The Bride Price: An African Romance (Chitundu Chronicles) (20 page)

When they called the names of the graduates, Benjamin heard the name Leibitsang, and walked jauntily up to the platform, saluting his father before he took the rolled up diploma, then shook hands with the dean.  He saw his parents snap a picture at that moment, and it was over. He was a graduate.

Benjamin’s graduation party was riotous.  More and more people showed up and his father realized that he had no way to keep party crashers from wining and dining off the sumptuous spread he had laid out to celebrate the occasion.  At 8:00 Joseph announced he was closing the gates.  By this time, the party tent was a shambles and the drinks and food were gone, along with many of the plates and cutlery, the cushions, and the decorations.  Joseph tried not to let the rampage of the guests spill over on his mood. But Violet echoed his concerns and his lament at the behavior of the guests who had been drinking.  Many just couldn’t handle such an excess of meat and drink after their normal restrictive diet. Some came to be rowdy—it was a party, wasn’t it?  They wanted to forget their work-a-day lives. The pent-up frustrations boiled over in raucous laughter, dancing, drinking, and eating.  Some seemed to be high on the amount of beef they had consumed. The barbecued beef had been a full sized steer, now it was a ribcage and less. A child in the corner of the garden chewed contentedly on one of the ears.

Joseph’s other sons looked dazed at the carnage of the back yard and the piles of rubbish left behind.  A lone rooster wandered into the suburban backyard and started to crow.  After Benjamin left, Joseph and Violet headed to their room, arm in arm; they would clean up the tomorrow, determined not to let the aftermath destroy their jubilee.

It was Sunday.  Benjamin normally went to church with his parents and family.  He liked the lively youth group, the music, and the big screens where he could see every portion of the large cathedral hall. The music was alive with rhythm. Today, however, Benjamin was missing.  His mother thought he was probably sleeping in after the excitement of yesterday.  His father didn’t want to be irritated, as he was basking in the congratulations of the congregation for the graduates and their families. 

Not until late afternoon did Joseph ask where Benjamin had gone. Dodge who had stayed at the Leibitsangs for the party offered to go and look for the boy.  He said he had seen him looking around the party last night and thought he might have an idea where he was.   It wasn’t like Benjamin to not be at a family gathering, which they had planned for this evening.

Henrietta spent the weekend at the hospital.  Her mother had collapsed at the communal ovens where they were baking hundreds of special rolls for the graduation weekend.  By the time Henrietta located her at the hospital, her mother was asleep and the nurses advised her to let the woman rest.  They told Henrietta her mother was suffering from heat exhaustion from exertion and the heat of the baking. Henrietta sat in the chair beside the gurney.  There was not a private room for her mother, but the nurses had kindly placed her in a side hallway near the cafeteria. Henrietta waited for her to wake up. 

When evening came and she was still not awake, Henrietta went looking for food for them.  She returned to the hospital around 9:00.  By this time, visiting hours were over and she could not get in.  She waited outside the doorway, and when a doctor came in for a late shift, he let the shapely young girl through the doorway, signaling her to be quiet and stay low.  She did.  She found her way down the hallway where her mother had been sleeping, but there was no gurney there.  In a panic, she traced her way down each hallway, then again.  Her mother was nowhere to be found. In the morning, she located the nurse that had helped her mother the night before.  The woman had to think for a moment, then she smiled.

‘‘Your mother has been put in a private room.  The patient there died, not of anything contagious, so we just moved her right in.  It will take a few days before the paperwork sorts it out, by then, she may be feeling much better.”  The nurse hugged the girl around her thin shoulders and guided her into the room.  There lay her mother, surrounded by a filmy cloud of mosquito netting with a large drink of guava juice with a straw sitting next to her bed.  She opened her eyes when Henrietta came in, and patted the bed for the girl to lie next to her.  Henrietta pulled the sheet over herself and lay beside her mother. She felt the warm net of security settle over her tired body.

It was late afternoon before Henrietta woke, wondering where she was with the white clouds of curtain surrounding her. Amnesty smiled at her daughter when she saw her awake.  “I am feeling much better, Henrietta,” she said, reaching for her breakfast. “Have some eggs.  I didn’t want to wake you, you were sleeping so soundly.”

