ON THE RUN (EPISODE 28)

The fear of the unknown was a usual common feeling amongst people who had secrets to hide. They sometimes have their brows furrowed at every person that had a thing to do with their dirty secrets. But most times their heart pounded very fast and loud and hard against its rib cages. This ill-starred morning Dede Okoduwa revealed an extra attribute. His palm became slightly damp and unpleasantly cold. He threaded his way, without a sound, to the sitting room, wondering who could be visiting this very hour. His mind hinted him that it might be Ireti, but he quickly dismissed the horrific thought. Oh, It had be fair enough if Ireti was the person behind the door.

He slunk closer to the door and glued his eye to the peephole. Sanmi stood backing the door, with his fist clenched tightly at his side. He couldn't see Sanmi’s face. Jeez! His peering eye caught on the black Echolac box and a greenish brown kit bag sitting by the doorway. He scuttled back to the bedroom like a rat to its hole, his head throbbing at a very fast rhythm. He locked his fearful gaze on the only possible escape route present in the room, the iron-barred window frame.

No way!

Sanmi knocked again!

“Who’s that?” Salewa mumbled, rolled out of the blanket with her sleepy eyes, yawning and stretching, having enjoyed her rest. Her eyes shimmered with surprise as she saw Dede standing in front of the window, pulling the iron bars, examining its strength. “Hey! What are you doing? And why the hell are you in my room?”

That latter question sounded weird in his ears. He turned around slowly and fastened his angry attention on her.

His enraged look scared her. Trying to be bossy, she raised her voice. “I said what are you-”

Dede rushed towards her and covered her mouth with his palm. Salewa struggled all the way, but regained her calm when she heard him say, “Abeg no shout, Oga is back. Na him dey knock.”

She slapped off his loosed grip from her mouth and quickly got out of bed. She rushed to the wardrobe, grabbed her negligee and covered her nakedness. Sweat sprinkled all around her forehead, the heat emitting from her quivering body could smoothen a rumpled shirt. She flicked her long curly hair off her shoulder and stood at akimbo with her head bowed. Thoughts gushing in and out of her troubled mind. How come Sanmi returned without a single clue about his arrival? Hope he wouldn't be suspicious now that it’s taking forever for him to gain access into his home? Where would this moron standing here be hidden?

“Salewa,” Dede called, putting a sudden pause to her jumbled thoughts. “Wetin we go do now?”

While Sanmi took a stroll to the boys’ quarter to ask Dede where his wife went to, Salewa stood still with a more confused aspect, staring into Dede’s eyes. The silence between them grew louder, very loud that one could easily hear the sound of the soft gentle breeze from the old ceiling fan. She still couldn't believe her ears, as she reiterated his words in her mind, laying more emphasis on the fact that Dede just called her by her name. The giant tree of her infidelity had began to bring forth fruit, so quickly. Well,  that mattered less to her at this crucial hour, saving her marriage was key.

It all flashed before her very eyes, the ecstatic moments of her wedding ceremony. The lustrous grin on Sanmi’s face when he signed the marriage register, the minute they both cut the skyscraping cake, and the time she waved her cheery friends and her sober mum, from inside the festooned black Prado Jeep, goodbye. Not at all, she wasn't ready to allow all these be written into the book of history.

“Hurry, go in there.” She intoned, pointing out of her bedroom to another bedroom. Fast, very fast, Dede dashed out, across the sitting room, to the room without questioning.

“Dede!” Sanmi roared again.

Salewa rushed outside, looking shell-shocked, eyes hollowed, as she stood gazing at her husband from a distance. Sanmi limped towards her with his hands in his pockets, neither frowning nor sharing a smile. What’s going through his mind? Would he accept a hug or a kiss? Salewa quizzed herself, and squeezed out a smile. She leaned forward to hug him, but he gave her the cold shoulder. Sanmi remembered his dream the moment he met Dede’s absence in his room.

“Where on earth is Dede?” He squinted into her bright eyes.

“Come on sweetheart...” She attempted another hug, and failed again. “Fine! Since the only reason for your arrival, having left me alone for two wicked weeks, is to confirm where your stupid houseboy went to...fine...fine I will tell you.”

“Shush...” Sanmi noticed her eyes were beginning to saturate with tears. He pulled her closer and hugged her. “I’m sorry...so sorry.”

Oh! The power of a woman, how potent it is to fool even the wisest man. Now the table turned and Salewa had her husband’s heart as a plaything in her hands.

“I missed you baby.” She said, her jaw hanging on his shoulder.

“I missed you more.”

She slowly pulled away from his hold and kissed him. “Uh-oh,” she snapped off her lips from his mouth. His moustache, as thick as toothbrush bristles, pricked her supple upper lip.

“What?”

“You need to shave.” She smiled, examining his face, her hands on his bearded cheeks. “This is not the man I married. You look like a hobo.”

“Oh yeah and this is the woman I married. You look like an angel.”

The lovebirds let out a huge, happy, totally unrestrained laugh, then walked on into the house, to the sitting room.

‘Relationship is for two, three is a crowd,’ was a common saying, but that Salewa forgot, having Dede under the same roof with her perceptive husband. This moment a sickening thud came out from the room Dede hid, catching Sanmi’s attention.

“Honey, what’s that?” He strained his ears. “I thought I heard a bang.”

“No, you didn't.”

She slowly unknit her pink silky nightie to reveal her well-pumped breasts, pointing at him. Salewa knew the best way to block Sanmi’s perceiving ears was to keep his brain and mind busy. Without hesitation, Sanmi cleared his throat, his gape on her cleavage. This was like a romantic bombshell for a man who hadn't seen a woman’s nakedness for three weeks. His heart drummed faster than usual, his hands yearned for a touch and the spit he swallowed almost clogged his esophagus.

“They are all yours.” She said with open arms, making it clear to his thirsty eyes that she still got her sexy body intact. “Take your time...”

“Take my time? For heaven sake, I have no time left.”

She giggled, he yanked her closer, swept her off the ground, then head on to the bedroom. As they were busy rekindling weak feelings, Dede was also busy carving out his escape from the empty bedroom. Lucky for him, the window frame of the room was not barred, so his getaway depended on how fast he could remove the window-panes. All he cared about was the bag of money he kept under his bed in his unlocked room. He knew he had remain a pauper the rest of his life if he didn't seize this golden chance. He counted on luck, so did Salewa.

She had succeeded in stealing Sanmi’s interest and rigid attention. But little did she know that the curtain had not yet fallen on her performance and would have more to do than she had already done.

A phone rang from under the blanket.

Sanmi gropes for it. “Who’s phone is this?” He held it up to her face.

There and then the couple heard again, clearly, a crashing sound.