Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 21

7 years ago

Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 21

The dinner was a full house; the head of the house, Jamal Malik, sat rather majestically at the upper end of the table, much like the CEO of a Board of Directors’ meeting. His wife, Mrs Hannah Malik, took a seat adjacent him. Daniel studied her as an ardent football fan would watch a match favouring his club. Hannah, he assumed, must have been a very beautiful lady in her youth, because, although the wrinkles that possessed her face gave her off as a woman who was probably already in her sixties, she still had the grace of a lass; the opisthenars, which were the back of her hands, were totally devoid of wrinkles. She had shiny greying hair, tall and straight body and she seemed quite erect even as she sat close to her husband. There was a pair of dark glasses shielding her eyes, Daniel had initially thought that the spectacles were there for fashion, but when the old lady searched the table with her palm to pick her cutlery, he discovered that she was without sight.

Sitting at the left hand side, also adjacent to the pater and perched near the blind mater, was the eldest son of Jamal – David, with his wife beside him. Anuli was carrying a little child of about a year old on her laps, the baby blinked at Daniel like a lizard sunning on a wall. Sitting next to the graceful Hannah was Remi’s mother, Ruth. Beside her sat Esther, and sitting facing both Ruth and Esther were Ariel and Remi respectively. Daniel sat beside Esther while Remi’s father sat beside his daughter, directly facing Daniel.

It was like a feast in the large dinning room; the table proudly featured foods of various cuisines, both local and foreign dishes alike, but there were no drinks other than bottled water.

The clatters of spoons on plates did most of the talkings as the nine diners ate their meals in silence, and amidst the clatters was the sU-Ckling sound of a baby and its feeder. The maid remained in the kitchen, busy testing the tenderness of the vegetables in a soup pot on the stove.
Although Daniel was very famished, he ate a little of his own food and then quitted. Not that the food was not delicious. Actually, the maid was one of the best cooks Daniel had been lucky enough to sample their culinary treats. He almost drank too much a cup of the Adam’s ale, because he was nervous. He was uncomfortable about eating to satisfaction in a stranger’s home, even though the food was as delicious. He was tempted to down a few more spoonfuls but he cautioned his rising gluttony; he still felt as ill in the house as a guest who is beginning to suspect that he has outstayed his welcome. More than food and drinks, Daniel desperately wanted to have a moment alone with Remi so that they could finish what they had started in the bus a fortnight ago, but it seemed like everyone was doing everything in his power to prevent that from happening. He even suspected that Remi herself was somehow avoiding the meeting from taking place. This half-saddened him, for he was not sure about what was going on––and this worry had made him lose his appetite.

Fiddling with his food, he watched in fascination as the family members attacked their food with remarkable voracity. No one paid him any attention, no one cared if he ate his meal or not. He wanted to rise up at that moment, stamp down his feet in anger and walked out of the room, out of the compound. The strange premonition descended on him again. Something wasn’t quite right. And he still could not get ahold of that thing, it kept slipping off his fingers; playing with his intelligence, taunting his memory.
At last, the meal ended. The robust maid came and cleared all the dishes. After the meal, he expected everybody to rise up and exit the dinning room but no one stood. Most gazes directed towards the pater now. Jamal had told the family, prior the arrival of Tunde and Daniel, that he was going to have a family discussion. There was silence now. This was the uncomfortable moment when people seized on the most unimportant noise and gravely listened. A grandfather clock stirred and rustled at the rear of the big dinning room; almost invisible in shadows. The clock boomed and went on leisurely beating out the hour of nine.

They all listened to the strokes––having the dim idea, as people will, that it might hit more than the indicated number. Some silence soothed, but this one unnerved. This was the cold steel silence of the guillotine blade poised at the top of its track, with the target’s neck already inserted through the lunette below, the harvesting basket waiting for the head. Daniel began to fear that his own head would soon be offered to this bizarre guillotine of unnervement. This deathly quietness almost made Daniel shout just to prove that he still remained among the living.
The landlord spoke:
“I welcome you all to this gathering. I’m very happy to have my sons, daughters and other family members here with me,” he stopped, looked directly at Daniel Famous and said, “Mr. Famous, would you kindly wait in the living room? We’ve got some family discussions to make now.”
“He stays,” Tunde said flatly.
Ruth sprang up suddenly and lashed at her ex-husband, “Who do you think you are? You’re in no slightest position to give orders here. You should be glad that you’re not being kicked out of this house with your pathetic entourage.”
Anger clouded Daniel’s face but he kept quiet. This was the usual family squabbles and feuds, and his interference in this familial brouhaha could be quite detrimental to his own well-being.
Ruth continued, “Who doesn’t know that your presence here is nothing but to upset the apple cart of rationality?”
“Lady, I’m not here to listen to your asinine words,” Tunde replied, “Daniel isn’t my entourage as you dumbly put it, he’s your daughter’s boyfriend.”
“What!”Oh Lord! Coming here was like placing a wrong foot again. Like stepping on a pile of poop.
Daniel was finding it hard to believe his own ears. What nonsense is this man talking about? He opened his eyes wide with surprise and unease.
Silence again descended after Ruth’s lamentation of surprise. Every pair of eyes in the room was directed towards him, even the blind old woman seemed to be staring at him from behind the dark lenses. Those who didn’t take a second shot at him were now looking at him with fascination. They’d have been equally surprised if he’d suddenly grown two more arms, like Gorro of the Mortal Kombat. But one person’s gaze worried him the most – Remi’s. She wasn’t gazing at him, she was glaring at him. That kind of glare was capable of peeling the wetness off water.
“What have you been telling my father, Daniel?” she asked irritably.Oh! This is not good. Not good at all! This new revelation wouldn’t have done the family a greater disservice if he had driven a dump truck through the front wall of the house and unloaded a few tons of fresh manure here in their dinning room. He was therefore caught in a trap nobody would pry open for him here.

And to have any hope of escape, he must chew off his foot and leave the trap behind – figuratively speaking, of course. His timidity was suddenly overcome by an anxiety for egress.
I didn’t tell him that, I swear.”
Ruth said, “Is it true, Vera?”
“Of course it’s true,” Tunde answered firmly, “Do you think Daniel would follow me down here all the way from Port Harcourt for nothing?”
“I think I’ve got the right to ask my daughter a question without having you interfer,” she said coldly, “Answer me, Vera. Is it true what your father said?”
Eyes shifted from Daniel to Remi, all waiting to hear his reply. She took a moment before replying, taking her time to weigh her answer.

She was looking at Daniel now with eyes devoid of emotion. The eyes, incredible as those of a mannequin’s, were totally blank. Daniel was not sure if this was good or bad. He didn’t even know if he would be glad enough whether she replied in the affirmative, because her mother, most especially, would approve of the relationship only when pigs fly. He knew her disapproval of him was not really personal but only because he came into the house with her ex-husband. At least, that was what Daniel believed. Yet, he knew that he’d feel worse if she replied in the negative. This question directed towards her was, ironically, as though he had asked her himself. He knew she knew. He was looking at her, and she at him. The communication shared by only the two.