The cattle-rearer

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Warning: this book is for those that are 21 years and above. Thank you.

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Naughty Wife
a division of Bigga Dreamz Publications
Abuja. www.biggadreamz.com
This book must not be reproduced either in book form, movie, drama, or sold without the prior
permission of the author. It is a crime and I have a damn good lawyer.
Copyright © 2013 by Ify-Asia Chiemeziem
This book is totally fiction. The names, places and incidents are the
product of the author’s imagination.
Image credits:
Gettyimages.com

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Naughty Wife …a zesty read
Chapter 1
Jemima never felt this horny since her husband left for Switzerland after their
wedding. She had used all the tools at her disposal to assuage her lust but the
hankering in her groin refused to abate. First, she had used her fingers, sticking it
in and out of her vagina to no avail, then she used a candle stick, but it was like
drinking a tiny tumbler of water when you are beset by a raging thirst. She then
went a step further to use the smooth rounded stick she uses for turning
Semovita or garri, it was dry and painful but at least it did the job to a certain
extent. But she still needed a man. She needed her husband’s penis like mad. She
hadn’t considered buying a vibrator until now, but she was afraid of what would
happen if her husband found it.
When she married Alpho, she believed she had settled at last with the man that
was capable of meeting both her emotional and physical needs. He was strong
and sexually active; they had gone at it like rabbits their first weeks together until
he had to return to his base in pursuit of the proverbial golden fleece. He fulfilled
his promise of coming home every three months for the next one year after their
wedding, until the second and third year. Since January to this December, he had
not come home. His calls had also become infrequent. The last call she got from
him, he had apologised after informing her he won’t be coming home this
December until Easter. Jemima was sure she would die of sex deficiency before
then.
How could a married woman be starved of sex when unmarried ones pig on it?
With which mouth would she complain to her friends? The only person she had
mentioned it to was Juliana who simply advised her to find a lover. Jemima had
rejected that advice like a plague, but now she wasn’t sure if she could hold up
her virtue as a married woman with that cantankerous machine in between her
legs needing servicing badly.
There were many gorgeous men she could choose from, both married and single,
she disliked anything to do with married ones. If she must date, a single man
would be her option, then again where would she find a discreet man? She had

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this fear that any man she dated might blab about it somehow and get her in
trouble. She loved Alpho too much to allow anything come in between them. He
was a caring man and by all standards, good-looking and financially capable to
furnish her expensive taste. She had up to ten designer bags and numerous
designer cloths. Her husband knew her taste in jewelleries and gifted her with lots
of it as long as he could afford it. There were three expensive cars she could use
anytime she wanted. Amidst this lavishness – luxuries most women could kill for -
all she was lacking and hankering for was a simple penis. This life could be funny.
She touched her labia gingerly and it felt raw. She had to think fast on what to do.
She was still there when her doorbell rang. She knew it was Juliana. The woman
had nothing else doing but to visit her friends and gush about the latest fashion
item in her possession. Jemima got up to open the door, thinking that her friend
could present a sort of distraction from her predicament.
Juliana tramped in looking like something a wacky designer had put together.
‘Hellooo girl,’ she cooed.
‘Hi Juliana,’ Jemima muttered, closing the door after her visitor.
‘Juliana flopped down in one of the cosy puffy settees. She removed her large
dark shades and frowned at Jemima. ‘My god, you look like hell.’
‘Hmm?’ Jemima flopped beside her.
‘You really look like a woman who has not been fucked for more than a year.’
Juliana suddenly burst out with laughter, slapping at her lap. ‘You need to do
something about it. I told you, when my husband went AWOL on me, I got myself
a stud and meeen it was worth it. It gave me the mind to forgive the hubby when
he returned after being dumped by his mistress of nine years. If I had waited for
him all dry and crying, what would be my gain? A sick husband who has come
home to die. I am nursing him now quite all right but since he cannot give me
what I want in bed, I get it elsewhere.’
‘Juliana, Alpho did not run off on me. He is abroad making money for us,’ Jemima
said quietly.

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‘I know, but are you telling me he is celibate all these months, waiting to come
home to get it from you? Of course not. I am sure he is getting his fill somewhere.
You can’t remain like this. Do something before you get sick o. I am sure you don’t
even have a dildo. Don’t go and injure yourself o. There are free pricks out there
waiting for the taking. No one will find out.’
Right then, there was a loud moo at Jemima’s backyard.
‘What was that?’ Juliana exclaimed.
‘Cows,’ Jemima replied. ‘I allow cattle rearers to graze their cows on my backyard.
The place is too big, close to 1800sqm and the grasses there grow like mad.’
Juliana went to the window to peep out. A low wall separated the main house
from the land were the cows were. ‘There are up to twenty cows there. Aren’t
you scared of them?’
‘When their owner is there to mind them? No, they also graze in other people’s
backyards around here. Last year Christmas we bought a cow off them at half the
prize. It was worth it. They helped to prepare it and even roasted it for us for
free.’
‘I can see the rearer,’ Juliana said, he is not bad looking for a cattle rearer, he
even has a Blackberry phone. Can you imagine that?’ The women began to cackle.
‘A cattle rearer with a Blackberry. This life sef,’ Jemima chuckled.
‘What is he doing? He is easing himself facing us?’
‘He doesn’t know we are watching through the window.’ Jemima whispered,
though the guy was far off earshot.
‘Look at the impressive todger on this guy. I wish my boyfriend had something like
that,’ Juliana drooled.
Jemima’s eyes were glued to the unsuspecting cattle rearer’s dick as he urinated
into the grass. The young man was busy looking back at his cows while the ladies
feasted their eyes. He finished and tucked it in and out of sight to their
disappointment.

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Jemima finally let out the breath she had held, she could feel the spot in between
her legs sopping wet. What temptation had just confronted her now? She was
crying for a dick and one unsuspecting fool just swung a thick one before her very
hungry eyes.
‘Hmm, if not that he is a lowly cattle rearer, I would surely go out there to chat
him up and probably take a closer look at his shaft,’ Juliana said regrettably,
returning to her seat.
Jemima couldn’t say anything. She still couldn’t get the vision of that prick out of
her head. It was almost as thick as her wrist and long too. And the guy spotting it
was so slim that no one would suspect he was that endowed. She half-heartedly
listened to Juliana as she moved on to other topics. Jemima’s lust had just shot up
astronomically and she must find a man. She couldn’t possibly ask Juliana to hook
her up with someone, the woman talked like a magpie. She might let it slip out of
her mouth somewhere.
After Juliana left, Jemima decided to go hunting. She took the Mercedes and
drove along Thambo Crescent where some respectable bars had opened shop for
the day. She sat in her car, parked some feet away from one of the joints arguing
with herself if it was safe to go in there and order a drink and thereby making
friends with a male but people knew her husband in this town. One of his friends
might spot her. She decided to go to Wuse area or other area, but who says her
husband’s buddies won’t ply those places too. After all she wasn’t the only hunter
on the prowl. Anything could happen.
Her phone rang then and she picked it, it was Ashley, her other friend. ‘I just saw
your car parked outside where we are.
‘Oh,’ Jemima replied dumbly.
‘Come on inside and meet my friends.’
That was how Jemima was able to walk into the bar. Ashley was with four other
people and from the look of their table, they were really having a good time. And

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judging by the cloudy look on Ashley’s eyes, she was tanked-up already or halfway
there. ‘What do you want? Have anything you like,’ Ashley offered gaily, grinning
benignly like Mother Christmas. Then she introduced her friends, her date for the
night, a middle-aged man, Ashley was single and loving it; a couple, who were
deeply into themselves and the only unattached guy there said his name was
Sam.
Right from the second she sat down, Sam assumed that she needed his company.
He was chatting her up, directing all his activities towards her. Jemima considered
it a blessing, she didn’t have to look any further.
Sam started with subtle flirting and then moved up to touching her at any
slightest opportunity. First, it was brushing her arm with his, then his thigh
touching hers as they were sitting close to each other. Before she had spent an
hour there, his elbow had brushed at her breast more than once.
The couple were the first to announce they were leaving, then Ashley’s date
pulled her up and announced they had to leave. Jemima got up too. Her by-force
date stood beside her as if they came together. They all left the bar at the same
time. Sam had come with Ashley, he asked Jemima to drop him off at his house.
‘I can’t,’ she told him. He lingered on making small talks until others had left.
‘Then you have to drop me off where I can easily walk home or get a taxi.’
‘Okay,’ Jemima agreed. She couldn’t possibly be seen dropping off a single guy at
his house. She could lift him elsewhere but his house. They got into her car and
before she could key on the car, Sam had grabbed her and smothered her with a
kiss. Automatically, she responded at first, owing to the fact that she had been
aroused since morning. Sam wasn’t bad looking. He was the typical dark and
handsome guy any girl could like anytime.
He had his right hand all over her breasts, squeezing each so hard as he slid his
tongue down her mouth. She kept her hands by her side. When he had finished
mauling her breasts, he transferred to beneath her skirt, seeking her vagina.
‘How about having a quick fuck in the car,’ he muttered.

