Tale of a Boon's Wife Read online

  “You’re surprised?” The possibility of Sidow rejecting the proposal to elope never occurred to me.

  “No, just elated. Wait here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Sidow hurried toward the shed at the other end of the cornfield where they kept the farm tools, and work clothes.

  Lost in the fear and anticipation of what we were about to do, I didn’t hear Sidow’s returning footsteps. “Wear this,” he said, holding a pair of work overalls and an old denim shirt. On our way to the bus depot, we kept a good distance between us so as not to appear to be together. I took a deep breath to expel the anxiety, but I couldn’t dispel the dread. Sidow went up to the ticket counter and came back with the tickets. “The bus to Cagaaran is almost full and is scheduled to leave in ten minutes. These were the last two tickets.”

  The last call to board came as Sidow and I made it to our seats at the back of the bus. We sat down, and I put my head on his shoulder. Sidow caressed my back in small circular motions. “I love you so,” he said.

  The drive southwest to Cagaaran—a town where those unable to gain their family’s blessing could buy a nikaax—marriage ceremony—took much longer than I expected. The bus made several stops at villages along the way and each time a few travelers got off and others came on. I followed the movements of the oncoming passengers, afraid of a bounty hunter sent by my parents. The possibility of Father seeking revenge entered with each person who came on board. At every stop, I expected someone to grab me off the bus. “I am afraid of what Father might do,” I said.

  Sidow cupped my face between his gentle hands and kissed me in the forehead. “It is too late. We can’t think about that now.”

  *

  The driver dropped us at a small market full of shoppers and gave us directions to the nikaax house. “It is not far from here,” he said. “You should be there in five minutes.”

  We walked close to thirty minutes before we came upon the place. An old man met us near the gate. “Print your names here.” He opened a notebook to a fresh page and handed it to Sidow. When we were finished, the man led us through a stone-walled garden. “You came at a good time. It is usually busy on Thursdays, but we don’t have many customers yet.” The man ushered Sidow and I into a tiny hut at the back of the large, sprawling property. “Go in there. I’ll fetch you when it’s time,” he said and pointed at the opening in a dark gray curtain.

  Sidow parted the fabric, and we entered. Inside were two other couples seated at small tables. Sidow and I sat at the last vacant table near the door. “I hope this doesn’t take too long,” I said.

  An hour later, we were perched on two stools in front of an enormous man. The man shook Sidow’s hand. “My name is Sheikh Deerow,” he said as he leafed through the notebook and found our names. “Did you ask Idil’s father for her hand in marriage?”

  “Yes, but the father refused.” That was only a half lie. Sidow didn’t ask my father, but Father would have refused if he had.

  “Do you have witnesses to confirm that?”

  Sidow and I were surprised at the unexpected question.

  “The children love each other, Deerow, and you are their only hope.” The man who welcomed us earlier answered on our behalf.

  Deerow shared a knowing glance with the man. “True. I am the last hope for many lovers.” He responded as if the man’s interjection gave him the proof he needed of my father’s rejection. Deerow took Sidow’s hand and held it. “Do you promise to be responsible for Idil, to house her, clothe her, and care for her?”

  Sidow nodded.

  “I must hear you say the words,” Deerow insisted.

  “Yes, I do.” Sidow sat upright and faced him directly. “I do,” he repeated.

  “Beyond tribe and friends, outside work and play, only preceded by your parents?” Deerow rattled on.

  “Yes, beyond all but my mother.”

  “Through illness, and whether she is barren or provides children.”

  “Yes, either way,” Sidow confirmed.

  “Should you decide to take a second wife, Idil has the right to ask for a divorce.”

  I jumped off the stool and was standing by the time I realized what I was doing. Second wife. The memory of Father’s constant threat to Mother rushed back. Dazed and shaking, I sat back down.

  “Could you change that so it says I won’t take a second wife?” Sidow asked.

  Deerow agreed. “How much is your dowry?” This question was directed at me. Confused, I turned to Sidow.

  Sidow rested his hand around my shoulder before he spoke. “One thousand shillings,”

  “Do you have the money to pay her now?”

  Sidow pulled a bundle of broadleaf twenty-shilling bills out of his top shirt pocket. Here!”

  Deerow wet his fingers and counted the money twice. “One thousand shillings,” he announced and handed the money to me. “Please accept this as your nikaax sum,” he said and turned to Sidow. “Sign here and here and here.” Deerow traced a forefinger over the paper.

  Sidow and I signed the document in three spots. When we were finished, Sidow paid Deerow the service fee and gave him a small tip.

  “Here is your marriage license. Register it with the village and with both tribal elders.”

  Deerow gave the sheet of paper to Sidow.

  Two hours later with the paper in hand, Sidow helped me to board the same bus we had come on back to Bledley.

  *

  It was a little after sunset when we arrived at Sidow’s farm. Sidow’s mother heard us coming before we passed the rooster guarding the gate. She ran toward us as we approached. “You are back safe!” She hugged her son, released him, and hugged him again. Then she took a step toward me, stopped, took another one, and hugged me.

