The Maid 6

“Please, don’t do this,” Shade pleaded with tears in
her eyes.
Gbenga carried two suitcases and threw them on a
heap of bags and boxes outside the gate. “You
don’t belong here,” he threw her box of expensive
jewellery into the street. The lock broke open and
the contents scattered on the street.
“Gbenga, I love you,” she cried.
“If you love me, you won’t betray me like you did.”
He said.
Shade held on to him. “I will never betray you. I
love you.”
Gbenga shrugged her off and hurried back into the
house. Moments later he came out of the house
dragging a huge suitcase on the ground. He looked
like a man possessed or under an evil spell.
“What have I done to deserve such treatment?”
Shade asked her husband.
Miscreants and street urchins gathered in front of
the gate waiting for an opportunity to pounce on
her earthly belongings. Sadique the gateman stood
vigilant over her scattered possessions brandishing
a huge piece of wood.
Something made her look up at the house and she
saw her friend Ngozi looking out from the window
of the master bedroom.
“Ngozi, help me,” she cried out to her friend. “Tell
him he is making a mistake and I am innocent.”
Ngozi didn’t answer her. She shut the curtains and
disappeared into the room.
“Get out of my house and don’t ever come
back,”Gbenga shouted at her.
Someone threw an object at her and it splattered
on her face. She felt some warm liquid flowing
down her neck, to her body. When she looked at
her dress, it was covered in blood. She screamed.
Shade woke up.
Her pillow was soaked in sweat as if someone had
sprinkled water on it. She looked at her watch
lying on the bedside table. It was 3:00am. She got
up from the bed and opened the fridge. She drank
some water and got back into bed but she couldn’t
go back to sleep. She sent Ngozi a text message
telling her where she was and asked her to come
as quickly as she could make it in the morning.
She picked the remote and surfed the stations for a
movie. She fell asleep again watching a Nollywood
movie.
The hotel telephone woke her up.
“Ngozi is here to see you,” the receptionist said.
“Tell her to come up to my room.” Shade looked at
her watch, it was 8:00am.
Minutes later there was a discreet knock on the
door. She let Ngozi into the room.
“I came as soon as I could.” Ngozi entered the
room and sat down on the only arm-chair in the
room.
Shade walked slowly like a somnambulist, sat
down on the bed and folded her legs in a
meditative position. She was silent for a few
minutes.
“Someone called me last night and told me that a
woman wants to steal my husband from me.”
“Did you find out who called you?” Ngozi’s face
had gone red, but Shade seemed not to notice.
“He said that everything was planned by my
adversary to make my husband hate me. What
have I done to deserve this?” Shade asked.
When Ngozi started her car in the morning, she
discovered that all four tires had been deflated.
Sadique the gateman had no idea what happened.
He swore that no one entered the compound.
Ngozi didn’t believe him. She suspected the maid
had a hand in it. As soon as she got back to
Gbenga’s place, she would make sure that the
maid packed her things and left the house.
Shade entered the bathroom, came out to get
something from her bag, entered again and stayed
there for longer than usual. Ngozi heard running
water in the bathroom. She stood up and began
pacing the room. Her plan was not working. She
thought Shade would give up her marriage when
she discovered the indiscretions of her husband
with the maid. But here she was talking about
returning to her home to fight for her marriage.
Who was encouraging such thoughts in her mind?
Shade came out of the bathroom looking dejected.
“Are you okay?” Ngozi asked, looking at what
Shade held in her right hand. It was a pregnancy
test strip.
Ngozi’s face fell.
Shade was pregnant! But that was impossible. The
doctors said her womb couldn’t carry a child. This
must be a mistake. A very big mistake. Everything
she had planned had failed. All the months of
meticulous planning had been rendered useless by
a pregnancy.
Shade put both hands on her head and dropped to
her knees. “I am dead. My life is finished!” Shade
lamented.
“What is going on?” Ngozi asked.
“I am dead. Don’t you understand? This is the end
of the road. My marriage is completely over. My
enemies have won at last.”
Ngozi was confused.
“Shade, you are pregnant, that is a good thing
isn’t it? You and Gbenga have been trying to have
a baby since you got married. Now your are
pregnant. You should be happy.”
“My friend, you don’t understand. I am dead.”
Shade hid her face in her hands and started crying.
Ngozi watched her friend not knowing what was
going on.
Shade lifted her head. Her face was covered in
tears. “This pregnancy does not belong to
Gbenga.” Shade spoke with remorse like a
repentant criminal confessing his various crimes to
a Catholic priest.
“What are you talking about?” Ngozi asked.
“I think it belongs to this guy I…I met. His name