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Jemima detached her mouth from his. She wasn’t sure she should go with him. He
was too forward. She didn’t really know him. He could be one of those guys with
diarrhoea of the mouth. ‘I don’t think it is a good idea.’
‘I know you are married,’ he told her, touching the ring on her finger. ‘But it
doesn’t matter. Your husband doesn’t have to know.’
Mentioning her husband counted against him instantly. She hated him right there.
How dare he talk about her husband without respect? That showed he wouldn’t
have any respect for her either. He was just a player out there looking for whom
to use. And he would likely brag about it. ‘Get down,’ she ordered him.
‘What?!’ he was surprised at her change of heart. ‘I can see you need this. What I
am going to give you, you can never get it from your husband. I am excellent in
bed. I will make you come over and over again.’
‘Just get out before I push you out,’ she growled at him.
He hissed. ‘You are just a desperate cunt. You should be happy someone wanted
to scratch your itch. Bitch.’ He got down, slammed the car door and strolled off.
Jemima, shaking, bowed her head on the steering to regain her composure. She
almost made a terrible mistake. Imagine allowing that creep to kiss her and touch
her. She keyed her car and drove past him, wishing there was a dirty puddle
nearby so she could splash it all over him for being a dick.
She got home, had her bath, climbed into bed naked as usual and used her fingers
to pleasure herself.
Chapter 2
The next day, she felt a little better, but immediately she saw the cattle rearer on
the other side of the low wall, all the lustful thoughts of the day before flooded
back into her mind as she envisioned his phallus. She imagined it inside her,

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tearing her apart. If there was a way she could go out there, detach his cock from
him and use it to fuck herself, she would do it.
Then an idea came to her. What if she should talk the man into screwing her? He
was a nobody. Someone well-separated from her social class and could never be
suspected of having anything to do with her. He will never have any reason to
meet with her friends and acquaintances. He would be her perfectly kept secret.
She would use him and simply dump him when she was done. Alpho being back
by Easter meant she would have no use for the cattle rearer by then.
She was still in her night gown that was fairly transparent. She wore no bra and
her dark areola could be seen through the milk coloured flimsy fabric. She was an
attractive woman; she was of average height and curvy. Her light complexion
glowed well with the aide of the expensive cosmetics she used. Without make-up
on, her eyes were large and her lips luscious. She always fixed the best weave-on.
She needn’t do much to entice a full-blooded man. The cattle rearer would
succumb at a snap of her finger. The only problem was that he could be
intimidated by her. So, the simple nightie and no make-up should work in her
favour. She looked girly, younger than her thirty-four years.
Her feet carried her to the back door. She unlocked it and walked up to the
porch. She could see him leaning on a pawpaw tree, engrossed on whatever was
showing on his phone. There, Jemima’s courage failed her. She rushed back into
the house and slammed her door. Leaning on it, she was breathing hard,
wondering if she had gone crazy.
She scurried to the window to spy on him, trying to strategize the best way to
approach him. How did one go about seducing a cattle rearer? First, language
barrier posed a challenge. She assumed he spoke only Fulani or whatever his ilk
spoke. Maybe she could offer him food. What sort of food would he like? Rice
could be it. She rushed into the kitchen and checked her freezer. The stew there
needed to be thawed out. She got a plate out and left it to unfreeze. She looked
inside the fridge and saw a bottle of cold malt, she took it and went back outside.
She stood outside thinking of how to approach him. Then gingerly walked over to
the low wall and stood there staring, unsure of what to do next.

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He saw her and came over to the low wall. He must have seen her staring at him.
‘Good aptanoon, madam,’ he greeted her with a raised hand, bending slowly.
‘Em,’ she blinked, ‘you want malt?’ she called out, stretching her hand to show
him the drink.
He nodded, grinning at her as he collected the malt, his eyes on her breasts.
Jemima turned and matched back to the house, her heart beating fiercely. She
couldn’t go through with it. She went straight to bed and buried her head under
her pillow.
The next day, she waited for the cattle man. He did not appear as usual. She had
resolved to go all the way today. What did she have to lose? If he refused her, it
wasn’t like he had consequential friends to brag to. Nothing would come back to
her. If he accepted, which she was sure he would, then that was it.
She had bathed and dressed up to go out. She had a consignment of gold trinkets
she had to pick up from her supplier. She did light businesses by the side selling
jewelleries. It helped keep her busy while time passed by. She picked up her
handbag and walked to the door. When she opened it? She almost jumped out of
her skin when she saw the cattle guy standing on the veranda.
What was he doing here? He was putting on a new shirt and a new jean trousers.
He looked like he just had his bath for his curly oiled hair glistened in the sunlight.
‘What do you want?’ she asked him. His cattle was nowhere in sight.
He stretched his hand towards her to give her an empty bottle of malt. As Jemima
collected the bottle from him, she perceived a whiff of strange perfume. It was
overpowering. She shook her head and returned indoors to drop the bottle, the
scent following her.
She heard the door close behind her, and turned to see him standing in her sitting
room, looking at her. The smell of the perfume wafting from him had a
mesmerising effect on her. Though it was a horrible scent but it enthralled her
still.

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‘What do you want?’ she asked him again.
‘I wan…fuck,’ he replied clearly.
That answer startled Jemima. She had heard somewhere that these nomads were
shameless. They hardly possessed any guile and spoke their minds
unpretentiously.
She nodded. He discarded his clothes heaping it on the floor then undressed her,
leaving her clothes beside his on the floor. His body was lean and hard, not even a
pinch of fat anywhere. His nose was small and straight, his eyes, ringed by long
eyelashes. He was almost as pretty as a girl but the hardness of his body, its sinew
built spelt all male. He approached her, his stiff penis swinging slightly as he
moved. She trembled, wondering why she was doing this. Her mind told her to
stop what was about to happen but her body remained rooted to the spot,
expecting his touch.
He knelt before her, holding her wrist, he pulled her down to the floor. She sat
down on the rug, feeling its texture on her naked bottom. Next, she lay down on
her back, her knees drawn up and parted. He moved to kneel between her legs,
placed his hand on her knees and drew them wider apart. She inhaled sharply as
she noticed him hold his enormous erection in his hand and put it at the tip of her
vaginal opening. Then she remembered something. She got up to her feet fast.
Dashed into the bedroom and retrieved a packet of condom. She and Alpho had
bought it two years ago when she was in her period and they wanted to make
love.
She returned to the parlour, the cattle man was still kneeling on the floor. She
tore open a rubber and rolled it over his very rigid penis. It was difficult because
he was quite enormous. She returned to her earlier position, her legs parted
wider to receive him. She was dripping wet, her heart beating fast and her breath
short. He slowly pushed his cock into her, stretching her as he slid in, filling her
completely. She moaned. This was what she wanted. Her vagina engorged by a
penis. She closed her eyes as he began to move slowly at first then increased his
speed.

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Jemima kept coming and coming as he kept machining in and out of her nonstop.
He was strong and tireless. He kept pumping her slit for more than ten minutes,
drilling her arse into the rug, her breast bouncing all over the place at the sheer
force of his drive. By now she was completely drained and tired out, her cunt hot
and raw and needing rest when he cried out, trembling as he released. He
withdrew from her and collapsed on the floor beside her.
After that session, Jemima couldn’t look at him. She felt so much shame for what
she had done. She had just been used by a common cattle herder. Though she
equally used him; using him to find her release several times, it wasn’t going to
make it right. She got up, picked up her clothes and rushed into the inner room.
She took her time washing and dressing up, by the time she returned to the
sitting room he was gone, his odious perfume lingering in the air. She switched on
the air conditioner.
Through that day’s business, she felt satiated and calm. She was satisfied. Later
that night, she went to bed without thinking of sex or fingering herself. The point
between her legs still throbbed painfully. That cattle guy really knew how to use
his tool. One thing that remained was the feel of guilt.
Chapter 3
The cattle came to graze at her backyard two days later but a different herder was
with them. Jemima wondered what had happened to the other one. She didn’t
even know his name. She needn’t to. He was nothing to her really, just a sex toy.
She sang happily as she cooked, cleaned and got ready to go out.
The day was more than just warm but she nonetheless conducted her business
happily with her customer, her biggest buyer, Salisu. She supplied him most of the
gold trinkets she received from abroad. He had a store at the Main Market. He

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was attending the customers when she got there but he quickly left them to his
boy and came to meet her.
‘Good day madam,’ he said in good English. ‘I have been wondering if I will not
see you this week.’
She smiled at him. She liked him a lot because he was a nice person, handsome
too. ‘I was waiting for the consignment. How is business?’
‘Well, what can I say? I thank God for everything.’
She sank into the only cushion inside his shop. The place was well-air-conditioned,
a welcomed development compared to the blistering heat outside. He came to sit
beside her while she brought out the jewelleries from her oversized leather
handbag.
‘How is your wife and those two adorable kids?’ Jemima asked him. She had
attended his wedding ceremony two years ago. It was his second marriage after
his first wife divorced him and married a deputy governor. She actually tormented
him until he agreed to the divorce. They hadn’t had a child then. Jemima hated his
first wife for what she did to her friend. Salisu was a gentle soul and an interesting
person to be with.
‘They are fine,’ he replied. He had invited Jemima to all the naming ceremonies.
‘And your husband is he coming back for Christmas?’
Jemima sighed. ‘No.’
‘Just have patience. Most things in this life are achieved through patience.’
Jemima remembered her tryst with the cattle herder. She wondered what Salisu
would think of her if he knew what she did. While they did business, the incident
loomed heavily in her mind.
After Salisu, she squeezed in time to visit Juliana at her flat, off Ozumba Way.

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‘You look happy,’ Juliana observed, as she let Jemima into her four bedroom
duplex. She had another visitor with her. It was Mab, a mutual friend. ‘Mab is
here.’
Jemima greeted Mab and sat close to her, near the TV. ‘I have not seen you for
quite a while now.’
Mab smiled sadly. ‘And you didn’t think of looking for me or calling. What a
devoted friend you are.’
‘I am sorry,’ Jemima apologised. ‘I should have called but events overtook each
other and I didn’t think of it. I just assumed we would meet eventually.’
‘Well, I was ill. Nothing serious. My husband suggested I take the time out and
visit the village with him to rest. It was a good idea, seeing all those village folks
and childhood playmates lifted my spirit. I am okay now.
Juliana chipped in then. ‘Jemima, I said you looked happy. Has someone done you
yet? That must be it, you found yourself a lover or is your husband back?’
‘No,’ Jemima lied with ease. ‘Just the magic of positive productive thinking. I focus
on more important things and it takes my mind off sex.’
Juliana was disappointed. ‘Well, congratulations on that. So, how is business?’
‘Not complaining. How is your husband?’
‘Don’t mind Juliana, she is always thinking of that animal in between her legs,’
Mab said. ‘Listening to her, you’d think sex creates oxygen.’
‘Before nko. Well, about my husband.’ Juliana rolled her eyes in a well
exaggerated exasperation. ‘The old fool is in his bedroom. His nurse went on her
three days compulsory break yesterday. I am stuck with him, mopping and
cleaning his waste. I don’t understand why he has to come back home. He should
have remained with his mistress and let her enjoy his sickness just like she
enjoyed his vitality. I guess this is the lot of us wives, bound to clean up the mess.’
‘What of your kids? Are they going to remain with your mother?’ Jemima changed
the subject, conscious that the said old fool was in the house.

