Midnight Eba

The light of the kitchen in No 2, Folaye Estate came on at exactly 1:00 am on Monday night. You might be wondering why a grown man would be tiptoeing around his own kitchen. Setting out a pot and the container holding ijebu garri.

Dapo had rolled out of the bed he shared with Sophie. They had slept with their backs touching the pillow separating them. It was not the only barrier that had formed between them.

Dapo did not think about the fact that he had not spoken to his wife when he had gotten home. He refused to acknowledge the absence of food at dinnertime. He had watched TV with the sullen face of a three year old and his stomach had growled with the ferociousness of an animal of the forest.

Sophie had gone to bed first, the bang of the room door signaling a good night’s wish, if you could call it that. It also meant that he was not invited in. Dapo had started sleeping in the parlor but mosquitoes chased him in.

Dapo got down to business immediately he opened the freezer. He checked for the Tupperware bowl in its usual corner. If it was there and it was not empty, then maybe Sophie did not totally hate him.

His hand searched and searched. He shifted around Tupperware bowls and all had leftovers and not the efo riro he was searching for. His heart sunk and his stomach juices moved to digest it. At that moment, his eyes landed on a covered small steel bowl.

Efo riro lay in it, with just enough meat to make his eyes water. Sophie still loved him. The soup had said it all. Twenty minutes later, with a stomach full of eba and soup, Dapo began to wonder if he really wanted a child.

When they met, Dapo and Sophie had agreed that the world was cold and cruel. Especially Nigeria with its propensity to chew you up, spit you out and repeat it again. It was bad enough that they had to live in that world, they did not need to bring children into it.

Two years into their marriage, Dapo came home and explained that he had a rethink. Nigeria might be bad, but they had survived had they not? Their children would. Sophie had not replied. She went into the room with her iPad and the silence began.

Two days into the silence, he had come home to no food and he had thought all had ended. But the efo riro spoke of hope.

………….

“I married you for two reasons. You were the first man that did not run away when I said I did not want children.”

“What is the second reason?”

“You do not need to know. But what I do want to know is why you want children all of a sudden.”

Sophie listened as Dapo told her the story of his colleague that dropped dead at work. Of how fear filled his heart. Of how lonely he knew he would be if he lost her. Of how lonely he was sure she would be if he died. Of how he wanted them to have a baby with his eyes and Sophie’s temper. Just in case.

“That is stupid and you know it. I and our baby could die. You and our baby could die.”

Her voice rose, “You don’t even want to have kids for the right reason! You are being selfish. Do you know the type of world you want to bring a child into just because you don’t want to handle death?”

“This place breaks people. It almost broke you and me. Is that what you want for the baby?”

Dapo shrunk back in uncertainty. He was not sure anymore. Even though he knew. He feared the endless possibilities. But he knew still wanted a child. It felt right.

“I don’t know how to explain it. I just want this…”

“Well, I don’t. Please don’t talk about it again.”

Sophie stood near the bathroom door and closed it as she said,

“Don’t talk about it till I am ready.”

…..

“You are pregnant, aren’t you?”

Sophie looked up and asked, “How could you tell?”

He kissed her as he said, “The efo riro spoke of hope.”