Cold At Dusk

Chapter Fourty

Mark was in the parlor . He went through the news paper he bought last week and never had a chance to go through while sipping a cup of coffee slowly, raising his eyes to the television occasionally. In truth, he was not paying attention to what he was reading or what he was watching. His mind wandered from his wife to the promotion he was getting ready for at his work place.

He raised his head in the direction of the kitchen as he heard light footsteps from that side. Kamsi came in, wearing just a big polo which was not big enough to hide the scupt of her potruding belly .

"My mum is coming today" She said, bending to clean the dining.

"Why are you just telling me now? " He asked, keeping his newspapers aside and rising to his feet.

"She just told me today" She replied, going back to the kitchen. He moved to the dining and sat on one of the seats waiting for her to come out again then she came out carrying a tray of food. She placed it infront of him and started walking out.

"Kamsiriochukwu, come" he said.

"Stop calling me like that, you remind me of my father " She said and went into the kitchen.

That was the first time she ever spoke to him about her father. It was never her best discussion. One time she had said, he's dead and in most forms she filled, she wrote her father to be deceased.

She came back to the dining, carrying her plate of food. It was from her plate of food he knew that what lay underneath the covered plates in his tray was, fried plantain and eggs. She settled in the seat adjacent to his.

"I'll be going to work. My mum said , she'll come in the afternoon " She said.

He nodded, "Do you want to tell me something else? "

She shrugged, "That's all. Did you sleep well ?"

Ignoring the question, he leaned back into the chair and watched her as she ate. It was Tuesday and yesterday she had gone to work then when she returned, She buried herself in a book she said was for her promotion exams till late at night.

"Honestly, if you have something to tell me, you can just say it " He said.

She took a forkful of plantain and egg into her mouth then she chewed slowly while staring at the white wall infront of her. "My father is sick" She said, then she took another forkful into her mouth.

" I'm sorry " he said, placing a hand over hers.

She shrugged and continued eating. She did not seem sad or bothered about it but he knew something about her had changed the past few days.

"When did you find out? "

"Mummy told me on Saturday night " she replied then looked at his food, "Eat your food it will get cold"

He opened the plate of food to be met with rice and not what was in her plate.

"You said, you don't like taking plantains in the morning " She defended, looking at him.

"I say that when I'm going to work because I get hungry in no time "

"I did not know you are not going to work " She said, rising from her seat .

He sighed and began eating his food. It was not like he hated rice but when he saw her with her plate of eggs, it reminded him that his body needed eggs.

He returned to the Sofa and continued looking at the television imagining what his wife would wear to come down. She seemed to have changed her wardrobe after she returned from Abuja.