Chapters (3)
They set foot in Nigeria.
Babatunde A beg, just leave her! We need to figure out what they were saying.
Adebisi I think I heard
something about getting
married? Omotara, she
must be getting married.
| Yetunde Before they even | |
| Babatunde Yes now, maybe | called it Nigeria. |
| all we need to do is bless | Named it, named it, |
| the wedding! Did you | a land not theirs. |
| hear who she was | |
| marrying? |
Adebisi Probably another Igbo man!
| Babatunde Well, that’s | Gave it the wretched name, |
| simple. Let’s bless it and | the wretched, wretched name |
| get back. | Of nigh-nigh-nigh- geria. |
Adebisi Ah-ah! Yetunde, can’t you be quiet? This is no time for song. We’re in the middle of council.
Yetunde Back when, way back
Before the white man came.
In my time. My time.
My time.
Beat.
It was different then. We were sacred then –
Adebisi We all know that Yetunde! It’s a shame our descendants don’t call on us like before, but this is hardly the time to be doing clappa clappa about it. We have work to do.
Yetunde Tara is marrying Leah. The woman she brought to dinner.
Adebisi What? No!
Babatunde I didn’t hear that.
Yetunde I did.
Babatunde You’re wrong. It’s just the interference.
Yetunde I am the North, I’ve been dead the longest and I’ve served on these councils the most. My ears are finely tuned to Aiye by now. I heard it.
Adebisi Well.
Babatunde Alright.
Yetunde So, like you said, all we need to do is bless the wedding and go.
Adebisi We can’t do that.
Yetunde And why not?
The sound of static.
Babatunde What is that? What is going on?
Adebisi Is this normal?
Babatunde Have you ever heard it before, Yetunde?
Yetunde No.
Adebisi How do we make it stop?
Yetunde We can stop it by blessing this marriage, leaving this place and going back to Orun.
Adebisi We can’t do that.
Yetunde Why not?
Adebisi We cannot bless this ye-ye marriage.
Yetunde What is ye-ye about it? Na your head be ye-ye, Ade!
The static stops.
Babatunde Oh, good. It’s stopped.
Yetunde exits.
Adebisi What’s gotten into her?
Babatunde Me, I don’t know! But we better follow her. Make her see sense. We need to get this summoning over with.
Scene Four
London, Tara and Leah’s home.
Tara You’re lying.
Leah Nope. I can’t do it.
Tara I don’t believe it. No! How have you got away with this?
Leah I’ve never been able to.
Tara I swear you were doing it at Bree’s wedding!
Leah No.
Tara You smiled at me when it started!
Leah That’s all part of how I get away with it. You’ve got to look excited when it starts. Then no one notices when you’re not doing it.
Tara What do you do when it comes on?