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Juliana held onto the issue. ‘There is no way they are going to come here to go
through this. He left them when they needed him. Now they are grown and doing
fine without him, why burden them with this? They are coming to visit this
Christmas, but you know what it is to have a sick person in the house during
festivities, it dampens the mood.’ She sighed. ‘I am frustrated right now. I don’t
need this, I am forty-five. I need to enjoy myself before I become too old to. I
spent my youth crying all over town, chasing after an errant husband, then
bringing up two children alone. I deserve to be happy.’
Jemima understood her friend. She had gotten married too early. Her husband
was quite older than her, yet the man was shameless enough to keep womanising
until he eventually moved in with a divorcee. It was a miracle Juliana didn’t break
down completely. She sent her kids to stay with her mom and went back to work
as a teacher. She had just started picking up the pieces of her life when her
husband appeared. The only thing that kept Juliana from kicking him out was
because the house belonged to him and he handed over his businesses to her.
She resigned her teaching job to oversee his company and spent most of her time
devising new ways to spend his money.
Jemima used to think she was better off. She was thirty-four, though she hadn’t
started having kids yet, things were working out fine for her until Alpho got tied
up abroad. Now, she has had sex with someone other than her husband and it
scared her somehow. If Alpho should find out, her life would be worse off than
how Juliana’s used to be. She resolved right there and then not to ever allow
herself get so down in the mood to seek out pleasure from another male. She
must curb her wantonness and wait for her husband to come to her. She must
make sure she got pregnant this Easter. She mustn’t give chance to lust to destroy
what she had. Though, her feelings for Alpho had waned over the time he had
distanced himself, she still intended to keep trying to make the marriage work.
She was scared of being out of a marriage even before it began properly.
While leaving Juliana’s house Mab came outside with her and they talked briefly.
‘I heard Juliana talking about you getting it somewhere,’ she said to Jemima.
‘Don’t take her advice. You and Juliana are not the same. You have a husband
who loves you.’

17
‘I know,’ Jemima cut in. ‘it is just that he is not coming home for more than two
years. I don’t know what to do and his calls are not frequent anymore. And I can’t
get through to him without him calling. He said it had to do with network and
where his office is located now. It is like something has changed. I am not
ashamed to say it but I need him. I mean I have been sleeping alone.’
‘Why don’t you talk to your husband about your need? Talk to him seriously. Tell
him of the things you are going through.’
Jemima shook her head. ‘I don’t want to come across as a sex starved wife. He
might panic and start thinking I am chasing men up and down. I don’t want to
scare him. He has to concentrate and do whatever he is doing there. He doesn’t
need me stressing him about something as small as sex.’
‘It is not small. Sex is important between married couple. In fact women need it
more than men do if we can admit it.’ Mab placed a comforting hand on Jemima’s
shoulder. ‘I used to foolishly think it wasn’t important to me. But I later
discovered that most resentment I harboured towards my husband in the past
was caused by supressing my sexual need or urge. But when I opened up to my
husband, I discovered that being sexually fulfilled solves half of a woman’s
problems. So, Jemima, it is either you completely suppress the urge to have sex
and wait for your husband or talk to him about it when next he calls. Let him
know that leaving you here for this long is affecting you. Talking about it could
help you. Maybe there would be a way of him coming home earlier than he
intended. But please don’t you ever think of having an extra-marital affair. It
would destroy you if you love your husband. And I believe you do.’
Jemima nodded slowly, sadly. ‘I think I still love him. I try to.’
‘Then, do the right thing. Or maybe you can pray about it. This sexual urge could
cause a lot of havoc if we don’t control it.’
It already did, Jemima thought. As she said goodbye with Mab, she had already
resolved what to do. She had made the gravest mistake of her life and she must
remedy it.

18
She knew what she must do. She stopped at her street’s security post and
instructed Kunle, one of the vigilantes not to allow the cattle herders to use her
backyard. ‘I want to start a garden there.’ She lied to him. She had to stop any
form of enticement. Stopping the cattle from grazing near her house would show
the cattle rearer that she didn’t want him to be around her house anymore. She
wished cattle herders never used the area. That part had been one of the newest
developed areas in Khusawa Zone. It had lain fallow for ages due to its seclusion
from the rest of the Town. Most of the people living there were landlords. Alpho
had bought the land many years back and later developed it. They moved in when
property owners decided to employ vigilantes to guard the almost isolated estate.
Due to the lush vegetation in that area, cattle owners had been grazing there for
ages, so as property owners moved in, they found ways of restricting their
animals to the unused plots and helping to reduce the troublesome grasses that
grew in that fertile land in abundance. The herders were careful and kept their
animals well-controlled.
For one week, she didn’t see anything resembling a cow at her backyard. She was
happy. She had conquered that temptation. On the next Friday afternoon, she
had just returned from the salon where she had gone to fix a Brazilian hair
extension when she heard a soft knock at her back door. She wondered who it
was, she had locked the gates earlier.
She opened her curtain and was alarmed to see the cattle guy at the door. He
must have scaled the back fence. She decided to ignore him. He would surely go
away. But he didn’t. He kept knocking and it was getting louder by the seconds
and it annoyed her. She opened the back door, ready to tell him off. He smiled at
her and she shut up, catching a whiff of his perfume, though repulsed by it, she
became instantly weakened by desire. Her legs were trembling as her eyes and
brain zeroed in on the bulge clearly outlined on the jean trousers he wore. She
opened her door for him and he entered. She led him to the bedroom. The earlier
she was through with this the better for her. Then a thought occurred to her. If he
was going to fuck her, then she better enjoy it. She dug into her wardrobe and
brought out a porn DVD. She slotted in to the player, switching on the LCD on the
wall. She picked up the DVD player’s remote and forwarded to a particular scene

19
she wanted. It was the scene where a man was dedicatedly licking a woman’s
vagina, using his tongue and finger to perform wonders. This was one thing Alpho
would never do and Jemima had always wanted it. So, now was the opportunity
to taste and see what it was like.
The cattle guy was silent, watching the scene on the TV. Then she commanded.
‘Do this to me.’ She lay flat on her back, on the bed, after removing her trousers
and pants. She opened her legs wide like the woman in the film. With her fingers,
she parted her slit, showing everything to him. He knelt between her legs, dividing
his attention between the telly and Jemima’s cunt. She closed her eyes and
waited for it.
He learnt well. He had taken over from spreading her vulva wide open with his
rough fingers, with his thumb she could feel him rubbing at her clit and dipping
his fingers into her hole, then massaging her with his tongue, licking and lapping
the way he must have seen it done. Jemima was soon crying out with pleasure.
She had never experienced anything like it before. He did it so well that she
pushed his head further down in between her legs. She climaxed, almost crushing
his head with her knees as she tensed and tightened her thigh muscles with
pleasure.
She got up, satisfied and found a wrapper to tie around her naked waist. She
gestured to him to leave. ‘Go now,’ she ordered him.
He pointed at the telly and then pointed at his pole-hard dick. The woman in the
film was gulping her partners cock down her throat.
Jemima shook her head at him. ‘No.’ There was no way in hell she was going to
suck his penis, she thought. She switched off the movie. By the time she looked
back, he had dropped his trousers and his dick stood fully erect and formidable,
enticing her. She decided to take it from the back. She couldn’t pass up this one.
She got a condom helped him wear it and knelt on the floor, her chest sitting on
the bed. He positioned himself behind her and parted her bottom to reach her
vagina. He pushed his cock in hard, holding her fast and strong. She cried into the
bed, enjoying the feel of being filled. Her cries continued as he went to work. He
was fast and strong, relentless. By the time her knees started hurting she got up,

20
forcing him to withdraw. She lay on her back and he climbed on to the bed
straddling one of her legs, placing the other leg on his shoulder as he entered her
again. On this position, he fucked her hard like forever. She had started to hurt
real bad when he came, groaning so loud as if he was going to die on her. She had
never known anyone to possess such sexual energy. He could go on endlessly. She
pushed him off her, removed the condom from him and went to the bathroom to
flush it and at the same time wash up.
She expected him to be gone by the time she returned to the bedroom. But he
was there, and exhibiting another eye-popping erection. She couldn’t believe her
eyes.
‘You can go now,’ she told him, waving her hand towards the door. ‘Go.’ She
pointed at his trousers on the floor. ‘Wear it. Put it on.’ Pointed at her wrist
watch. ‘It is late.’
He nodded, but approached her instead. She backed away from him. She couldn’t
possibly go for another round. And she wanted him to leave, before any of her
friends come visiting.
‘I wan fuck,’ he said in his halting English.
She shook her head, tried to shake off his hand as he held her. Before she could
really get away from him, he pushed her gently down to sit on the bed, his cock
swinging close to her face. She sighed. Better take this quickly, she advised
herself. She gave him another condom, lay back on her back and spread her legs
for him. He positioned himself between her legs and penetrated her. He then
paused to untie her wrapper, removed her blouse and let her do away with her
bra. He gathered her breasts in his hands and pressed them, massaging them.
Then he began to screw her.
She thought he would never stop. Her hole was raw and aching while he kept
riding her. It was already dark outside and she was starving. She swore he had
been on top of her for more than thirty minutes. He finally released and got off
her. She got up, disposed the used condom and tied her wrapper, her legs
shaking. He put on his trousers and left.

21
Jemima locked her door and returned to collapse on her bed in exhaustion. What
had she gotten herself into? This cattle man was relentless and had the potential
of being violent if she refused him, she feared. Much as she needed sex, she
couldn’t afford an incommodious one. She had had enough of that herder. She
got up and went to the kitchen to warm the rice and stew. She needed to eat. She
had been sapped of all the energy in her body.
After she had eaten, she went back to bed and slept for a very long time. She
woke up too early the next morning, being a Saturday and had to watch the telly
for hours, waiting for sunrise and scared of daylight. She was afraid the cattle man
would return. But now, she had sworn to stop him. She would never have sex
with him again. Never!
He wasn’t going to trick her into bed again by swinging his dick at her face. It
seemed she was powerless whenever she was confronted by his todger. His
erection controlled her thoughts and she would be spreading her legs before
she’d know it. She would never look at his midsection again. Her eyes would be
glued on his face while telling him not to come back to her house. And she would
never allow him into her home again. She was going to do all the talking outside.
She practiced the shouts she was going to rain on him and her sternest face. She
cleaned her bedroom, the sitting room, the two toilets and rounded up with the
kitchen. Her house wasn’t too big, so, the cleaning was done within few hours.
She did her laundry, and decided to go to the local market for few groceries.
She spent enough time in the market, killing time. She hoped the day to be fast
gone before she returned home. She even took out time to eat at a fast food. It
was seven before she arrived home, thanking God, when she met her doors
empty of anything that looked like a herdsman. He must have come and didn’t
meet her. That was a relief. She entered her flat, locked the doors and took her
grocery bags to the kitchen. She decided to forget making stew for the next day.
She needed to rest.
As she pulled off her clothes in the bedroom, a loud knock sounded on her
backdoor. Her heart stopped, then began to beat faster as anger enveloped her

