Once opon a December (Obed Armah) episode two

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Chapter two

David’s new friend, Martin, had taken him to a pub after work to have some drinks. The bar was teeming rapidly as waiters marched up to and from counter to table and table to table. Martin had just finished narrating how terrible his day had been at the workplace. David sympathised with him and wanted also to tell Martin how Jasmine was making life difficult for him at home.
He took a sip of his wine and said, “Man, Jasmine is giving me a tough time at home.
Martin giggled. “What did she do this time?”
“You need to see the damage she has done to my computer. I can’t wait for her mother to return from her trip.”
“Fathers,” smiled Martin, gently shaking his glass. “I don’t think I can handle that responsibility.”
“Oh don’t worry. You’ll find a way when it’s your time. Just pray you don’t have a kid like Jasmine. I bet you would run away into exile.”
Martin laughed and guzzled everything left in his glass. Suddenly, a song that was playing quietly in the background roared, thumping in the ears of everyone. Heads turned at the counter with most customers covering their ears.
“Yo , Mr DJ!” David called out loudly to a man in dreadlocks and a pair of earmuffs seated at a corner. “Not everyone here is wearing earmuffs, okay?”
The DJ only nodded to him in response but did nothing about the volume of the music. David picked his ears as Martin filled David’s glass. “Thanks, man,” David said and took a sip. “That’s Jasmine’s favourite song.”
“This one?” Martin asked, referring to the thumping song playing as he poured himself some wine.
“Yeah. Yellow Flicker Beat. The kid keeps banging our ears at home with this song-”
David’s eyes flashed open suddenly to the darkness of his bedroom and the soft feel of his mattress. The pub was not real, but the loud music was, and it was only 4:22 a.m.!
“Oh not again,” David panicked and jumped out of bed before dashing out of the door. “This girl will make the neighbours kill me!” He seemed to fly through the corridor to Jasmine’s door where he felt the floor vibrating under his feet. The sound of the music from his daughter’s room was so loud that for the first few instances David couldn’t take his hands off his ears.
“Jasmine!” David banged the door with his fist frantically. “Stop the music now!”
The girl surely heard her father banging on her door, but she completely ignored him. Jasmine was a terrific dancer. Bouncing on her feet on the bed in her blue pyjamas, the little girl sang along and mimicked the dance moves of the singer in the music video she was watching on her TV set.
“Jasmine!” David shook the door frantically by the handle. “Open this door now, or you will be grounded till you get married!”
Jasmine giggled and responded to that threat by amplifying the volume of the speakers and raising her high-pitched voice.
* * *
An old couple sat on the edge of their bed around that time, awoken from their sleep by the loud music from the house next door.
“It’s that stupid girl again,” snarled the bald-headed man wearing only shorts. He sucked his teeth and walked over to the window, rubbing his still weary eyes.
“I don’t understand why parents of nowadays are so permissive,” his wife wondered, chin propped on a hand.
“The song just ruined my sleep,” he muttered under his breath and sucked his teeth again in annoyance. He turned around, walking back to the bed with a face like thunder. “If I grab hold of that little girl tomorrow morning, I swear I will beat her to a pulp right before her toothless father.”
“You mean today, right?” asked the woman.
“Oh,” he sucked his teeth again and sat beside her.
His wife giggled and went back to bed, burying her head under the pillow. He glanced at her and then at the clock. It was ticking ever slowly.
* * *
Jasmine had very minimal idea of how furious her father was. She didn’t even care. David’s forehead was already covered with beads of sweat and his heart raced fast and loud, banging against his chest. He had been there for some minutes, ordering Jasmine to stop the music and open the door but she kept repeating the same song over and over. Realizing that she wasn't going to either open up or halt the music anytime soon, he hurried back to his room and returned moments later with a bunch of keys.
Jasmine stopped singing abruptly when David suddenly barged inside the theatre of a room she slept in and in a flash, flipped the switch of the socket powering her home theatre. Serenity was restored instantly as the neighbourhood rivalled the silence of a graveyard.
The girl stood on the bed, glaring at David for cutting short her small nightclub. David approached her, glaring back. The two looked like boxers waiting for the referee’s signal to kick-start a match. For a short while, neither one uttered a word.
“Don’t you see the darkness outside?!” David exploded suddenly, pointing to the window. “People are still in their sleep! Goodness knows how many people you’ve woken up with your-your noise!”
“You mean my music,” Jasmine corrected him boldly, folding arms across her chest and added, “but I was only trying to be a good neighbour in waking them up early so that they don’t go to work late.”
David nodded sarcastically. “Interesting. You tell the neighbours that in the morning when they come seeking to spank the life out of you.”
Jasmine was taken aback by that thought. Her bold face was immediately replaced by one of fearfulness.
“And you know what,” David grinned with clasped hands, leaning towards the terrified Jasmine. “This time, I will be sitting under the summer hut, enjoying the breeze with a cup of coffee while the people you’ve been disturbing, beat you up mercilessly.”
Jasmine gaped at her father. “Dad, you’re heartless. You would watch people beat up your daughter?”
“Ha!” David spread his arms wide and bluffed convincingly, “I am even willing to film the whole scene and post it on Facebook for your friends to see what happens to disobedient kids like you.” David ended his words with a gentle shove on her forehead. Touching her forehead, Jasmine scowled at her father, despising him more than ever.
“Mum!” the little girl squealed, expecting her mother’s presence in her room at once.
David scoffed and placed hands squarely on his waist. “Is that the best you can do to call someone who is about a 100 km away? Funny.”
Jasmine then recalled that her mother had told her she would leave at dawn. She dropped onto the bed, shoulders drooping and a look of sadness creeping onto her cute face. David turned around without a word and started to leave. He was almost at the door when a thought occurred to him. He turned around.
“Just so that you don’t light up your dance club again when I leave this room, not only am I taking away the extension plug, I’m also locking your door and I’m not opening you up till 6 am.”
“Oh come on, dad,” Jasmine jumped out of bed and tried to stop David from taking away the cords. “It hasn’t gotten to this.”
“Stay back!” David warned, pointing an angry finger at her. “You’re fortunate you have school today otherwise I would have locked you here till your mother arrives.”
Turning to her tried and tested method, Jasmine sat on the floor with folded arms and pursed lips and squealed, “Mum! Dad is torturing me!
“Sorry, young woman,” David said on his way out. “But that doesn’t work on me.” He locked the door, ignoring her tantrums.
He returned to his room but could still hear Jasmine squealing. He sighed as he pulled the blanket up to his chest. The few days ahead in Keren’s absence was surely going to be another headache trying to control Jasmine. Worse, David knew he wasn’t going to get away with it this time with his neighbours when daylight arrived. He had restored calmness, but the storm was sure to come.

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