys.  I was about to approach him to wish him good luck on the exam, when I overheard them talking to this boy right here and encouraging to go through with the plan.  I soon gathered that the plan was for him to sit for the exam on behalf of my student, Tobi.  I turned my back to them so that Tobi would not see or recognize me.  None of the other boys go to my school and I knew that this was Tobi’s test center anyway.  I made sure that ‘Tobi’ didn’t see me as I entered the same Danfo as him,” he ended indexing Shina.

Throughout Mr. Akpan’s narrative, Shina succeeded in maintaining consciousness.  He would have fainted if he was one of the people who were capable of fainting or feigning it.  He needed to faint or be swallowed by the ground he stood on.  The outcome of the exposure changed Shina’s life.  He lost his admission and scholarship at the University of Ibadan; barred from taking or retaking any examination in Nigeria.  His own result was cancelled and voided.  His name was listed in the DO NOT ADMIT list throughout all of the higher institutions in Nigeria.  He felt that his world had come crashing down; hitting the bottom of the deepest pit.  His friends could not console him; nor could his family.  The expression of disappointment by his father and the tears of agony from his mother were no match for his abysmal depressive state and the feeling of being lost in a vast world of hopelessness.  It was bigger than their clout.  Two years passed by Shina in stagnation until there shone a little light through a long dark tunnel of despair. 

Shamsiyah happened.  He flew down to Shamsiyah, sat for the London GCE examination, aced all the science and English subjects and gained acceptance into the main University in Shamsiyah with a full scholarship not to study medicine but environmental science. The Medical program was reserved only for the citizens of Shamsiyah.  The logic behind the policy, as explained to Shina, was economical and patriotic. 

LOVE ON THE ARABIAN SAND                                                                   Princess Sherifat Akorede

CHAPTER ONE 

Shamsiya 1985

Tinuola Laoye trembled on the edge of the queen size bed staring at the stranger who was supposed to be her husband, wondering what he would do this time around.  Lord! How he had changed from the Lover of the Century she once dubbed him to this ...this-.  She could not even utter what came to her mind in her head.  It had just been a few years.  She held back the tingling fluid that stung her eyes.  She would not give him the pleasure.  The fierce Shamsiya sun pierced the cracks in the window-blinds, penciling the rug with blinding rays.  The air conditioner mounted on the wall coughed and struggled to step up its power to combat the rising temperature in the room.  Beads of sweat assembled on Shina’s forehead.

“Shina, why are you so cruel?” Tinu’s voice trembled.  “You’re such a wicked man, and I swear, I’m gonna leave you one day!”

“If you don’t leave, you are nothing but a bas-t--d!” Shina yelled, his thick chest heaving up and down.

“I told you not to call me THAT again!” she yelled back, jumping off the bed as if ready to attack a predator.

“And if I don't?  What are you goin' to do about it, stupid bastard?  If you don’t pack your trash and leave my house today, you’re a real bastard, believe me,” he endorsed, gloating happily as Tinu flinched again at the use of the word.”  He glared at her, noticing that she was weakening underneath the bravado and daring attitude.  She's breaking down but doesn't want me to know. Well, strong girl, I know you and I know how to break you.

Eyes hard and pained, “Shina,” she continued, “let me tell you something, one day, the time will come for me to revenge.  Then you’ll see how I’ll hurt you back, real bad.  I can promise you one thing too, I will leave you one day and when I do, no amount of your begging will bring me back.  You can take that from me.  And knowing you, you’ll soon crawl back, crying and begging that I forgive you.  But you’ll see...”

“You’ll never be able to leave without my permission,” Shina’s anger kept mounting with every daring response his wife gave.  “Remember that we’re not in Nigeria where you can go and come as you please.  We’re here in Shamsiya and all your movements have to be sanctioned by me, your husband!  And if you dare pack out of this house, I’ll use the law to hunt you down as long as you remain in the country.”

      “You may be able to keep me here for now, but I promise you, I’ll find a way to leave this marriage.  When I do, even if you bring all your people to come beg me, I will never come back.”

      “If I ever come begging you again, you can say I'm not the true son of my father!”

      “Oh really?”

“Who do you think you are, anyway?  I’ll never beg you again in my life,” Shina announced.

      Tinu clasped her hands together in amazement.  “The next time you prostrate flat on the floor begging me to step on you and walk over you, I'll remind you that you’re the real bastard of the highest order.” She spat at him with disgust.

      “In your dreams, woman!  In your dreams.”

      “We’ll see.”

