By Amie Sillah The Trio They continued to plan how to wreck Neneh’s marriage unbeknown to her. Neneh She travelled with her family to Europe for holidays and the trio discussed it in detail. “She will spend a fortune and would come back and bluff us, for how long are we going to put up with the nuisance and nonsense?” Mam Mbissine asked. “Let us get close to Ken and see whether we can seduce him?” Mengeh suggested. “We are too old for him; he does not even look towards our direction and treats us as their ‘aunties’,” Dor posited. “But it is never late to give it a try,” put in Mam. “Let us do something very fast to get rich,” Mengeh posited. “Neneh gives us crumbs but Ken can give us capital to start something big.” From the trip Neneh came back and reported to her ‘aunties’. She bought expensive presents for each of them and they pretended to love and appreciate it as they heaped her with praises and chided her at her back. “Didn’t I tell you that she will come back and bluff at us and that’s exactly what she did but we will teach her the bitterest lesson of her life,” Mam posited. Dor’s Celebration Neneh was invited and she donated generously. They made her stay longer and Ken became very worried. She became worried as well. “It is getting late and I didn’t tell Ken that I’ll be late, the children would also be worried if I am late. Can I go now?” She begged them, but they insisted for her to stay. “Ken would understand that your ‘aunty’ Dor is celebrating her birthday and that was why he gave you money to donate generously,” they all posted. Ken He is quite worried as well as the kids who kept asking after their mother until they slept. He rang her and protested. “What is happening and where are you? Are you safe? It is very late now, whatever it is please stay there until the morning as it is not safe for a woman to drive at night without her husband.” She stammered as the trio urged her to lie. They whispered tell him anything. She stammered and argued: “I’ve have never told a lie to my husband and I cannot start now by telling him one.” They caricatured and pressurized her to say something to Ken. She rang again. “I visited a friend from aunty Dor’s party and found her critically ill and therefore was compelled to take her to hospital and I am speaking from there.” “You better rush home now or better still to send the driver to come for you,” Ken suggested. “I can manage by using the highway and avoid interior streets.” She got up and left unceremoniously. As soon as she was gone the trio burst into uncontrollable laughter. “My husband! My husband! Let us see how it goes! Definitely there will be a rift this time around,” they posited. “My husband my foot!” At Home She came home very guilty. Ken cautioned her. “You are not yourself, were you telling me the truth?” She avoided his gaze and looked down. “I am very sorry, I told you a lie, they made me overstayed and asked me to tell you that lie. But I feel guilty because I’ve never told you a lie.” Ken “This is what I was telling you, your so-called ‘aunties’ are criminals who do not wish you well and if you continue to relate with them they will wreck you and us through you.” She cannot defend what has happened but only apologized. The trio They were disgusted that Neneh instead of being reprimanded was in fact rewarded by Ken giving her D500,000 for shopping. “What is this? Instead of reprimanding her Ken gave her such a sum for shopping, this is not natural but ‘juju’ work. Neneh charmed Ken through her shrewd mother who refers to Ken as her ‘son’. If you see the duplet he built for her at the village it is the envy of anyone who sees it. He made Neneh’s family among the village elite,” Mam posited but Dor is not convinced. She deeply believed that Ken is a good husband and father. The trio became resolved to execute Mengeh’s plan to set up Neneh right now and then. Dor cautioned them; “Let us tread carefully and not do anything stupid.” “We will!” Said the duo. Dor She advised Neneh to ask her husband to let her work and earn her money. “My darling girlie! Ken is the best husband in the world but God forbid what happens if he is gone? Don’t you think you can do something for your self? You are tertiary educated and computer literate. With your qualification you can be gainfully employed. Don’t you think so?” Neneh became very defensive. “Ken said I don’t need to work as my husband provides me with everything and moreover, who will baby sit my kids?” Dor She insisted, arguing her point. “Look at us, we are all self employed and very independent of our ‘vegetable’ husbands. Better still he can open you a supermarket, talk to him he is positive and will surely do it. You can employ a nanny to look after the children.” Neneh She thought very hard and said; “Aunty Dor there is some sense in what you’ve said, I’ll give it a try.” Dor “That’s my girl! I am right behind you.” She kissed her forehead. Neneh “Both Ken and my mother are very suspicious of you and said you are making me go astray but I disagree.” Trio “The King/Queen do no wrong, your mother is grateful to Ken because of what he has done for your family. In her eyes Ken is an angel, as for Ken he will of course be suspicious because he knows we are independently ‘liberated women, economically empowered. All the same we felt honoured and not angered.” To be Cont.]]>
