Chapter IX
IX
She knew what she had to do. The dreams were traumatic enough, but the sleepwalking, the incident at the pool…
ever since she’d returned from the beach, she’d felt haunted by Monife.
There was something she was missing; but she wasn’t going to get anything from the women in the house, so she waited for the one person who might talk.
Uncle Tolu visited on the twenty-eighth of each month, like clockwork.
In their heyday, Grandma West and Grandma East would cook up a storm for him, and he would sit at the head of the table and regale them with little anecdotes about his life.
On these visits, Eniiyi had generally stayed out of his way.
She didn’t dislike him; in fact, she thought she understood him.
He was uncomfortable in her presence; he would look at her, then look away.
He had never brought up his sister’s name, but he didn’t have to.
His body language did the talking. She stayed away to spare them both the discomfort.
The day of his visit rolled around, and she heard her uncle and his wife exchanging greetings with Grandma East at the door.
Ebun would have saved some mundane task for this day; she did her best to avoid her cousin’s visits.
Eniiyi listened to the sound of Aunty Ashley’s stiletto heels on the terrazzo tiles as the couple made their way to the west wing, where they would spend an obligatory hour with a woman who was beginning to forget who they were.
She slipped down to the pantry and selected a bottle of port.
She had never witnessed Tolu reject the sweet wine.
She collected coasters and wine glasses and arranged them on the dining table.
When the visit was over, Grandma East would settle her sister in for an afternoon nap and then go to take her own.
Her uncle and aunt would head to the dining room to drop the basketful of fruit that they had brought; and she would be there, waiting.
Aunty Ashley appeared first—blonde, with platinum highlights in a messy bun. She wore a pink blouse and brown culottes. Uncle Tolu appeared in ultra-hippie mode—a full beard, patterned cotton trousers and a V-neck cream shirt. He blinked when his eyes found Eniiyi.
“Ah,” he said.
“Good evening, Uncle, Aunt.”
“Eniiyi,” began Ashley, “you look well.” They shared a quick hug, then Ashley nudged her husband, in the hope that he would say more than “ah.”
“Yes. Yes. You do look well. How is your uni experience going?”
“I have graduated, Uncle.”
“Good, good.”
“Oh congrats!” Ashley said. “It was your master’s, right? We will have to get you some sort of graduation gift…”
Her uncle looked as if he was readying to go, but Ashley again nudged him.
He placed the fruit basket on the table, dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a couple of crisp thousand-naira notes.
Eniiyi took the money, thanked him and slipped them into her pocket.
“Perhaps you can have a drink with me?” She nodded to the port on the table.
Aunty Ashley answered before her husband could. “That would be lovely, Eniiyi,” she said, sitting down.
Tolu proceeded to open the bottle whilst Ashley started to talk about a recent trip to Argentina. They were always travelling—they had money, and no children, so they could do whatever they wanted. Eniiyi suspected that if not for Grandma West, they would never see her uncle.
“What are you planning to do next?” asked Ashley.
So Eniiyi explained about genetic counselling.
She could almost get carried away, but she didn’t forget what her true intentions were, why she’d arranged this in the first place, and so she carried on talking, hoping to ease Uncle Tolu into the topic.
She waited for him to get comfortable, for the wine to relax his shoulders, and then she leant in.
“So, Aunty Monife…” His eyes flew open and he looked left and right, as though searching for her mother or grandmothers for backup. Luckily, there was no one there. “Where was she when she drowned?”
He pressed his lips together and sat up. Ashley sucked in a breath. Her uncle opened his mouth and shut it again.
“The beach. Elegushi beach. The ninth of April 2000.”
“Were you there?”
He and Ashley exchanged looks. “They…your mother has never told you?”
If she admitted that no one had told her a single thing, her uncle might clam up, continue the family silence. But she wasn’t sure she could pull off anything else. She had already revealed her hand.
“I think I’m owed the truth,” she said. “I am constantly compared to her, and yet I know next to nothing.”
“You should really talk to your mother, Eni,” said Ashley. But Eniiyi did not look at her; she kept her eyes trained on her uncle, who was working out what he should do.
“She is not a child,” he said eventually. “Monife drowned. But it wasn’t an accident. She took herself there, and she walked into the water and…” She could see he was struggling to say the S word.
She was stunned. She blinked a couple of times and her mouth hung open.
She had taken for granted that Monife’s death had been an accident; no other possibility had ever entered her mind.
But now she could understand the odd looks, the intense secrecy, the fog that had gathered around Monife and her death. Her aunt had killed herself.
Her brain was working hard and fast, making up for twenty-four years of misinformation. She did not know how much longer she would have her uncle’s attention.
“Why? Why did she do it?”
Tolu shrugged and drained the port. “Now that is a question only your mother can answer.”