Daughter of the Third Wife (short story)

I dove into the waterhole and stayed under for quite a while. By the time I came back up, Addo had grown bored and strayed away. He thought he was so great just because his name meant "king of the road". So what if his name meant that? Of course, he always picked on me because my name was Nhamo, which means disaster. I stood up for myself. "That is only because my father wanted a son to be the heir to his throne. I am the one here who actually has royal blood in my veins, rather than just having a name with the word 'king' in it," I would say. "You may have royal blood in your veins, but no one cares. Your father shipped you and your mother off to another husband and now you are known as 'daughter of the third wife'! That's almost as bad as your real name!" He replied, laughing. After that happened, all my past came rushing back. My father had shipped me off. Like a package. He sent me away like I was a burden and he needed to rid himself of me. Then I got here and this boy just decided that he wanted to constantly annoy and pester me. I sat down with my feet in the waterhole. Addo started to walk away. I stuck my head in between my knees and stared at my reflection in the water. My hair was dark and straight. People always told me I was unique because no other girl in our village had straight hair. But to me it just seemed like I was an outcast, and every time I saw my reflection it reminded me that I didn't belong here. It wasn't that I didn't love the village, but I knew that I had been rightfully born into a very wealthy place where I could have people who brought me my food ready to eat rather than ready to clean. Addo turned and looked back at me when he noticed my silence. I didn't look up, but I noticed his presence and when he didn't leave after a moment, I looked up. "What do you want?" I asked. I stood up, "Do you want me to prepare your food for you? Shall I lay out your gowns for you, your highness? Let me get the water in a bowl to wash you feet with!" I yelled at him. He took a step toward me and I took a step away. His eyes looked concerned. My expression changed to confused. I ran away from him as far as my legs would take me. At least a mile away from the village, I dropped into the sand feet first. I laid there and stared up at the sky. I closed my eyes, not wanting to blind myself under the burning sun. Shade came over me. I opened my eyes and saw Addo standing over me. I sat up immediately, "Di-did you follow me here?" I asked. He widened his eyes. I watched as he tried to think of something to say. "Well...I am king of the road. No one steps out of the village without consulting me!" I put my hands on my hips, "The hunters do." He put his hands on his hips too. I waited to see what he would say, expecting a lot. Although I did despise Addo, I had to admit he was quick to think. He always got himself back on his feet when he slipped. It was one of the few qualities I admired about him. "I'm sorry, I must have not been paying much attention to what has been going on lately. I had no idea you became a hunter!" he said with a grin. I took the carpet out from under him by playing along, "Yes well, maybe you should be more observant. Were you zoned out during my entire rite of passage ceremony?" He replied quickly. "Yes, I believe I was somewhere else. You know, mind wandering and all that," he said with a dramatic wave of his hand. I tried hard not to smile. "Tsk tsk," I said as I pointed at him and moved my finger side to side, "You really should work to keep your head out of the clouds." He looked up at the sky. "I don't think that will much of a problem my dear, especially considering the awfully hot weather we always have," he said in Ababuo's voice. Ababuo was the most elderly woman in our village, and she was always complaining about the constant sun. Some say that she was born in a place with large trees, many lakes and rivers, and constant rain. I laughed and he smiled. Although I really did not like Addo, it seemed that every time I was very down he brought me back up.

Mother told me that Addo only made fun of me constantly because I appealed to him, but I did not believe. All that boy cared about was himself and his lion tooth necklace. He was always telling me stories about that necklace, and I must admit that it did appear that he liked me when he showed it off to me like that, especially since he never showed it to any of the other girls in our village. Then again, he could have just been showing me how much better he was than me.

Once, when it was very late, Addo and I were sitting alone outside of the children's hut. We sat on opposite sides of the fire pit, and I stared at the ashes as they blew away. I watched one ash in particular, a large one, as it rose off the ground and sailed away. When I looked back at the fire, Addo was staring at the ashes too. He looked up suddenly and said, "Do you wanna hear a story?" I wrinkled my eyebrows, "About what?" I asked in suspicion. "My necklace," he replied. I rolled my eyes, "No. But you're going to tell me anyway." He grinned, "Yes. But don't worry, you'll like this one."

