TALESMEN: Manhood in the Mouth (Drama)

by Moses Olarotimi Sheyznote

SCENE 1

(At the palace, King Gbadegeshin; his wife; Iyalode and his council-chiefs are all seated in deliberation. In walks Dongari; a village warrior with some men and Ifedunni; the village harlot)

Dongari: (breathing heavily)
Your Highness we caught her with his manhood in her mouth.

Chiefs: (chorusly)
ah!

King Gbadegeshin: what possibly could his manhood be doing in her mouth?

Chief Otun: (stands)
we should ask the man himself why he allowed his manhood to be in her mouth.

(Chief Otun sits)

Dongari: the problem is that he is deaf and dumb.

Chiefs: (chorusly)
ah!

King Gbadegeshin: If that be the case, then she should be able to tell us what this is all about.
(turns to Ifedunni)

Ifedunni: Your Highness! The act is indescribable by me, I can only show you and then you can describe it

Chief Osi: you mean to say, your want the King to (coughs) emm in your mouth?

Ifedunni: (nods three times)
that’s the best way to explain the act.

Chiefs: (chorusly)
ah!

Iyalode: (in a mocking gesture)
perhaps, Chief Osi can volunteer to have his manhood in her mouth for us to know what this act is all about.

Chief Osi: (shaking his head)
and what face will I wear before your eyes? What will I tell my wife at home, that my manhood has find succour in another woman’s hole,
(spits on the ground)
ridiculously not the one between the legs but in the head.

(Ifedunni kneels before the king)

Ifedunni: Your Highness! If you allow me, you won’t regret it. There is nothing sweeter in experience than have your manhood in a woman’s mouth.

Chief Otun: (stands quickly)
shut up your mouth! That’s total rubbish, very immoral.
(pointing to the area where his manhood is)
Our manhood is meant for only the haven between our woman’s thigh and not the mouth.

(Chief Otun remains standing)

(Dongari comes closer to the throne)

Dongari: Your Highness! If permitted, I’ll volunteer mine to the experiment, to confirm the act of this wild woman.

King Gbadegesin: (pointing at Ifedunni)
Is this woman married to any man?

Iyalode: (shakes head)
She is an harlot, her body is for any man with cowries enough to pay for it.

Chiefs: (chorusly)
ah!

King Gbadegesin: (Nodding head and smiling)
as the ruler of this Kingdom, is it not my obligation to protect my people especially from unknown events?
(Stands up)
How is this any different, I’ll volunteer to confirm this act.

Chiefs: (chorusly)
ah!
(All falls flat to the ground including Chief Otun)
(Chief Otun stands up and sounding shocked)

Chief Otun:impossible Your highness, we don’t know what this act is all about and what this woman have in plan.
(at the other chiefs)
We cannot subject our King to an unknown fate.

(Silence…slowly the other chiefs find their seats)
(The Chief whisper among themselves in deliberation)
(Chief Osi clears throat)

Chief Osi: exactly! Appoint any of us to do it, or better still, let’s permit Dongari to perform the unknown act with her.

(A Long Silence…curtain falls)

SCENE 2

(Night. At Chief Otun’s house. Chief Otun is on the bamboo bed with his wife)
(Chief Otun sits up on the bed and turn to his wife)

Chief Otun: Ashake, you won’t believe what happen at the palace today o
(hiss).

(Ashake throws the blanket over herself)

Ashake: Not again this night, whatever it was that happen is none of my business. Spare me the tale and let me rest.
(turn her back at him)

(Chief Otun reaches for her…and in a teasing tone)

Chief Otun: What do you think of it if I ask you to put my manhood in your mouth?

Ashake: (jump out of bed putting her hand over her mouth in fear)
Ah! What ridiculous thing is that?

Chief Otun: (points at his wife)
O ho! Thought you don’t want to hear my story, hmmm?

Ashake: (knots her wrapper tightly…and sits beside her husband)
who did such shameful thing happen to?

Chief Otun: Shameful?! Ehn! She was really so confident about the act o. She kept telling us she cannot describe it except someone volunteer his manhood for the experiment.

Ashake: (claps her hands several times)
I have never heard of such act before, not when we have men like you who don’t even cut the forest between their legs, many won’t even bath for days.
(squeeze face)
Disgusting!

Chief Otun: (stands up and un-tie his wrapper exposing his manhood before his wife)
O ho! You can’t put it in your mouth but you can beg us to deep it into that eternal darkness, that slippery hole that falls all men?
(sits back on the bed)
Ehn! Women like Ifedunni should be applauded for going extra miles to please a man.

