"You are right," The thug conceded as far as it seemed. He glared down at the corpse lying down in a pool of blood.
"It's terribly unfair!" I cried. The thug gazed at me, Displeasure evident in his dark eyes.
"I guess it is not the first or second unfair thing you have seen." he said, "The priest is right. I am a sinner like anybody else. I sometimes do unfair things."
"In that case how are we going to trust your justice system?" Mah asked.
"How do you trust in the world's justice systems?"
"I don't believe in the world's justice systems."
"I have little trust in the world's justice systems."
I and Mah spoke at the same time respectively. We eventually exchanged glances.
"My bad," I apologized. The justice systems of the world cannot be entirely rotten, "Many people—if not all—doubt the justice of the justice systems of the world."
The thug glanced from me to Mah and back to me. He sighed.
"I apologize for the misconduct. I promise it will not happen again." The sincerity of his voice failed to convince us.
The priest clicked his tongue, "I better put my trust in the world's justice systems rather than in a murderer who's threatening to evolve into serial killer."
The thug glared coldly at the priest before shifting his gaze to me and Mah. I could tell he marked the three of us as tough nuts. As a result, I delayed my impending reply and eventually cancelled it when he said the following; "New rule; you shall never talk to me."
As soon as he finished speaking, he leaned forward. With his fork, he gathered salad to a chip and led them into his mouth.
I sat properly on my seat and stared at the table. Two plates of steak in addition to the plates of raw tomatoes. I realized how preoccupied I had been such that I hadn't noticed Mah order the steak. I hadn't seen the waitress once.
I began gobbling down the steak. The lunch was going to last much longer than we might liked. The time was 13 minutes past one. I got stuck in a damn restaurant.
"The food is no longer delicious," the woman beside Mah across the aisle uttered and put down her fork and knife in the silver plate of chicken 65.
"The taste has not changed," Mah told her.
"I've lost appetite!" she snapped at him. She was in bad mood. It wasn't very tactful of Mah to object her.
"Mind your business, sir," the man told Mah.
The latter shrugged and said, "I just wanted to let you know you can bring back your lost appetite."
The man turned his attention to the woman, "Everything's gonna be fine, babe," he caressed her shoulder.
"Nothing's gonna be fine!" she yelled and pushed away his hand, "and I'm not your babe."
The man's face darkened, "What's all this about, Atina?"
"It's about everything!" her mood was not getting any better, "the meal, the captivity and this useless reconciliation discussion. I cannot join your church, Akim,"
Akim let out a deep breath, an exposition of depression.
"A married couple of different churches..." he paused and sighed, "it's not gonna work, Atina. At church I'll be considered single. I won't be called for important duties. I'll miss important opportunities."
"Why the hell are you not considering joining my church then?" she shouted and pursed her lips. She stared at Akim expectantly. When Akim showed resentment at her idea, her disappointment mingled with anger, "Why it's always me making concessions? Why only your interests matter? If in your eyes a woman is not worth much why do you need her in the first place?"
"It's..." Akim started talking but Atina didn't let him proceed.
"When I got married to you, your religious beliefs and personal principles forced me to give up so much including some of my own religious beliefs and personal principles. Yet I don't remember you giving up a single thing for my sake. You still visited your relatives every month end. You still went to stadiums to watch football matches. You still attended every overnight prayers at your church. You still did what you loved. But when it comes to me, it's a total different story. I had to stop going out to dinners and parties. I had to stop modelling and acting. Against my wish we moved to Mzuzu. I lost nearly all my reliable customers."
I could tell from Akim's face that he nowhere regrets his stated treatment of her. He made several futile attempts to interrupt her. That only got her more upset.
"I lived according to your interests. We ended up opening a nursery school when I suggested a fashion designing school. When it failed you put the blame on me. Now you are coming here saying you've changed but I don't see the change. You're requesting for more sacrifices from me. I'm afraid that's just not gonna happen this time around. I won't give up my religion. I'm sick of doing more of the give and less of the take." she looked away from him with a disgusted face.
The very long and consistent condemnation brought sore distress upon Akim. No words came out of his mouth. I could tell he wasn't up for a comprise nonetheless. The prominent concession of religion proved extremely difficult to make for both parties.
"The man is right," the priest was first to intervene, "the man is the head of the family. He's the one to make the final decision."
The couple stared at him. Akim's gaze appreciative, Atina's resentful.
"However," the word brought swift shift in the couple's expression, "a little change and improvement in the man's behaviour is necessary. He ought to be open-minded, tolerance and selfless. He needs not only consider his needs and interests but also the partner's. That's how Christian families are supposed to work."
It felt like ages waiting for the priest to finish so that I could express my thoughts on the matter, "I liked a good chunk of your advice. But according to my understanding, there is currently no family here. Currently. Therefore, there's no head of family. Therefore, I suggest that the two of them should jointly make the decision."
"The woman must obey the man!" the dark suit man shouted in a decisive manner.
"Yes," the priest hissed and glared daggers at me. I guessed he thought of me as a little devil.
"I disagree!" Mah objected.
"You whites are crippling with your so-called human rights. In pure Christianity, women must listen. Paul made it clear."
The speaker of this quite radical statement turned out to be the bearded kid. It seemed people were recalibrating.
"Without human rights I doubt you would have existed in the first place. Without whites I doubt you would have known Paul." Mah's words incorrectly felt like a mockery directed to many people including me. I admit he was just stating facts. Deadly wars, slavery and all sorts of terrors have been greatly minimized by human rights. I, myself disapproved some human rights but criticizing all human rights is extremely unfair and ungrateful. The western world certainly messed with Christianity and religion in general but blaming all westerners for it is extremely unfair and ungrateful. Let's not forget thousands if not millions of westerners who made great sacrifices for Christianity to reach eastern world. Besides, all races including blacks are responsible for the damage.
Prejudice disgust me. I hate it to the core.
The pain caused by the perceived prejudice hindered me from taking part in the conversation.