WRECKED
/ WRECKED 7 6
When Hauwa reached the age of ve, her eldest sister Amina was given out in marriage. She was only fourteen. Then there were seven little ones remaining at home, with another on the way. Hauwa could not remember her mother when she was not in what they called a delicate condition, although there was nothing delicate about it that Hauwa could see. They also called it an unhappy condition, and that is closer to the truth—an unhappy condition followed by a happy event, although the event is by no means always happy.
Her father by this time was fed up of it. He would say "What are you bringing another brat into this world for, haven't you had enough of that by now, but no you can't stop, another mouth to feed!" as if he himself had nothing to do with it at all.
Hauwa was ve or six when she put her hand on her mother's belly, which was all round and tight, and said, "What is in there, mama? Another mouth to feed?" and her mother smiled sadly and said "Yes, Hauwa. I fear so." Hauwa had a picture of an enormous mouth, on a head like a watermelon, with teeth and all, eating away at her mother from the inside, and she began to cry because she thought the baby would kill her mama.
Her father used to go away, even as far as Katsina, to work for the builders that had hired him; and then when the job was over he would come home for a few days, and be out seeking another piece of work. When he was home, he would go to the bar where he would complain to his friends that he was tricked into the marriage; he never said why he thought so. He said a man could not think in all that racket, and how was he to look after himself, with such a large family, and how he was to keep their body and souls together was beyond him. But most of the looking about he did was at the bottom of the glass, and there were always those willing to help him look; but when he was drunk he would become angry and begin cursing, abusing them as a pack of low useless thieving scoundrels, and there would be a fight. He had a strong arm, and soon not many friends were left, as although they were happy to drink with him, they did not want to be at the wrong end of his st when the time came for it. Then he would drink by himself, more and more, and as the drink got stronger the nights got longer, and he began to miss jobs in the daytime.
Soon, he grew a reputation for irresponsibility and the jobs became few and far between. It was not long before he began to give out his daughters in marriage to the highest bidder. For a time, there was money, but things did not improve, and words came to blows, although Hauwa's mother did little to provoke them. It was worse when he was at home, than when he was not, as by this time he was not conning his rages to the bars. He would say he did not know why God has saddled him with such a litter, the world did not need any more of them, they should all have drowned in the nearby lake, and then the young ones would be frightened.
The new baby, a girl, came, and there was more work to do at home. Her father suggested that he should knock the baby on the head and shove it into the garbage pit behind their home, as it would be a good deal happier under the soil than above it. He ew into a rage when he looked around the room and saw everyone staring at him.
When Hauwa turned nine, she travelled to Biu with her father for a visit. During that trip, a distant uncle claimed her for Abdul, his 25-years-old son, a police officer, and told her that they were engaged. At that age she didn't understand what being engaged meant and didn't think too much of it. Later, all she remembered of her engagement was the childish delight of a nine-year-old playing at being an adult. She was thrilled at the gathering of friends and family.
By the time she was 13 and all her sisters had been given out in marriage, she understood what being 'engaged' was. Hauwa was upset and did not want to get married. When she started secondary school, she met a boy that she liked. A neighbour caught him sneaking into her house and told her father. Her father was incensed and beat her until there were bruises. "You are engaged, you silly girl."
Despite her wounds, Hauwa shouted back at her father, "I do not accept that Nikah, papa…" This caused her father to beat her harder.
A few months after her fourteenth birthday, her mother died and her father was distraught. They gave the baby girl to his sister who had despaired of ever having children. "It's just you and me, Hauwa. You'll have to look after me now," he said to his daughter. Young as she was, his words frightened her. His closeness was already oppressive, and now with her mother gone, it could get worse.
It did. He insisted that she share his bed at night. "I want to watch over you, you are going to fetch me a lot of money with your marriage to Abdul." Her impoverished father was motivated by the need to get rid of a mouth to feed, and to replace it with a possible share in a generous dowry. His daughter was a business transaction. He would gain money while Abdul's family would gain a child servant.
She hated the way he stifled her, and looked forward to school and her friend named Gumsu, who also had problems at home. The two of them fantasized about getting a little freedom. "Why don't we run away?" Gumsu suggested one day.
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The idea appealed to Hauwa. She was already fourteen, tall and good looking with a strong desire to get out into the world and see what was going on.
"Yes," she agreed. "Let's do it."
A few days later, she took two thousand naira from her father's purse and during the school's break period, the two friends skipped out of school. They raced down the street laughing and yelling with relief.
"What should we do now?" Hauwa asked.
Gumsu shrugged, "No, idea."
Finally, they decided to buy new clothes by the roadside. Very affordable. The 'Aba' brand. They carried their shopping bags after the transaction with no clear idea where to spend the night. They drifted aimlessly. Hauwa thought of her father alone in that big iron bed, drinking. She was not sorry. They hung around a salon, chewing and popping gum, until eventually an expensively dressed man approached them.