"Oh really? Will I like it as much as I liked about the one where you killed a lion with your bare hands and took that tooth from its mouth?" I asked sarcastically. I put my hand up in the air as I leaned back against the rock I was sitting in front of. "That was one of my personal favorites," I said. "No. You will like this one," he said. "How can you be so sure?" I asked. "I liked it when it was told to me," he said. I sat up straight, "What do you mean 'when it was told to you'? You always make up these stories as you go along." He grinned and leaned forward, "Do you want to hear the REAL story?" he asked. My eyes widened, "You mean the REAL real story? The ACTUAL story?" He nodded, "There was a boy. Not much older than me, probably a few years difference. He was very strong and handsome. All of the girls in his village loved him." I rolled my eyes. "No, just wait. You'll like it," he said. He continued, "One day, a girl came to his village. She was different than all of the other girls. Her eyes were as blue as the sky. Her entire body, except her face, was covered in scars. She had been sent to the village by a king. They said that she had been assigned to help the king, but she was blamed of witch craft. When people asked why she was covered in scars, no one could answer. However, they had heard one thing that was related to them: they said that the reason her face had no scars was because whoever whipped her did not have it in him to scratch a face of such innocence and beauty." I sat forward as Addo went on. He was right, I did like this story. "Of course, at first, all the boys in the village were taken away by her beauty. But when they heard of her witch craft and how she had cursed the king himself, they all became frightened of her. They made fun of her, calling her names and mocking her wounds. But the boy, the one from the beginning, he never made fun of her. He watched her from a distance as she sat by the water and stared at her scarred reflection for countless hours. Then eventually, some warriors that worked for the king came to their village. They told the chief that the king had requested of them to come and slaughter the girl. They said that the king was frightened of the curse that had been put onto him, and he thought that the only way to rid himself of the curse was to have the witch who put the curse on him killed. The boy overheard the warriors' conversation with the chief, and he immediately hurried over to the watering hole. He found the girl there and grabbed her hand. 'Ababuo,' he said to the girl, 'quick! We must get away!'"

"Ababuo! Like our elder!" I said. He nodded and went on, "'What? Why? Where are we going?' she asked. The boy grabbed Ababuo's hand and pulled her up. She was very weak. She could not keep up with him as he ran. He quickly scooped her up into his arms. He had expected that this would slow him down, but she was so light! Strangely, he ran twice as fast when she was in his arms! He ran and ran until he had no energy left at all. They ended up in a jungle, in an oasis. 'Why did you do this for me?' she asked him. 'Because...' he said, 'I love you.'" Addo smiled as I caught my breath. "And that is the story," he said. I put on a confused expression, "But that does not explain the lion tooth at all!" He laughed, "Its not about the tooth. But if you must know, the tooth was in a pouch that Ababuo kept around her neck."

"So then how did you get it?"

"Ababuo gave it to me."

"Why?"

"Uh...she said that I might need it. For 'that girl'," he replied. "Who's 'that girl'?" I asked. He blushed, "Umm...you know...the person I marry."

"Oh. I see."

Mother once told me that I was destined to marry Addo, and I screamed and asked her if she was serious. She laughed and said, "I did not mean that his father and I have set you up together. I meant that someday you two will fall in love and marry each other because you want to." I faked throwing up, and she laughed.

I got out of the water and went into the children's hut to dry myself. Addo came in and laughed at my wet appearance. "You will never find a husband with that face," he said. I spit toward his feet and went back to drying my face. I finished and threw my towel to the ground. When I looked up, I found Addo staring at me. "What?" I said. He blinked, "Uh...nothing," he said. Sometimes he seemed to drain out the whole world and see nothing but me. I stared into his rare blue eyes and he blushed. He flipped his short black hair away from his eyes and I wondered if he was related to Ababuo. "Uh...I'm gonna go tend to the cattle," he said. I nodded and left the hut to go help the fourth wife of my stepfather to pick the millet from our fields.

