Love and Relationships

In this first chapter, Ben learned that his wife was pregnant again. Thrilled by the good news, he responded to the turmoil in the neighborhood to know about what was going on.

                                 Chapter I: A Commontion in the Neighborhood

Soon after we came back from the event in the Caribbean sea, in the middle of the Fall season, Sika got pregnant again. She didn’t let me know like she did the first time. This time, she chose the traditional African way to do it. I have discovered Sika has been learning the usual African manner to do things. To announce her pregnancy, she came by my side in the kitchen where I was taking my breakfast. She stood by the table and was staring at me. And she said,

-I stand.

-Have a seat, I said.

She stood still, and she grinned a beautiful smile. Then I found out what she meant. I got up, and I embraced her. I kissed her in the neck. She kept laughing uncontrollably, and then she asked,

-How do you know?

-Do you think I have forgotten all the manner and tradition from Africa? I said. An alligator which spends a hundred years in water will never become a wood. No matter how long I have lived in America, I could always remember the tradition in which I grow up. Where do you learn that?

-On Facebook, she replied. I had a friend from Togo who taught me that.

And we kissed each other passionately. We finished in the bedroom where we made love like the first time. After, sika departed for work.

I started doing my daily chores that morning when I heard the noise outside and the siren of the paramedic unit and the police force in our neighborhood. Like every American nowadays I dropped the vacuum cleaner, grab my kid and run outside to see what was happening. The Hollywood culture we all have inherited in this America wants us to know what is going on in our neighbor’s life. So, I went to the scene which was located two to three houses around the corner. When I reached the scene, the crowd was already busy sharing the news. I saw a young gentleman laid down on the stretcher ready to be evacuated to the hospital. Two women were close to her standing on both sides of the stretcher. The younger woman as I have learned later was his wife. The second woman who is in her fifty was his lover. Her name was Veronica. 

As I started gathering the information, the whole story began to make sense. It was one fantastic story which could feed the tabloid of American newspaper for a while. The entire story revolves around that mature lady: Veronica. She was a second-generation Italian descent. Her grandparents emigrated out of Cagliari from Italy during the panic of 1873 and landed in New York.

Veronica was a model in cosmetic dermatology boutique in New York at that time her relationship began with Henry. She was beautiful, young, full of energy, broad open, talkative with a huge sense of humor and sometimes a little bit of sarcasm. He met her husband Henry in the line of her duty; of course, Henry was a consultant, as a doctor in dermatology. One of the most prominent consultant in dermatology of the country as we have been told. The couple got married in 1995 and relocated recently to Seattle in our neighborhood. They have together three children, the seven years old boy still at home while the elders have gone to a college campus.

 

Nobody has thought their marriage would last so long because Veronica was entirely the opposite of Henry. Henry was reserved, timid, thoughtful and above all, religious. He succeeded quickly in business because he was more focused, knowing what he wanted in life. Henry had never wasted his time with women or nightclub or drinking party to get out of the track he had set to follow. In his early adulthood, Henry had had a lot of opportunities with the young women of his congregation, but he was not much interested. His pastor intervened to know the reason why he was still single in his thirty (at that time) but came out of little or no avail.

When Henry started dating Veronica, there was a backwash and turmoil in the congregation. Many wise women disagree with the choice of their “star.” They have openly said that the young lady, talking about Veronica, lives “in the world.” They had a petition within the congregation and had approached the Senior pastor with their view on the matter.

When Veronica noticed she was a persona non grata, she engaged in open battle against those who are about to destroy her future. She decided to fight instead of giving up. She knew the man was in love; and when passion blinds a man, he would never listen to anything than what is pushing him within.

One day in an afternoon meeting, a deaconess invited her in front of the congregation so that she may speak about the Lord. It was a snare, well-crafted to prove she did not belong here. Having been mindful of their trick, Veronica advanced to the pulpit and grabbed the microphone. The sneaky smile in the face of the church at the beginning of her speech quickly changed into bitterness as she continued delving into the subject.

She first admitted true Christians must be good followers of Jesus. As Jesus Himself spent time in prayer and fasting, she noticed many women who claimed themselves as Christians in the congregation, were plump, fat, and overweight. She demonstrated that this state of fact is an open sign that women in the church were not fasting and praying well enough as the Lord has recommended. This remark offended many, but the war had just begun.

The next day, when coming to Sunday service, she displayed in her car a broad sticker quoting the French playwriter and comedian Moliere who said,

“One must eat to live and not live to eat.”

This was a bombshell dropped over the congregation that Sunday morning. The women in the church, in reaction, boycotted her wedding and swore not to attend. They have written a long essay to Henry's mother and urged the pastor to step into what they have called “outrage.”

Few years after the wedding, Henry started to notice what her mother and the women of the congregation were meaning. At home, Henry was very miserable. He has difficulty coping with her wife, very open, talkative, every time teasing and touching him. In the beginning, he liked to be with her and was trying to cope with her way of life but no avail. However, He was happy outside, when he attended meeting with his peer; with Veronica by his side pranced left and right greeting everybody by portraying Veronica as an eternal trophy. But a marital life is not meant to be spent outside pleasing people. Marriage is about pleasing yourself and your partner.

He found out quickly they were different. And his inner being was frustrated trying always to force himself into what was not natural for him. He was fighting against himself just to please his wife. Veronica as well, noticed their incompatibility, so she did not push too much.

When she started having babies, things have changed well in the house. Now Veronica was very busy with her kids, and Henry in his side had what he always wanted. From that moment he began having time alone, and he seemed happier than before. His doubt cleared off, and he scoffed at those women who warned him in the past about his marriage and have predicted an apocalypse.

When Veronica was approaching forty, and her first two kids had grown up to college, she noticed she was the only miserable person in the house. Everybody roughly had what he wanted except her. The firstborn was very happy finishing his high school with honor; her younger sister was doing well and have won the miss pageant competition for teenagers. The husband was delighted spending time with his career. She has become a housewife, miserable like many others. Her days were full of monotony and routine.

One day, when at home watching TV, Henry surprisingly came across the series “Desperate Housewives.” He was shocked by the attitude and the life of Gabrielle Solis. He passed in panic mode, and his response did not wait. He fired the gardener. He took a week of vacation to give more attention to his wife. He was fortunate because five weeks later, Veronica got pregnant again and was waiting for her third baby. A joyful wind blew over the house one time again, and Veronica was kept busy for years.

A couple of month earlier from the current incident, in a beautiful spring afternoon, Veronica was assisting her six years old boy with a bike. Within a block far away from her house, there was a young man who was cleaning a car. When her gaze came across the man's piercing eye, something abnormal and unusual run through her spinal like a fire or electricity. What happened next left her speechless. They have exchanged some words, the guy giving her some advice on riding a bike and so on. She kept smiling, entirely out of herself, crying over to her son like a teenager who went to the beach for the first time in her life. She was chewing gum and was making balloons which she will pop up following by a flirting smile. That day was very particular for her and what she felt was very deep. She came home thoroughly excited. She has difficulty forgetting Mario. The name of the guy was Mario; the twenty-five years old guy who moved to the area during the last winter with his wife.

The entire story seemed to change from one individual to another. As I was moving across the crowd to glean some additional information to reach a conclusion and found the event which led to the current incident, I stumbled upon Padre. I had to believe Padre was observing me since then. This time, Padre caught me red-handed idling with my life.