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"Udoka, leave shame to its owners. Think about your own life. When Marigold's son marries you, he will take you to Belgium. You will leave that stupid Awka Polytechnic, where the lecturers are always on strike. When you go to Belgium, you will attend a proper school!"
Udoka chewed her lower lip. "That's true," she said. "They have good schools in Belgium."
"Of course! And guess who will be paying your fees?" Udoka started to speak, but her mother's pause lasted only a second.
"Your husband! And when you finish school, you won't even have to work if you don't want to. You can just relax and let your husband take care of you. And you know they don't have sun in those places like Belgium, so your body will be very fresh. By the time you come back to visit me ehn, this your skin that was yellow before, it will be shining white like that of an oyibo. And you will be talking like them, shiriri, shiriri, as if you are holding water in your mouth. And all these bush village people of Umueze will not be able to understand what you are saying, and they will be asking, 'Is that Udoka? The same Udoka of yesterday?' And I will say, 'Yes, yes, that is my Udoka.'" Agatha laughed, clapping her hands with delight. "And Uzor will be sending me plenty of dollars, and I will expand my shop and hire girls to work for me. And I will campaign for the head of the women's group of Umueze, and they will be looking at me every time from the corners of their eyes, because I am the only one of them to have a daughter that lives in obodo-oyibo Belgium."
Udoka watched her mother's face soften into a dreamy, far-away look, one she imagined her mother had worn a lot more before her father's death and the hardships that followed. When her mother gave her a conspiratorial nudge, Udoka responded with a smile.
Udoka's mother had spent the next few days preparing her for the visit, telling her all the things that Marigold would be looking for. Marigold, like any mother-in-law, would want to see that Udoka could take care of a home. She would want to know if Udoka was modest and submissive, or if she was the kind who would want to seize her husband's trousers and wear them. Marigold had said she had a preference for light-skinned girls like Udoka; she wanted a daughter-in-law she could brag about and call nwanyi-ocha, fair lady. It was also a good thing Udoka was not too thin—Marigold didn't like "toothpicks."
* * *
Udoka smoothed down the front of her skirt with shaky hands. Her palms were damp with sweat. She stood still and girded herself as her mother gave her a final once-over. "Perfect," her mother said, placing a finger on Udoka's chin and gently lifting her face. Udoka felt a surge of warmth in her chest.
Agatha knocked and the door opened. Marigold's massive frame appeared in the doorway.
"Agatha, Udoka, our daughter, welcome." She stepped for-ward to embrace first Agatha and then Udoka.
Marigold led her guests into the living room, where her husband, Mazi Okoro—appearing comically small beside her—set aside his newspaper and rose from his chair. He greeted Udoka and her mother with a smile, peering at them through the thick lenses of his glasses as he asked polite questions about their journey and life in Umueze. Udoka found herself slightly disappointed with the living room. The paint on the walls was fresh and unmarked, but the furniture, though sturdy-looking, was faded. The room was decorated with artificial plants, and an old family photo showing Marigold, Mazi Okoro, and their son, Uzor, hung on a wall. Udoka squinted at the photo, hoping to see something of the man she would marry in the scrawny boy.
Udoka and her mother sat on the mud-colored sofa across from Mazi Okoro, and Marigold took the vacant chair beside her husband. Conscious of her every move being watched, Udoka was careful to appear shy (a sure sign of modesty), smiling and averting her eyes each time Marigold or her husband complimented her on her skin or her manners. She could tell that Marigold approved of her attire of an ankle-length skirt and a top with sleeves long enough to cover her elbows. Her mother had made her take out her hair extensions and wear her God-given hair in plaits, and when Mazi Okoro made a joke about women who went into hair salons looking like humans only to come out looking like Ekpo masquerades, Udoka knew it had been a wise decision.
Excerpted from A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo. Copyright © 2024 by Uche Okonkwo. Excerpted by permission of Tin House Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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