74 The Meadow “You will only be here for a few days abi?” she asks. I know she’s waiting for me to reassure her. To tell her that I will return home. “I’m not going back to that house. Goodnight, maami,” I tell her before leaving her bedroom. While in my room, my phone blinks at me in the darkness. Twelve missed calls from Tobi. I turn it off and pull the blanket over my head. I ask the question while we are seated at the dining table picking weevils in a tray of beans. I do not care that Bunmi is there as well, alternating her eyes between the tray and the telenovela playing on the TV in the living room. “Maami, what would happen if I decided to divorce Tobi?” I can tell she wasn’t expecting my question. She doesn’t answer me at first but turns to Bunmi. “Bunmi go into the kitchen and warm up the stew.” This was Bunmi’s cue to leave when elderly matters are about to be discussed. I wait patiently for my mother’s answer. She looks at me as if just seeing me for the first time. As if within the short time that I had arrived, an alien had taken my place. “Don’t joke like that, Bola. There is power in the tongue.” She goes back to picking weevils. “I’m not joking, maami. What would happen if I decided to divorce Tobi?” I ask again. The question hangs like a weight between us. I want her to say something else. Something other than there being power in the tongue. She sighs, folds her arms across her chest, and leans back in her seat. “Tobi is your husband. You can’t divorce him.” “On the grounds of abuse, I can, maami. I’m not going to wait till he kills me. I can’t...”
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