Kwei Quartey - Wife of the Gods

Chikata was staring at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Under my nose,” he whispered. “Under my very nose.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s go,” Dawson said.

“Hey, man, I haven’t finished eating.”

“Can’t you eat and walk at the same time?”

“Where are we going?”

“To buy me a skirt and blouse.”

A T OSEWA’S FIREWOOD SPOT, Dawson instructed Chikata to turn his back and not to look until called. Dawson walked the approximately three hundred meters to the area at the side of the forest not far from the beginning of the path to Ketanu. It was here that Isaac had rebuked Samuel for talking to Gladys and had chased the boy away That was well established. The unanswered question was whether Samuel had really rejoined Gladys on her way back to Ketanu after she and Isaac had parted. That was Auntie Osewa’s version of the story, and if it was true, Samuel must have hidden behind a tree or bush and waited until the coast was clear. But how could he have done that if he had stayed with the farmers until nightfall?

Dawson had bought a skirt and blouse at Elizabeth’s-extra large to fit him. He had lied and said it was to be a gift for a full-figured sister-in-law. The outfit was identical to the one Gladys had been wearing: blue and white with small Adinkra symbols. He had not shown it to Chikata.

With considerable ineptness, for which he forgave himself, he put on the outfit over his own clothes. Then he called out to Chikata to turn around. He stood in place for about three minutes and then walked toward the Bedome-Ketanu footpath. He went up as far as the mango tree laden with tempting fruit. He didn’t know for sure, but he surmised Gladys would have got to at least this point before being accosted by Samuel.

A woman was walking along the footpath with yams on her head, and she looked at Dawson as if he was insane. After she had passed him, he heard her laughing convulsively. Just jealous , he thought.

He stepped into the bush, took the skirt and blouse off, and put it back in the bag. He trotted back to Chikata.

“You saw me clearly?”

“Twenty-twenty.”

“Describe the dress fully.”

“White, and some blue splashes all over.”

“And what else?”

“There’s something else?”

“I’m asking you. Think hard.”

Chikata shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“This is your last chance. Think carefully what else there was besides blue and white.”

“ Nothing . How many times do you want me to tell you?”

Dawson took the dress out of its bag.

“Oh,” Chikata said, surprised. “Adinkra symbols. I couldn’t see them from this dis-” He stopped as the light dawned. “Aah, this time you hit it right. Your auntie could not have seen it either. But why did she tell you that? Why would she lie?”

When Chikata said that, Dawson felt tears pricking. His stomach had knotted up. The pieces were falling together one terrible step at a time.

“For the same reason anyone lies,” Dawson said softly. “To hide what they really are.”

“What is this place?” Chikata asked, looking about the forest clearing that Efia had introduced Dawson to.

“It’s where Auntie Osewa comes for love and attention,” Dawson said.

Chikata shook his head. “Sometimes I don’t understand you at all.”

“We need to build a fire,” Dawson said.

“How are we going to do that?” Chikata demanded. “Everything is wet from last night’s rain.”

“We’ll get it done,” Dawson replied, undeterred.

But it did indeed prove difficult to engineer a pile of firewood dry enough to be set alight.

“Blow on it,” Chikata suggested.

“What do you know about lighting a fire?”

“About as much as you. Nothing.”

“Then shut up, D.S. Chikata.”

A few minutes later a decent flame began.

Chikata collected more dry wood, and Dawson added it slowly to avoid killing the fire. Soon it was blazing and popping.

“Good,” he said, pleased. “Now get me a lot of plants and branches with green leaves.”

As Dawson put those on top, the flame dropped and white smoke appeared. He unfolded the raffia mat and covered the fire for a few seconds, smoke escaping laterally from underneath the mat.

“One puff.” He covered for a few seconds and released again. “Now two… two again…”

“Smoke signals?” Chikata asked in disbelief. “Ah, but Dawson, who makes smoke signals anymore?”

“Nobody,” Dawson said. “That’s why it hasn’t been noticed.”

Dawson repeated the cycle several times. One puff, two puffs, two puffs, one. After a while, the fire burned itself out.

“Now what?” Chikata asked.

“We wait.”

And wait they did. The more time passed, the worse Dawson felt. Even in the heat of the forest, he began to shiver.

I could leave now , he thought. Just go back to Accra, call it a day.

But he thought of Gladys and he thought of Samuel, and he knew he couldn’t leave.

A light breeze whispered through the trees. Dawson caught the smell of the moist earth and the lingering odor of the smoke from the fire. He looked up as he heard the soft crunch of feet upon moist leaves. Judging by the interval between footsteps, it was a man approaching. A final rustle past an obstructing bush and Isaac Kutu broke into the clearing. He recoiled when he saw Dawson and Chikata.

“What are you doing here?” he said in surprise.

“Waiting for you and Auntie Osewa,” Dawson said.

Isaac suddenly seemed to shrink. “Why?”

“Is this where you always meet, or do you choose a different place each time?”

Isaac’s shoulders slumped, and he passed his hand over his face like a cloth across a windowpane. “How did you know?”

“Just when you think no one is watching, someone sees.”

“You did?”

“Not me.”

A soft footfall, lighter and quicker than Isaac’s, came from beyond the clearing, and seconds later Auntie Osewa appeared. She went rigid and looked quizzically from Dawson and Chikata to Isaac.

“What’s happening?”

“I saw the signal and I thought it was you,” Isaac said.

“And I thought it was you.” Osewa turned to Dawson, mystified. “Darko?”

“Isaac loves you, Auntie, and you love him. When you signal for him to come to you, he comes. Not so?”

“This is none of your concern, Darko.”

“I’m sorry, Auntie. This isn’t easy for me either, because I’ve loved you from the first day I met you. The way you treated Mama and Cairo and me, your cooking, how you’ve cared for us… I want to thank you. I’ll never forget it.”

She softened. “It’s my duty as an aunt. I love you and Cairo, so I treat you with love.”

“Did you love my mother too?”

“Of course , Darko. Why do you ask such a thing? Of course I loved her.”

“But jealousy defeats love every time, doesn’t it? They’re opposite sides of the same coin, but jealousy always comes out heads.”

“My dear Darko, what you are talking about?”

“Jealousy,” Darko said softly, almost musing to himself. “And its twin, possessiveness.”

“I don’t understand.”

“How did it feel the day Isaac came to the house with Gladys? Did it seem to you like they were close, Auntie? Like there was romance between the two of them?”

“They were working together on the medicines, that’s all,” she said. “I don’t know why you or I should think anything else.”

“I don’t either, but that’s our heads talking. What our hearts say is different. The heart makes an impression on the head, but it’s never the reverse, and it’s the heart that drives our passions and motives.”