“They lef’ more’n three hours ago,” Tani told Sophie. “What if Simi’s getting cut this very minute? Soph, I’m her brother. I’m meant to—”
“It’s okay,” Sophie said. “Tani, it’s fine. They probably just went to . . .” And of course, she couldn’t come up with a place any more than he could. So she continued with, “They’ll be along. Try to stay calm.”
“I should’ve followed ’em,” he said. “I heard ’em leave. But I reckoned I couldn’t snatch Simi in the street, could I. Only, now I’m thinking why the hell couldn’t I ’ve snatched her.”
“You’ve done the right thing. They can’t have gone far. They’ll be back soon.”
Soon turned out to be sooner than Tani expected. He and Sophie were sitting side by side on Tani’s bed, not ten minutes after their return from Ridley Road, when they heard the sound of his father’s voice. It became louder as he mounted the steps. His words were clipped.
All Tani could make out was, “Now this. You will stand aside. You will not—”
“You’re hurting her arm, Papa!” from Simisola.
“Close your mouth,” Abeo returned.
Tani and Sophie looked at each other. Tani rose from the bed and pushed his bedroom door nearly all the way shut, leaving a crack so that they could hear. He returned to Sophie. The front door opened. Footsteps, and then it closed again.
“Now you examine what you have done,” Abeo demanded.
“I’ve prevented Simisola from being hurt.”
“And you know what happens next. I will acquire the tickets today. For this, you may thank yourself.”
“I won’t allow you to take her out of the country, Abeo. I will stop you.”
“Papa, I don’t want to go,” Simi cried.
“By doing what will you stop me?” Abeo asked.
“I’ll ring the police.”
He laughed shortly. “And then what? They come, they shake a finger in my face. They say, ‘This you must not do, sir,’ and they expect obedience. You think you can stop me this way?”
“They’ll arrest you.”
“Mummy, where’s he taking me?”
“He wishes to take you to Nigeria. There he will see to it that—”
“You stupid woman!” came in a shout that was followed by the sound of flesh striking flesh, an open palm delivered to the face. “You do not decide what will happen to anyone in this family.”
“Abeo, you must not—”
“You do not speak to me. Enough of your speaking.”
“I will never allow—”
“You do not hear me?” The sound of a piece of furniture being shoved across the floor. “I allow. I do not allow. What must I do to make you understand?”
“Papa—”
“Simisola, please go to—”
“No! She stays where she is. She will watch and learn so that she obeys when she is asked to do something.”
“Abeo, don’t do this.”
“Do not speak to me of this again.”
“Please—”
“What did I just say? Do you not hear me?” The sound of striking once again, followed by a grunt, the sound of striking, a strangled shout of protest, and another cry from Simi of, “Stop it, Papa! You’re hurting Mummy!”
“This is what husbands do when their wives will not obey. You listen and you watch . . . Where do you think . . . I am not finished.” The thud of a body falling and then another, heavy on the floor.
Then a cry of “Abeo, stop. You’re frightening—”
“I will show . . .” Then nothing more from Abeo but grunts and the sound of his fists, of Monifa gasping, of Simi crying, of Simi shrieking, “No! No! Papa!” then from Abeo, “You do not intervene in this. You see what you have made of her? Do you now see? You ruin what you touch. Simisola, you will not . . . you fucking little—”
A shriek from Simi, a scream from Monifa. Tani was on his feet heading for the bedroom door. Sophie grabbed him. She whispered, “Stop, stop. If you try to end this, he’ll hurt you as well.”
Then a roar of “Get to your room and bloody stay there or I will kill your mother here and now.”
“Papa—” said on a sob.
“Do you want to see her dead?”
And then a rush of footsteps, another sob, and Simi was through the door and shut it behind her. Tani grabbed her and held her to him while Sophie signalled for her to be silent. Crashing and cries from the lounge.