The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin

lice-ridden dogs all night. Can you not spare me one more scoop?”
    “Who cares about your daughters? Do you hear me complain when Iya Segi takes more milk for her children when mine are younger and need vitamins?” Iya Femi rolled her eyes and jerked her head in Iya Segi’s direction.
    At first, the older wife ignored her brazenness and began to rummage through a tin of Bournvita chocolate powder in search of the token that would earn her son a free Nigeria football jersey. When her fingers reappeared, they were coated in brown granules. “Iya Femi, you are in the habit of saying things that are too big for that little mouth of yours. If you are not satisfied with the way I share provisions, take your ingratitude to another man’s house. Mind you, make sure you are the first wife and not a lowly third.” She tucked the token into her bra.
    “Who can tell what the future holds?”
    To this, the older wife burst into noiseless laughter and hummed as she closed her mouth. I reminded them that Baba Segi would take care of us all but my words may as well have been the bleating of a goat. The clock in the kitchen struck ten. Not to tell a lie, it seemed strange that the woman Baba Segi was lying with was not one of us.
    “I will not be cast aside because she is a graduate!” Iya Femi folded her arms over her bosom. “I do not want her in this house.”
    “You will trip over in your haste if you are not careful, woman. Your mouth discharges words like diarrhea. Let Bolanle draw on every skill she learned in her university! Let her employ every sparkle of youth! Let her use her fist-full breasts. Listen to me, this is not a world she knows. When she doesn’t find what she came looking for, she will go back to wherever she came from.” Iya Segi pointed to the door.
    “Iya Segi, your words are like proverbs,” I said.
    “ Kruuk . Let me ask you this: what does our husband value more than what fills his mouth?”
    Iya Femi’s eyes widened. “Children!”
    “Ah! Wisdom at last,” Iya Segi said. “When she fails to give him a child, Baba Segi will throw her out! We know she will not give him children so we should watch from a distance. I don’t want to see anyone scratching her door frame with their toenails!”
    Both women turned to stare at me.
     
    T HE NEXT MORNING , B OLANLE CAME OUT of her bedroom. The kitchen fell silent as soon as she cast a shadow on the door frame. She said good morning and winced as she curtsied.
    “Your legs resemble those of a collapsible chair.” Iya Femi pointed at Bolanle’s knees and laughed out loud. “You didn’t expect to get that sort of thigh thumping, did you?” She made her voice hoarse. “Tell me, does your back ache?”
    “Careful, Iya Femi. Baba Segi has not left the house yet.”Iya Segi couldn’t suppress the pleasure she derived from the taunting.
    The poor woman looked like she would faint with shame so I offered a bowl of beans. “I just cooked them this morning,” I said.
    Bolanle looked at the bowl and said she wasn’t hungry. She took a plastic cup from the drainer and filled it with drinkable water from a plastic kettle. I didn’t blame her. After a night with Baba Segi, the stomach is beaten into the chest by that baton that dangles between his legs.
    We all heard the yelp of excitement from the mat. Femi had found a stick and the object of his attention was a small wall gecko that was scrambling down the wall until it was less than a foot from Femi’s reach. In a flash, Femi split its head into unequal halves. The creature tumbled down the wall and lay belly-up on the floor. Never in my life had I seen such wickedness. The boy is truly his mother’s son.
    It surprised me that Bolanle could speak to us after Iya Femi turned her like a spinning top. But they say a child who will play in the dark must first learn how to close its eyes. Bolanle wanted to play in the dark. She did not let Iya Femi’s behavior move her eyeballs. The very next day, she