Vexed she summoned him to the bedroom. He entered into the room shivering. She pulled her sleeves up. With her wide and thick palm that could cover the whole of his tiny face she dealt him a deadly slap. It was holding the table he saved himself from fully collapsing. An SMS message that read “my love” made his life to go from bad to worse.
“If you ask me for divorce, I don’t know what I will do now, but If I hear this rubbish word on your lousy mouth,” she paused her speech for a while fixing fiery eyes on his face. Grasping him under his armpit she helped him back to his feet. And she scooted him to the window, which was found on the 9th floor of their condominium. It was a burrow regarded the gate of hell.
“If I hear the disgusting word ‘divorce’ even by mistake, be sure you will suffer a free fall. I will escort you to the pit of hell,” John was sure she would do it one day. Right away he nodded “yes” in dread. She went by Genet, which literary means heaven. The Amharic saying “angels make names” was disproved by her. Her name was the exact opposite of her characters. Her chocolate face darkened in a moment. His slaps-suffered face developed bruises, which made lines on his tomato face.
On the subsequent day, he was dealt three upper cuts for hiding five hundred birr from his wage. On another day he was flogged by belt coming home drunk. Tall and fat, Genet was domineering on him who was small and thin. This unbalanced body mass made him an absolute docile. He was a henpecked husband. Rather as per the traditional mentality he was playing the role of a wife, while she was the other way round. Another month later, he said he didn’t have money for his three children’s school fee to spend the night kneeling.
She had a higher body mass and a house, but he possessed only one thing in his life, that is his job. One day, he got mind-bending ideas from his friends. He then bought traditional medicines forthwith and went to a tavern. People sat on the bench were chatting, their voices ringing above the roof. He became alone in the bar with his problems; he was handing over his wages to her without deducting a little cent for years.
He is a hard worker in his offices, and genius academically, but his knowledge didn’t cure him from being flogged, sometimes becoming physically fit or having a balanced body mass in marriage is a good thing according to his thoughts.
He laced his cup of Tella, which is a traditional Beer, with peers- prescribed herbal drug. He remembered he must have used the medicine for five days, but he added all once, and gulped it down. Then he went to the toilet feeling a little headache. When he got dizzy he thought the medicine began its works. He got the advice that the medicine is going to help him temporally estranging him from his wife.
When he returned back, the tavern was empty. He got a bit confused and entered in, there was no one there even the waiters. He got out from the bar feeling gee. He began walking from the heart of Addis to its outskirt in the northern part, no one was in sight in the roads, the shops or the bus stations.
“I am aloneeeeee” john shouted loud raising his hands to the sky. “is there no one in the city?” he grimaced .Remembering his wife’s rage, made him to ran on the asphalt like a rabbit that saw a fox. He gazed right and left, no one looked, after a while, he forgot his pasts.
“If I am the only man in this town, is it boring or cheery!” He said and laughed like a fool for himself. No one saw him and nothing was heard from the whole road he walked on.
“I don’t think so, nor did I think so?”
John was ready to confide his whole problem to someone that he didn’t see before. But no one came to his rescue. On the road no one was in sight as it was not midnight but noon.
When he came into the house with a big confidence to fight his wife for his glory, nobody was in the houses, he then went next door and knocked, but no one was there too.
He sang free as if he wore a bird on the tree and danced as if he were no longer in jail. He made some strange celebrations and spent the whole night in nightmares.
The next day, a bucket of cold water nudged him out of his slumber. His house was saturated with a crowd of people. The vengeful eyes of his wife seemed hungry of delivering a punch.
The neighbors were attempting to calm Genet whispering piece of advice into her ears.
“What happened?” John asked in gee. More than three male neighbors stopped Genet from surging towards him for a punch. He didn’t mind anything that he did the day before.
A lot of eyes were scrutinizing him downward. Astonished they were looking at him with vacant stares. He knew very well no one will save him from Genet after the neighbors left. Her eyes assured him about his suspicion. Gradually, one by one, the neighbors left after trying their best to advise the couples to see to reason. When the last man dragged his last leg out, John followed him. But the man closed the door behind his back. Turning back John looked his wife’s panicky.
Taking a seat he tried to endear himself to her but nothing happened.
“Stay put! No going out for some days,” said Genet and headed to the kitchen to wash dishes. John went to the Sofa and sat cuddling his legs like a cat. He found himself in a conventional jail.
No going out, no asking how he spent the previous night, even no talking, and not asking for a bite he sat put. He tried hard to remember everything but nothing conjured up in his mind.
After entertaining many doubts, heading towards Genet he apologized “Sorry,” He fell on the sofa suffering a smack for one thousand three hundred thirty nine times.
BY DESALEGN DAGNEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2023