  We followed her to the house. She didn’t say anything until we were inside. “Her father’s soldiers came here this afternoon and tore the whole place a part. They looked under the beds, inside the grain silos, and in the shed. They threatened to shoot Hasan and me if we didn’t tell them what we knew. Then one of them suggested you might have eloped, but the others laughed at him. ‘A Boon eloping with the general’s daughter?’ they mocked. The chuckling died, as one by one, they came to the realization it was the only explanation for your disappearance. As quickly as the thought came to them, they boarded their truck and headed toward Cagaaran. I heard them say ‘We will get them, dead or alive.’ I prayed all day long for your safe return.”

  What delayed the soldiers from reaching Cagaaran, or intercepting the bus on our way back? Sidow’s mother’s words pulled me out of my thoughts and into the present.

  “What have you done, my son? What possessed you to embark on such a dangerous course of action?”

  “I had to, Mother. I had to!” Sidow responded.

  “Her father will destroy us,” she said as she took one of the stools next to the large wooden couch.

  “I love Idil.”

  Sidow’s mother wiped her face with the hem of her scarf. “This love will not flourish. It will kill everyone, even her.”

  “I tried to forget, to wipe Idil out of my mind, but I couldn’t.” Sidow squatted in front of her and rested both his hands on her knees.

  “I am afraid for you, my son, for Idil, for all of us.” She sighed and closed her eyes before she spoke again. “We must apologize for the elopement, take Idil back to her family, and ask for her hand in marriage, but I am afraid that won’t fix it. Her father is a very powerful man, and his daughter eloping is bad enough. But eloping with a Boon is a great insult.”

  I moved closer to hold her attention, to make sure she’d hear. “You know what my father will say, how he feels. Please don’t take me back there. I don’t want to see them or deal with them. I can’t bear to look at their faces after what I have done.”

  “You two have made a terrible mistake to be sure, but it must be
corrected.”

  “It’s useless to take me back when you know how he will answer.”

  “This is a marriage, a lifetime commitment. We must do it right. How he might answer doesn’t change our responsibility. The elder will send a messenger to tell your parents that you are safe and request a meeting with them as soon as possible.” She stood up from the stool. “Take Idil to your room and you sleep with Hasan. You mustn’t bed her until we meet with her parents,” she said and went to her room.

  As custom dictated, it was her responsibility to make sure we had no opportunity to be intimate until Father’s refusal was confirmed. It was only then that the nikaax, without Father’s consent, could be accepted by Sidow’s tribal elders.

  I followed Sidow to his room and sat on the bed after he closed the door. I prayed as hard as I could for Father not to grant the meeting.

  *

  The day started slowly as we waited for the news of the meeting schedule from Father. I went to the kitchen when I awoke and forced the breakfast of bread and eggs down. Sidow lingered around the cooking area, only leaving for a few minutes at a time to check on the workers in the cornfield. His mother stayed with me, cooking and cleaning, but saying nothing. It was after we had finished eating the midday meal that a messenger arrived with word. The man took Sidow and his mother outside. A few minutes later the messenger left, and they returned.

  Sidow gave me the news. “We’re meeting your parents in an hour.”

  “Father agreed to a meeting?” I was shocked.

  Sidow stood by the door and twisted the knob back and forth. “Yes, he did. I will check with the workers one more time and then we will leave.”

  I returned to the room until Sidow came to collect me. “Come. Everyone is here and ready to go and meet with your father.”

  Two elders from Sidow’s tribe were waiting to introduce themselves and their wives to me when we entered the front room. One white-haired man, about Father’s age, spoke to me. He looked at me with kind, regretful eyes. “We have to ask your father’s permission. We know he won’t grant it; no Bliss father would give his blessing to his child marrying a Boon. Still we must make the request for this union to count.” He held up the marriage license we’d brought from Cagaaran.

  The bright summer sun was hotter than it had been the day before. I had walked this route often, but today the landscape appeared more desolate than it had ever been. Seven of us, separated by our own thoughts of what was to come, moved in a funereal procession. Sidow and I walked in the middle, unable to connect with each other, while the two wives and Sidow’s mother followed behind, whispering about wedding plans and dates. The two men led the procession chanting prayers and good wishes. The closer we came to the compound, the faster my heart beat. I had an impulse to run away when I saw the two lions guarding the metal gate. I took Sidow’s hand in mine instead and forced my feet to move forward, one step at a time, slow and steady.

  *

  Mother opened the door to the main house before we even knocked just like she used to do when Elmi and I returned from school. “Idil?” My name came as a question. Mother’s face broke into an involuntary smile when she saw me, but corrected itself when Father called.

  “Bring them in quickly,” he yelled from inside.

  “Come with me.” She walked ahead of us.

  We followed her into the main house. Father in full uniform, his gun visible in the holster on his belt, charged at us as we entered. “Why are you here?” he demanded.

  “We’re here to apologize for the children’s action and to ask for Idil’s hand in marriage like we should have done in the first place,” the white-haired elder said.

  Father stepped around the man, grabbed Sidow by the collar, and threw him back against the wall that divided the sitting room from the bedrooms. “Who do you think you are, eloping with my daughter and coming here now, expecting my blessing?”