22
completely. She threw back on the blouse she had earlier discarded but changed
her skirt to jean trousers and matched to the door.
The cattle guy stood there looking up at her expectantly.
‘Don’t you ever come back here again,’ she screamed at him. ‘I don’t want to see
you here ever again. Go! Go away!’
He looked on at her innocently as if the vituperations weren’t meant for him.
While Jemima was howling words at him, his awful perfume was sneaking up on
her, it hit her nostrils with full force when she inhaled deeply after her outburst.
The perfume wiggled into her brain and she blacked out for a second. She began
speaking again, but in a subdued voice, to her chagrin. She couldn’t fathom why
she was being gentle with him all of a sudden.
‘What do you want?’ she asked him, trying to reason with him. ‘I don’t want you
coming here. I am a married woman. Please stop coming.’
He nodded in agreement but moved closer to her.
‘I hope you understand. Don’t come here again. Don’t enter my house. I will not
allow you enter my house again.’
He nodded again. ‘I no enter,’ he promised. Jemima sighed with relief, but what
he did next confused her. He reached out to hold her hand as he stepped closer to
her. The perfume was stronger and overwhelming now. He took hold of her right
wrist and placed it on his crotch. He rubbed it up and down his member that was
hard under the trousers her wore.
Jemima sighed again. This time, with lust. As he kept passing her hand over it, her
craving intensified and she was becoming soaking wet. ‘Come,’ she breathed
huskily. ‘Come and fuck.’ She felt hypnotised.
He smiled at her, his white teeth flashing in the porch light. He dug his hand into
his pocket and surprised her with a gift of a packet of condom. What an ardent
student, she thought mordantly. He got hold of her waist and turned her to face
her closed door. He began to tug at her trousers band around her waist. She
quickly unbuttoned and unzipped it. Then he pulled it and her panties down to

23
her ankle. She managed to extricate one of her legs from the jean, while he put
on his rubber. She leaned heavily on the door as he held her waist to position her
ass for his dick and thundered into her from behind. She grounded herself back
into him as he completely sank into her. She screamed with overwhelming
pleasure.
He banged her with such ferocity, rhythmically thudding her against the wooden
door. Jemima thought she was going to die. Her body was trembling, her veins on
fire. Every thrust he made jangled every nerve in her body. Her crotch was
burning and her belly screamed with perverse pleasure. She never knew such
pleasure, such sweetness. She came several times. She was dripping like a tap.
She closed her eyes, biting down on her lower lip to keep from screaming out
again. How could she leave this? How could she let this man go? Such pleasure.
Such satisfaction.
Her legs grew weak and she wobbled, going down on all fours. He followed her,
not detaching from her. He continued battering her bottom. By the time her
knees started bruising, she moved away from him and it felt like nirvana had been
snatched away from her. She needed his dick quickly. She couldn’t get enough of
it this night. She lay on her back as fast as she could, right there on the tiled floor
of her back porch and he climbed on top of her, his perfume holding her
spellbound, he slid in and began pumping again. She spread her legs as wide as
she could manage lifting them up in the air, holding them apart with her arms
while he fucked the living daylight out of her.
He came with a roar, by then she had lost count how many times she climaxed.
Her eyes were still closed when she felt his weight off her. Opening her eyes, he
was nowhere to be found. He had left her there, her legs still spread. He left her
there to pick herself up.
She got up, weak and ashamed at her behaviour. She had allowed that cattle guy
to use her like an animal. Like one of his cows. Right there at her back porch;
outside and on the floor. She began to sob brokenly as she entered her house.
Her body was dusty from romping on the floor with a man she hardly knew and
who was less than a servant to her.

24
She cried all night, sleeping in between. She couldn’t close her eyes for a long
stretch of time without being rudely woken up by the recollection of her
ignominious act. She was in agony; tortured by guilt. Dirty. She couldn’t look at
Alpho’s photograph on the dresser, even their wedding picture, where they were
grinning like two happy kids, repulsed her. She had betrayed her husband and
herself. She had continued to chomp on the forbidden fruit after she swore not to
touch it again.
Chapter 4
By morning her eyes were all red and puffy. She felt wretched to the core and
couldn’t touch breakfast. Though it was a Sunday she wasn’t going to church. She
hardly belonged to any and won’t start now. Not with the filthy baggage she was
lugging. She sat in her room, miserable, events of the day before reeling in her
head continuously. She was still in her wrapper when her step-mother called her.
Irene, her late father’s wife, and Irene’s married daughter, were the only close
relatives Jemima had around Abuja. Anytime Irene was around she usually spent
few days with Jemima.
‘Jemima, I am already on my way to your place,’ Irene told her now, cheerfully.
‘Oh, Mummy.’ Jemima was shocked out of her despondency. ‘Now?’ She was in
no condition to receive visitors. She just wished to be alone to mourn her loss of
virtue, dignity and worth.
‘Yes, now. Hope you are alright, you sound…ill or just tired?’
‘I have slight headache. But I’m alright.’ Jemima liked Irene. Her father had
married the woman after he lost his first wife. Jemima and her siblings were
already grown then. Irene was then a widow with two grown daughters. They all

25
became friends. Their father died eleven years later and Irene became their only
parent. Jemima decided that her step-mother might be what she needed now.
Someone to support her before she ran mad.
Two hours later, Jemima was opening the door for Irene. ‘Welcome ma.’ She
collected the large shopping bag the elderly woman brought with her.
‘You really look unwell. That headache must be bad,’ Irene observed. ‘Have you
taken any drug?’
Jemima closed and locked the parlour door, following Irene to the sitting room.
She sniffed. ‘I have.’
They sat in the sitting room, Jemima put on the LED hanging on the wall. A
Mexican soap was showing. Irene loved Mexican, so she left it there. ‘How is
Jumie,’ she enquired of Irene’s first daughter, the married one, the second was
still single and living abroad. ‘And the baby?’
‘They are well, apart from the little one crying a lot for breast milk, there is no
problem. They say baby boys suck a lot, this one is too much. I feel sorry for his
mother o. She hardly sleeps. I told her to get him a feeding bottle but she is
having none of that. Wants to stick to the baby-friendly regimen.’
‘I hear it is best for children,’ Jemima said.
‘If you are poor or in the rural areas where nutrition and hygiene is a problem.’
‘I have oha soup in the freezer should I bring it out?’ Jemima asked her. It was the
older woman’s favourite soup.
‘Wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world. And you make it so well. Better than
me even.’
Jemima got up and went to the kitchen. On her way, she glanced along the
passage way that led to the bedrooms and the back door. Her heart missed
several beats remembering the herdsman. She prayed he never showed up. But
she had this feeling that he would. It seemed he had made it a point of duty to
come to her every day. She decided that Irene’s presence might deter him. Her

26
being alone here could be his reason for stampeding her. The compound was big
and her house the only one in it. She started fearing that he might come here and
harm her one day.
She shivered involuntarily as she brought out the soup from the freezer, setting it
down near the sink. She placed a pot of water on the fire to boil for making wheat
meal. She returned to the sitting room to talk with Irene while waiting for the
water to boil and for the soup to thaw a bit before she microwaved some of it.
‘When is your husband coming home?’ Irene asked her. ‘As I keep telling you, I
don’t like the way he abandons you alone for a long period of time. It is not right
for a married couple. You guys are growing old apart.’
Jemima sighed, shrugging. ‘I don’t know what is happening. He called the other
day, telling me he won’t be retuning for Christmas.’
Irene was horrified. ‘What? What is he doing? This is your fourth year of marriage
and you should be having your children by now. I need to speak with him. It is
either he comes home to settle or you go and meet him there. This is too much.
Ah-Ah.’ She was clearly peeved. She had never subscribed to Jemima allowing her
husband to continue working far from home immediately after their wedding. But
Alpho had promised to return to Nigeria finally after a year. One year had
stretched to more than three years and there was no end in sight.
‘Mummy, I am confused myself. It is so bad that I can’t even call him. He has to be
the one to call anytime we have to talk. He said his new office has this network…’
‘Spare me that,’ Irene interrupted her. ‘What sort of marriage are you running
here? Now, you can’t even call him, and I am sure he is not calling as frequent as
he used to. Better be careful. If it is this bad, it means Alpho is up to no good. It is
either he is having a serious affair wherever he is or is planning to. A man who has
a beautiful wife like you won’t be distancing himself the way he is doing unless he
has a substitute. He should be calling you morning and night and trying his best to
be home with you. This is almost three years, last time he returned he stayed less
than two weeks and ran back. You weren’t even in your ovulation period when he
was around. What is all this? You are a woman, time is not a luxury you can

27
afford. You need to have your kids early enough to care for them and then rest to
take care of yourself when you are older.’
Jemima was close to tears. Things were spiralling into worse by the minutes. Now,
she had to worry about her husband’s intention towards her. Irene was right,
Alpho’s attitude had been a thing of worry. Last time they were together, he was
more eager to spend money on her than talk or do something about their staying
together permanently. It was like he wanted to make her too dependent on the
money he was bringing home to keep her in fear of his leaving his business
abroad. She was very happy with all he did for her, the gifts he gave to her family,
that she was willing to allow him return to Switzerland without permanent
solution to their sate of marriage. Now, she regretted not putting her foot down
on that one. Irene was right, she needed to start having her own children. And
now, with this thing with the cattle rearer, her marital problems had tripled. The
situation seriously looked bleak. No one must find out about her dirty affair. It
would not only destroy her marriage but ruin her entirely.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ she confessed to her step-mother.
‘Just tell him I need to speak with him anytime he calls. I am going to give him an
ultimatum. It is either he moves back here next year or you go there and meet
him, if not, you will leave him. This is no marriage. You are young enough to start
all over. He promised that he would only stay away for one year. He broke his
promise. Next year will make it the fourth year both of you are both living apart.
What kind of money is he chasing?’ Irene hissed angrily.
Jemima got up. ‘Let me make the wheat.’ She went to the kitchen, put some of
the cold soup into the microwave, fetched some wheat flour in a plate and
gradually poured it into the boiling water while turning it quickly with a wooden
spatula.
She brought the wheat and soup to the dining table in china plates. Irene went to
the kitchen sink to wash her hands while Jemima set the table. As Jemima
returned to the kitchen, she heard the knock. Her legs wobbled and fear speared
her heart. She ignored it and stumbled to the kitchen to clean up. Irene was going
to the dining area and heard the knock too.