      Threatening tears made their escape as they gushed out, streaming down her high cheekbones into the corners of her mouth.  She wiped them away furiously not wanting to cry.  Then, suddenly she saw Shina flying across the room towards her, launching an attack.  The first blow landed on her temple, stunning her and she heard herself scream out in sudden sharp pain.  The scream stopped as sudden as it had started, choking in her throat as he hit her across her face again.  She sprawled on the floor.

A moment later, she felt herself being lifted and thrown to the bed, Shina’s weight trapping her down.  Like a cornered tigress, Tinu dug her long painted nails into the flesh of his bare neck and yanked down to his chest.  She heard him hollered in pain, and then she tried to go for his face.  She knew she had to unleash all her strengths and survival wrestling techniques for her dire life as if fighting against a much larger animal.  In no time, she felt the tough fiber of the super-wax Ankara print buba (blouse) she wore cut into her skin painfully before giving way to tear.  She uttered a blend of high-pitched scream, sobs, and inaudible sounds of humiliation, anger and helplessness stirring within.

“Shina, you’re killing me!” she was finally able to cry out clearly. “You’ve gone mad!  Do you really want to kill me? God!  Help me out of this house, I’m married to a crazy man, crazy mad man!” she cried out into the silence of the night.

Shina dived into a new rage.  “I’ll show you what a mad man does to a big mouth slut.”  He hit her across the face once, twice, a third time and it continued until she could take no more without the risk of passing out.  With a burst of strength, she ducked another blow, pushed the two hundred-pounds of flesh off her and sent him into the air.  His heavy body leaped off her and crashed into a wooden table by the wall.  He howled as he crumbled onto the floor.  Bewildered, Shina’s face furrowed. 

Tinu’s mouth snapped open.  Faint gratifying smile adorned her face momentarily. How did I do that? Thank you o o, God Allah o o!

Tinu, realizing she was still in danger, fled the room.  She ran across the corridor into the living room.  Leaving the apartment would have been preferable, but she quickly rationalized that the torn buba and a transparent slip would be an unwelcome sight to present to her neighbors and the religious Shamsiya society.

She slammed the living room door shut and with trembling fingers attempted to turn the key in the lock.

Shina kicked the door open.  Tinu edged away, her eyes swept the room for a miraculous opening in the walls.  Today na today.  Haah, mo gbe o, her quivering soul cried out silently.  I don die o, God-u-u.

Shina discerning fear in his wife’s eyes, smiled inwardly.  I must show her that I’m the man and I’m the master of the house.  She must accept my superiority by hook or crook.

Tinu made a split second decision.  No more running; no more cowardice.  I have to fight back.

Shina almost hesitated when he observed a sudden change in Tinu's posture.  She stood erect against the wall, defiant and waiting.  Her new poise infuriated him more.  The nerve of this stupid skinny girl!  Kilo gbojule, ego tamo bosi yi? (What gives her this confidence?)  I'll show her today.  Wa gba leni.

He rushed at Tinu and hurled a heavy blow.  She ducked sideways but not fast enough.  The fist landed on the side of her head against the right ear.  She thought a brick had mercilessly hit her head, setting off sudden heat that threatened to explode in her brain.  Her heart missed some beats.  Clouds hovered above and she heard crackling sound in her spine.  While trying to regain clarity of mind, she felt his hands on her shoulders and dimly saw him preparing to throw her some insane distance across the room.  Tinu decided to tuck away her pain for the time being and handle the matter at hand.

Within a split second, Shina felt two strong hands crushing his testis and penis together.  He grabbed at the hands to rescue his precious jewel but the crushing was intensified mercilessly, making him gag as if drowning.

“Ye-e-e-e-e!  Leave it o-o-o-!” he ordered and begged at the same time.  Tinu, feeling empowered, repositioned her hands to get a better handful.  Shina took advantage of the brief relief to act.  With all the might he could muster, he back-handed Tinu across the face. 

Tinu’s neck snapped and her face bounced against the wall behind.  Shina   realized too late that it was a mistake to hit a woman holding his genitals in her grip.

      Her long nails involuntarily dug into his flesh and the pressure on his delicates intensified as the pain of the blow registered.  Shina decided to continuously slap and command her to release his genitals.  The more he did, the more she was filled with vengeance.   It delighted her to hear his soprano scream of agony just like hers.