Ashake: Awu! You mean that harlot was the one who put your manhood in her mouth?
(Draw closer to him)

Chief Otun: (sounds angry)
watch your mouth woman! I never said I was the one who volunteered, it was a deaf and dumb man she was caught with, and when she cannot describe it, the King…

Ashake: (eyes wide open)
Ah, The King!

(pull her to himself and cover her mouth with his hand and in a low tone)

Chief Otun: You better not get yourself in trouble, did I said the King did anything?

(Ashake brushes his hand away from her mouth and in a low tone)

Ashake: Who then was the sacrificial lamb for her festival of shameful act?

Chief Otun: We heard deep groans and moans behind the veil, and then the terrifying moment of, ‘it’s coming! It’s coming’, and then-
(sigh)
He ran out naked unknowingly, sweating profusely, Iyalode could not stand the sight, she took off immediately.
(laugh sarcastically and falls on his wife but soon stop with caution).

(Ashake pushes him away)

Ashake: Since you’ve tactically refused to unveil the mystery man who volunteered, and I hope it was not you?
(raise brow)
Was he able to describe the act?

Chief Otun: (shaking his head)
That was the most sober part of it all, he could not describe the act, he was lost for words, he just sat there looking like a dead tree.
(stands up and stretched himself like a dead wood)
And this made me to make up my mind that I am going to perform same act with you.
(sits back on the bed and puts his arms around his wife)
I want to see how it feels to have a manhood in a woman’s mouth.

(Ashake pushes him off)

Ashake: Did I hear you well?
(Stands to her feet)

(Chief Otun stands up too)
Chief Otun: Yes! You clearly heard me.
(Holds his manhood in his hand)
As your husband, I am asking you to put my manhood in your mouth, I must confirm what this indescribable act is all about.

Ashake: (in a high tone)
You must be joking!

(A sudden shout from nearby, and then follow by a bang on their door)

Iya Pelumi: (out of breathe)
Chief! Chief!! Ashake! Help ooooo, my husband has gone mad tonight.
(Iya Pelumi continues to bang the door)

Chief Otun: that’s Iya Pelumi’s voice
(run to open the door, Ashake follows behind…Iya Pelumi runs inside)

Chief Otun: (startled)
Woman why the cry at this hour of the night, who or what is after you, And why speak of madness?

Iya Pelumi: (panting) Your friend has gone mad tonight!
(Fidgets about)

Chief Otun & Ashake: (chorus)
Ah!

Iya Pelumi: Chief Osi; your friend insisted he want his manhood in my mouth just as we were about to sleep for the night.

(Ashake and Chief Otun look at each other in surprise. Chief Osi emerges from a corner out of breathe)

Ashake: (hands akimbo)
What in the gods name is wrong with all our men tonight? Why this sudden sick appetite of having their manhood in our mouth?

(Iya Pelumi was shock, look at Chief Otun)

Iya Pelumi: (Speaking to Ashake)
He asked you for same thing?

Chief Osi: (surprised…and speaking to Chief Otun)
Ah! Even you?

Chief Otun: What’s ah?
(Spreads his two hands)
Am I not better than a Chief who chase his wife down the road in the night crying for the indescribable act like a starved dog?
(Chuckles)

Chief Osi: And when did our wives also start refusing the words of their husbands, did we not pay their price to do our biddings?

Ashake: (at Chief Osi)
You should be ashame of yourself!

Iya Pelumi: (pointing at the area of Chief Osi manhood)
He does not shave, that place looks scary?

Ashake: (laugh..and points at her husband)
they are all the same.

Chief Osi: (looks at his wife with disdain)
That’s not the news of the moment. If you won’t allow me, I’ll go pay the harlot to do the indescribable with me

Chief Otun: As stupid as that suggestion can be, I concur
(move closer to his friend)

Ashake & Iya Pelumi: (chorus)
Ah!

Iya Pelumi: Has it come to that?

Chief Otun: They say nothing is sweeter to a man compare to the act.
(At Chief Osi)
Since our wives won’t, then we have no choice than to go pay to satisfy our curiosity with whoever will

Chief Osi: We just want to know what this indescribable act is all about, that even after the act our King could not describe it.
(cover his own mouth in shock)

Iya Pelumi & Ashake: (chorus)
Ah! The King!

(Long Silence….they all stand there staring at each other)

…………………………THE END…………………

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Lyriversity — Liberty of Creativity

THE BLACK WIDOW (Scene VIII-IX)

by Tim Nwaobilo

CAST

Adanma- Widow
Silas- Widow’s husband
Ikenna- Widow’s brother-in-law
Chinyere- Silas’ cousin (village women leader)
Kelechi- Widow’s mother
Roberts- Doctor

CONTINUATION

Scene VIII

IKENNA: So, Adanma, what are you going to do?

