Wedding Night

Dan and Colleen share their first married night together.

Wedding Night

 Despite their previous couplings Dan and Colleen both felt the wedding night would be different.  Before the wedding there had been some debate over where it would be spent.  Elizabeth had suggested their house in the teacher’s compound.  It had the advantages of being both free and convenient. Not romantic enough said Colleen.  “How about a holiday, say in Togo,” suggested Richard. “Nice beaches.” 

“Too expensive” said Dan.

Colleen found the solution.  “The Falaj Hotel. After all, that’s where it began.”

They chose the room they had first made love in.  Through checking their past register pages, the hotel located it and reserved it for them.

Daniel unlocked the door and followed Colleen into the room. “Hasn’t changed any, “he said, looking about.  “The same chair and table, the same light and shower, the same bed “

“We have though” said Colleen.  Placing her knapsack on the table she stepped towards the bed. Sitting on the bed she tested the mattress. Satisfied, she began to undress.

“You know,” Dan said placing his bag on the table, “one of the first things I wondered about when we came in the first time was why there was no television. Sad wasn’t it.”

“Especially considering what Nigerian television is like.” Colleen slipped out of her blouse and shorts. Come.”

Clad only in his briefs, Dan sat next to her.  “Just like it was before, “he said.

“Not quite.” Colleen turned. He unsnapped the bra straps and slipped it off. She rose. He pulled down her panties.  She stepped out of them. They then tumbled under the sheets

***

Lying back Colleen held Dan by his shoulders as he mounted her.  She raised her legs as he pushed deeper into her.  Her eyes closed, she was in mid-moan when Paul stopped.

“Power’s off” he said. 

Colleen opened her eyes.  The lights were off. The air conditioner had stopped humming.

“Never enough power anytime,”* she muttered, the usual mantra applied to the Nigerian Electrical Power Authority (NEPA) whenever the power failed.

She nudged Dan. “What does it matter? We’re in bed anyway.  Besides they’ve got a generator.”  She placed Dan’s hands on her breasts.  “Come on.”

Dan resumed, trying to regain his momentum.  Colleen had resumed her moaning when the light of an electric torch unnoticed by the two, passed the room window.

Dan could feel Colleen beginning to writhe under him.  Then the knocking began.

“Mallam. Mallama.  Sir. Madam.”

“Yes?”

“Please sir.  It is important I speak to you.”

“Bloody hell. Don’t they have any Do Not Disturb signs here?”

Colleen giggled. “You can’t read them in the dark.” She ducked under the sheet.

Careful to keep his lower body hidden behind the door, Dan undid the lock and turned the knob. He poked his head out.

A worker in a white shirt and black trousers offered him a plastic bag containing two candles, a saucer and a book of matches.

“Excuse me sir. The power is down sir.”

“Yes, we noticed.  You have a generator?”

“Yes sir.  We will have it running, soon, soon.  Until then, you have candles. No extra charge.”

“Thank you. Why two?”

“More light sir. One for you. One for madam. Sannu madam.”

He waved the light in the direction of the bed.

“Sannu mallam” said Colleen from behind the sheet.

Dan began to push the door shut.  The man gave him the bag with the candles and bowed himself back outside.  Dan locked the door.  He fumbled his way towards the table, lit a match and then a candle. Melting a little of the candle base he fixed it to the saucer.

Colleen lowered the sheet. “At least we’ll have light when we go to the loo.”  She patted Dan’s pillow and then gave a dramatic sigh. “I suppose we’ll have to start all over again.”

***

Wrapped in a white towel Colleen lay on the floor.  She loved Dan, his gentleness, intelligence and kindness. Sex was him was exciting and warm. Even better was when they cuddled sharing memories of their days together and joking.  However the fact remained that sleeping next to him at times was like sleeping next to a freight train. She had known of his snoring since their first night together.  Dan himself seemed oblivious to it. Assuming that he knew of it, she had not mentioned the snoring or of the moments when his breathing would stop. With a start, he would resume his breathing would resume.

In a letter from Hamilton her mother had told her that every man and woman had their faults. A good couple learned to adapt to one another. How, Colleen asked, was she going to adapt to that?