            Finally, Shina grabbed Tinu’s wrists and yanked her claws off his private property.  Agony hissed through his teeth.  Once freed, his knees buckled and down, he went.  He snatched off his pajamas and examined his precious cargo.  Once he had ascertained that they had not been pulled off their sockets.  He laid them on one palm and gently stroked them with the other hand.  Sickness pitted in his stomach and moved up to his throat.  Too weak to go to the bathroom, he vomited on the rug.  Grabbing both stomach and genitals, he writhed in pain and cried.

            Tinu, felt a surge of pity well up inside as she watched her husband in so much pain.  Then, she realized incredulously that, in spite of his bruised penis and swollen testis, he had a full erection.  She did not know that intense pain could stimulate a man's arousal.

            While musing over this discovery, she suddenly realized that she was still in danger, so she fled and made it to her room safely.  She locked herself inside her room.

            Tinu stood in the middle of the room, staring at the door dreading that Shina with some strange power was going to effortlessly tear it down and come after her again.  Although, terribly exhausted and experiencing serious pain, she stood rooted to the spot for a long time, totally consumed with fear until her knees gave way. She slumped to the floor. Then she felt the wetness on her face as the tears came rushing out of her eyes like Bermuda’s furious waves.  The sobs emanating from her shook her whole body to the core.  Even though she felt drained of all strength, the weeping would not cease for several hours.

            She laid there, exhausted but wide-eyed for a long time until she became conscious that the hard floor had become uncomfortable.  Tinuola dragged herself off the floor and crawled onto the soft bed.  She immediately succumbed to even breathing of repose.

Shina stood wide-legged nursing and examining his assaulted instruments in front of the full-length mirror in the room.  The throbbing and inflamed sensation convinced him that he must have been bleeding.  As he raised his head to the full length mirror, he stared at the reflection of a distorted mouth, tearful eyes and furrowed brows.  He looked like a victimized and helpless child.  He examined his countenance for a long time and then his eyes traveled to the middle of the mirror where he beheld his penis and testis.  He placed them delicately on the palm of his hands like two mounds of iyan pounded yam and turkey neck bone on a platter.  His trousers waited around the knees.  He moved away from the mirror and adjusted his expression.

            “How could you do this to me? You ungrateful gutter-girl!" he bellowed at the door.  The walls of the room stared at him in mute hostility.  He shivered, his shoulders convulsed as he started to cry again.  After a while, Shina started a soliloquy.  Why can’t she just be quiet when I’m angry?  Why does she always aggravate me?  Any smart woman would know by now that she should just avoid making me get angry.  But no, Tinu is too feisty  to succumb and be a good submissive wife.  I have told her times without number to keep quiet but she"s just too stubborn to listen.   

            Shina was always the first to acknowledge the violence of his temper and how easily it could be aggravated.  Shina felt powerful and in control when he saw fear or shock in his victims’ eyes during his sudden outbursts.

            Tinu having noticed this trait in him had never been able to reckon with it.  She was supposed to be a wife, a companion and not an intimidated servant.  She had tried to discourage this treachery in him as subtle as possible without success until she resorted to fighting back.

            After about an hour Shina calmed down.  Feet barely touching the tiled floor, he walked slowly to Tinu’s door, pressed his ears against it and heard sobbing filtering through from the room.  His heart beat thumped faster, his knees felt boneless and his eyes lost its hardness.  He slapped himself on the head in annoyance at himself.

            “I’m sorry, Tinuola-mi.  I wouldn’t have beaten you if you hadn’t been so arrogant and not submissive,” he muttered into the crack between the door panels.

            Raising his voice, he continued, “Tinu, you know very well that I don’t like beating you. I always want to treat you like an angel but you always make me do these things to you.  You are simply too hard-headed.”

            He paused and pressed his ears to the door listening for a response.  All he heard was continuous sobbing and sniffling.  He found himself crying silently with her from behind the door.  After numerous fruitless apologies, he could no longer bear it, so he went into his room.  Feeling defeated and ashamed, he went into his bedroom.

            The light was not turned on.  There, in the dark invoking God as his Witness, he swore never to beat his wife Tinuola, again.

            Waking up the following morning, Tinu mechanically turned her face to the bedside table and glanced at the gold-plated Swiss clock.  The short hand stood near the northern digit, while the long one chased after it.  The sun-flooded room attacked Tinu’s swollen eyes.  The curtains on the windows presented a weak fortress against the ferocious Arabian sun. To her disappointment, she realized that she was still in Shamsiya and not in Nigeria where freedom and peace of mind awaited her.  It was only a dream.  She closed her eyes imploring slumber and the sweet dream to return, but what came was the reality of the previous day’s episode and the reality of her situation.  A sharp stab of pain then attacked her chest.  She felt a swelling within and she started to cry again.  Tinu let the dreary memory wash over her mind and in minute details; she relived the bitter argument that graduated into the violent physical fight.