ADANMA: What do you want me to do? I will not leave this house for you or anybody. I have said it before and I’m saying it again, you hear me?

IKENNA: See, woman, there is no need for you to sound tough. We can treat this matter in such a way that you will benefit immensely. (Clears throat) Look, you don’t have to feel hopeless. You are a beautiful woman, and moreover, you are my late husband’s wife; so I’ll treat you with love and care. Come and live with me as my third wife. I will take care of your children as my own. You see?

ADANMA: Ikenna, you are wicked and evil.

IKENNA: No, I’m only trying to help you out.

ADANMA: You are a devil. You are now pretending that you are kind and good: a saint, when your real intention is to continue the punishment you and your people have unjustly meted out to me.

IKENNA: It is your good that I seek. It is a pity you have suffered this way but it is not my fault, and that is the way tradition goes.

ADANMA: It is not your fault but you are playing your own part in it.

IKENNA: Adanma, listen, you—

ADANMA: (interjecting) Don’t touch me. Don’t try to touch me again. Ever. If I were a widower would I be abused the way I have been abused? Eh? I am asking you. But as I am a widow and defenceless, I have been put through terrible hardship and violence. And now you come and tell me to marry you. (Sarcastically) So, this is how much you loved and respected your brother? As soon as he is buried, you want to make his widow your wife. Not just your wife, but your third wife.

IKENNA: It is out of respect for him that I want to marry you.

ADANMA: Respect? What a respect! I will not marry you, and it’s final.

IKENNA: Since you have refused to listen to the voice of reason, you will leave this house now with your children and never return.

ADANMA: (defiantly) I will not leave and you cannot do anything.

IKENNA: I can’t do anything? You just watch. (Quiet for some seconds) Pick those your bags; you and your children leave. Now!

ADANMA: (crying) You are throwing me out of my husband’s house? Please have pity on me, I have children with me. Please…

IKENNA: (shouting) I said leave. Or do you want me to call the village youths who will forcefully push you out?

ADANMA: (pleading) Please, Ikenna, please don’t do this to us.

IKENNA: I said leave.

ADANMA: Oh, no.

Scene IX

KELECHI: Who is that crying? Adanma? Why are you are crying and what are you doing here with your children? And you even have your luggage with you. What happened?

ADANMA: We were thrown out of the house.

KELECHI: Who threw you out?

ADANMA: Ikenna.

KELECHI: My God! These your husband’s people are terrible. Come inside with the children. What?!

ADANMA: (crying) See, what they have done to me and my children. Ikenna has been pestering me to marry him as his third wife.

KELECHI: To marry him? Oh my daughter, you have suffered. I’m so sorry. Children, go inside the kitchen; you will see some food there. Eat while I discuss with your mother. So, Ikenna asked you to marry him? I can’t imagine that Ikenna would do such a thing.

ADANMA: I told him I couldn’t marry him; that over my dead body would I marry him. Before then, he had told me to leave my husband’s house. He said I wasn’t from their village and couldn’t possess anything there. I refused to leave; that was when he offered to marry me. When I rejected that too he ordered me to pack out of the house. He threatened to report me to the village head.

KELECHI: He should have reported you. The village head would have cautioned him.

ADANMA: No, mama, you don’t understand. They are all the same thing. The village head would probably have made it worse for me. Imagine involving the whole village.

KELECHI: This is pure evil. Evil.

ADANMA: (lamenting) I don’t know why all this should be happening to me. I don’t deserve this. I have been tortured, both physically and psychologically. I have been forced to eat and drink things I would never have thought of taking. Look at my hair. I am nearly bald. My mind has been torn apart till I’m now nothing more than a jungle beast.

KELECHI: Where did he expect you to go with your children? How did he expect you to live?

ADANMA: Mama, he cared less. If I hadn’t left when I did, he would have brought in the village youths to forcefully evict us.

KELECHI: This is serious.

ADANMA: Maybe I should never have married. Then I won’t be going through this horrible experience.

KELECHI: Don’t say that, my daughter. It’s not because you got married that’s the problem. It’s not even because you got married to Silas. No. Afterall, Silas loved you with all his life. The problem is the tradition you were married into: the horrible tradition. A wicked, most horrible tradition. If you hadn’t married Silas, would you have had these beautiful children? No! Mba! So, just take heart, my daughter. This is violence against women. Crimes against women deeply embedded in tradition. And what does society do about this? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I wonder if there are legislation against practices such as these. Our law-makers just sit up there and don’t know what goes on under. People like Ikenna and Chinyere should spend the next 20 years in prison. By the time 10 to 20 people go to jail, this devilish degradation of widows will be greatly curbed.