By the dim light of the candle she could see Dan lying on the bed. A hacking, snorting, half-strangled gasping shook him. Then he settled into a softer breathing.  She told herself that she should go back to the bed but felt too sleepy to move.  She thought of her first night with Dan.  Then she thought of their first meeting in the Sardauna  Prince. He seemed everything a lover should be, handsome, personable and intelligent.  True, he had been a bit slow at picking up signals but most men were. She had aroused his interest but only to the holding hands stage.  In trying to move beyond she had met two problems, place, and time.  The teachers shared rooms and only received private rooms after being sent to their schools. Her roommate Elizabeth and she had been sent to a girl’s school in the Sabon Gari in Kano. Dan had been sent to Hadejia; 175 kilometres north east of Kano.  With no phone service and almost no postal service, they had been severed from one another.  Dan had told her that he hoped to be back in Kano in a couple of weeks.  

Two weeks she had told herself. She would have her own room with her own bed, or perhaps they would find a hotel.  She had imagined it happening over and over. Then she met Simon; charming, witty, handsome and oh so wealthy Simon.  He had driven her around Kano. They had visited the markets, eaten at restaurants and hotels and then came the lovemaking. 

Two weeks after her meeting Simon, Dan had appeared.  He had done some shopping and visited some of the teachers, including Elizabeth. She had told him about Colleen and Simon. By the time Colleen returned Dan had gone to bed in a neighbouring residence, Bob Green’s house. The next morning being a Sunday Dan had to get an afternoon van back to Hadejia.  She saw him briefly at the house he was staying in.  They chatted. She touched him but he had to get a van and Simon was coming to take her to lunch.

She kissed him. His lips responded but his eyes were withdrawn, almost disinterested.

“When will you be back?” she had asked.

“A couple of weeks” he shrugged.

“I’ll write you.”

“Won’t do any good. They closed the post office in Hadejia. The postmaster was arrested for theft.”

“They closed  . . . ?  When will it be open?”

“No one knows.” He gave a faint smile.  “Nigeria is a wonder, ma.”

 Then he was gone. 

She returned home to find Elizabeth drinking tea.

“Going out with Simon?” the older woman asked.

“Sometimes I think that’s the only way I can survive this place.”

Elizabeth poured her a mug of tea.

“Dan seems … tired and thin” said Colleen.

Elizabeth sipped her tea. After a moment she spoke. “Not surprising. He lives on rice, canned sardines and water. Last week he had malaria.”

“Ma . . .”

“Not too serious. Like the common cold in the bush.  Everyone gets it.  Don’t worry. It’s not contagious.”

She placed her mug on the table.  “I wonder what he has helping him survive?”

She poured Colleen a mug of tea.  “We all have our ways. I have the church. Bob Green has his family.  You have Simon.  Simon has his money.  So what does Dan have?  His work, I suppose. We all have that. But what else? Dan has his friends in Hadejia. Above all else, he has the ability to live within himself.  That may have allowed him to survive all the years of loneliness.  He’s one of the quiet ones you see. Crowds and noise are not for him.  He prefers the comfort of books and music.  He says very little but what he says is true and thoughtful.  It’s an inner strength that allows him to endure.  Once, such strength was honoured.  Now, in an age of instant fame and mass media, no one cares. The price he pays for that strength is high.  He is thirty - one and knows little of being with a woman. Because he’s so inexperienced he keeps thinking that you might actually care for him.  But you don’t do you? He’s just someone to fill your time with when Simon isn’t here.”

Colleen looked at Elizabeth.  She was about to speak when Simon’s car turned into the driveway.

"Dan places your feelings above his own.  You don't place his anywhere."

“When he knows that” Elizabeth added, “he’ll have one less reason to survive.”

"Simon will leave you and in trying to keep him, you’ll lose Dan. You’ll leave Nigeria as lonely as you were when you came.”

Simon rapped on the door.  Colleen hurried to answer it.

***

Simon took her to the Kano Sporting Club. Uniformed waiters, table napkins, sparkling glasses of wine, it seemed another universe from the streets of Kano. After that they would go to his apartment where they would spend the night.  Over dinner, lamb cutlets and white rice, she looked up.

“What do you know about Hadejia?”

“Hadejia?  Been through it a couple of times; why?”

 “I have a friend posted there. I’m just wondering what it’s like.”