28
‘Someone at the back door,’ she called to Jemima.
‘It must be the handyman. He does odd job around here,’ Jemima lied. ‘Tell him I
am busy, he should go.’
She saw Irene walked towards the passage and later heard the door open. She
craned her neck and heard some exchange of words. Then the door closed, Irene
stopped by the kitchen door. ‘I have dismissed him. He seemed not to understand
me. How do you guys communicate? He looked too neat for a labourer.’
‘Did you lock the door?’ Jemima asked with trepidation.
Irene waved her hand. ‘Oh, I forgot. Please go and lock it.’ She hastened to the
table to eat. Jemima dashed out of the kitchen, turned towards the hallway but
screeched to a halt when she saw the cattle guy standing at the open door. He
had got in, exhibiting the ever-present bulge under his trousers. Jemima cringed
at the sight of it.
Jemima waved her hand angrily at him, gesturing at him to leave. He shook his
head at her. She rushed at him and tried to shove him back out of the door. But
he didn’t budge. He was far stronger than she was despite his slim stature.
Jemima, paying no attention to the overpowering effect of his odious perfume,
caught hold of his arm and tried pushing him out of her door. He moved too fast
and strong for her; he swiftly stepped sideways, slipping out of her hold and
launched further into the house. By now he was standing beside her bedroom
door, and beyond the passageway is the dining area where her stepmother was.
‘Go, are you deaf?’ she snarled at him.
‘Jemima is everything alright?’ Irene called from where she was. ‘I heard you
talking.’
‘I am talking to the labourer,’ Jemima replied loudly. ‘There are chores I want him
to do. I will be right there with you.’
‘Okay.’

29
Jemima glared at the man standing stubbornly before her. She pointed at the
sitting room, to indicate her step-mother and pointed outside, almost gagging at
the disgusting smell emitting from his person. She was already feeling light-
headed. That perfume usually did that to her; it practically knocked her out each
time she perceived it. She shook her head, determined not to succumb to the
hypnotic effect. She began to suspect that the man was wearing the perfume for
a purpose. It wasn’t for fashion. He put it on for her, to disorient her whenever he
came close. Now, that she knew, it won’t work, she swore.
‘Go,’ she growled at him. ‘Go away.’ She made to get hold of his arm again but he
backed away quickly and now he had gone into her bedroom. She followed him,
determined to get rid of him. ‘I said you should go. I will call the police for you.’
She thought that would scare him.
He just looked at her as if she was joking and began to unbutton his trousers. He
was putting on another new jeans and a crispy new T-shirt. Jemima, held his
jeans’ waist band. She wasn’t going to allow him undress. It slid down, revealing
his curly pubic hair, stopping at the base of his erection. She pulled it back up to
his waist. He left it and removed his shirt and threw it far to one corner and stood
there looking at her holding his trousers. She lifted up her other hand slapped him
hard on the cheek.
He reacted, rubbing at his cheek and then began to quarrel in his language.
Jemima couldn’t understand what he was saying. Her concern was his voice was
carrying through to where Irene sat. She rushed over and closed the door, locking
it. By the time she returned to him, his trousers had dropped to his ankles and he
had stopped talking. She bent down and pulled his trousers back to his waist,
manoeuvring it over his rock-hard erection.
He resumed shouting at her in his language again. Irene shushed him by slapping
a palm across his mouth.
‘Is everything alright?’ Irene asked from the door.
‘Yes, we are trying to fix something in the toilet.’ Jemima called back. She heard
Irene’s retreating footsteps.

30
Jemima felt hopeless. It was stupid holding his trousers and knowing she couldn’t
push him away without alerting her step-mother to what was going on. How
would she explain him?
She went on her knee, resolving to beg him, joining her palms together in
supplication. ‘Please. I beg you. Go. I will give you money.’ She remembered she
had money in the wardrobe. Close to two hundred thousand, from her business.
She got up, leaving his trousers to slide down again leaving him naked and his
penis free, to retrieve the money from the wardrobe and handed it to him. He
collected it.
She then, pointed to the door. ‘Go.’
He shook his head. Jemima dropped down on her knees again. ‘Please.’
He flung the money on the floor and stepped closer to her, his rigid prick touching
her cheek. She stopped talking. He dragged his member from one of her cheek to
the other passing along her chin. He put it near her lips. She watched him silently.
Since he had rejected her money, there was little she could do.
He tried opening her mouth with his cock. She kept it sealed. She knew what he
wanted. He wanted her to do what she made him do to her the other day she
played the DVD.
She made to get up, he but stopped her, pushing her down by the shoulders.
Then he started saying things in a loud voice. He was talking to her, ordering her
in his tribal tongue. And she was scared of alerting her step-mother to this. He
was shouting at her. Before she knew it, she grabbed his cock and shoved it into
her mouth. He stopped yelling, and sighed with a smile.
Jemima sucked him for a minute and removed her mouth. She turned her head
and spat on the rug. Next thing she knew, he was pushing her down to floor, on
her back. She was tying only a wrapper, it was easy for him to tug it loose and pull
off her white pant. He spread her legs wide apart. By then she was done fighting
him. She’d seen it was a hopeless case. She had to fight him at the risk of being
exposed.

31
He got his trousers and removed a condom from it. It seemed he had taken over
the task of supplying the rubber. She then allowed him spread her vagina and
licked it. He was doing a repeat of what he learnt the other day. He screwed his
tongue into her pink opening. She sighed in spite of herself. He sucked at her
clitoris, passing his tongue over her labia. Jemima closed her eyes, biting on her
lips.
He stopped after giving her an excellent oral. She wished it was a different
circumstance and a different person, maybe her husband, she would have let go
and enjoyed it. But she was a slave. He proceeded to push himself into her.
Another time Irene knocked on the door, Jemima answered her from under the
cattle man who was pounding her slit as if there was no tomorrow. She squirmed
under him, winced several times, but he didn’t relent. She tried stopping him, but
he kept going, grinding in and out with such speed. She began to sob, tears rolling
down from the side of her eyes. He stopped, got hold of her wrapper and wiped
her tears.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Small, small.’
She nodded. He began to move gently for a while. Then he got carried away again
and increased his speed before he finally released. He got up quickly and cleaned
and dressed up. Jemima unlocked the door while still naked, made sure Irene
wasn’t in sight before she let him pass. She returned to the room to put on a
dress. She gathered the money scattered on the floor, picked up her wrapper, she
couldn’t find her pant. She was sure he left it on the floor when he pulled it off
her. She looked everywhere, including under the bed. Her underwear had
disappeared. She realised that the cattle man had stolen her pant. She shivered
with fear. Why did he take it? The only reason she could think of was juju. Black
magic.
She was shaking when she went to the sitting room to meet Irene. ‘Are you
alright?’ Irene asked her. ‘You are shaking. Are you sure you are not coming down
with something. You shouldn’t work so hard. Whatever were you doing inside
there with that man?’

32
‘The toilet broke down too,’ she lied again. ‘I had to sit on him to do the job once
and for all.’
‘Just take things easy. I know it isn’t easy. I am sorry I talked about Alpho the way
I did, but I rather hurt you with the truth now when it is early enough to recover.’
Jemima smiled wanly. ‘It is okay. You said the truth. I must iron things out with
Alpho. I let things get out of hands.’ Her mind was on the cattle guy wahala. She
had gotten herself into a tight fix that would destroy her if she didn’t act fast. The
man taking her pant was what she couldn’t bear down. It meant he was going
diabolical on her. She remembered the perfume and its effect on her and
resolved that he had been using preternatural means on her right from onset. She
had to get away from him. He mustn’t meet her here next time he came visiting
like a demon. ‘Mummy may I come with you when you leave. I don’t feel like
staying alone here.’
Irene looked at her with concern. ‘It is okay. You can come. Staying with family is
good therapy. Jummie would be ecstatic to have you with us. Her husband is
attending a one week conference in Lagos. I didn’t intend to stay the night here
today.’
Jemima left her house that night with bags containing change of clothes that
would last her for a week. She intended spending time with her family to avoid
her tormentor. He might likely get discouraged by her absence. She was counting
on it.
Chapter 5
A week dragged past like a sluggish snail. Jemima thought of staying another
week. Her brother-in-law was due back the next day being Sunday. Jemima

33
wondered if she could possibly stay back while he was around. She also
considered staying with Juliana for another week or two. She was certain Juliana
would love having her around.
Jemima enjoyed her stay with her family despite her emotional state. Like this
night they had decided to watch late night movie, eating popcorn, which they had
made a bagful that afternoon. The baby had gone to bed, so they chose a
Nollywood and a Hollywood. They started with the former. It was a comedy and
packed a good laugh.
They were in the middle of the film when Jemima felt cold breeze blew at her
from nowhere. The air-conditioner was on but low. The weather was usually
colder at night.
‘Did you feel that cold air?’ she asked Jummie and their mom.
Jummie shook her head. ‘Nope. The windows are closed.’
Jemima shrugged it off. But another blast made her get up to investigate. ‘A
window must be open somewhere. I keep getting this cold air.’ She checked and
found the windows all closed. The air-conditioner was very low. So, where was
the cold air coming from? She returned to her seat and tried to concentrate on
the movie but her mind wasn’t coordinated enough to carry out that task. Her
thoughts were kind of running riot as if hundreds of movies were being played in
her head simultaneously. And she was cold, very cold. She began to shiver.
‘Are you alright?’ Jummie asked her. ‘You are shaking.’
Irene turned to look at her and had to get up from where she was to stand over
Jemima, a palm to her forehead to feel her temperature. ‘You are burning up.’
‘I am cold. I am so cold,’ Jemima said through chattering teeth. At that point she
blacked out.
She came to and was stunned to see herself bound to a bed. Her hands and legs
were tied to what resembled a hospital bed. She wanted to shout so she could

34
wake up from this dreadful nightmare. She tried freeing her limbs, pulling them
until the binds bit into her skin causing serious pain. She realised she wasn’t
dreaming. She was actually tied to a bed. She was relieved when Irene came in,
but the sorrow etched on her tired face disturbed Jemima more.
‘What am I doing here?’ she asked her stepmother. ‘Why am I tied to a bed and
where are we?’
Irene suddenly looked relieved. ‘Oh. Thank God. How do you feel now?’
‘I’m okay. What happened?’
Irene came to sit on the bed, facing Jemima. ‘Jemima, you mean you don’t
remember anything. All that happened last night?’
Jemima shook her head. ‘No. I only remember being cold. Then I passed out.’
‘You didn’t pass out,’ Irene told her. ‘One minute you were cold and shivering,
then you went still like a statue for more than two minutes. We were terrified.
Then, when you moved, you started acting strange. You mean you don’t
remember all these?’
‘No. I thought I fainted or something.’
‘Jemima, it was hectic last night. We couldn’t hold you down. You were repeating
some words…’
‘What words?’ Jemima interrupted.
‘Strange language, nobody knew what language you were speaking, but you kept
repeating it while you frantically tried to leave the house. We sustained some
minor injuries while trying to hold you down. Jummie was in a fit, running
between you and junior who had woken up during the racket. Luckily for us, his
father returned at that very moment. With his strength as a man we finally
subdued you and brought you to the hospital. They immediately made you go to
sleep. They tied your hands and legs to prevent you waking up and hurting
yourself. Jemima, I don’t know what happened to you last night but I am a bit
convinced it had something to do with the stress of your marriage, I am sure.’

