Oga Martins & His Kettle of Fishes – Episode 18

Martins’ clandestine visit to the hospital was a faux pas that needed to be treated as such. Aisha had been nothing but a good wife since the unfortunate incident that almost cost him his dear life. He had been in coma for three days and it was indeed a miracle that he finally could come out of it unscathed. Aisha was still at a loss on why Martins went on a secret mission to the hospital. Nothing Martins would ever tell her as explanation for his misadventure would she swallow hook, line and sinker. They were back to where they were before the knife stab.

Martins had left Aisha at the hospital after she started tongue-lashing him in the presence of his innocent accomplice. He couldn’t take anymore of his blunt wife’s verbal assault, though he had deserved every ounce of it. However, he felt she could have waited till they got home. He hadn’t seen this other side of her in a long while, and he almost was going to swear that side would never again spring up till death do them part.

But there it was again staring hard at his face. Dr. Ephraim had advised him to be long suffering with his wife, because he was bound to even experience more now that child delivery was months away.

The moment Aisha stepped into the house after a hectic day at work, Martins needed no soothsayer to tell him that his visit to the hospital had woken up a sleeping giant.

“Welcome dear” he could hear his voice resonate in the room as his wife walked in, and he was certain his wife wasn’t going to fall for that.

“Abeg hold it there! Traitor! How dare you Martins? Martins was right! His wife didn’t fall for that shallow greeting. Nothing was going to stop her rage. Martins only prayed ‘these’ wouldn’t end in fatality like the last time. “You thought I was cheating on you?” she bellowed. But for Aisha standing in front of him, Martins could swear he had heard a owl hoot.

“Baby of course not!”

“So what in Pete’s sake was that for? You had to secretly see Dr. Ephraim to confirm my pregnancy status, yet you pretended all along you were cool with this. Like seriously?” Aisha was in momentarily shock like she only just discovered her husband’s betrayal.

“Baby, I was only finding it hard to understand why you kept it away from me.”

“Martins! I kept what away from you exactly?” Aisha took some steps forward to the position Martins assumed by the bedside. For a moment, he thought she was going to physically assault him, suggestive of her long strides and disturbed countenance.

With all Martins had gone through with his wife, he really should have known all the angles to dealing with her. When it came to Aisha, Martins wasn’t particularly what you would relate with a hog knowing so much about Sunday, yet his choice of words whenever he erred still betrayed him. Even when he doesn’t mean it the way the words comes cascading out of his buccal cavity

“Baby let’s forget it. I’m cool now that I know you weren’t even aware yourself..”

“Will you shut that treacherous mouth of yours! Martins, you are no different from the serpent that tempted Eve in the garden of Eden”

“Baby I said am sorry. I know better now” he pacified his wife unrelenting

“No ooo! Martins tell me what you thought I was hiding from you or else all hell with be let loose here”

“Please Aisha, don’t let us go over this again.”

“Martins,this matter is more serious than you see it. If you want us to have peace in this house you will have to answer my questions accordingly.” Aisha was gradually becoming manic, and Martins saw it as a cue to do her bidding.

“Okay, I will. I thought you were hiding the pregnancy from me, so I had to go clear some of my doubts with the Doctor instead of jumping into conclusions.”

“…And you couldn’t do this confirmation with your wife? You couldn’t ask me Martins?”

“I wasn’t sure how you would take it”

“But you were certain of how I would feel if you talked to Dr. Ephraim about it right?”

“Please dear,  I agree I made a mistake, and I’m terribly sorry for it.”

“Martins, I feel betrayed right now. Why would you even think such? All I’ve ever done is be a good wife even with the setbacks our marriage has experienced over the years, even after you murdered our child. I forgave you for all the atrocities your sorry ass committed. But you’ve proven time and time again that you would prefer I make life unbearable for you in this marriage.”

“Baby I’m sorry!”

By this time, the tears had started flowing down her face in torrents. Aisha was not only disappointed with her husband, she was heartbroken. Martins knew at this point, trying to invalidate his wife’s false accusations and putting to nothing her unnecessary hysteria would be futile. He had been with her for too long not to understand that her present mood only needed him to really act like a repentant Judas. Martins needed to fall on his knees asking for his wife’s forgiveness to avert a plausible disaster.

Since the death of Olaoluwa, Aisha goes into a rage whenever her emotions well up and Martins had tried hard to manage her excesses all these years, for he was a strong adherent of the phrase “for better, for worse”. His patience and perseverance had been put to test so many times that he had lost count. He mustered courage as he slowly drew closer to his wife amid a bit of apprehension. He drew her into his warm embrace to console her.

“Baby please stop crying” You know I hate to see you like this. Am sorry I interpreted the situation wrongly”

“Martins, I will never cheat on you even though you’ve tried to with that whore called Runo. I’ve not even done as much as think of another man in the course of our marriage, so why would you ever want to think ill of me”

Martins pretended not to hear the negative talks about Runo, who obviously had nothing to do with the present issue. Even if he had a word to counter his wife’s bad-mouthing, this was definitely not the right time for such.”Baby, I never thought it that way. I just felt you didn’t want the pregnancy, that was why you were keeping it away from me”

“Why won’t I? You think I’ve really being happy all these years since Olaoluwa left us. Though, no one can replace that innocent boy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t long for another. You would have talked to me Martins. I’m your wife for Christ’s sake.”

“Baby I’m sorry! I just want you to be happy that’s all.”

Aisha rested her head on her husband’s chest as he held her tightly to himself

“You know I love you right!” she whispered into his ears, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“I love you more boo! I always will”

They withdrew slightly from each other, taking a long connecting gaze like two lovebirds on vacation from the school of wizardry, who spells had been cast on by a Principal that was against their illicit love affair. As their eyes interlocked amid the tension in the air, it felt like the sun and the moon stood still to herald their new-found intimacy. Martins tilted his face towards hers, lips touching in a flash as they kissed passionately for so long that an observer would think their marriage would crash immediately they stopped kissing.  Even the bolts of lighting outside couldn’t stop them.

Oga Martins & His Kettle of Fishes continues next week…