"Do you want to go to a party," he asked, his eyes darting shiftily.
Hauwa looked at Gumsu, Gumsu looked at her, and they both nodded enthusiastically. "Follow me," said the man, walking down the street to an expensive-looking car.
The two girls jumped obediently into the back seat.
"Na Benz be this?" Hauwa whispered in pidgin.
"E be like Toyota." Gumsu whispered back.
They giggled as they looked around.
Now that the man had the girls in the car, he ignored them, and drove silently and swiftly. After about ten minutes, Hauwa leaned forward and tapped him on his shoulders.
"Excuse me, where exactly is this party?" The man braked sharply. "If you want to get out say so now. Nobody is forcing you to go anywhere. Just remember that."
The words made Hauwa uneasy. She nudged Gumsu. "Let's leave this man. I don't trust him."
"No," argued Gumsu. "We don't have anywhere to go. I rather stick with him."
Suddenly, Hauwa wished she were at home. Only she could not lose face and let Gumsu know that.
Another fifteen minutes or so they pulled into a private driveway, and then finally slid to a stop in front of a brightly lit mansion. The drive was full of other expensive cars.
"Wayoooooo!" Gumsu whistled. "This place is fine sha."
"Follow me," said the man, leading them through the front door into the spacious hallway.
"What are your names," he asked.
"I'm Gumsu. She's Hauwa," Gumsu replied amiably. "And we are both really hungry. Any food?"
"All in good time. This way."
He opened the door to a living room filled with people. The room was abuzz with conversation and the clink of glasses. They stood in the doorway until they were noticed and the noise tapered off.
"My friends," their escort announced formally, "I'd like you to meet Gumsu and Hauwa."
Every eye in the room fixed upon them, and there was deathly silence for only a moment. "Very nice." A masculine voice broke the hush, and the laughter filled the room. A short dwarf of a man in blue kaftan detached himself from a group and approached them, holding out his hand. "Welcome to my party, girls. What can I get you?"
Gumsu took the man's hand, "Food!" she said, grinning and loving every minute of their adventure.
Hauwa still felt uneasy. However, she allowed herself to be drawn into the room along with Gumsu, realizing it was too late to make an escape. Besides, when she was handed a full plate of food, she was not sure she still wanted to.
They gave them drinks with plates of rich food. Everyone fussed around them. They chatted in their local dialect and their glasses were constantly filled whenever they were half-empty. After a while, Hauwa felt good.
Someone offered them cigarettes. Gumsu enjoyed that a lot. Hauwa did not like the activity but went along with it.
"Here, try this," Dwarf passed Hauwa a different kind of cigarette. Locally made, it seemed.
She managed a small drag before Gumsu grabbed it from her and said, "Is this weed? Let me try it."
Dwarf smiled. He had sharp ferret-like teeth.
Gumsu pursed her lips, drew deeply on it, and then she began to cough frantically.
Dwarf and his friends laughed along, and even the man who had picked them up allowed himself a smirk.
Gumsu's eyes narrowed as she dragged on the cigarette again, this time managing not to choke, holding the smoke in her lungs for a while, then exhaling triumphantly.
"You learn fast," murmured Dwarf.
"Sure I do," boasted Gumsu. "What else can I try?" The men laughed.
By this time, Hauwa felt distinctly sick.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Hauwa mumbled, staggering from the room. Nobody took any notice. Gumsu was the centre of attention as she prepared to start on another wrap Dwarf handed to her.
Hauwa found the toilet and took an endless pee. The relief was great but she still felt ill. She wandered into the kitchen and spotted an open door with a screen leading to a dark backyard. What she needed was a few gulps of fresh air. She opened the mosquito screen and stepped out. Coordination deserted her, and before she knew what was happening she lost her balance and fell tumbling down the steps to a patch of grass.
She remembered nothing more until awakening in the early hours of the next morning, the daylight harsh in her eyes, her body stiff and cramped. She had no idea where she was. Panic swept through her. Her head throbbed and the taste in her mouth was disgusting. Desperately she tried to think as she stood up in the unkempt backyard and looked around.
Gumsu. Me and Gumsu. Running away. The salon. Man in car. Men. Food. Drink.
My father will kill me. For sure, he will kill me.
She brushed down her clothes as she walked to the screen door. It was locked and the wooden door behind it shut. She made her way to the front of the house. There were no cars in the driveway. The place was deserted, and in the revealing light of day, it looked run-down and dilapidated, not at all the magnificent mansion of the previous evening.
She frowned. The front door was locked, but she was able to peer through a window and was amazed to see that the place looked as if nobody had lived there in months. She hung around, hoping that Gumsu would show up, all the while skirting around the house searching for a place of entry. But everything was securely locked. Gumsu had obviously split—and why not? She probably thought Hauwa had run out on her.
