The Convert

By Vilisoni Tausie

SHE was woken up early in the morning by the beating of the lali. It only beat once at the end so she knew she had plenty of time.

She didn’t feel like getting up but she knew she had to go. She’d never missed any session once she started going. Not because she enjoyed it but because . . . She tried to think of a reason but couldn’t. She didn’t like the Minister personally, and she wondered why she kept going. There was something about church that really attracted her. She felt a com pulsion to go.

It was then that she heard the lali for the second time. It sounded so loud this time. She glanced at her husband. He was still asleep. Some thing buzzed in her ear and she slapped hard. There was blood on her hands. What a fat mosquito, she thought.

She lifted her husband’s hand that was lying carelessly across her bosom and put it by her husband’s side. She couldn’t understand why he was always twisting in his sleep.

He never could keep still in bed.

Perhaps he has had dreams? What was it he had said in his sleep the Other night? Something about catch ing a thief. Her husband turned onto his side and she shifted her eyes from the ceiling to look at him.

Suddenly it struck her that he looked so thin. She didn’t want to keep looking at him and closed her eyes for a minute. Someone coughed. She looked at their children. It was Malu.

QUIETLY she got out of bed. She stepped into gaps between the

children carefully so as not to waken them. She found the bucket at the back of the house, cupped some water in her hands and washed her face with it. She dried her face with her sulu making sure to remove the concealed sleep at the corners of her eyes.

Hurriedly she returned into the sleeping house. Everyone was still asleep. As she passed the boys she noticed that Mue had the bed sheet wrapped around himself and the two younger boys were curled up like round balls. What a selfish boy. She thought of waking up Mue and teach ing him a lesson but she knew she was running out of time. Also she didn’t want to wake everybody up, especially her husband.

The suitcase containing her clothes were under the wooden bed which she shared with her husband. She lifted the mat and pulled it out.

Furiously she searched for her white dress. A cockroach scurried out of the suitcase and disappeared behind the safe where she kept their few china plates and cups. She expected more to appear from among the clothes and stood back. She looked at the safe. “What dirty creatures cockroaches are”, she thought. “And the smell they leave behind them”.

The dress was third from the top in the suitcase. She picked it up, pressed it against her nose and then held it against the window. It was not too-badly creased. She put it on.

The comb was on the top of the safe. She brushed her hair hurriedly and then threw the comb down. She lifted the mirror up and it made a

protesting noise. She cursed and put it back.

HER small bag was hanging on a nail. She reached out for her bible. Then she returned to the bed and lifted the pillow. The hand kerchief lay before her and she un did the knot and put its contents into the pocket of her dress.

“Where are you going?” She stopped, frozen in the doorway, not knowing what to say. Her husband stared at her with eyes that betrayed he had been awake all the time. She was afraid because she knew her husband was against her going to church. The quarrels they have had in the past came back to her mind.

She had tried to get him to go to church but she had been unsuccess ful. He was particularly mean about Sunday donations for the church.

“Church”, she stammered.

“How much you take?” He asked.

She kept looking down at the floor.

She was almost in tears now for she knew only too well what was to hap pen. She tried to think of God but he seemed so far away.

“I said how much you take?” She shivered. He got out of bed and wrapped his sulu tightly around his waist. Without taking his eyes off her he lifted the pillow and felt for the handkerchief. Yes, it was there, but there wasn’t any knot, NOT even a small one.

Slowly and deliberately he moved towards her. She heard the lali beat for the third and final time but this time it sounded so far away.