ADANMA: That’s their business. What I have suffered is enough to last me a life time. Mama, I’m hungry.

KELECHI: Let me go and get you something to eat. (Sounds a little distant as she moves away) The only thing society does is to make movies out of situations like this. That’s all, and that’s were all efforts end.

ADANMA: Mama, you know what? I just remembered something.

KELECHI: What is that?

ADANMA: A few years ago I watched a movie, and the woman in that movie went through exactly all I have gone through.

KELECHI: (amusingly) Eh-heh?

ADANMA Her name was…what was it again…? Adanma. That was her name. And the title was…had something like ‘widow’ in it…Black Widow…The Black Widow. That was the name. Mama, its sort of a coincidence, but…

KELECHI: The black widow? You see what I mean? Movies, movies, and movies; and that’s were all efforts end.

THE END

Tim Nwaobilo is a young mechanical engineer with a flair for literary works. He writes poems, short stories, plays, critiques and articles quite frequently. He has had his short stories and several poems aired on some local radio stations and is a columnist for some blogsites. He spends half the year in Port Harcourt and the other half in Ile-Ife.

Lyriversity — Liberty of Creativity

THE BLACK WIDOW (Scene IV-V)

by Tim Nwaobilo

CAST

Adanma- Widow
Silas- Widow’s husband
Ikenna- Widow’s brother-in-law
Chinyere- Silas’ cousin (village women leader)
Kelechi- Widow’s mother
Roberts- Doctor

CONTINUATION…

Scene IV

(Knocking on door)

ADANMA: Who is there? I’m coming. (Door creaks open.) Oh, Chinyere. Come in.

CHINYERE: You don’t need to tell me what to do. I know what to do when the door is open.

ADANMA: What can I do for you? What brings you here this morning? I hope there is no problem.

CHINYERE: (shouting) What kind of a stupid question is that, eh?

ADANMA: Chinyere, look here, I don’t know what I have done to you in this life. If not for my marriage to my late husband, I would never have met you. So why have you kept torturing me? Even while my husband was alive, you never gave me peace. You were always instigating my husband against me. My children were like dogs to you and you always hated them. Since my husband died, you have capitalised on that to be cruel and wicked to me. You are flesh and blood. More so, you are a woman like me. I thought you were my husband’s cousin, but you treat me worse than a stranger will. If I should ever suffer for my husband’s death, should you be the one to make me go through all these?

CHINYERE: You should not blame me, you should blame tradition. Moreover, did you not kill your husband? Husband killer!

ADANMA: (shocked) What?!

CHINYERE: You not only eventually killed your husband, but you ate up your two previous children.

ADANMA: (angrily) How dare you say that? My first two children died after an illness. My husband died after an accident. How can you accuse me of killing my own blood and my husband?

CHINYERE: (mockingly) Tell us which juju-man helped you kill him, because it is not possible for Silas to die just like that. You must have gone to use juju on him. Witch!

ADANMA: I am not a witch and I loved my husband from the day I met him, till he died, and even now. I had no hand in his death. Am I the truck driver who hit him? Why would I go to a medicine man to kill my husband? Why would I kill a man I loved, and who was the father of my children?

CHINYERE: You should be asking yourself that question.

ADANMA: I am innocent of my husband’s death. And I beg you, in the name of God, please stop doing this to me. I woke up this morning with pains all over my body. You gave me a mat to sleep on. Can you sleep on a mat on the ground overnight?

CHINYERE: (making jest) I did not kill my husband.

ADANMA: Neither did I. Please give me my mattress so my children and I can use it. We also need our chairs back.

CHINYERE: Until your husband’s mourning days are over, or until you prove that you did not have a hand in your husband’s death, you will continue to sit and sleep on the mat. You should even be grateful for the mat. Other women sleep on the bare ground. Look, don’t lock this door at night. If you lock it, in the morning you will be disgraced in the village square for resisting tradition and custom. Make sure you don’t lock it.

ADANMA: (puzzled and terrified) Why?

CHINYERE: I’ve told you what I have to say. If you lock it, then you will have yourself to blame. Witch! Husband killer!

ADANMA: (crying) God, why must I go through all these sufferings? Is it now a crime to love one’s husband? Why must I suffer over my husband’s death? What kind of tradition punishes women when their husband dies?