  I covered my ears against the sound of Sidow hitting the wall. It took him a few seconds to recover, but Sidow pulled himself up. The rest of the group, did nothing. I saw Rhoda standing between the study and her room, her feet apart as if getting ready to attack me. We locked eyes, and hers seethed with anger. I gave myself to Omar and his whore, and you did this? she seemed to ask without uttering a word. Jamac and his parents were not there. I surveyed the room in search of Elmi but didn’t see him.

  Father took a bowl filled with popcorn off the corner table and threw it at Sidow. “How dare you disrespect me? As if taking my daughter without my consent was not enough, you come here asking for my blessing? Did you forget you are a Boon and you don’t belong in my family?” Father’s anger was palpable. “I received your messenger and agreed to meet you, thinking you’d know your place and send Idil home. I never imagined you’d come with your elders to ask for my permission as if you thought we were equal.”

  Mother turned to Sidow’s mother seeking a woman-to-woman understanding. “My daughter wouldn’t have married your son of her own free will. You played a part with your sixir and saangudub to make her fall in love with him. Please leave my child alone! Let her come back to her family.”

  Sidow’s mother didn’t say anything.

  The meeting erupted into chaos, Mother begging them to lift their sorcery so I could think for myself and leave Sidow, and Father challenging their audacity.

  It only stopped when a servant arrived with a note. “General, you have a visitor.” The servant held small piece of paper. “He’s from the capital and says he must see you right away.”

  The note stopped Father in his tracks. After reading it, he folded it in his hand. “Is he alone?”

  “Yes, sir. He says it’s important. He has a message from the president and he must see you now.”

  Father turned to me. “Denounce the Boon and stay home like a proper child, or go with him and cease to be my daughter.”

  I had expected such an ultimatum from Father, so his words didn’t shock me as much as they might have. I noticed the expressions of others in the room: Rhoda’s devilish smile seemed to indicate she thought I would fold; Mother’s mouth hung open; the elder’s kind eyes misted with tears. I didn’t dare look at Sidow or his mother.

  I knew that with my decision, all of our lives would be forever altered. “I want to be with my husband,” I responded. Mother’s mouth closed, Rhoda’s face contorted with fury, and Father’s mouth twitched. I turned to Sidow and saw him trying to keep the expression on his face neutral. A lone tear rolled down his mother’s cheek.

  “Go away! Get this filth out of my house. You are dead to me!” Father shouted and left the room.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sidow’s mother had started the wedding reception plans as soon as we returned from seeing my parents. She asked me questions to include me. “Do you want your reception in the daytime or at night?” she asked that first evening.

  “Either is fine. It doesn’t matter.” I didn’t want to appear ungrateful for her efforts, but all I could think about was Father. Six days had gone by and we’d heard and seen nothing. The silence and inaction terrified me.

  “Which one do you want to wear?” Sidow’s mother held one guntiino in each hand. “Traditional or modern?”

  Sidow took the traditional outfit with their tribal symbol embroidered on it from his mother. “You should go with this. You’ll look stunning in it,” he said.

  I nodded without any enthusiasm.

  The week that followed the visit filled me with dread. I waited for Father to retaliate­—send one of his soldiers to attack or intimidate us. I watched for a sign of one of the Red Berets coming into the house in the dead of the night. Each time Sidow was out, I worried he wouldn’t return, but all was quiet. “Father doesn’t let wrongdoings go unpunished,” I reminded Sidow, as he came from the field into the common room.

  Sidow didn’t conceal his surprise. “Are you u
nhappy he has left us alone?”

  Father’s angry silhouette popped into my mind’s eye. “No, I’m not, but I’m afraid he’s planning something dreadful, something hideous.”

  “Maybe he has better things to do with his time and energy.”

  “I hope you’re right.” I dropped the subject when Sidow’s mother entered the common room.

  *

  “I have a visitor for Idil,” Sidow called out from outside his mother’s room. It was eight days from when we’d eloped and seven days from when Father declared me dead. The reception was scheduled for that evening, and Sidow’s mother and her lady friends were busy getting me ready. I still couldn’t believe Father was allowing me to go through with the wedding.

  I shouted with joy when I heard Elmi’s voice. He was the last person I’d expected.

  “You look beautiful,” he said.

  Without warning, tears ran my cheeks dissolving the kohl eyeliner in dark streaks. “How did you know to come today?”

  “I have my ways, but crying wasn’t the reaction I was after. If I’d wanted to see tears, I would have stayed home.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Who?”

  “Mother is crying over Father, Rhoda, Omar, me, and you, but most of all she’s crying because she thinks she hasn’t done enough to keep her family together. So, I came for your smile.” He stepped behind me and tied a gold necklace with a heart-shaped pendant around my neck. “There you go.”

  I lifted the pendant and saw that on one side of the heart was the letter I and on the other was the letter S—initials for Idil and Sidow. It was beautiful and something only Elmi could concoct during such a difficult time.

  I admired the gift. “How did you pay for this?” I asked, instead of saying “Thank you, I appreciate what you have done, and I am touched as this is the loveliest of presents.”