35
Jemima knew what happened to her. ‘I guess it is stress.’
‘Thank God you are alright now. The doctor suspected it could be an acute attack
of typhoid or something. They are carrying out tests.’
‘I need to leave. I don’t feel ill anymore. I am okay. Call the doctor.’
Irene nodded. ‘Let me call Jummie and her husband. Cy could come and take us
home. But I think we should go to your own house…because of the baby.’ Irene
looked at Jemima significantly. It was obvious Cy was worried having a raving
lunatic in the same house with his baby.
Jemima nodded. ‘I understand. I will go home straight from here. Please call the
doctor.’
Cy came to the hospital with Jemima’s things from his house and drove her and
Irene to her house. The place felt ominously empty, devoid of light. As Jemima
stepped into it, she could be stepping into a dungeon for all the feelings she got.
She shivered. Irene panicked. ‘Are you alright?’
Jemima nodded.
Cy brought in their bags. ‘Where do I keep these things?’ Jemima pointed at the
centre table. He left the bags there. ‘I should be off now. Call me if you need
anything.’
‘Thank you Cy,’ Irene said.
Jemima’s tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Cy left, Jemima rushed over to
lock the door. She returned to sit in the sitting room, avoiding her bedroom.
‘Let me make tea.’ Irene left for the kitchen. They had tea and bread. Jemima ate
minimally, her mind clouded with the thought of the cattle man. She knew it was
him that made her temporarily mad. He had stolen her pant and used it against
her. If it were under another circumstance, without it involving her sleeping with
a cattle rearer, she would have talked to Irene about it. Older people knew how
to handle spiritual matters better. But shame would not allow her mention her
fear. She’d rather handle it on her own as discreetly as possible.

36
After mid-afternoon, with the sun barely making a dent through the harmmattan
haze, Jemima had dozed off, stretched out on the three-in-one settee. Irene
watched a Mexican soap, keeping an eye on her charge. She was obviously
worried of any relapse occurring while she was alone with Jemima. But she had
got Cy on a speed dial. All she’d do was to try not to allow her leave the house
until help comes. Mercifully, the poor girl had been asleep since breakfast. She
didn’t blame her, last night was challenging. She needed sleep too, she hardly
slept last night apart from short ones she snatched at the hospital. She put off the
TV, relaxed back on the chair and closed her eyes to sleep too.
Four o’clock met them still sleeping, it was Irene that first opened her eyes.
Jemima got up few minutes later. ‘I am hungry,’ she announced, sitting up.
Irene smiled, noting it as a welcomed development. ‘I will make something for us
to eat.’ She got to her feet immediately and proceeded towards the kitchen.
‘There are cows at the back of the yard,’ she called from the kitchen.
Jemima reeled back where she sat, her head dropping on the sofa. She had to
brace herself to wait for the inevitable knock at the backdoor.
‘Is there a man with the cows?’ she asked, already knowing the answer.
‘Two people,’ came Irene’s answer. ‘A boy and a young man.’
Jemima heaved an uneasy sigh. If there were two people there, he wouldn’t come
to her door. It was possible he didn’t know she was back. She got up, went to the
kitchen to look out of the window. There were two people outside but none of
them was her tormentor. She let out a huge sigh, her body sagging with relief.
Two days later, she had not relapsed or shown any sign of illness. She encouraged
Irene to return to Jummie who needed her more due to the baby. The cattle
rearer had not shown up either. The cows still grazed at the back of her house but
with different herders. She had this feeling they had something to contribute to
her tormentor not showing up. Their presence there would deter him somehow.
She would have gone to berate the security men for allowing the cows back at her
property after she had instructed them otherwise.

37
Until the week after, she lived peacefully in her home and going out often to
conduct her businesses. She also visited Juliana and Mab, but carefully omitted
telling them of her bad experience. Since the man had stopped coming around,
she could pick the pieces of her life and prepare for Christmas with relative gusto.
She was also expecting Alpho to call any moment from now. He should at this
period. People call their families now; to plan for the coming year or even wish
them a merry Christmas. He scarcely subscribed to or use social networks, so, she
couldn’t reach him through that either. She hardly visited her Facebook account.
The last time she made any post was last year and it was half-hearted. She used
WhatsApp once in a while. She preferred communicating through phone calls and
her friends were few. Though, Juliana had been encouraging her to take her
business online, she said it would bring in more customers. Jemima was seriously
considering it. She would get someone to design her website and also help her
advertise online. She immediately called Juliana on that. This would keep her
busier and her mind off her recent past problems.
Juliana did her normal teasing and all before promising to send her a web
designer straightaway. Jemima accepted and waited for the person. He wasn’t
long in coming. She opened the door for him and they shook hands. He was a man
around her age, wearing jeans and T-shirt with a bag slung over his shoulder. He
was a lot taller than she was and gangly. He was neither handsome nor ugly, just
neatly dishevelled like someone with a lot going on in his mind. He took his time
to explain to her what a website was all about and how it worked; what was
required of her and how much she was going to pay for it.
‘I don’t have any picture of my products,’ she told him. ‘And I have no written
document describing what I do, not even a profile.’
He nodded. ‘Then we have to build one. As we progress I will get a camera to take
pictures of the products you have which are not online already. The ones we can
find online, we use the photographs. If your suppliers have catalogues, get them.
We will use them. You have to try as much as possible to write about what you
do. Not too much, just something to get me started.’
‘I will write something tonight,’ she promised.

38
‘Good. Let me show you some designs so we can make a choice now.’ Through
showing her designs and talking about it, she offered him cold drinks and time
gradually passed. It was past seven in the evening before he left. She had paid
him part of his money. He seemed like a nice enough guy and competent too.
She sat at the dining table and started the compilation of what she would like to
have on her website. She had written for close to two hours when the impatient
knock sounded at her backdoor, her heart skipped and back-flipped painfully. She
had thought he was gone for good.
The knock became louder and more violent as she kept ignoring it. This could
disturb the neighbourhood, which had grown quiet. The noise must definitely
carry to other properties. It embarrassed and scared her at the same time. She
also feared what he would do to her personally. She opened the door to him. He
walked in as if he owned the house and she was his wife. He was putting on a new
sky blue kaftan with expensive looking embroideries round the collar. He looked
different: more mature and well-off than his lowly position as a cattle herder. By
her summation, the kaftan was made from expensive brocade usually imported
from Senegal. His feet were shod in black leather sandals. Jemima wondered what
he was up to. He had not appeared for more than two weeks and his cattle were
being cared for by other people then he suddenly swaggered into her life like one
business man coming to visit his mistress.
She didn’t speak to him and he didn’t even talk to her. He strutted to the sitting
room and took a seat, his customary perfume trailing him like evil smoke. Jemima
stood looking at him silently for a while, then decided to ignore him. She went
back to the dining table and continued her work. She finished around eleven and
got up. By then, the whole house was reeking with the smell of the perfume. It
subverted her resolve as usual. It was like smoking opium. She went to her
bedroom, leaving him there. She knew he would follow later. He came.
He walked straight to her, his hand deep inside his kaftan’s pockets. He brought it
out and was holding a package out to her. It was a carton coloured paper
wrapped and tied up in strings. She refused to collect it. He pushed it at her.
‘Take,’ he insisted. He held her hand palm up and placed the package there.

39
She took it.
‘Opin.’ He used his hands to demonstrate unfurling the package. She untied the
strings, unwrapping the bundle. Several big pendants and chains lay in a glittering
heap on the paper. With a practiced eye, she recognised the jewelleries as quality
Arabian gold. She looked up at him and he was grinning at her. She understood he
meant it to be a gift. She couldn’t possibly accept it, she thought. Accepting gifts
from him equalled accepting him or what he was doing to her. She shook her
head.
‘No. I don’t want it.’ She started to give it back to him. He turned his back on her
and walked out of the bedroom. She heard the backdoor open and close. She
rushed out and found he was gone. She couldn’t believe what just happened. He
actually left her without sex. She failed to understand his motive. Coming in here
to drop off a gift for her and leave was beyond her comprehension. She put the
gold in the drawer, resolving to keep it there until he showed up again. Besides,
she wasn’t able to ask him for her pant. She doubted if he would accept to the
theft.
She locked her door and went to sleep. Though it was tough feeling safe in her
house, she managed through the night. Morning was a glorious welcome, though
the house still emanated a muggy aura. She hadn’t much to do but to stay up late
in bed watching movies after movies. When she got hungry, she made a light
meal of pancakes and honey with water for juice. The web designer guy came in
later in the day to collect her business information and leave. When night
approached, her apprehension returned.
She no longer believed that a locked door could keep him out. He would bang on
it as long as it would take for her to open it. Predictably, he came at that time
logging a white polythene bag. He was wearing a maroon coloured brocade kaftan
this time and a matching cap and brown sandals. By now, she was already used to
his perfume. He went to the dining table to empty the content of his bag. He
placed a huge wrap of roasted meat, suya, with accompanying spice, then several
packs of juice. He gestured to her to approach. She hesitated. He walked over to
force her to sit at the table. He picked up a piece of meat rolled it on the spice and