            Tinu shifted in her bed and winced.  Her right shoulder hurt badly and her neck was stiff.  She changed position and rested on her left rib.  The reflection on the huge mirror of the wall-to-wall closet brought a strangled scream to her throat. She saw an ugly, unrecognizable battered face in the mirror.  Flinging off the quilt, she got off the bed and walked slowly to the mirror.  She stared in disbelief at it.  It looked like she had just stepped out of the boxing ring after several rounds with Mohammed Ali.  Every part of her face was swollen, eyes, cheeks, nose, lips, jaw, even her tongue felt raw and weighted inside her mouth.  She gaped at her reflection in absolute bewilderment and a sad smile suddenly spread across her lips.  Shina has re-created a human being to his taste.  I look so different and fatter, she sighed sadly.  How victorious he’ll feel if he sees me, but I won’t give him that satisfaction.  I won’t let him see it; I can’t even stand him anymore. I must leave him!

            As Tinu thought about how to leave Shina, she sighed sorrowfully; recognizing obstacles here and there.  However, she resolved to flee before it was too late.  Mind drifting back to the commencement of the fight, she tried to recall the cause of this late dispute.

            Oh yes! It was that doctor friend of Shina’s.  He had started it.  He had been trying to brew trouble throughout the evening between wife and husband; making such comments that triggered annoyance in Shina.  He had stealthily made him feel less of a man.  He had cunningly suggested that Shina was a weak man who could not control a woman; otherwise he would have been able to prevent Tinu from traveling alone with three men on an official trip.  The doctor had undermined the sour feeling in him and when he thought he was not making head ways, he then asked Tinu bluntly, “how could you have left her husband alone in Shamsiya for so long and traveled in the company of other men?”  He paused and watched Shina’s face from the corner of his eyes.

            “You know that we men are devilish sometimes especially when a woman’s husband is not around.  I know you are a good woman but men are dangerous."

            Tinu was getting angry but seeing how Shina was cornered and wanting to rescue his dignity, she replied coldly, “Doctor, I want you to know something, there's no man who would gladly let his wife travel on a long trip with other men, even if they are her bosses.  However, Shina understood that I had to go.  He didn’t approve of it but he conceded because he cares about my career.  So I went," she grinded her back teeth together.

            “If your husband didn’t permit you to go, why then did you defy him?  I wouldn’t have let my wife go, had it been me," he blurted out scornfully, eying the young couple in turns.

            “I had to go,” Tinu found herself being defensive.  “I just had to go.  And with due respect, sir, I think it’s our business what we do.  We trust each other.  With due respect sir, I would ask you to please stay out of it.”

As if on second thought, she added, “He couldn’t have stopped me, anyway.”

Yes, that was what did it, Tinuola remembered.

            She recalled the blazing look Shina had thrown her way.  And what he had said the moment they entered the car.

            "So, you’re bold enough to flaunt my lack of authority over you in front of that man, eh?  You’re now telling people that you can do whatever you like without my permission and get away with it, eh?  It simply means I don’t have any control over you, isn’t it?"  He sounded off his bruised ego.

            "I was only trying to defend you, Shina.  The man was insinuating you were a push-over who couldn’t control his wife and I wanted him to understand that you are not.  Can’t you see it that way?”

            "No, I can’t see it that way because that’s not the way it is.  You’re a liar and I know what you mean.  But I’ll show you that I’m a man.  I’ve got control over everything," Shina was seething with anger.

            Tinu silently cursed Dr. Daniel for meddling in their marital affairs.  Softening her voice, she addressed Shina, "I was really trying to show the man that we care and trust each other and that you didn’t want me to go to Paris but you let me because of the love and trust between us.  That’s all," she pleaded.

"Women!  Women!”  He shook his head repeatedly.  “They could have you killed at a moment’s notice,” he seemed to be addressing the windshield.  Then he turned and faced Tinu abruptly, “you took off to Paris and left me here alone to suffer and then you have the guts to tell people that I don’t matter to you, eh?  You know something?  You’re growing long wings, woman!  But I’ll clip them off for you very soon."

      Tinu knew that Shina had a way of luring her into rage with his venomous uttering. He would go on ranting until snapping reaction was inevitable.  Initially, she tried to resist being pulled into the unpleasant situation, for her chronic fear of physical combat, a trait Shina seemed to have detected but mistaken as cowardice.  He had capitalized on it and continually bullied her endlessly believing she would recoil frightfully into her shell.  He never took time to think of what she might do if pushed against the wall.