…………………………………………………………………………………..

(Insects chirrup; it is night.)

CHINYERE: She’s lucky she left the door unlocked. Women follow me. Adanma, wake up.

ADANMA: (drowsily) What is it…and who are these women with you?

CHINYERE: Get up!

ADANMA: Who are…oh…oh, you brought your women to come and continue your tradition on me. And what is inside that bowl?

CHINYERE: This is black dye. You are going to rub it all over your body.

ADANMA: I don’t need to rub any thing on my body for any reason. I don’t need that thing.

CHINYERE: If you are not going to rub it on yourself, we are going to do it for you. If you don’t cooperate, we will force you.

ADANMA: Ok, wait. But why do I need to rub that dye on my body?
CHINYERE: Because you are mourning your husband and we believe you killed him.

ADANMA: I have told you before, I am innocent.

CHINYERE: Quick, women, remove her dress and rub the dye on her. See, Adanma, you better confess about killing your husband and why you killed him so we will be a little lenient with you.

ADANMA: (weeping) I didn’t kill my husband. Why should I desire to be a widow?

CHINYERE: (hissing) Then you will have it the hard way. Women, start rubbing it on her.

Scene V

KELECHI: Pull that stool closer and sit down. How are the children?

ADANMA: They are fine. They were sleeping when I left. I left them in the care of my neighbour. She thinks I went to the market. I just had to do it to come and see you, so I can’t stay long here.

KELECHI: So how do you feel now that your late husband has been buried?

ADANMA: I feel…I don’t know. Relieved? May-be. But I’m glad he has been laid to rest. Now I can move on with my life. I never knew I would be able to witness the burial ceremony. In fact, two days to the funeral, I dreamt that I fainted at his funeral. My spirit was so down that I felt I would be the next to be laid to rest.

KELECHI: (snaps fingers in mild revulsion) God forbid!

ADANMA: Mama, I’m telling you, I was on the verge of losing it.

KELECHI: Thank God you didn’t lose it, even after all those evil women did to you. Imagine them accusing you of being behind Silas’ death. Unbelievable.

ADANMA: (slaps palms together) Not only did they say that, but Chinyere accused me, to my face, of killing my first 2 children. She said I ate them up.

KELECHI: How could she say such a thing when everyone knows they died after that strange illness.

ADANMA: That was the question I asked her, but she could only insult me more. As if that is not enough, they have made me sit and lie on the ground all the time. See my body, I have not been able to wash off all the dye that was rubbed on me. They also forced me to drink the water used in washing my husband’s body.

KELECHI: (angrily) But why?

ADANMA: They said that if I loved him very much till his death, then I shouldn’t be scared about drinking the water obtained after washing his body.

KELECHI: A sign of love?

ADANMA: Yes, mama. A sign of love!

KELECHI: That is nearly barbaric.

ADANMA: It is outright barbaric. And I told Chinyere that.

KELECHI: So what did she say?

ADANMA: She said I was just a widow with no respect for tradition.

KELECHI: (stomps foot angrily) Tradition my foot!

ADANMA: That’s exactly what I told her too. (Short pause.) Mama, I don’t know what to do after now. I may have to look for a better-paying job than the one I am presently doing.

KELECHI: Are you sure?

ADANMA: But what else can I do? Silas’s salary with my own was barely enough to cater for all our needs. And now it is only me left to be the bread-winner. I have to look for something else to do.

KELECHI: So what do you intend going into now?

ADANMA: I don’t know. I’m just confused. I don’t know the next step to take. I don’t want to make any mistake. My children are very important to me so I have to be both their mother and father.

KELECHI: (heaves a sigh of pity) You are a strong woman, my daughter. Being a widow doesn’t mean your life should come to an end. It only means a new phase of your life has begun. New responsibilities, new challenges.

ADANMA: Yes, mama.

KELECHI: Let me get you something to eat.

ADANMA: No, mama, I should be on my way.

KELECHI: (insisting) You should eat something. You know you need all the strength at this stage.

ADANMA: I know, but I have to be going. My children are still with my neighbour. Soon she’ll be wondering what has kept me so long in the market.

KELECHI: Adanma?

ADANMA: (heaves a sigh of surrender) Ok, mama. Just give me some water.

KELECHI: (jesting) Ah! my daughter. You will never change. I’ll keep your food till your next visit.

ADANMA: (laughing) It will be spoilt by then.

KELECHI: Just bring my grand-children next time.

ADANMA: (humourously) I have heard, mama. But you haven’t brought the water yet.

KELECHI: Ah! my child, I have forgotten.

