So Much For Love

Chapter Fourteen

“Assalamu alaikum.”

Khadija looked up from the pot of soup she was preparing and smiled as she answered her visitor’s greeting.

“Wa alaikumus salam.”

She went straight in to her room and brought out two locally decorated wooden chairs and handed one to her guest. They both sat on the new verandah.

There wasn’t much heat from the sun, but out of habit, they found it proper to stay under the shade.

“Lale, Tabawa, welcome.” Khadija welcomed her guest genially

Tabawa beamed as she sat down, “Gaskiya, it has been a while since the last time I was here.” She commented, looking about her and trained her gaze at the spacious room behind her. “Kai Masha Allah, Malam has really made notable great changes to this house.”

Khadija offered her a cupful of a cool kunun zaki, “Yes, he has.” She agreed, her voice resonated with love as she smiled with pride.

Tabawa took a sip of the spicy millet drink and her face held a mischievous glint, “But with the way Malam is expanding and renovating the house, I hope he isn’t planning on taking another wife.”

She deliberately lowered her voice like she wanted to divulge the biggest secret of the century, and looked around before adding, “Such information cannot be shoved aside you know. Rumor has it that he has been offered the proposal of a recent divorcee presently.”

Khadija felt like laughing at that. Her husband had told her about Zakiyya, the divorcee at Malam Audu’s house.

But letting Tabawa know that Malam had already told her about their little chit-chat with Malam Audu at the mosque would only fuel the agitation in their already condescended mindset that she had bewitched her husband.

“Well, rumor or not, everything happens by Allah’s will and everything He does is best.” She said instead before adding, “You still haven’t told me the reason for your visit.”

Tabawa was already taking another mouthful of the drink and gulped at once. From all indications, it was the reaction she’d hoped to get.

“Oh Masha Allah, this is really well prepared and sweet.” She commented as she looked in to the rest of the mixture inside the cup.

“You no longer serve tukudi to visitors.” She added casually. “With buildings here and there that needed decking, I’d hoped to get tukudi freely. So, I am counting on the day you would invite our group for your decking ceremony. I surely miss that milk drink especially served during such occasion.”

“Well, you know Mallam abhors such practices. He doesn’t approve of them and says they are haram.”

“How can he say that? It is our heritage Dija, and we have an obligation to pass it down to our children.”

“Well, with all these modern buildings of cement I don’t think the children will be worried about that. They hardly value our aged long tradition of inviting women to deck their houses, let alone serve expensive milk drinks to them.”

Tabawa sipped her kunun zaki again, “Well, you are right. I just wish you weren’t. But let me enjoy my refreshing drink before I lose interest in it since you won’t serve Tukudi to me."

Khadija smiled politely and said, “No one ever serves the drink any more. Times are hard, you know.”

Tabawa eyed her, “Look who’s talking? How would you know what hard times are when you have Malam at your beck and call? You have him wrapped around your fingers and talk about hard times, hian!”