Henrietta could hear her mother’s breathing as she lay beside her and wondered if her mother was really better.  She didn’t let herself think what she would have done had her mother passed away while she was searching for some food.  She hoped her mother had not been worried about her. With everything that had happened to Henrietta’s mother, she hadn’t thought about Benjamin’s graduation and party.  She knew he would be worried since he had no way of knowing what had become of her. 

She had to find him and let him know she cared and that she had not wanted to miss his big day.  She hugged her mother again and told her she would be back that evening.  The nurse smiled at her as she let her out of the room and Henrietta turned to note the number. E 126.

Henrietta knew approximately where Benjamin lived.  She did not have cab fare, but she had some leftover rolls, so she spent half an hour selling them at a discount to raise money for her fare.  Within an hour, she was at the wrought iron gate of the Leibitsangs’.  The guard asked who she was seeking and when she said Benjamin, he immediately let her in.

The family was gathered in the sitting room discussing where Benjamin might be.  Uncle Dodge recognized the girl as the one he had seen near the University.

“This is the girl that knows Benjamin.  Ask her where he is,” Dodge said. 

Henrietta looked at the family.  She could recognize the mother immediately.  Benjamin resembled her. The brothers less so.  In their midst sat the father Joseph.  By his stern look she knew right away he was upset by the disappearance of his son, and her arrival.

“How do you know my son?” he asked.

“I bring rolls to the University, that is how we met,” Hen explained. “Where is Benjamin?  Is he missing?”  Her gaze went from one face to another and anyone could see she was shaken.  Henrietta saw Dodge looking at her. This was the hyena uncle Benjamin had described.

Dodge was appraising the girl and he immediately summed her up as a poor girl who was no marriage prospect at all. She would be lucky to bring two goats for her dowry unless someone worked on her appearance.  He liked the bones of her face and her graceful movements as she entered the sitting room.  Still, the boy was throwing himself away on such a twit.  She had no substance.  As he was sizing her up, he missed his brother-in-law’s question.

“Dodge, are you listening?  The girl just told us Benjamin is probably out looking for her.  Her mother is at the hospital, and he may have heard this from the bakery people and gone there to locate her.  Can you follow up on that?” Joseph asked.  It was more of a command then a question.  Uncle Dodge said he would go immediately, and Henrietta said she would go with him to show him to her mother’s room.  Violet stood up and announced she was going as well.

“You stay here, Joseph, in case he comes here first.”

At the hospital, the nurse ushered the three of them into Amnesty’s room.  She had combed Amnesty’s hair, spruced up her bed, and was talking to the young man sitting beside the woman.  Benjamin rose as they came into the room. “Mother, Hen, Uncle Dodge,”

Henrietta walked over and took her mother’s hand, while Violet hugged Benjamin.  Uncle Dodge sized up the nurse and the deluxe private room and wondered if he might have misjudged the girl.  Ben was so relieved to see them all in this space; he even gave Uncle Dodge a brief embrace.  The nurse said she was glad to see them all united, but now her private patient needed a little privacy to get her rest.  Henrietta could come back in the evening if she arrived before eight o’clock.

Violet was happy that her son was safe, and she had met the girl he was pursuing.  Details could be ironed out over a cup of tea when she had Joseph close by to help her think everything through. She looked the girl over carefully and could see that Benjamin had an eye for beauty.  She hoped the girl had character and some backing as well.  She would need it to get through this gamut.  Uncle Dodge wasted no time in investigating the bun girl, as he nicknamed her.  She lived in a flat with her mother, who was a master baker. Amnesty’s husband had been in the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Zaire, and died later of malaria.  There were no brothers or sisters, nor could he quiz the mother as the nurse kept him out of the room.  She was almost militant in her misplaced guardianship of this family, Dodge thought.  Well, they weren’t going to foil him.  This girl was not going to trap Benjamin.  He would see to that. 

On Tuesday, Dodge waited outside the girl’s flat.  He had knocked on the door, but there was no answer. At nine o’clock, Henrietta came out, dressed in a pleated jumper and a school jersey.  Her hair was covered with a scarf and she carried a small basket.  No purse, no phone, no magazine.  She walked to the bakery area, filled her basket with scones and rolls, and sold them rapidly, then took a taxi to the hospital.  Dodge had not anticipated her having transport, and by the time he arrived, visiting hours for the morning were over.  Or at least Captain Nurse told him they were.  He did not see the girl leave, nor did he see Ben arrive.  He had nothing to report to the family.  Nevertheless, he allowed them to invite him for luncheon, anticipating fresh news.  He acted surprised when they asked him for information.  “These things take time and some delicacy,’ Dodge said.  “Pass the rolls.”