ADANMA: Ah! mama, you will never change. (Both women laugh.)

TO BE CONTINUED

Tim Nwaobilo is a young mechanical engineer with a flair for literary works. He writes poems, short stories, plays, critiques and articles quite frequently. He has had his short stories and several poems aired on some local radio stations and is a columnist for some blogsites. He spends half the year in Port Harcourt and the other half in Ile-Ife.

Lyriversity — Liberty of Creativity

THE BLACK WIDOW (Scene VI-VII)

by Tim Nwaobilo

CAST

Adanma- Widow
Silas- Widow’s husband
Ikenna- Widow’s brother-in-law
Chinyere- Silas’ cousin (village women leader)
Kelechi- Widow’s mother
Roberts- Doctor

CONTINUATION…

Scene VI

(Someone sweeps with a broom as Adanma hums a song to herself.)

ADANMA: My dear, when you are done with sweeping the room, go and sweep the kitchen for me. (Adanma continues humming.)

(There is a soft knock on the door.)

ADANMA: Who could be knocking on my door this morning? It’s too early.

(A Knock on door again; and she shuffles to open the door…Ikenna walks in)

ADANMA: Ikenna, good morning. How was your night?

IKENNA: It was fine.

ADANMA: What brings you to my house so early? I hope all is well.

IKENNA: All is well.

ADANMA: Please come in and sit down. (Calling out to unknown person) Who is there? Please bring some water for your uncle.

IKENNA: Adanma, I can see you are looking good.

ADANMA: Is that so? I thank God.

(Glass clicks on stool; Ikenna pours himself a glass of water; drinks it and drops the glass back on stool with audible sound.)

ADANMA: How is your wife? I hope she is better now.

IKENNA: I didn’t come to discuss about my family. I came to talk about my late brother, your husband.

ADANMA: And what about him?

IKENNA: You know that since my brother died, I haven’t come to see you and your children in this house.

ADANMA: Yes. And what does that have to do with my husband.

IKENNA: I have come to demand that you vacate this house as you are not from this village. You don’t belong here. My late brother just went and married you to bear children for him. Now that he is no more, you can leave.

ADANMA: What do you mean?

IKENNA: Yes, you can leave. You have served your purpose and have overstayed your welcome.

ADANMA: How can you tell me to leave my late husband’s house? Who will then own it?

IKENNA: I will, of course. As the next in line after your husband, after his death, I automatically own everything he had.

ADANMA: Says who?

IKENNA: Says tradition. Even his own portion of the land our father left behind for us will now be mine.

ADANMA: No! You can’t do this. I will not leave this house and you will not have my husband’s land. Infact, you will not have anything he left behind. I am his wife so whatever he left behind belongs to me and the children.

IKENNA: (sarcastically mimicking Adanma) I am his wife and whatever he left behind belongs to me and the children. Do you know that if you refuse, I will report you to the village head? Then, not only will you relinquish all he has in this village to me, but you will be fined heavily. Plus, you will be disgraced.

ADANMA: Village head?

IKENNA: (snickers degradingly) Just look at your face, like that of a chick who has just lost its mother.

ADANMA: (lamenting) Silas, my husband, why did you leave me to suffer like this in the hands of these evil people. Since your death, I have not known peace. This people want to kill me. They won’t stop until I’m dead. Why? (Addressing Ikenna) You are wicked. You can report me to your so-called useless village head, but I won’t concede any of my husband’s possessions to you or anybody. It is over my dead body that you will take over my husband’s house. You hear me? You gold-digger! So after all my late husband did for you and your family, you can be this heartless to me? Remember when your son was to enter secondary school and you didn’t have the money to enrol him; you came running to my husband like a mad man. He helped you out and I even persuaded him to give you more than you asked for. I—

IKENNA: (cuts in loudly) Woman, will you shut up!

ADANMA: I won’t shut up. Or is it when your last child was sick and at the point of death? Who did you come running to? (Answers own question) Silas. My late husband and I have been very good to you; and yet you have the guts to come and ask me to leave my husband’s house. It is a pity. (Starts crying)

IKENNA: (quietly) Adanma, look, there may be something in it for you. If you don’t want to leave the village, you can live with me.

ADANMA: What?! Abomination! Impossible!

IKENNA: No, it is not an abomination. Instead, refusing to follow tradition is the abomination. Do you know what will happen to you if you refuse to leave your husband’s house? You will only suffer more pain and shame.

ADANMA: I will not leave this house for you and I will not live with you. Period.

IKENNA: Then I will be going. But when next I come, it may not be very pleasant.

