Barituka was the definition of beauty. Her itshekiri skin shone like newly-made Italian shoe under the sun. Her white teeth stood in her mouth like frozen blocks of snow. Her curvaceous body and voluptuousness was like cocaine that drove addicts crazy and she casted a spell on all and sundry that came her way. Many called her a witch and rumoured that she used the souls of others to enrich her body. Her saleable face housed two crystal clear eyes, a nose finer than the London bridge and lips more succulent than the freshest rose petals. She was a woman in her prime and a beauty emanated from the depths of the Niger Delta. At twenty eight, she was still single and made sure it never got to her, she didn't let the words of her longing-to-be-a-grandmother mother and the anger of a scrooge of her father get to her. She found solace in God and made her favorite mantra ‘nothing is above God'.
She was busy dancing to ‘halla' by The Exalted Tribe as she stirred the mouth-watering egusi soup she had on her cylinder. She lived in a ‘face-me-i-face-you' apartment and had to share facilities like kitchen, toilet and bathroom with other tenants. James smiled as he walked in to meet Barituka who was now squatting in accordance to the music. “Everybody go down, go down, go down, oya hail my Jesus o jare", Barituka said without noticing a second party. James was slyly dancing behind her now and was smiling like a mutilated Christmas goat. Barituka felt someone touching her waist and turned to meet a predatory James smiling like a fox at her. She spontaneously gave him a hard stare and this made him drop his hands. “You this yeye man, wetin you dey find for my body...wetin you keep on top my body? Why you no wan free me?", she said visibly irate as she jumped to outmanoeuvre James. He was still smiling as he spread his hands to catch Barituka who had on a face like that of a mullah; serious and austere. James was beginning to scratch his head, “someone cannot play with you? Fine girl Tuka, socco baby why you dey run from daddy? You be like babe we need the koko. If I pound you ehn, chaii, I swear na you go dey find me everyday", he said winking and pointing to his crotch. Barituka laughed at first, hissed and wore back her mutinous face. She warned him not to try it again and begged him to focus on his newlywed wife. She put out the fire, carried her pot in hand and walked away swaying. “Chaii! Abasi o!!, Na only one human being carry all these disaster for body, why you no pack come before my wedding na? Na you I for marry, chei!, pepper!!", he said and clicked his tongue. He also shaked his head and shrugged when the thought of his dowdy wife arose.
Solomon and Mary had just been married and were to be driven to the reception which was to be held alfresco. Nkiru was properly dressed to slay. Her dress had been designed by a designer who made only bespoke wears. She had a blue purse and shoes to match the pink ankara. Nancy had done her make-up, ‘gele' and had also invited her. Nkiru smelt like a mixture of various aromatic perfumes as she took photos with her iPhone in Nancy's car. She brought her tongue out, pouted, made hard stares and smiled as she smiled took photos. Nancy who always found this nettlesome asked Nkiru to stop but instead, she started a Snapchat video. Nancy drove on paying deaf ears. It was already half past eleven and the church service had ended. Nancy and Nkiru had no plan on attending the service. Nancy was going for what she described as ‘pension rice and malt'. Solomon was her ex-boyfriend and had jilted her for his high school love; Mary. She had gotten over him and was sincerely happy for him. Nkiru was going for reasons far from food and happiness. She was going to catch her next prey. There were going to be blue-bloods to choose from.
They got to the venue on time and people had just started to arrive. Nkiru did the choosing of seats as it was a strategic sitting. She and Nancy settled and she started sipping water from a glass in a supercilious manner. Her long artificial lashes made way as she rotated her eyes from time to time. The reception party had started and was already halfway. Nkuru was sending cues to the groom who was seated almost directly in front of her and was making seductive glances while the groom tried to control himself. The groom's uneasiness became percolated and his best-man helped to put him at ease by obstructing his view from Nkiru.
The party was soon over and as Nkiru was about to step into Nancy's car, she was approached. “Hi!, I'm Sukanmi and what might be your name beauty?", he asked. Nkiru used her eyes to run a scan from his head to toe and when it seemed like she was satisfied, she smiled and stretched her right hand, “Nkiru is my name but you can call me ‘all shades of sexy'...", she said. Sukanmi grabbed her hand and kissed it like a lunatic. She took back her hand slightly irritated and demanded for his phone. She typed her number and said, “call me...ok?... I'll be expecting your call.. ". Maureen was in the car watching how Sukanmi frolicked around different ladies. She was angry and had gone to wait in the car for Sukanmi who had said insensitive things about her she looked and dressed, comparing her to other women. She had gone into the car to lull herself but her anger was fast returning as she watched Sukanmi. She was terribly angry and had a tear on her face.
Sukanmi came into the car with a wide grin and smiled into the side mirror checking out how he looked. “Baby!...My wife...", he said, “did you see that hot chick I was talking to? She even gave me her number and asked me to call her". He belched and looked at Maureen like he had won a feat. She shook her head in disgust as she fastened her seatbelt. She wondered if he was just being insensitive or his brazen lifestyle had taken over his sense of reasoning. He was oblivious to the tears that trickled down her face. “In fact you come and drive, I paid your bride price and must use it", he said. She looked at the tippler and thought of her children. She came down to take over the driver's seat and he just moved to her former seat crashing the items in between the seats and instead of being sorry or a remorseful face, he laughed and commanded Maureen to drive. Maureen played a song Sukanmi despised and termed judgemental as she started the engine. He was either too tired to decry the song or he was already asleep as his head was on the dashboard.