"You are coming near the age of marriage, Nhamo," she said, "The boys in our village will now be allowed to request of you." I nodded, "I know, Elder," I said. She laughed, "That boy of the fifth wife- Addo I think," she started. "Yes, it is Addo," I said. "Yes, Addo then," she continued, "he better speak up soon before one of my sons asks for you. Every boy in the village is trying to get their courage up to request you, you know that Nhamo?" I raised on of my eyebrows. I dismissed what she had said about the rest of the boys in the village and simply said, "Ha! Addo loathes me." Elder looked at me and then suddenly broke out laughing. "What is so funny?" I asked. "Addo does not loath you child! Have you no sense? No eyes? No ears? Child, he watches you like you are an expensive pearl! He considers you his own. When you first came to this village, that boy tugged on his mama's hair and asked, 'Mama, why is there a goddess here?' Nhamo, he has had a claim on you since the day he first saw you. That is the main reason none of the other boys have requested you yet. They are afraid he will slaughter them for stealing his girl!" She laughed and murmured to herself, "Loathes her. Oh, that will never get old," as she picked millets from the ground. I looked over at the cattle pen and saw Addo bringing the cattle over to the covered pen because of the rains. He was so tall and muscled. He flipped his hair again. I looked over at the chicken pen, the goat pen, and the calf pen and saw almost all of the boys of the village staring at me. Most looked back at the animals they were tending when they saw me looking, but one particularly brave boy looked over at Addo in the cattle pen, and then back at me. Then he went back to his work. I looked over at my mother's section and saw her walk out of her circular, clay-made thatch roofed hut and walk over to the sixth wife who stood washing her clothes in the waterhole. My stepfather had seven wives,which meant he was very wealthy, because a man's wealth was measured by his number of wives. He was also very wealthy because of the great quality of our crops.

That night, I watched as everyone went into their sleeping huts. I went into mine also, and then waited for everyone to fall asleep. Once they were fast asleep, I snuck outside. I walked over to the watering hole. I smelled smoke from my mother's indoor kitchen. The dust covered my feet and legs so that I felt filthy. The night was warm and so I dove into the cool water. I pulled myself down to the bottom of the water and grabbed handfuls of the soft mud on the water floor. I sprung back to the top and out the mud on my body, because my mother had told me that this mud made my skin smooth. I heard someone walking up and his under the water. I swam to the darkest corner of the waterhole and put only the top of my head out of the water so that I could see who was coming. Addo walked up to the water and stuck his toes in the water. "Addo!" I hissed. Addo looked up with a surprised expression on his face. His expression changed then to one of suspicion. "Who goes there?" he asked. I decided to take advantage of my invisibility. I thought of the boy in the village who seemed the most interested in me. "It is only Jabari," I said. Addo relaxed and inquired, "What are you doing out here Jabari?" I smiled. Addo actually believed I was Jabari. Now I could get all the information I wanted. "I could ask you the same thing," I retorted. He rolled his eyes, "Well, I'll just be going then."

"Wait! Addo! I want to ask you something." Addo looked in my direction, silent, waiting. "I wanted to know if you were planning on asking for Nhamo. If not, I think I shall ask." Addo practically growled, and I worked to hold back a laugh. "We have discussed this Jabari," he said. They had? So Jabari really did want me. Interesting. "Just answer me Addo." Addo sighed, "Yes Jabari, I am planning on asking for her. Do you not remember the day she arrived? As soon as I knew she was human, I asked to have her as my own. My mother told me that once I was old enough, I could ask for her. I replied to her,'She will be mine.'" I smiled. So Addo really did want me. I dove back under the water and swam as close to Addo as I could without surfacing. I stuck my head out of the water and looked up at him. He looked down at me and gasped. "You did?" I asked. He blushed so red, he looked as if he had just fried in a fire. "Uhh..." he started. He looked down and saw me smiling. He smiled too, "Yea." I laughed. "Did you know I thought you were some strong warrior sent from heaven when I first saw you?" I asked. He beamed, "No," he said happily. I smiled wider. "I did," I said. He smiled widely and put his hand out to me. He pulled me out of the water. "Will you be my wife?" he asked. I smiled, "The first of many," I said. He shook his head. "No," he said, "only you." I raised an eyebrow. "But you will be very poor with just me," I said. He smiled, "I will be the richest man in the world with you." I smiled widely as he pressed his lips to mine and intertwined his fingers with mine.

© 2009