Wounded Pilgrim 19

PUTTING OUT THE FIRE

He moved about the room from left to right thinking over and over it as he could not believe what he just heard.

“So which of the two brothers did this to you?” Bartholomew asked sharply. He was annoyed at the whole incident for a couple of reasons. He just didn’t know which one he was reacting to. Maybe later on he would know which one. It was already getting dark outside and he was alarmed of that fact.

“Eliezer” she answered him quietly like it wasn’t such a serious thing to say. Bartholomew couldn’t accept he heard her right about it.

“Pardon me, did you say your husband did that to you!” he moved closer to her and faced her straight in the face. She nodded in agreement and for once he was all over the room again moving back and forth.

“So why come to report to me?” he found himself asking innocently. “I am not a deacon, related to you in any way, or whatever for crime’s sake!”

“I know but I just thought I could come over to speak to you about it and maybe you could help” she replied amid tears. He wanted to wipe her tears but he feared to show compassion for someone’s wife lest he made things worse by showing signs of weakness. Eliezer used to be a humble person back when he was single and spoke less most of the time. Few people would believe that he was an upcoming wife batterer. Bartholomew expected it to be Richy who had done that since he was a victim of his fury.

“Will you be going back to that house now?” He asked out of concern as much as he felt otherwise about it. She shook her head meaning she wasn’t ready to sleep in her husband’s house. He had to come up with a quick solution as he sought to address the issue with the deacons and the pastor. “Have you talked to your best maid about this and other related issues?”

“I have in the past talked with our best couple about it but they never do a thing and of late they were the last people I would ever thought of speaking with.” She explained looking away from him since he was staring at her all this time in disbelief. Their walk with their best couple had ended on the material wedding day after the photo shoot which sort ended about some minutes to six in the evening. Bartholomew had heard of bad best couple but for this case he felt this was bad for the ears of the public.

At Eliezer’s place things were getting interesting to the duo who had not seen Happiness since afternoon. For the first time they were talking to each other something they hardly did back then. However their talk was mainly insults and blames back and forth. Eliezer was yet to come to terms to the consequences of his actions the previous evening.

“Were it not for you all these would not have happened” He kept saying to Richy who looked undisturbed at all.

“Actually its you hit your wife not me so wherever she would be that is her narrative fool” Richy replied to his accusations.

“Wait are you still insulting me like that and you are not remorseful of what trouble you just caused me?” he was getting angry and felt like beating the hell out of his kid brother. Richy on the other hand dared him to throw a fist at him. He knew Eliezer was weak both at fighting and even at acting on his fury. In short he knew he was soft and there was little harm he could do without getting double of what he would give out of his fury. Like the previous day Eliezer was trying to kick Richy who was sitted on a couch when Richy shot up from the couch and dodged his kick. The kick ended up on his wife’s thigh who happened to be passing by from the kitchen to the front door to check something. Since it was raining then few people could hear her screams before Eliezer rushed to cover her mouth. Richy on the other hand laughed at the whole scene as he strolled to his room where he fell asleep till morning unworried of anything.

As the duo continued to move about the room exchanging insults and blames it was getting dark outside and they were still ignorant of the whereabouts of the woman of the house. Both of them had not eaten anything since morning when they ate a light breakfast that Happiness had left in the kitchen after preparing it in mid morning. A gentle knock at the door calmed them down and Eliezer was quick to reply to the knock, “Yeah Come in.” Mzee Mango entered the house and came to shake hands with both Eliezer and Richy.

“So how have you two been doing lately?” He asked after greetings.

“We are fine” Eliezer answered calmly looking aside.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah we are”

“What of your wife son?”

“She is fine just went to see a friend she must be on her way back by now I believe”

“Son it is not right for you to lie to me in the face like that and I know the church where you go to?” Mzee Mango protested since he knew better than they thought he knew. He was just putting them to test and they had clearly failed the test. This annoyed him more.

“Whatever it is old man you are trying to get at it isn’t your business” It was Richy who talked from the kitchen door where he had been standing all this time.

“It is my business since Happy narrated it to me in the afternoon” Mzee Mango went on as Eliezer looked surprised to hear that. Just then the door handle turned and in came two Administration Police officers.

“Mzee these must the brothers you told us of” One of the officers asked as he reached out for his handcuffs.

“Yeah they are, actually pastor’s sons!” Mzee Mango replied. Richy moved towards the kichen looking like he wanted to run but one of the officers was swift on him. Elizer looked weak on his coach as submitted to the hand cuffs that were being pushed to his hands.