40
put inside his mouth. He rolled another one in the spice and place it on her lips,
pried her mouth open albeit gently and deposited that one there. She chewed.
Not knowing why she obeyed him. It seemed she had temporarily resigned to
fate. She planned to get away again.
Where is my pant?’ she asked him. His facial sign indicated he understood what
she asked of him. ‘Give me my pant.’
‘Tomorrow,’ he told her. At least he didn’t lie about it. He put another spicy meat
in her mouth and she accepted it. He kept feeding her. The meat was soft and
melted between her teeth, it was succulent too. The spice was heady; combined
with the smell of the perfume, she was in a stupor.
After a while she started feeling tingly all over; prickly and warmth especially
around her groin. She suddenly felt ravenously hungry for sex. The desire burned
through her, arousing her like house on fire. She suspected it had to do with the
spice she had been eating. She tried holding herself together but couldn’t control
her urge with a man sitting near her. He was looking at her and smiling knowingly.
‘Oh my God,’ she cried in her mind, he had poisoned her. He kept springing
surprises at her. All his gimmicks were always geared toward her wanting to sleep
with hi; sexually desiring him. She got up and went to the bedroom. She couldn’t
control this. It seemed like her vagina had developed a separate activity, judging
by the hammering going on there like an anvil going to work on a metal.
He entered the room and met her lying on the bed. He pulled his clothes and
joined her. This time, she exhausted him out. She couldn’t find release enough to
drain out her urge. As the night wore on, her libido blasted through the roof. He
had had her three times already and she wanted more. She only relented when
he fell asleep. She slept too, her energy sapped but the craving still hot and
burning in her.
She woke up in the morning and he was gone. She could feel her vagina boiling
hot with intense need. She pressed her thighs together rubbing them against each
other to stimulate her clitoris. She had to use her fingers this time. She was going
crazy. Why was this man punishing her, she sobbed. What had she really done to
deserve this? These questions she asked herself as she strove to find succour on

41
her own. Her fingers weren’t doing the job the way she wanted and she also had a
business meeting with that website guy soon. He was almost through with her
site and wanted a final approval before uploading it. She got up and went to
shower, barely in control of her watery limbs.
She dressed up in her simple gown and wore light makeup. She went to the
parlour and cleared the dining table, throwing away the remainder of the meat
and juice of last night. Through this chore her body was on flame with desire. She
paused to touch herself but the doorbell rang that moment. The web designer
was on time. She opened the door for him and he launched into the business of
the day immediately they sat down, side by side on the long sofa.
Jemima caught herself imagining how good the guy would taste in bed. She was
so moist, the joint between her legs aching. She wasn’t even concentrating in
what he was saying. He was speaking Kiribati as far as she was concerned. Her
eyes had run all over his physique, noting, for the first time, how handsome he
actually was on a closer look, and strong too.
‘Do you understand?’ she heard him asking and it was like that was the third time
he asked her.
She nodded dumbly.
‘You haven’t been listening to me,’ he accused her, sounding hurt. ‘Madam, I have
other places to go and clients to meet.’
‘I am sorry,’ she apologised. ‘I…was carried away.’
He exhaled, looked at her for a while. ‘Shall we continue?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I am not myself.’
Are you ill?’ he sounded concerned now.
It was her turn to exhale noisily. ‘Do you want the truth?’
‘Yes.’
‘I don’t want to be rude. But I am actually…em…I need to…’ she stopped.

42
‘What?’ He leaned closer.
‘I was distracted by you actually. I was imagining things.’ She looked away,
thinking she had finally gone nutty for cocks.
There was a little silence between them, but she discarded her shyness as soon
that horniness hit her in hot waves. She turned and grabbed her web designer
and plastered his lips with a searing kiss. He dithered for a second and then
returned her kiss, dropping his laptop on the floor. He tasted fresh and good. She
liked his taste a lot. Her tongue delved further into his mouth to get more of that
flavour. Their tongues entwined, separated and did the dance again. He paused to
pull her to his laps and they resumed the kiss, his hands found her breasts and
fondled them lovingly. She liked the way he touched her. He was gentle and
passionate.
She later got down from his lap to lie on the sofa, he leaned over her to resume
the kissing. It seemed he loved kissing and did it so well. She had never been
kissed like that before.
‘You are so beautiful,’ he whispered to her. ‘I have been wondering what it would
be like to kiss you. And now I know it is as wonderful as I imagined.’ He continued
kissing her. He was a pro at it. She liked the fact that he got attracted to her
before she seduced him. It made it easier.
He finally left her lips for her breasts. He had lifted her light gown up and pushed
her bra down. ‘You are truly beautiful,’ he gushed, burrowing between the
plumpness of her tits. He took both nipples in turns paying similar attention as he
did to her mouth. Jemima closed her eyes to savour this gift. The pleasure he gave
using his tongue there was indescribable. She was moaning now with abandon.
He stood up to unbuckle his trousers, remove his top, and came back to her. She
had completely discarded her gown and undies. As their nude bodies joined there
on the sofa, she sighed with utmost pleasure. ‘Do you have a condom?’ he asked
her quietly.
She nodded, and got up to get one from her room. He let her lie down and he
resumed kissing her while his fingers caressed her clit, occasionally pressing hard

43
at the knob. She wriggled her waist, pushing into his finger as she came. His
fingers got seriously wet with her juice. He removed it and left her for a minute to
put on the rubber. She felt him slide into her and she moaned. He was of the right
size for her, not massive or small, just enough to allow her thorough pleasure. He
moved superbly, bringing her to another climax within minutes. She wrapped her
arms around his shoulder, their mouth joined as he moved in and out of her,
finding his release in a remarkable way.
They lay there breathing hard and touching each other lightly. ‘I really enjoyed
that,’ he told her. ‘I hope you did too.’
‘I did. More than you can imagine.’ She kissed him. She won’t get tired kissing this
man. He tasted fantastic.
‘Let us clean up. Do you mind?’
‘No. This way.’ She showed him the toilet in her bedroom. ‘Would you like a
shower?’
‘I wouldn’t mind,’ he replied with a smile.
‘I will be ready for another of that sweet thing we just had.’ She winked at him.
He laughed and went into the toilet. She returned to the sitting room to gather
their clothes and to use the visitor’s toilet to wash. She branched off at the
kitchen to get cold drinks and biscuits. He was lying on the bed when she got back
to the bedroom. He took a sip of the cold drink and thanked her. She scuttled into
his arms, and rubbed her naked leg over his body, readying for another round.
‘You are married?’ he asked her.
‘It doesn’t matter now.’
‘It worries me actually,’ he said. ‘But I guess I’m far too gone to back away.’
‘I am married but my husband has been away for a long time,’ she told him the
truth. ‘His absence caused me a lot of troubles.’

44
‘I don’t wish to be a source of trouble to you. I like you a lot,’ he kissed her
forehead. ‘While I lay here waiting for you to come, I was thinking of how
wonderful it would be to have something serious with you. I was hoping you
weren’t just using me to service you temporarily. Then I saw your wedding
picture. I was disappointed.’
‘I am beginning to believe my marriage is over.’ She got up, walked over to the
dresser, picked up her wedding frames and dropped them in one of the drawers.
With all that she had done, she didn’t think her marriage to Alpho would hold up.
‘I am sorry to hear that. It must have been bad for you.’
‘Seriously bad. Do you know you are the second man I am cheating with?’
He didn’t say anything.
‘I was so desperate that I had to sleep with someone I will never touch under
normal circumstances.’ She decided to unburden her heart to this stranger. He
seemed like a caring sort of man. He would listen and understand her. She already
felt safe with him. Though their relationship wouldn’t cross just sex, she still liked
him as a friend. He was so good. ‘There was this man that usually comes around
here, a sort of handy man. A labourer.’ She couldn’t tell him a cattle rearer. It still
sounded abominable. ‘He hardly understood more than too words of English. ‘I let
him fuck me because I was scared of having an affair with men within my own
circle for it might get back to my husband or friends. I wanted something utterly
discreet.’ She stopped, angry tears springing to her eyes.
‘Then what happened?’
‘I got trapped. I didn’t know he had this thing, spiritual thing. A kind of juju that
hypnotises people. He hypnotises me. I can’t get away from him. He comes here
and bullies me into yielding to him.’
The web designer was scandalised. ‘Why do you allow such thing? You should
have put a distance between you and him. Talk to someone. Why suffer like this?’

45
‘I can’t tell anyone. You are the first person I am talking to. Not even my stepmom
knows about this. I guess I am talking to you because I desperately need someone
to unburden my heart to. I just hope you wouldn’t take advantage of it.’
‘I won’t,’ he promised. ‘I actually feel sorry for you. I am not saying you were
totally innocent of what happened to you, but many of us have done regrettable
things and we are not suffering or paying for it now. I think you shouldn’t allow it
to continue.’
‘I tried. I even left this house for a while just to avoid him.’
‘What happened?’
‘I found myself bound to a hospital bed and I was told I lost my mind. I had to
return.’
He sighed. ‘Are you sure it wasn’t a coincidence? Maybe there was a rational
explanation for what happened to you. What was the doctor’s verdict?’
‘I didn’t wait for it,’ she told him. ‘Nevertheless, I know what happened.’
‘But you are not sure. Look, you can’t live like this forever. You must stop it, one
way or another.’
She turned up her face to look at him, an impish smile on her lips. ‘Enough of that
stupid talk, let’s do something worthwhile. By the way I don’t want to know you
as my web designer. What was that your name again?’
He let out a deep throaty laugh and told her. ‘Eugene.’ Jemima kissed him, feeling
his hardness against her body. Getting up, she straddled him, lifting herself up on
her knees to impale herself on him. She sighed with pleasure as she began to
move, rolling her waist round, forward and backwards in a sensual languorous
motion. He kept a glassy gaze on her, his palms on both sides of her hips, holding
her down to him. She made love to him passionately, grinding into him, feeling
him inside her, sucking in every inch of him. His groans and sighs of pleasure
increased her enjoyment.

