She said, “Anything you want to add, then? About your wife? About your marriage?”
Carver shook his head. “I want to wake up and find this is a nightmare, frankly.”
“People generally do,” Barbara said.
PEMBURY ESTATE
HACKNEY
NORTH-EAST LONDON
Tani knew that he alone was what stood between his sister and Abeo’s intention to offer her to some ancient Nigerian rich enough to pay his asking price. He also knew that Monifa was going to let it happen when all she had to do was pack a suitcase for Simi and one for herself and leave Mayville Estate while Abeo wasn’t there.
And he wasn’t there most of the time. Now that his second family was out in the open—or at least out in the open to Tani—Abeo had apparently made the decision to spend more of his time with them, certain for some reason that neither Monifa nor Tani would tell Simi about them. He came by the flat only to drop off his bloodstained shirts and aprons, which Monifa dutifully washed and ironed. Indeed, upon reflection, Tani had realised that Abeo had been bringing to Monifa his second family’s laundry, and true to form, his mother had also been obediently washing and ironing it, which explained the mound of clothing Tani had seen her working on.
It hadn’t taken him very long to come up with a second way to approach his father. So, late that afternoon, he waited for Abeo’s arrival at Pembury Estate in order to make his move. He’d not gone to Into Africa Groceries Etc. on this day or the day before. He did not want to get into it with his father before he knew what he wanted to do. Now that he did know, he was ready. So he kept himself out of sight on Pembury Estate but within spotting distance of the lift that Abeo would have to take to reach his other family’s flat. When this happened, at the end of the day, Abeo looked done-in, but he nonetheless wore a freshly washed and ironed shirt so that Lark and her children would not be confronted with the unappealing sight of animal blood on his clothing, on his chest and his hips. Tani waited. He wanted to give his father time to settle in before he confronted him.
Twenty-five minutes after Abeo had arrived, Tani strode to the lift. It was late in the day, so other inhabitants of the building were coming and going, and it was in the wake of a woman with too many carrier bags that he entered, nodded hello, pushed the button for floor 3, and rode upwards.
Most of the doors along the external walkway were open. So it was with his father’s other family. He could hear children chattering and Abeo’s voice answering and then a woman saying, “There just there. Oh, you are a love, you are.” And then with a laugh, “That tickles! No, no! Abeo, stop!”
“This then?” Abeo’s voice was followed by more laughter and the woman saying, “Elton, come! Make your father stop!”
Tani went to the doorway. His father’s lover was supine on the sofa, a wet washing flannel across her forehead and her feet in Abeo’s lap. Abeo was play-acting at biting Lark’s instep, making growling noises as she laughed and their children giggled from a nearby table where they were kneeling on chairs and building something green from a mountain of Lego pieces. Abeo stopped the mock biting and began rubbing cubes of ice on the soles of Lark’s feet and between her toes. A towel and a bottle of lotion were on the floor next to his feet.
“Better?” he said.
“You’re an angel,” she sighed.
She was the one to see Tani. She took the washing flannel from her head, saying, “Davrina, Mummy needs more ice, there’s a love,” as she glanced in his direction.
Davrina jumped from her chair, but then she saw Tani as well and said, “Who’s he?,” which caused Abeo to turn his head towards Tani.
“Did that for Mum as well, did you? When she was pregnant, eh?” Tani’s words felt like pincers in his throat.
“What do you want?” Abeo asked. “Why have you not been at work?”
Tani sauntered into the flat. He went to the table where the children were sitting. He said to Abeo, “Sh’ll I tell them who I am or d’you want to?”
“It is a matter of indifference to me,” Abeo said. Then to the children, “This is your brother by my wife Monifa, or so she says. He is called Tani. Say hello and go back to your game,” just as he went back to massaging Lark’s feet.
Tani saw that the children were building a T. rex. He picked up a Lego and examined it. He wondered what it would look like shoved into his father’s eye.
“D’you like to play Lego?” Davrina asked him.