Augustina adjusted the wrapper on her waist while Oluchi unlocked the door.  Five of Paulinus’ sisters poured in one after the other.  Each one aspired to a higher standard of obesity than the previous one.    

‘Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome,’ Augustina greeted. 

It did not matter if there had been twenty of them arriving at the same time.  Experience had taught her that it was wiser to apportion each in-law with their own individual greeting, so as to avoid being accused of ignoring any particular person.  Augustina curtsied slightly and relieved the three oldest of their overnight bags while Oluchi collected from the remaining two.  They took the bags into Kingsley’s bedroom and deposited them in a corner.  Oluchi stayed behind to put a clean sheet on the bed while Augustina rejoined her guests in the living room.  They were already seated when she entered.  Kingsley had come out to greet them and was perched on the laps of the youngest.  Augustina kept turning to look at him, as if she expected the woman to pour a vial of arsenic down his throat when no one was looking.

‘Where’s Pa Kingsley?’ the eldest woman asked.

Augustina stooped slightly and smiled like a dedicated better half.

‘Sorry, he’s not around right now.  He stayed behind to attend a meeting in church but he should be back very soon.’

‘Didn’t he know we were coming?’

‘He knows.  That’s why I said that he should be back anytime soon.  Probably within the next thirty minutes.’

The woman looked around at her sorority and twisted her lips and shrugged, as if she was gradually getting used to whatever surprises life threw at her. 

‘Would you like me to offer you anything while you’re waiting?’ Augustina asked.  ‘I just made some garri and we have oha and ukazi soups.’

‘It’s not food that we came to eat,’ another sister replied.  ‘And it’s Pa Kingsley that we came to see, not you.’

‘By the way,’ yet another one said, ‘why is Kingsley losing weight?  Has he not been eating well?’

‘He’s been eating well,’ Augustina replied, clenching her teeth after answering and restraining less civil words from bursting forth.  ‘I don’t think he’s losing any weight.’

‘Kingsley,’ the woman asked, ‘has your mother been giving you all your meals?’

The little boy, who had a heart that was as pure as the heart of most little boys, nodded innocently.

The woman looked at him again with eyes furrowed and head tilted, as if she was trying to make sure that what she was seeing in front of her was actually there. 

The one thing Augustina would not stand was people poking fiery darts at her through her son.  She had started contemplating whether the flower vase on the television set, or the framed wedding photograph of her and Paulinus on the wall, or the stabilizer on the floor beneath the television, would make the best weapon against this woman’s head, when Paulinus walked in.  He beamed at his sisters. 

‘Welcome,’ he greeted.

‘Pauly, good afternoon,’ they responded, standing up and hugging him one after the other.

Then they sat down.  One of them had sat in his favourite chair by the television set, and Augustina thought he looked really awkward sitting somewhere else.  She called Oluchi and asked her to take Kingsley away.

‘Give him a snack then let him stay there and play with you,’ she added.  

Augustina knew from timeless experience that a snack was all that anybody could get into the boy’s system for now.  Kingsley always found it difficult to eat a proper meal when he was not sitting with his father at the dining table. 

As soon as the pleasantries were over and everybody had ascertained that everybody else was fine, the eldest sister proceeded to the main agenda.  She leaned forward in her chair and adjusted the folds of her wrapper around her legs.   

‘Pauly,’ she said with her head facing his but with her eyes focused on the space beside his ear, ‘you know that right from day one, none of us supported this your marriage to Augustina.  But you closed your ears.  Me, I never hid my mouth and all the things I said that time are on record.’

She cleared her throat and swallowed, to make way for the memories she was about to regurgitate.    

‘I said it that time that university degree doesn’t matter; nobody uses degree to cook soup or to bear children.  I said it that she’s too skinny.  I said that she wouldn’t be able to have children because she didn’t have any womb inside that body.’ 

With each new point she listed, she touched the index finger of her right hand against a finger of her left. 

‘Now, see what’s happening.  Exactly what I warned you about.  How can I come into my eldest brother’s house and instead of the noise of children running about the place, everywhere is so quiet?  Look at.’ 

She swept her hand in the air, careful to cover every nook and cranny of the room. 

‘After all these years,’ she continued, ‘it’s only one child that you people have.  Pauly, we just said we should come and talk to you to do something about it before it becomes too late.’

Augustina had heard several versions of this same speech at different points in her marriage.  Today, the woman had even been lenient.  In the past, she had been referred to as an educated broomstick.  At another time, she had been referred to as a bamboo stick that would break into two at the slightest push.  She listened on and wondered what else was new. 

The second eldest sister took over.

‘Like Ada was saying, we don’t want it to get too late. Unfortunately, you married quite late and you’re not growing any younger.  You don’t have to wait until all your hair has turned grey and all your teeth have fallen out before you know you should do something about the situation.’ 

She switched to a more soothing tone.

‘Pauly, we understand that you’re busy with your job at the ministry and that you might not have the time to sort things out for yourself so we’ve decided to help.’

She put a full stop to her speech and handed the baton back to the eldest sister.  The exchange was carried out smoothly, and Ada sat forward in her chair.  She looked briefly at Augustina and turned away her face.  That instant was enough for Augustina to catch the dark light of loathing that glinted from her eyes.