Sharp Tongue

Episode 6

Martha walked into the party hall. She looked
around through her blurred vision. Tears had
gathered in her eyes again. She saw her
parents seated with John, Dorcas and their
spouses and children. The Dj had stopped the
music and the remaining guests were taking
their leave. She avoided them and approached
her family.

“Is that Martha?” Charles noticed his eldest
daughter. Everyone at the table followed his
gaze.

“I thought she left… ” Dorcas got to her feet.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw her
sister’s tears stained face and red eyes.
Martha got to the table, drew out a chair and sat
down.

“Sweet heart, are you okay?” Her mother
reached out for her hand.

She remained mum and faced John, “This is
the last time I am going to accommodate being in
the same room with your daughter… ”

Nnese and Charles sighed, what has their
grand daughter done again? Is there no end to her menance?

Dorcas sat back on the chair, she looked
around, all the guests had left. Good, they
were alone.

John held his sister’s gaze. Her countenance
was heart breaking. If Sheila’s actions had
affected her to this extent, he was scared of
knowing what his daughter had done. Eureka
mumbled a prayer. Her heart was racing so
fast, she could hardly hear herself.
“Your daughter slipped her pant into my
fiance’s pocket… ”

Eureka stopped praying. John glanced at his
daughter, she was grinning from ear to ear.
Nnese tightened her grip on Martha’s hand.
Charles and Imabong exchanged glances.

Boma and Edidiong glared at their cousin.
“Daniel admitted that he touched her… ”
“No!” Eureka’s shrill echoed through the walls.

John was torn between consoling his sister
and strangling his own daughter. He remained
motionless on his seat. Dorcas closed her
eyes, her husband pulled her close.

“They… I don’t know what… I… ” Martha
swallowed hard. “I can’t go through with the
wedding.” She pointed a shaky finger at her
brother, “I want your daughter to stay away
from me… ” She rose, Nnese released her
hands, she could feel her daughter’s pains.

Charles turned to look at his grand daughter.

She was smiling! Anger began to brew inside
him. What sort of a child is this?

Sheila met her father’s gaze. His looks
seemed to say, ‘I am ashamed of you’. Was he? He has never looked at her like that before. She tore her eyes away and glanced at her mother who was crying as if she had lost someone. For a moment, she regretted what she had done.

Martha kicked her seat out of her way and
headed out.

“Martha…” Nnese called out, but her eldest
daughter disappeared into the night. She
turned to her husband. “She cannot drive in
that state…”

Imabong leapt to his feet, “I will take her
home.”

“I will come with you… the kids can stay with
their grandparents,” She hurried after her
husband.

All eyes fell on Sheila, a mischievous grin was
pasted on her face.

“Until further notice, I don’t want to see Sheila
at any family event.” Charles pulled his wife
up.

“Charles… No…”

He raised a hand and she kept quiet. He
turned to John.

“She has caused this family enough pain… ”
“Dad… ”

“No… No… This is the height.”
“Dad… ”

“Let us go,” he beckoned to Boma and
Edidiong.

“Dad… ”

Charles ignored his son and left the party hall
with his wife and grand-children.

John glanced at his weeping wife, then at his
unrepentant daughter. Oh lord God almighty…
Please show up. Show up now!

He hated it whenever his wife cried. It
always feel as if thousands of needles were piercing his heart. He was ashamed of his daughter.

What was Daniel thinking? What exactly
happened between them? Even Martha wasn’t sure.

The underwear in her fiance’s pocket must have freaked her out. Lord God. His father
doesn’t want Sheila at any family event. That was a drastic decision, regardless of what his
daughter had done. It was like saying he
doesn’t want to see any of them. This is
not the way to bring order to this situation.
“Take me home… ”

He met his wife’s red gaze. She looked
dejected.

Their daughter’s actions had wounded her.
He cannot remember the last time his wife
wept.

“Thank God,” Sheila muttered under her
breath. They were the last set of people to
leave the party hall. She needed to shower. Her
dress was beginning to stick to her skin.

John helped his wife to her feet. He picked
up her purse and led her out of the hall. Sheila
followed, she hope they were not planning
to lecture her tonight. They can talk to her in
the morning. She was in no mood to be
scolded.

All she wanted to do was to celebrate. The
witch has been paid back in her own coin.
XXXXXXX Dorcas and Imabong led Martha into her
flat.

She had cried all through their drive to her
house. Dorcas have never seen her sister so
broken. She must have loved Daniel greatly.
Imabong locked the doors while his wife
helped her sister to take her bath and settle in for
the night. An hour later, she joined him in the
guest room.

“How is she?”

“I have never seen her so… I…”

“What did you expect?”
She met his angry gaze.

“That neice of yours is a nightmare. What
was she thinking?”

She sighed, “I don’t understand her… ”
“John must do something about his
daughter.

She is getting out of hand.”

“She was not as bad as this when she was
younger. ”

He grunted, “So she was born this way… ”
“I didn’t say that.”

He shook his head, “What was Daniel
thinking?”

“I wish I knew.”
“What actually happened?”
Dorcas shrugged.

“Sheila must have been out of her mind for
pulling a stunt like this.”

“That young woman… Martha will never
forgive her.”

Imabong drew his wife closer. He hoped his
sister in-law would be able to sleep through
the night, although he doubts it. That was one
of the reasons why he suggested that they
should spend the night. She might need them.
XXXXXXX
“Charles you were hard on John.”
He looked at his wife. Both of them had not
been able to sleep since they got home.
How could they sleep when their daughter was in
so much pain?

“Banishing Sheila from family functions will
not solve the problem at hand.”
He folded his arms across his chest.
“I know you were upset… We were all
angry…

But your… ”
He raised a hand. Nnese stopped talking.
“It is high time John tightened the leash on
his daughter.”

“She is also your grand-daughter.”
He looked away, “I sometimes wonder if the
Adams’ blood run through her veins.”
“Charles! How can you say that?”
He shrugged. What else should he think?
She behaves like an outsider.

XXXXXXX
Sheila made her way into the kitchen in her
pyjamas. The first thing she thought of
when she woke up was food. She opened the
fridge and took out a can of juice and a pack of
cookies. Junk food would do until breakfast
was ready.

Her mother walked in. She closed the fridge,
“Morning mum… ” She placed the can of
juice and pack of cookies on a table and sat on
a stool. Eureka ignored her daughter. The last
thing she wanted to do that morning was to
speak to her. She tried to focus on what she
was going to prepare for breakfast.

John walked into the kitchen, he had just
had hisbath and he was hoping to down a
creamy cup of decaf coffee before breakfast was
ready.

“Morning dad,” Sheila munched at the
cookies.

She hopes breakfast would be ready soon.
John pulled out a stool and sat opposite his
daughter.

“Honey please come and sit down.”
Eureka frowned. Trust her husband, he
wants them to iron out the issue at hand as soon
as possible.

“Honey… ”

She left everything she was doing and
joined them at the table. Sheila groaned, here
goes the lecture she had dreaded since last
night.

“What happened last night?” He faced his
daughter. Her brows were creased in a
frown.

What did they want her to say? She wasn’t
sorry for what she did. The witch deserved
it. In future, her aunt will think twice before
hitting her.

Eureka grabbed the can of juice her
daughter was drinking and hurled it against the wall.

The pack of cookies followed. Sheila bolted from
the table, she had never seen her mother so
angry.

“Honey… ” He could sense his wife’s anger.