ADANMA: Just go. Leave my house. Leave me alone.

IKENNA: I will go but I will be back.

ADANMA: (saying to herself) Why? Why me, oh why? (Starts sobbing)

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Scene VII

(Church bell tolls, indicating a church environment; tolling continues)

ADANMA: (saying sorrowfully) So this is life? What is life even? Today you are happy and tomorrow you wish you hadn’t been born. Few weeks ago, I was happily married with plenty of joy, but now I am a widow. A forsaken widow. A widow beaten and abused by no one else but my husband’s own people: my people. How would I have ever imagined that such a time as this would come in my life? Because my husband is no more, these evil people have chosen to deal with me. What did I do wrong? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I didn’t steal anybody’s property. I didn’t insult anybody. I didn’t kill anybody. But yet they treat me with the devil’s heart. I am a widow, but is that my fault? They have dealt with me worse than they would do to a criminal. Just because I am a widow. Is it now a crime to be a widow? Eh, God! God, why! Why is this happening to me? I don’t deserve this; it is not fair. And they call it tradition. Tradition! What kind of tradition deprives its women of peace? What sort of tradition is that? These people and their tradition are inhuman. For how many months, God? I have slept on the ground even when I have a bed. All my hair has been shaved. I have been abused and manhandled. I have been deprived of food. I still stink from that awful thing they rubbed on my body. I even drank the…water…water…God!…water used to wash my husband’s corpse. Aargh! I have suffered. God, what is this? God you must judge this people: Chinyere and her women and all who supported them. God…judge them, judge all of them for me. They are wicked. Even Ikenna. He said I should come and live with him. Can you imagine? Me, to live with my husband’s brother. As a house-help or what? Aargh! God, even him too, judge him. So because I am a widow, I no longer have rights, eh? Am I no longer a human being? Widowhood is a curse. A curse, God. (A short pause, then in a more stable voice.) God, you have to help me. Save me from these devils. I have no one to run to. If I should leave here, where will I go to? My mother is ageing and cannot do much for me. Going with my children to stay with my relatives will be too much of a burden on them. But why should I leave anyway? I have a house here, and a business I’m doing. Why should I go anywhere? No, I will remain here and stand against all those devils. (Breaks down again) But see what they have turned me into: a black widow. Oh! no. I need your help, God. I need your help.

To be continued

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without the written permission of the publishers.

Lyriversity — Liberty of Creativity

THE BLACK WIDOW

by Tim Nwaobilo

CAST

Adanma- Widow
Silas- Widow’s husband
Ikenna- Widow’s brother-in-law
Chinyere- Silas’ cousin (village women leader)
Kelechi- Widow’s mother
Roberts- Doctor

SCENE I

(phone rings)

ADANMA: Hello, who is on the line?

Dr. ROBERTS: Yeah, I am Dr. Roberts calling from Orji Memorial Hospital. Please, sorry to bother you, are you Mrs. Adanma Chinedu, wife to one Mr. Silas Chinedu?

ADANMA: Yes, please. Can I help you?

Dr. ROBERTS: Not really, madam, but there is a slight problem.

ADANMA: (apprehensively). What is it?

Dr. ROBERTS: Your husband, Silas Chinedu, was involved in an auto-accident this morning—

ADANMA: (interjects, shocked) Jesus!

Dr. ROBERTS: (continues) —at around ten o’ clock. He is lying severely injured at the hospital.

ADANMA: (sounding confused) When did this…what happened to him…how…ok, which hospital did you say he is in?

Dr. ROBERTS: Orji Memorial Hospital, 15 Kaduna road, Onitsha. (Comfortingly.) Madam, please take it easy. It will be better if you leave right away to come and see your husband.

ADANMA: All right. I’m coming, but how is he doing?

Dr. ROBERTS: Madam, come and see your husband now.

ADANMA: I’m on my way. (Jangling of door keys about 5 seconds later indicates Adanma leaving the house).

………………………………………………………

ADANMA: Excuse me—

Dr. ROBERTS: (interjecting) Mrs. Chinedu?

ADANMA: Yes, doctor.

Dr. ROBERTS: Follow me.

(Beeping of ECG machine in background).

ADANMA: (in shaky voice) Honey?!

SILAS: (in low, strained voice); Sweetheart, I…I…love you.

ADANMA: (sobbing), I…love…you…too.

SILAS: Take care of the children (beeping of ECG machine increases in pitch and then slowly starts to die down).

ADANMA: (miserably) Honey…don’t go. (Screams.) Honey! (Bursts out wailing).

…………………………………………………………………………………..

SCENE II

KELECHI: Here, have some water.