46
So, they spent the rest of the day in bed. Jemima was happy scurrying around to
prepare meals for them both as they revelled in each other, making love until
they were both sapped.
Night came and Jemima hoped his presence would keep the cattle rearer away.
Eugene’s small Toyota car was parked right before her front door. The best of it
all, she needn’t hide anything from him. Telling him about her scandalous affair
had gained her a friend who is not judgemental and a likely ally in this darkest
period of her life. Even if he did nothing to fight off her tormentor, his support
alone was some balm to her troubled soul. Though the ravenous sexual urge that
drove her into his arms had subsided, she still liked his presence. He was naturally
kind and attentive, and handled her with respect for her feelings and wasn’t just
taking but giving too.
The way a man makes love tells a lot about him. If he is selfish, he takes from the
woman, satisfies his urge and rolls off without bothering with her desires. If he is
aggressively dominant, he makes the woman perform sexual acts she is not
comfortable with; he doesn’t pay attention to when to stop or slow down. If he is
lazy, well, the woman would have to learn how to please herself or on the other
hand, a lazy man thrives only in bed but hardly go further to do anything to satisfy
his partner until he is forced to. The complaining man would always blame
something for his inability to satisfy his woman or even himself; he complains of
how tiring his job is every night or the state of the household or any other crap
that catches his fancy. Good men like Eugene weren’t perfect but they try to
listen to the woman and her body and never trivialise or forget what she liked. He
wants to know what she wanted and enjoys it with her.
So, Jemima was in a condition where she wished the moment would never end.
But it did, for that odious knock on her backdoor shattered the moment. Jemima
groaned; she was on the verge of initiating another love play with Eugene. His
kisses drove her crazy.
‘Who is it?’ he asked her.
‘I think it is him,’ Jemima told him, her body suddenly tensed up. Her hands were
shaking slightly and Eugene noticed it.

47
‘Should I send him away?’ he asked her.
‘I don’t want you doing my dirty job. But it would be helpful if I can afford not to
be subjected to smelling his perfume. That thing has a way of rendering me a
zombie. I might be imagining it but I think there is something, maybe I’m allergic
to it.’
He got up, untangled his clothes from the heap on the rug. He dressed up as best
as he could under short notice while the banging on the door increased, but any
attentive person could see he just got out of bed. ‘I will see what I can do,’ he told
Jemima, flashing her a grin. She smiled back at him, her heart in her throat as she
waited for result.
He returned few seconds later. ‘How did it go? Is he gone?’ she asked him, sitting
up.
‘Yeah, he is gone.’ He sat on the bed looking at her with a little confusion. ‘He
didn’t look like a labourer like you described him. In fact he appeared as if he had
some money, judging by his brocade and sandals. By the way, he had full
polythene bags with him. I think he went shopping for you.’
‘I don’t understand him. The first time I saw him, I thought he was one poor
labourer. Then immediately I started something, he changed. I don’t know what
to make of it. It scares me even more.’
‘Maybe he went into crime just to impress you,’ Eugene reasoned.
‘Oh My god!’ Jemima gasped. Her problem kept burgeoning. ‘A criminal. Oh, I am
done for. You know I didn’t see it that way.’ She got up and went to the drawer to
get the gold jewelleries he forced on her. She brought it to Eugene and showed it
to him. ‘He brought this the other day and forced it on me. I didn’t know what to
do.’
Eugene collected the pendants and chain from her. ‘These must be expensive.’
‘Yes, I know gold. It is a small fortune. I can’t go to the police, this is the kind of
story that make all those tabloids and gossip magazines.’

48
‘Not to talk of those blood thirsty blogs.’
Jemima was in distress, pacing the floor. ‘I don’t know about that but I can clearly
see the headlines screaming. I will just die. I will kill myself. I never thought I’d
commit suicide in my life. I can just do it now.’
Eugene held her arm to pull her down to sit on his laps. ‘I think you need to calm
down. You don’t have to start contemplating suicide now without trying out all
options. There must be someone somewhere who could help you. All you need to
do is think.’
‘I don’t know anybody. I don’t know who can help,’ she started sobbing. She was
tired. This trouble drained her all the time. Only if one could easily die and come
back to life to begin afresh, she would gladly give up this miserable life to come
back and end up with someone like Eugene.
‘Maybe you should sleep, rest,’ he suggested. ‘I will leave now. I will come back
tomorrow to check on you.’
She grabbed his hand. ‘Please don’t leave me alone. I am so scared now.’
‘There are things I need to do back at my place. Besides, I didn’t plan to spend the
whole day in bed with a beautiful woman. It is not like I’m complaining but I also
have work to do. I have these other jobs in my system at home. I have missed
appointments today. I should catch up.’
‘Can I come with you?’ she asked him in a small voice. ‘I promise I will just sleep
all through. I won’t disturb your work.’
‘Okay,’ he agreed. ‘But I have to warn you. My place is small.’
‘I don’t care if you stay in a hole in the ground, I just want to be with you. I can’t
stay here alone.’
‘Get your things and let’s go then.’ Jemima couldn’t get her stuff together fast
enough. She threw in a gown and trousers and a shirt, her make-up bag and
toiletries and she was good to go. He had dressed properly, picked his bag and

49
laptop from the sitting room and they left the house. Outside, Jemima kept
glancing around to make sure the cattle man wasn’t there lurking in a corner.
As they drove out of her house, after closing the main gate, she thought she saw a
flash of blue brocade in the poorly lit street. ‘What colour of clothes was he
wearing when he came?’ she asked Eugene.
He understood who she was asking about. ‘Something blue I think.’
‘I think he was hanging around my house. I just hope he is not following us.’
‘Don’t worry. I have neighbours, and I am not going to open my door to him even
if he kills himself there.’
Chapter 6
Eugene’s place was a small one-bedroom apartment. The kitchen was tiny as was
the one bathroom and toilet. His sitting room was sparsely furnished but neat;
just two seats and a centre table. An LCD hung on the wall with a single split unit
air-conditioner. His bedroom only consisted of a small wardrobe and a bed that
took up most of the space.
‘Are you hungry?’ he asked her. ‘I think there are eggs and some other things in
the fridge.’
Jemima shook her head. ‘No. I will just go to sleep and leave you to your work as
promised.’ She made herself as comfortable as possible and tried to sleep. Eugene
stayed back in the sitting room to work.

50
Falling asleep proved hectic after staring at the ceiling and thinking of so many
things especially the mess she had recently made of her life because she lacked
control of her sexual urge. She stirred, opening her eyes when Eugene joined her
in bed. It must be quite late then, he had put off the light. She went back to sleep,
and had started enjoying the slumber when something woke her. Unable to put
her finger to it and convinced that something woke her she listened carefully in
the dark. Eugene snored slightly by her side. After a while as she was about to
close her eyes again, she heard a rustle coming from the outer room. She sat up,
was it a rat? She imagined. But the sound was heavier. Like someone moving
around the room.
Jemima began to shake. Someone was inside the house with them. She shook
Eugene gently. He woke up immediately. It seemed he was a light sleeper.
‘What is it?’ he asked her in a thick, sleepy voice.
‘Did you lock the door?’ she asked him.
‘Yes I did.’ He sighed. ‘Go back to sleep.’
‘I think there is someone in the sitting room.
He got up and snapped on the light. ‘I locked the door and the protector outside.
How could someone get in?’
‘I don’t know, but I heard sounds. Like someone moving around.’
‘I will check it out,’ he left for the sitting room, Jemima’s heart was thudding
against her chest painfully. She sighed with huge relief when Eugene returned.
‘There is no one there. Now, go back to sleep. Don’t get yourself worked up for
nothing. You are safe.’ He put off the light again and lay beside her. This time, he
drew her into his arms to hold her, her back to his front. She tried to relaxed,
wiggling further into his body. He held her tighter. She was already drifting back
to sleep when she felt someone pull at her leg.

51
Her eyes flew open and clashed into darkness. A strange force pulled her out of
the bed and she screamed with terror. She heard Eugene rather than saw him fly
out of bed and shouted, ‘what?’
‘He is here,’ Jemima shouted. A hand pulled at her hair in a vice grip and dragging
her about the small room. She collided with Eugene who, held unto her but was
wrenched away from him. She screamed again as pain shot through her from the
roots of her hair.
‘I can’t switch on the light,’ Eugene yelled. ‘Power cut. Why now? What is
happening?’ He groped for her, getting hold of her arm with his right hand. He
pulled her to him while another force pulled her the other way. He reached out
with his other hand, waving it around Jemima to trace what was attacking her. He
made contact with another body; a cold, bone-tough naked form. Eugene cringed.
He touched an arm, a torso and a thigh.
‘My hair. He is pulling my hair,’ Jemima cried.
Eugene traced her head in the dark and caught a fist holding her hair. Eugene
tried prying the hand off but it was like it was glued to the hair. He thought of
what to do desperately and the only action that he could think of was to sink his
teeth into the hand. An ear-splitting shriek shook the darkness. Eugene felt the
hand fly away from Jemima. Jemima screamed too, in horror. She wrapped her
trembling form on Eugene. Are you Okay,’ Eugene asked her in a shaky voice.
‘Yes, yes.’
‘Lie on the floor, beside the bed, roll yourself into a ball,’ Eugene ordered Jemima.
She obeyed immediately. He knelt before her, wedging her between the hard
wood of the bed and his body. Though he was afraid, but he stood his ground.
After a while, nothing happened. ‘I will get the torch. He moved away. The noise
of a drawer opening came a second later and then a blast of bright light from a
torch. Eugene held out his hand and pulled her up.
‘Are you okay? Are you hurt?’
She shook her head. ‘I am okay.’

52
‘I think whoever it was is gone. I wonder how he got in. Come let’s check the
door again.’ He held her hand and they went to the sitting room together. The
door was firmly locked. He unlocked it and saw that the metal protector was
padlocked. He shook his head in wonder and locked the door again. He checked
the windows for good measure, nothing was broken.
‘How did he get in?’ he asked rhetorically. ‘I am starting to get confused here.’
Jemima began to sob. Mercifully, electricity came back on. She continued crying.
It seemed she couldn’t get away from the cattle man. She had used her hand to
bring in evil to her life.
‘Stop crying,’ Eugene admonished her. ‘He is gone now. You don’t have to cry. We
just have to think of how to overcome it once and for all.’
She liked the way he said “we”. She had expected him to get repulsed by the mess
her life was and distance her immediately. But he was unwilling to let her suffer
through it alone despite they hardly knew each other. Husbands have abandoned
wives during dire situations. Sleeping with him didn’t make him responsible for
her. He owed her nothing. She actually seduced him. He had every right to walk
away from this.
She started crying in earnest. He didn’t deserve what she was doing to him. She
was actually messing up his life just because he easily fell forr her hours ago. He
said that the threat was gone, but she knew he was far from the truth. She knew
the cattle man would strike again.
‘Why are you crying?’ he held her hand to make her sit down on the chair. He sat
beside her. ‘Is there anything you want me to know?’
‘I am sorry I got you into this mess. Please forgive me.’
‘It’s okay.
‘I must go home. The more I stay here the more I expose you to danger.’ She
withdrew her hand from his hold and stood up. He got up with her.

The cattle-rearer

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