Nurse Busia was taking a liking to the bun girl and her mother.  She enjoyed seeing Amnesty gain weight and strength.  The girl brought fresh hot rolls each day, and a change of clothing for her mother.  The boy talked of faraway places and ideas the nurse had never thought about.  He was in love with the girl, and Nurse Busia had never seen such a fanciful pair of young people, without guile and without greed. That is what had impressed her from the beginning.  They came to represent love to her, how life could be if sickness and greed were suddenly dismissed and kindness prevailed.  It had been only a week since they came into her life, but she had begun to see herself as they saw her; the angel of E126.

It was Friday when the flak hit the fan.  Dodge had been making his investigations into the mother’s situation.  Something didn’t add up.  The mother was living in a small dark flat with intermittent electricity and water, but she afforded an expensive private room.  He learned from the front desk that a private room  cost  over $200 dollars a day. 

On the following Monday, Dodge went to the hospital ward and asked if he could view room E126. Nurse Busia showed him the room and asked if he was going to be a patient there.  She reported her patient had been dismissed.  She could give no details. Patient confidentiality. Dodge said he was not sick and Nurse Busia asked, “Then why are you wasting the time of staff at this hospital?  I should make a report.” Dodge scuttled out of the room and down the corridor, fuming at being dismissed so abruptly.

Dodge began investigating the bun girl and her connections. Her mother was friendly to him, and would share her baked goods, asking his opinion on whether the croissants had proofed long enough, or whether the palmiers were sweet enough. After a few trips to Amnesty’s place of business, and never seeing the girl, Dodge realized the girl had disappeared. He checked in with Joseph and learned Benjamin was now on the road on buying trips, and he figured the girl had joined up with Benjamin. Dodge was frustrated at being outmaneuvered by the young people and vowed he would get even.

CHAPTER 33
DODGE’S INQUIRY

The boys were busy with their lives, trade was going well, and Joseph and Violet heard that Bwalya their youngest son, who had been studying art in Paris had married a woman from Europe. He was now teaching at the Burrisfuro Academy only a few hours away, and they expected to hear from him at any time.  Then their son, Calvin became ill.  He was tired all the time, his skin had eruptions, and his breathing became labored with pneumonia.  He developed a high fever. Before they could determine what was wrong with Calvin, his wife and children had fled back to her village.   Although Calvin took quinine, it had no effect, and he died of malaria. A second son then became sick. He was traveling, and his illness might be food related, his mother thought. But the hospital could not help and he died three months after Calvin. In the next six months, two more sons died, each of a different disease. One of pneumonia, another of leukemia. Each time, the wife made no contact with the Leibitsangs, but returned to her people taking the grandchildren with her.

The family took extra precautions,  using the bed nets that had been prescribed, and avoiding drinking water unless it had been boiled or made into tea.  After the death of four sons, and the wives going back to their villages, Bishop could no longer ignore what was happening. He talked to Joseph and asked him to bring the sons together and see if they could tackle this plague that was robbing them of their future. 

Joseph in turn, talked to Violet.  She agreed that something was terribly wrong in their family. She dismissed the servants, reduced the diet to what was traditional, and even called the fetish priest.  She was still surrounded by her remaining five sons. They did not dwell on what had claimed their brothers’ lives.  It could be explained. Probably they had picked up a disease traveling so much and eating foreign foods.  She talked to the pastor about this epidemic of
the thins
that she had heard about. He told her that if he heard of anyone in his congregation having
the thins
, he would ban them and their children from attending the services.  He said that this disease was a punishment from God, and people who contracted it deserved to die. It was the disease of homosexuals and profligates. Violet went home, not sure of what her sons had been accused, and told her husband. The two of them stopped attending the church. They also stopped attending any funerals. Violet urged her boys to stay home, but their business and her husband’s, was in commerce. They hugged their mother and told her not to worry.  They were not going to be catching anything at the road stops or in the guest houses where they stayed.  They were hopeful a cure would be found.