Suddenly, running away did not seem like such a smart idea anymore. Not when you were on your own, cold, tired and hungry. Her father would kill her, but returning home was the only answer. She set o in what she hoped was the right direction.
The events of the next twenty-four hours would always haunt her. The memories stayed with her—as sharp as if it had all happened the day before.
Arriving home, her father was furious. The police asked questions.
Gumsu's body had been thrown from a car in the morning; battered, sexually abused, and very dead.
The police pounced on Hauwa as if she had done it. They took her to the police station and grilled her for six hours straight until her father managed to bail her out of there with the help of a semirich friend. She was taken home and slept for eight hours. Then the police were back with Gumsu's parents, requesting that she guide them to the house where the party had taken place. She was driven around in a truck for hours, but she could not remember where it was.
"Are you sure there was a party?" questioned Gumsu's suspicious father. "Are you certain there was a house?"
After the fruitless search, they drove back to the community hospital. They led Hauwa to a room and there lay Gumsu, naked and dead, her lifeless body covered with bruises.
Hauwa stared, unable to believe what she was seeing. Then she started to cry, great racking sobs. "Take me out of here, please."
The police officer made no move. "Take a good look. A long one, too. That could have been you, girl. And don't you forget it."
Hauwa threw up all over the floor.
The police officer gripped her by the arm. "Let's go find that house. Maybe seeing your friend has jogged your memory."
She was never able to locate the house. Gumsu was buried and after a brief publicity in the corner of the local newspaper, the case was closed. Just one more unsolved murder in the country.
Only this particular murder changed Hauwa's life. Where before, life with her father had been smouldering, now it was impossible. He did not leave her alone for a second. Forever smoothing her thick hair back, stroking her face, holding her hand.
A few months after, she was summoned to Biu and she was married to Abdul, a stern, handsome man, in an official wedding ceremony. She was almost fifteen years old. He was six feet three and a muscled thirty-ve-year-old.
As a bride, she was supposed to be happy. She married into a well-o family, so she had everything, yet happiness eluded her. She avoided sex for more than a week before being told by Abdul's sisters that she was "bringing shame on our brother by rejecting him."
Ten days after her wedding, with her hands still covered in henna and wearing the bright coloured clothes and shawl of a bride, Hauwa dared another escape. She told her husband she was going to her mother-in-law's house, but instead ran through the back streets and convinced a stranger to sell her black clothes to her so she could try to blend with the myriad of shoppers. She made it to the nearby city of Kuje. However, once she was there she realized that though she had plenty of money, it was not easy to get a hotel room. A young woman by herself brought unwanted attention. All around her were men just looking at her and she was scared.
Hauwa did not know where to turn and so she called her mother's cousin, Isa, who was like an uncle to her, to ask for help because he knew that she had not wanted to get married. He picked her up and convinced her to return to her husband, assuring her that everything would be okay. Not knowing what else to do, Hauwa reluctantly agreed.
Fear crept upon her as soon as they got back to her village. Abdul accused her uncle of eloping with Hauwa and ordered him out of his house.
As soon as he left, Abdul took her out of the compound and beat her publicly, then dragged her by her hair back inside the house, to his room, raped her and told her he owned her. He took a chunk out of her soul that night. After succumbing to Abdul's ruthless advances, Hauwa's body went into shock. Her husband and neighbours rushed her to the hospital, but nobody was interested in her complaints, as she was legally a wife.
Hauwa refused to return with Abdul. A few hours of pleading and tear-filled promises and her resolve crumbled. She finally gave in and decided to give 'us' another shot. Hauwa was hesitant, but she felt that if she could somehow behave herself, they could make it work. Besides, her father was too poor to have her back. She decided to persevere in marriage.
The first three months, thereafter, were wonderful. Hauwa was happier than ever and felt lucky to have a man that treated her so well. Abdul became the perfect husband long enough to convince her that she was going to be with him forever and that she loved him no matter what. The new resolution did not last for long. Abdul, the police officer, saw his marriage to Hauwa as a means to act as a depraved criminal. His next outburst was very memorable. One day, they went to visit his brother for the weekend and had plans to see his other friends in the neighbourhood. She opened the passenger door to get into the car. There was a piece of paper sitting on the seat so she grabbed it and gently tossed it to the back.
"What do you think you're doing? You just bent that paper and now it is ruined. Are you stupid?" For the next thirty minutes she had to listen to Abdul viciously lash her character, her family, her upbringing, and then criticize her for crying at his comments; her brother-in-law quietly looked on, a bored look on his face. She would never forget the shock and disappointment she felt at that moment. All that for tossing a club's certification of membership paper into the back seat of a car.
Being so brainwashed already, Hauwa moved past it and tried to play it o in her head as a one-time thing. After all, he was so nice and apologetic later that day that it seemed like it was truly just a lapse in his judgment. She forgave him and the rest of the weekend went smoothly.
Chapter end
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