“Well, officially it’s the second largest city in the state, the seat of an emirate, two secondary schools, a hospital, the commercial centre for the villages surrounding it.  Unofficially it’s an overgrown collection of mud huts.  God knows how many people. Small expatriate community, mainly Filipinos. Something else. Back in 1967 when the Biafran war broke out, the non-Hausa, mainly Ibo, were put on trucks, driven out of the town and slaughtered.  The Emir didn’t want them killed in his town.”

Colleen felt ill.

“Long time ago.”

“Any hotels or restaurants?”

“Government guest house for officials. All that I know of. There is one place, sort of a restaurant. The Gidan Abinchi, House of food;  a mud hut, one wooden table and benches. Usually they serve a stew in tin bowls. That’s about it.  Why? Are you thinking of visiting Hadejia?”

Colleen put down her fork. “I’m sorry. I don’t feel hungry.”

That evening lying beside Simon she thought of Dan, seeing him alone in a mud hut sitting on a wooden bench eating stew from a tin bowl.

“Going to Beirut next week” said Simon.   “Have to see the family.”

Colleen turned towards him.  “How long will you be gone?”

“A week. You’ll be fine here?”

“Yes. Of course. There’s a conference I have to be at. Reviewing the project’s progress. That sort of thing.”

“I’ll bring you back a bottle of French wine.”

                   ***

One thing her previous love affairs had in common.  They all ended leaving her alone in the dark facing her memories of the bearded man.  She thought of what Dan had told her the previous night.  “I’m thinking of growing a beard,” said Dan looking at the reflection of his face in the shaving mirror.

Maureen, shampooing her hair, had turned off the shower. “What?” 

“I’m thinking of growing a beard. Some women think that they’re very distinguished.”

She turned away. “Then you can marry them.”

“What’s wrong with a beard?”

“I don’t like them. They’re dirty and itchy; ugly things.”

Dan looked back at the mirror. “A mustache, maybe?”

Colleen thought for a moment. “Maybe.” She turned the shower back on. An empty threat she knew, her telling Dan that bit about his marrying another woman so that he could have a beard.  He would never do that. That first night they had been together she had understood that with Dan there would be no leaving; no bearded man waiting for her in the dark.

Not willing to give up that hope as well as unwilling to give up Simon she tried to spend time with them both.  So when the conference had coincided with Simon’s trip to Beirut she had grabbed the opportunity to get Dan into bed with her.  Of course she had to exercise caution so that it would not damage her relationship with Simon.  Then suddenly that night, that relationship no longer mattered.

***

Around Colleen the once cool air had warmed. Not needing the towel she removed it placing it on the back of the chair. Lying down beside Dan, she kissed his mouth and placed her right arm over his chest. His left hand caressing her bottom, he nudged her closer to him.

***

At dawn the air conditioner began to hum. The bulbs brightened.  Dan looked up. “Power’s back; just when we don’t need it.” 

Colleen, groaning, turned away from the light.  “Your snoring kept me awake.”

“It did?”

“Didn’t anybody tell you that you snore?”

“Well everybody snores, don’t they?”

“Not like a herd of buffalo.”  She placed the edge of the sheet over her head and closed her eyes. “When we get to Canada I want you to see a doctor.”

“For snoring?”

“It could be a symptom of something else. You never know. Now let me sleep.”

“I’ll go out and find some breakfast.”

She was still sleeping when Dan returned with soft drinks and long sticks of roasted lamb and a loaf of bread.  “Breakfast,” he said, placing the food on the table.

He shook her by the left shoulder. “Food is ready.” Come eat.”

“How about breakfast in bed?” she asked still half asleep

“The sheets will get messy.”

She sat up. “They already are. Bring a towel. Let’s eat it in bed.”

 “Any plates here?” Dan asked.

“Check the cupboards.”

Opening a cupboard door, he found an assortment of dishes and glasses “Two plates.  Good.”

He slid open a drawer.  “Knife? Knife?” He found two table knives. Soon he had made two lamb sandwiches. He brought them and two bottles of coke over to the bed.  “When you’re with me Mrs. McKeller; you travel first class.”

He placed the drinks and sandwiches on the bedside table next to Colleen and began to undress. Soon nude, he had snuggled next to Colleen.  They ate.  As they ate they talked over what they would do that day.  Swimming and resting by the pool, dreaming of the children to come, of their future life in Canada. Good times and bad times lay ahead, but they would face them together for in each other they had found themselves.

Kicking Up Dust  Amazon Press