Dial [completed] Season 2

Season 4 years ago

Dial [completed] Season 2

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She had chewed something minty, and I tasted it on her lips as she kissed me desperately.

I didn’t touch her as it slowly dawned on me…being captured and dragged away to the palace had reminded her of her husband, and she had even remarked how similar her late husband and I were when eating.

She had worn a sad smile the whole day, obviously missing the only man she had ever loved. She had been driven from the main village and pushed across the river to the land of the dead. Abandoned and alone, she could have left the village, but love for her only daughter had forced her to stay.

This woman had lived a hard life, of loneliness, of being called a witch, spurned and hated, even by her own daughter! She probably hadn’t had a friend for a long time…yes, I understood her loneliness, and craving for a sexual tryst.

But, for the very first time in my life, I lost my libido. I held her loosely, but I couldn’t respond to her. I tried, but I just couldn’t. That was something that hit me quite hard, inside that warm room. I had never had a conscience, nope. As long as there was a space, I would roll it, no matter what. I craved for sex, and lived in sex. It had been my fodder!

But I couldn’t do it to this kind, lonely woman. She kissed me fervently, and then her hand roamed my chest and belly, but when she reached for me down there, I brought up my thigh and turned slightly from her probing hand, preventing her from touching my manhood.

She stiffened eventually, and her lips slackened from mine. Slowly she buried her face in my chest, and I felt the hot tears slowly washing over me. I patted her head, aware that I had hurt her in unfathomable ways, but I simply couldn’t speak.

After a while she spun away from me and grabbed a cloth, covered her nakedness, and made for the door. I knew that if she opened the door and went out, we could never face each other again.

I bounced off the bed and went after her, putting myself between her and the door. With pained eyes I looked at her miserably, and when I saw the slump of her shoulders I felt a sharp pain racking through me.
“I disgust you,” she said with her head lowered, her voice tiny and miserable.

I moved toward her, and then I took her hand and put it on my boxers so that she could feel my hard erection. She gasped and looked at me.

“You don’t disgust me, please,” I said gently and stepped back from her hand. “Right now I want to take you to that bed and show you just how much I desire you…but I can’t.”

“Why, Yao?” she whispered tremulously. “I am lonely. I miss my husband so. It is not as if you’re married. You told me yourself you have no one. Why, Yao?”

I put my hands on her shoulders and looked intently at her, my face filled with misery.
“Please,” I began painfully. “All my life, I have never had a friend, Maame. I have slept with a lot of women, and none of them is my friend now. Every woman I make love to end up hating me, eventually. You have showed me something different, Maame Ntiriwaa. I have hated all women, even my own mother, with venom.

But with you, I have found something more powerful and more beautiful than any sexual relationship. You have become my friend, the only friend I have, and I’m scared. If we make love, I might have to leave here, but I don’t wanna leave, at least not just yet. Can we move on from here, for now, please?”
She trembled for some time, and then she gave a shuddering sigh, and gently wiped tears from her face. She looked up at me, and she smiled.

“You’re right, Yao,” she said softly. “Forgive me, I erred. The loneliness caught me off-guard this time. Friends we shall be.”

I sighed with profound relief, and then I hugged her tightly.

The tension was diffused, forever, and although I could feel every inch of her through her cloth, I didn’t erect again.

She turned away, and reached for the rolled mat in the corner, and I sighed deeply.
“Why?” I asked quietly. “We can’t sleep together anymore?”

She spread the mat on the floor and turned to me with a sad smile on her face.
“I embraced Christianity, Yao,” she said, her voice low. “I have followed it for many years, and the Lord has been kind to me. Yes, I knew temptations would come, and I know the sin of the craving flesh is the strongest. I thank you, for being strong enough to save me from that sin. But I’m still vulnerable, still weak, still a woman whose body is craving to be touched…so tonight I sleep alone, on the floor.”

“Then I will sleep on the floor, witch,” I said with a gentle smile as I walked up to her. “You sleep on the bed.”
“No, you take the bed,” she said.
“Nope,” I told her. “Tomorrow I need to see a man named Tawiah, so I need to write some letters. I take the mat.”

Her eyes widened with sudden concern.
“Ah, yes, Tawiah and his dear daughter, Aba!” she said hollowly. “The little girl has been sick for a while. What happened now?”
“I’ll help him take her to the city hospital tomorrow,” I said and sighed. “But there are other things I need from the city, some letters I have to send. Is there anyone around here who can go to the city and run some errands for me?”

She scowled for a while, and then she nodded.
“Yes, there’s a nurse, Afua Takyiwaa, who’s been here for a while,” she said softly, her eyes reflective. “She’s good, knows her way around the city, I guess. If she goes with them I’m sure she can help you.”
“Alright then,” I said with a nod. “I’ll need to write some letters, so I’ll use the mat. Now I can kill snakes, so you don’t have to worry about me, witch.”

We both laughed. It was easy and friendly again, free of the stress that had almost drowned us a few minutes earlier.

She put a blanket and sheets on the mat, as usual, and gave me a pillow. She slipped into her nightie with my back turned, and then she fell on her knees in front of her bed, turned and looked at me.

“Join me, Yao,” she said, patting the space beside her.

I shook my head uncomfortably.
“Nope, thanks,” I murmured. “I don’t do that prayer stuff.”

Her eyes became a bit harder.
“Now you do, more than ever. Come here!” she said insistently.
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And so, for the very first time in my twenty-six years, I got down on my knees, clasped my hands in front of me, and listened to the witch from Etwe-Pe-Kote praying.

She prayed for protection through the night for me, herself, her daughter and all the people in the village. She prayed to God to help me, and touch me, and heal me. And then we said ‘Amen.’

She fell on the bed and yawned mightily.
“Goodnight,” she said, hesitated, and then she uttered it. “Son.”

“Good night, Maame,” I responded.
I took my pen and flip-pad from my bag, and brought out my cheque book.

I wrote two letters and put them in envelopes. Finally, I addressed them, added cheques I had written, and then I sealed them.

I sighed contentedly, turned down the lamp, and slept almost instantly.

And in the morning there was a stronger, fiercer bond between me and the witch…the bond of friendship.

It was an extra victory to me, though.
For the very first time in my life ever…I had turned away from tushy!

It was really a great feeling, and I felt proud of myself, in a humble sort of way.
***
Tawiah was waiting with his canoe when I got to the riverside in the morning, and on his face was a sorrowful look as he bowed low to me.

I carefully put my small classic bag across my head, cross shoulder, and got into the canoe.
“How was your night, Tawiah?” I asked as he picked up the long pole and began to row.
“I slept a little, because I was hopeful that there might be help for my dear Aba, sir,” he said with a tight smile.

“Don’t worry, I will do the best I can for your daughter, Tawiah,” I said gently.
“May the Creator above bless you, sir,” he said, and great balls of tears welled up in his eyes and fell slowly down his face.

We didn’t speak again till we crossed the river, and then walked into the village.

Once again the kids followed me, and the adults paused in their chores to stare at us as we passed. The Health Post was across the village, getting to the outskirts. We passed the main lorry station, and took the road that led out of town.