Shina kept up his vile uttering willfully submitting himself to a mounting temper.  He became so blinded by his rage that he nearly drove into the concrete pavement of the beautiful City Center Medan Corniche Square with flowers hemming the marble monument erected in its bowel.

Tinu heard terror in her own voice as it rang out into the stillness of the night right before he skillfully stirred the car clear of the pavement back onto to the road..  "ARE YOU CRAZY?  You want to have us killed because of your thoughtless temper?  If you want to die, kill yourself when I’m not in the stupid car."

That was it, the reaction Shina had been expecting throughout the drive.  He jabbed his foot on the brake pedal the car and swung his thick back hand across his wife’s face.  “It is you and your family who are the crazy!  Stupid uncultured girl,” he barked wildly at her.  She barked back at him.  He started the car.  They kept up the abuse and counter abuse all the way home.  They barely made it into their apartment on the second floor before they flew at each other ferociously.  Before she knew it, he had served her with punches that gave off bone-crushing sound.  She, in turn flew to his neck and face with her long sharp fingernails tearing at his flesh.  The end results were her mangled face and his scratched-up bleeding flesh.

Tinu did not know how she had survived it, but she had kept herself locked up in the room for four nights and three days without food and drink and without her daily bath.  On the third day, when she was sure her husband had gone out, she sneaked to the kitchen and took four apples and a bottle of water.  She also brought a plastic container into her sanctuary for urinating, which she had been emptying from the balcony into the yard below.  Many times, the gnawing hunger and the almost unbearable thirst brought tears to her eyes and she would courageously remind herself that it was self-imposed.  Tinu craved for a long cold bath and thought about the wonders the coarse Nigerian kankan sponge would do to her body.  On the first day of her solitary confinement, she had cleaned her mouth with a cotton ball and some water.  Later she found a bunch of Nigerian chewing sticks in the drawers of her dresser.  She chewed on one for two days, cleaning her mouth and spitting out from the balcony.  After all, life before oyinbo toothbrush and toothpaste included daily morning mouth cleaning ritual in Africa.

Shina had talked to her several times from behind the door, persuading her to come out.  He even joked that she would starve herself to death if she did not come out and eat.  She never responded.  Initially, it had seemed amusing but later, he became apprehensive.  He feared that she might do something stupid and harmful to herself.  Several times everyday, he pressed his ears to the door and his fears were assuaged whenever he heard slight movement inside.  He also grinned with relief when he detected four apples missing in the refrigerator on the third day of her confinement.  And when some of their friends visited and asked after Tinu, he would simply lie that she was out.  No one had any cause to doubt him.

Once, Tinu was awakened by a low creaking sound coming from the door.  She moved swiftly and discovered a thin rod being pushed through the keyhole to draw aside the scarf she had hung over the doorknob to keep his peeping-Tom eyes from spying on her through the keyhole.  Curiosity, suspense and concern had taken a firm grip on him.

   Tinu drew the scarf aside, grabbed and yanked the rod from his grip.  She let the scarf back into position.  She stood back awaiting his next move.

"Kai" he grunted and then burst into laughter.  "At least, I know now that you’re very much alive and well."  Then, in feigned stern voice, he said, "Stop this silly game and come out of there right now!"

There was no reply.

"Okay, Tinu, I’ll make a bargain with you.  If you come out, I promise you upon my honor that I’ll never beat you again in my life.  All you have to do is to keep quiet when my temper is blown."

Tinu felt her stomach turn as she listened to him.

He continued, "But the problem is that you want to claim equality with me.  There can’t be two captains in a ship.  If you could only accept that, we’ll live happily together.  You know I don’t like fighting with you, really."

There was still no reply from the room.

      Shina hesitated before continuing, "Tinu, be a good girl and come out.  Many people have been asking about you and your friend from Qamariya called too.  Tinu darling, open the door. I love you."  He listened for her response, but none was given.

            She stood there thinking of how nice smashing his face would feel.   That imbecile!  He’s not even repentant.  I know he’ll never change.  How I hate him with all my heart.  Tinu drifted back to the bed and continued reading the novel she has been reading before she slept off.  It was Alex Haley’s Biography of Malcolm X.  This was the second time she was reading the book.  She loved that Black Muslim militant.   She soon gave it her undivided attention - “living the days of struggle to be recognized and treated as a man with that great soul”.  Shina was extinct in the world of the blacks of America fighting for their human rights in the hands of the white majority who controlled the Powerhouse.