ADANMA: Thank you, mama.

KELECHI: As you were saying—

ADANMA: (sorrowfully) I was holding a pot of food over the stove when the phone rang. I answered it and the doctor told me that my husband…was…involved in an accident less than an hour. I kept praying that it was a lie as I rushed to the hospital. But when I got to the hospital I saw Silas…he was bandaged all over. (Lamenting.) My God! why me? Why me? Why did you have to take my husband from me? Why? Why?

KELECHI: (comfortingly). Take it easy, my daughter. God gives and God takes.

ADANMA: (shouting). No, mama. No! It is very unfair. Why should it be Silas? There are bad men out there, not Silas. He was a good man. (Starts crying.)

KELECHI: Adanma, it is well. Take it easy. You are not the first to experience such a nightmare. It’s ok. Take this hanky. Wipe your tears.

ADANMA: (sniffling). It’s like he was just waiting for me to come before dying. He told me just 2 things before he died. But it was the second thing he said that hurt me most. He said he loved me. I was happy he loved me till his final breath. But the second thing he told me…he told me to take …care of the children. For God’s sake, how can he just leave me like that with the children, and then say I should take care of them? With 2 of us, it was hard enough, not to talk of with me alone.

KELECHI: But you can’t blame him. It wasn’t his fault.

ADANMA: I know, I know, but… (Resumes crying.) If only that truck driver had been caught, then I’ll be rest assured he’ll be spending the rest of his life in jail for…killing…killing…my husband. (Sniffles.)

KELECHI: How did the accident even happen?

ADANMA: He was going out in a taxi. They said this truck driver suddenly swerved his truck and went straight for the taxi my husband was in. A head-on collision. It was too sudden; they had no chance to escape it. And just like that, my husband, my life, my joy, my…everything went; just like that.

KELECHI: He must have been drunk. These truck drivers, instead of keeping a clear head in the early morning, they drink their eyes out.

ADANMA: If not for a ‘good Samaritan’ who rushed my husband and the others to the hospital, he could have bled right there.

KELECHI: Don’t cry. You have to forge on with life. The children need you to be strong for them.

ADANMA: (miserably). Aargh! death. Now I am a widow. Silas, you have made me a widow.

…………………………………………………………………………

SCENE III

ADANMA: My son, go and boil some water so I can cook breakfast. Tell your sister to go and sweep outside the house.

CHINYERE: (swish-swash of sweeping broom). Eh-heh, come. Small girl, is that your lazy mother still sleeping? I’m sure she is. She sleeps all day like a bat. She had better wake up.

ADANMA: (door creaks open). Chinyere, how are you, how was your night? Did you—

CHINYERE: (interjects sharply). Just hold it there. Who are you greeting ‘how was your night’? Of course you know how my night was. When will you get tired of flying at night? Our blood will purge you.

ADANMA: (shocked). Chinyere, what are you talking about?

CHINYERE: Yes! Until you stop flying at night and looking for whom to destroy and whose blood to suck, you will not have rest.

ADANMA: Did you come here to sympathise with me or to accuse me and look for trouble?

CHINYERE: If you were not flying about at night, why are you still sleeping at this time?

ADANMA: I was crying all through the night for my husband.

CHINYERE: (sarcastically). Crying? Even the lizard cries for its mother.

ADANMA: If you have come for nothing but to make trouble, please leave me in peace.

CHINYERE: You will not have peace till you tell us what you did to your husband.

ADANMA: I can see you have come for trouble, so I will not answer you.

CHINYERE: So, do you mean you slept on that bed? You are mourning your husband and you are sleeping on a bed? Imagine! Quick, get up, you have no right to sleep on a bed while your husband’s mourning days are not over.

ADANMA: What have I done to you? Chinyere, please leave me alone.

CHINYERE: If you don’t get up from that bed, I’ll go and call the other women, then you will have it the rough way. So just get up from that bed to avoid your children seeing you disgraced.

ADANMA: So if I don’t sleep on a bed, where should I sleep? On the ground?

CHINYERE: Yes. You will not only sleep on the ground, but you will always sit on the ground. But I will be merciful to you and give you a mat which you will use on the ground. Ifeoma, bring that mat here. You will use this mat from now till you are done with mourning your husband. Get up so I can take the mattress away. You will not see it until after one year.

ADANMA: (begging). Please—

CHINYERE: You are wasting my time. I’ll send someone to come and pick the mattress. I’ll come back tomorrow morning. Nonsense.

TO BE CONTINUED…

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without the written permission of the publishers.

Lyriversity — Liberty of Creativity