Musukuta consumed herself in her work after her wedding. She worked
at the Palm Grove hotel as a receptionist shortly after she completed her
junior secondary education. After work, she stayed at home most of the time, and at
other times she took a walk to Ma Binta's vegetable garden near the swampy
rice fields. She helped her mother to water the plants.

        In her quiet moments, Musukuta reminisced about Maimuna who was
posted at
Balanghar as an unqualified teacher. When she came home for the school
holiday at the start of the rainy season, Musukuta noticed that she was now a much
different person. Maimuna was calm and restraint, and had married a teacher
from another village nearby. Most of the other girls in the village had been
married off.

         The village became as serene as the low tidal waves that rocked the
shores of the silent village stream. The shouting and yelling, the exuberant
voices in the stream drowned into the nostalgic memories of a youthful past.

         As the days went by, and the weeks turned to months Musukuta became
concerned that it was taking too long to meet her husband. Anytime she raised
the issue, Babs had to find an excuse for the delay. Ma Binta also became
concerned, as her friends and relatives repeatedly inquired why Musukuta was not
going to join her husband in Europe.

          "Musu, I am so worried. What does your husband say? When are you
going to join him?" Ma Binta asked.

           Ma Binta stood akimbo at the door to the living room, and Musukuta
sat on the wooden cotton-cushioned armchair. She was busy trimming her
fingernails. She looked up, and with a forlorn face, gave a deep sigh of
resignation.

          "Ma, Babs is trying to settle down. I am his number one priority.
It is just that things are not easy for him," Musukuta said.

            Musukuta always found herself defending her husband whenever her
mother raised this issue.

            "It is not easy for you either. You cannot sit here like this. I
don't want to see you here everyday instead of in your husband's house," Ma
Binta said.

            "Ma, may be this is not Babs own making. May be there is a force
that is pulling us apart. I would not sin if I should name my sister-in-law
who took opposition to Babs marrying me. I am beginning to wonder," Musukuta
said.

             "I am beginning to wonder about your father," Ma Binta said.
"What with all that opaque water from the marabouts he has been giving you to
take a bath with. He said it was to ward off evil. Since he dislikes your husband
so much, who is the evil to ward off?"

           Pa Burama squatted on his mat in the middle of the compound under
the Mango tree. He was counting his beads when his wife walked over to him.

            "Ba, aren't you concerned that your daughter still cannot go to
meet her husband?" Ma Binta asked.

              "I always know that he is not good. Your daughter was the one
who wanted to marry him against my wishes. Now you telling me this," Pa Burama
said, knowingly nodding his head.

              "Don't tell me that you are the one who want your daughter to
stay here?" Ma Binta said. "Aren't you concern what others are saying."

               "Why should I be concern that my daughter is not going to meet
that husband of hers?" Pa Buruma said. "I don't even want to talk about it."

          Pa Burama neither denied nor admitted that he did something to
prevent his daughter from travelling to join her husband. Musukuta became
convinced that her father had something to do with it when her interest in the
marriage began to wane. Her thought about Babs became remote and distant. She was
quickly falling out of love with him.


                                                            *


      Musukuta was aggressively being wooed by one of her coworkers in the
hotel. He was young, handsome, and with a skin the color of tanned hide left to
dry in the sun. He was enormously popular with the girls. Pa Ali's appeal, his
cute and attractive features, and his disarming smile was just plain
irrestible. He had too many girlfriends, socialize and party a lot, and frequently
occasioned the local bars and night clubs.

        "Hey, Musu! What happen to your husband? Isn't he crazy to leave a
beautiful woman like you here for this long? He better watch out," Pa Ali teased
Musukuta, as he walked past her reception desk.

        "Pa Ali, you have to leave me alone. Why does that have to concern
you except that you are nosy," Musukuta said.

         "You want to know why? I cannot take my mind off you, and secondly I
can't understand why your husband leave you here for this long," Pa Ali said.


           "That is none of your business, brother. You should worry about
your many girlfriends," Musukuta said.

           "I am ready to dump all of them. And, listen to this: all because
of you. You better believe that if I am you," Pa Ali said.

            "I wouldn't loose a sleep over that. I am waiting for the day,"
Musukuta said, disinterestedly.

             Musukuta had rebuffed all Pa Ali's attempts to be close; too
close for her comfort, inspite of his constant jokes and friendliness. Sometimes
she appeared even mean and nasty to him.

              "What is wrong with you today?" Pa Ali asked. "Don't tell me
that you are not please to see me for I am mighty please to see you."

              "What am I going to do with you? You never give up, hah. Well,
what can I say?" Musukuta nodded her head, as if frustrated.

               "You have to leave your husband and marry me. That is what I
want," Pa Ali said.

              "Do you have a problem with my husband? Do you think you can
measure up to him? I think not," Musukuta said.

             "Then try me. I think I have more to offer. You will not be
dissappointed" Pa Ali said.

              "You loud mouth. What am I going to do with you," Musukuta
said.

         Pa Ali was assertive in his bidding. He lavished Musukuta with gifts
and presents. When Musukuta tried to decline his largess, Pa Ali was
offended.

          "I insist," Pa Ali said. "This is just a token of our friendship.
You are under no obligation."

          "I don't feel comfortable accepting your gifts. I don't want you to
draw the wrong conclusions," Musukuta said.

           "Let me worry about that. I am the one who will be taken for a
fool," Pa Ali said.

          As the days went by, and the weeks turned to months with no
prospects of being united with her husband, Musukuta started to respond to Pa Ali's
open flirtations. Moreso, when she noticed other girls in the hotel also
flirting with him. She made up her mind quickly.

         "You can stop by the house if you want," Musukuta said to Pa Ali.
She started to accept his request to visit her at home.

         Musukuta contemplated about seeking a divorce from Babs, as her
relationship with Pa Ali grew in intensity. She talked to her father about it. Pa
Burama welcomed the idea given that he never liked Babs in the first place. Ma
Binta was opposed to the idea, and only gave in when she realized the awkward
situation her daughter had found herself in.

          "This is not what I want. But what can I do?" Ma Binta asked. "I
cannot allow my daughter to be seeing another man while still married." She
resigned herself to the new situation.

          Musukuta started to send letters to Babs requesting for a divorce.
At first Babs refused to grant her request, but Musukuta was persistent. When
Babs received numerous reports from his friends and relatives that Musukuta
was seeing another man, he remorsefully agreed to grant her a divorce.

        As soon as Musukuta's divorce was formalized, Pa Ali wasted no time
in sending some elders with cola-nuts to Musukuta's parents announcing his
intention to marry her. The knot between Musukuta and Pa Ali was tied as
expeditiously as possible. There was no fanfare; no wedding party. Maimuna's second
marriage low-keyed. Pa Ali travelled to Dakar with his new bride for their
honeymoon. They stayed at the Terranga hotel.


                                                          *


         Musukuta sat with her husband at the bar by the pool, as she sipped
sparingly her lemonade drink. Pa Ali swigged from a bottle of Heinekens beer.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