      Day Four.  At quarter past seven in the evening, Tinu heard Shina leaving the house.  She watched unobserved from the window as her husband’s car pulled out from the carport.  She waited for a few minutes to make sure he was not coming back right away.  Then, cautiously, she turned the key in the lock, peered out tentatively and listened.  There was no movement.  She stepped out, searched everywhere until she was certain he was not in the apartment.  After confirming that the door to the apartment was locked from the outside, she heaved a sigh of relief.  She rushed to the bathroom, quickly undressed and entered the bathtub.  She turned on the shower and commenced sponging her body vigorously with the coarse bamboo twig kan-kan.  She could no longer stand the discomfort of being unwashed for so long.

      She continued scrubbing her body until it screamed for mercy.  Then, she attacked her mouth.  What a job!  She marveled at how much she had missed the feel of the toothbrush and toothpaste in her mouth.  Completely cleaned, she felt ready for four more days of solitary confinement.

      Wrapping around her body the soft bathrobe she had bought at Marks & Spencer in London the previous summer, Tinu stepped out of the bathroom into the hallway.

      Suddenly, she felt something seized her shoulders, and her heart seemed to jump out of her mouth and back into her chest.  She did not know what or who came out of nowhere and pounced on her, “Gatch ya!” it said.  The devil itself!

            Shina pounced on Tinu with a triumphant jump.  When she realized that it was he, she became furious, squeaked angrily and struggled to tear off his strong arms encircling her.  He was grinning triumphantly from ear to ear.

      “Let go of me!  Fimi sile o!”  She screamed.

      “No, I’m not gonna let go of you.”

      “Let go of me, I said.  And get your damned arms off my body!  Not ever again must you put your arms around me!  “

      He ignored her and continued teasing with mock kisses.

      Furiously, she dug her nails into the flesh on his arms and tore at it.  When he did not release her, Tinu took a deep breath then softened her voice, “I need to be by myself for a while, so please leave me alone and don’t intrude upon my peace.”

      “Com’on, girl, be serious.  Do you want to spend the rest of your life locked behind doors without food?  It’s not good for you, Baby.” He laughed, continuing his teasing.

      “I’ll decide what’s best for me.  Just let go of me.” Tinu yelled sharply.  Shina then released her and stood back against the wall grinning with amusement and watching as she walked quickly into her room.  She closed the door behind her and opened it almost immediately.

   “Where’s the key?”

   “O ho, o ho; you don’t think I’m really gonna give it back to you, do you?  He could hardly keep himself from laughing out loud.  “I won’t give it back to you “cos I don’t want a corpse on my hands.  You see, I still love you, no matter what you think.”

      Tinu gritted her teeth, annoyed at her own stupidity for leaving the key in the door.  She knew that she was not ready to face him, yet.  God! What is she gonna do now?  Her feelings for him in the past months had gone beyond ordinary dislike, it was bordering on so much hatred.  She had felt it coming and knew it was inevitable if he continued to abuse her.  She had begged and warned him many times to prevent it from happening.

      Shina, on the other hand, did not think she was capable of hating him; he believed himself to be her savior, her prince and the only man who would swallow his pride to marry her.  He had had the good grace to lecture her on many occasions that she was not attractive and would have become an old maid if he had not married her.  Therefore, he knew she had to be grateful to him forever.

      At 19, Tinu was a thin frail girl with unusually fine features.  Her face although acne, had strong defined high cheek bones, full lips, nose perfectly rounded and slightly pointed along the bridge to the tip and her chin cut like a picture.  She had long lean body, very small rounded buttocks and generous endowment on her chest.  She was not aware of her beauty because her society glorified full figured women with light complexion, which she did not possess.  This knowledge had systematically deprived her of self-esteem making it easy to believe Shina’s opinion of her.  He had told her on many occasions that he chose her instead of beautiful women because he wanted someone he could mold into the type of wife he wanted.  He had not expected resistance from Tinu.  He thought she would be grateful for his kindness and would worship him eternally.  He did not know that lurked inside the thin seemingly timid girl four years ago was an extremely strong mind.  The assertiveness, the independence, the strong mind blooming over the years had continually maddened and perplexed him.  At times, mere thought of this evolvement would make him start a fight with his wife with no just cause.  What he had intended was to control her but the girl had rejected the slavery of her body and mind.  He had also tried intimidation but succeeded only for a short time. Soon after their marriage, she had summoned enough courage to fight back for her liberation and dignity.  Shina was usually flabbergasted whenever his docile servant-like wife became rebellious. He, however, continued struggling to retain supremacy over her.

      Tinu, looking dejected and defeated, sat listlessly in front of the enormous spherical dresser, opened a jar and rubbed the mixture of different bleaching creams on her face, neck, shoulders, down to her full breasts, her flat belly, her firm round buttocks and all the way to her feet.  She had decided months ago that she was going to enhance her appearance to suit Shina’s interpretation of beauty.  She had started bleaching her skin and taking pills to increase her appetite so that she could gain more weight.  Perhaps, he would not be so angry all the time if she was more attractive to him.  As she pulled on a red pair of trousers, she caught her reflection in the mirror and it brought her out of reverie.  She had been preoccupied with plans of how to keep him away from her room now that he had seized the key, she did not realize that she was crying again.  A sad smile crossed her lips.

      Tinu suspected that she was blessed with a beautiful body even though her husband seemed to think otherwise.  She admitted to herself that she might have been a fraction too thin as a teenager and the acne that had invaded her face did not help her self-confidence, either.  As she had been led to believe, something about marriages; probably the brief happiness and the enjoyable sex; had added a few more pounds to her weight.  She now had a figure sought after in Hollywood according to her American and European friends in Shamsiya.  Whenever she traveled to Europe or America, people always asked her if she was an actress or a model.  Her Arab girlfriends always implored her to wear tight pants all the time to show off her "slim sexy body."  Tinu had also grown to like viewing herself in the mirror but her dear husband always informed her that she was "too thin and ugly."

            She turned around and examined her buttocks sticking out, the sharp curve of her small waistline and the volume of breasts in front of her.  Then she reassured herself that somewhere in the universe, there would be a man who would love, appreciate and cherish her figure.  Lawan had never seen her naked body but it seemed apparent that he really liked what he saw even though fully clothed.  Her husband was the only man who had ever seen her nudity; he was the first and the only man in her life until few months ago.

Chapter Three

Tinu remembered her reaction when they arrived at the camp.  It was like walking into the Arabian One Thousand and One Nights folklore and she could very well have been Shahrazad if it was a dream.  There were several tents of different sizes arranged in a circle around a water fountain and waterfalls wall with multicolor lights dancing to the rhythm of the fountain’s choreographed flow.  The largest tent sat in a rectangular grandeur arrogantly exhibiting the plushest rugs, cushions and pillows in only two colors: red and soft green.  Several small brass and chrome stools flaunted their shine in the light as they obediently held crystal bowls of fruits, sweets and cups of chilled water, juices and other drinks.  Some of the stools carried tiny Arabian coffee and tea sets with long necked kettles. Even the pillars that held the tents up were adorned with embossed brocade.  In the middle of the tent sat a wide round table covered with the same brocade fabric covering.  Two Filipino men were busy setting and arranging assorted food entrées on it.

As Ahmed proudly walked his guests through the camp, he showed each couple their respective sleeping tents and the women only harem before leading them to the largest tent that obviously served as the guest reception area.  Standing by the fountain, enjoying his guests’ flattering appraisal of the property, Ahmed described the architectural and engineering complexity of it.  They even toured the two brick and marble structures flanking each side of the camp.  The structures stood at a considerable distant from the tents.  The building farthest from the tents had two polarized entrances with signs written in Arabic Nisa’a and Rijaal while the second building had no signs.  Tinu, like the other guests, figured what it was.  They had observed the Filipino men disappear into it and come out with shiny trays covered in an array of things they imagined would be tantalizing.

Tinu was dressed in an a-line skirt clinging to her hips, accentuating the roundness of her behind and the curves of her slender body that seemed to catch people off-guard.  The hem of the blouse rested above the hump of her hips almost seamlessly curving into the skirt before it flowed freely down to her ankles.  When Debbie, the American woman complimented Tinu, “you look great!” all the pairs of eyes, both male and female looked at her as if commanded to perform an appraisal.  It was not the women’s eyes that infuriated Shina, it was the men’s.  Tinu, at that instant, humped her back as if she could fold her chest inward, willing her breasts retraction.  I should have brought an extra scarf to cover up my chest, cogitating; annoyed that she hadn’t.  Then, slowly and methodically, she turned away from the appraising eyes, stole a look at her husband, inched closer to Debbie and stated emphatically, “you are the gorgeous one today and look at that dress Azeemat is wearing,” she completed with an up and down sweep of her hand at Azeemat.

“Gentlemen, we better go into the tent and leave the womenfolk to do their female talk of what they are spending our money on,” Azeemat’s husband, the Ghanaian doctor, was the rescuer of the awkward moment.  The men laughed, nodding their agreement.  Ahmed An-Nahwu was the first to lower his gaze.

As the men strolled towards the tent and the women brought up the rear, Tinu felt uneasy.  She could hear Shina’s silence among the men’s chatter.  Tinu had become uncomfortably conscious of her breasts by the time she turned 16.  It might have been the way boys and older men stared at her chest when talking to her instead of looking at her face.  She would cover her chest with a hijab scarf if she had one or fold her arms over her breasts.  The stares made her self-conscious and uncomfortable.  She wished they were not so large in contrast to her small frame.  She missed most of the looks aimed at her behind because she hardly caught those stares.  She believed they were proportionate to her body, anyway.

 Ahmed never brought his wife Leylah to mixed gender gatherings, especially with foreign men.  Tinu and Leylah liked and felt comfortable with each other from the very first time they met.  Leylah spoke perfect English having lived in the United States for many years while Tinu managed to hold conversations in Arabic.  They had attended together many female only weddings, parties and gatherings.  In most Shamsiyan weddings, the only adult male in the room was the groom.  The women did not have to be covered up in their abayah and veils.   People were segregated into two sections of the venue.  All the male guests probably 12 and older sat in a separate room or section.  Professional dancers in revealing balladi belly-dancer costumes entertained the bride, the groom and the guests.  It seemed the acceptable norm except with more conservative religious families in which the groom would be seated with the male guests and not allowed to see unveiled women.   The first time Tinu attended a Shamsiyan wedding, she was flabbergasted.  The jewelry adorned by the bride and the guests seemed exclusively designed for people who did not know how money was earned or its value. Tinu was born into a family with some wealth and saw people who oozed money, but they were nothing compared to this. Nigerian men and women have a deep love for gold, but the grossly uneven distribution of wealth in the country is evident.  At the same event, she could see varied levels of wealth by looking at the jewelry worn, the accessories and the attire. During that wedding in Shamsiya, it seemed as if everyone was rich.  The women dripped in matching sets of diamond and other precious stones laid in gold and platinum in the most unique designs Tinu had ever seen. The women glittered and shone like constellations. The groom looked like he just descended from the clouds.  His thaob jalabia couldn’t be whiter or thinner even if it tried.  The purest white 100% cotton mindheel draped from his head delicately over his shoulders and onto his chest.  The roped black igaal sat like a crown on his head.  His golden brown face boasted of smoothness, matching the beauty of the bride beside him.  Their faces radiated with happiness and nervous anticipation of heavenly bliss at the end of the night.

There was a time when Ahmed’s wife, Leylah, organized a female only get-together at the An-Nahwu family camp and Tinu was one of the few foreign women invited.  The husbands and other male members drove them to the sight but they camped in the open desert.  They sat in a circle around a low flame bonfire roasting a lamb, drinking shai musbut and Arabian coffee and smoking shisha tobacco.   The tarpaulin curtains of the saalah tent were drawn providing total privacy for the women.  They played and danced to both English and Arabic songs.  Egyptian songs were the popular Arabic songs of the night, while Bonny M, Billy Ocean, Lips Inc. featured prominently in the list of the American music.  They even made Tinu dance in the middle of a circle to Bonny M’s ‘Brown Girl In the Rain Cha-la-la-la-la-la.’  The Arab women tied scarves around their waists as they belly-danced to their music, while a couple of Indian women showcased traditional moves to their music.  The men could hear the music and the women’s laughter but they were not close enough to hear to hear their conversations.  Tinu told her husband she had a fabulous time at the all-female get-together upon return home.

“C’mon, let’s go inside the saalah tent, eat and relax,” Ahmed gestured to his guests and nodded to the Filipino men.  He released his feet from the hold of his shoes, shook off the sand and stepped onto the red and green rug.  Shina and the other men copied Ahmed.   Tinu and her peers also followed suit.  When Tinu stepped onto the rug, her feet sunk into a plush softness she had never ever experienced.

While sitting beside her husband later that evening, Shina observed that Tinu had a pretty hijab wrapped around her shoulder and upper torso, he smiled approvingly at her.  Ahmed and his foreign guests lounged through the evening in a pleasurable atmosphere.  They listened to both English and Arabic music, talked about soccer, the Iran-Iraq war, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the fluctuating prices of petrol and gold, and American and British politics.  Before retiring to their respective tents at the end of the night, everybody was in a good mood.