MR. B (MY QUIET PLACE 54)

Mr. A, B and C, three very succesful men all belonged to the same social club. They went to the same high school and life brought them together in the big city. Mr. A was the president of the club while Mr. B and Mr. C were all active members. It was a family club so wives were also admitted. Their children had also grown to love one another.

Everything was going well as their families had all become fond of each other, then strategy struck. Mr. B lost his beloved wife. She had complications from the last son she had in her old age. Everybody was broken as she was a quiet and amiable woman. They knew Mr. B would be broken by this great loss and so they all rallied round him to at least help ease the pain of the vacuum created. Mr. A looked as shattered as Mr. B perhaps because of their closeness.

Mr. B was a quiet man so it wasn’t strange that he maintained his quiet nature even though he seemed to be sinking deep in sorrow. He tried to remain active in the club but after a year and a half his participation reduced. From nowhere Mr. B came for a meeting and announced he had quietly remarried and didn’t bother anyone because it was a family affair. The new wife was a matured lady and had also lost her husband some years ago and had a son who was schooling outside the country.

All the women in the meeting frowned and openly rejected the new bride. If they had spoken words it would have been better than the looks they gave her. The new bride always kept her composure at meetings and always managed a smile thought it meant nothing to the women. Some thought it was too soon, others thought Mr. B should preserve his late wife’s memory by staying single. Others said it was an insult to bring her to the meeting in the first place. Along the line Mr. A the president had resigned and stopped coming for the meetings.

One day Mr. C went with his wife to see Mr. B and were warmly received by the new wife. Mr. C’s wife couldn’t hide her feelings and at some point spoke that she personally felt he (Mr. B) didn’t honour his wife’s memory by remarrying albeit barely two years after her death. She reiterated that she had nothing personal against the new bride but it was hard accepting her so easily.

Mr. B in his calm nature smiled and said he could totally relate with everyone’s feelings. He went in and brought out a letter that his wife had written to Mr. A (The president) many years before she died. In it she enquired on why he (Mr. A) had stopped coming to the house to see ‘their’ child. Mr. A’s wife had seen the letter and had brought it to Mr. B saying she saw it in her husband’s drawer and she came to seek clarification from him because she didn’t understand it.

Apparently Mr. A and Mrs. B had an affair which led to the last child she had. Many years later it led to the complications from an advanced pregnancy that claimed her life. Though Mr. B had confronted both parties at the time, he raised the child as his own and prior to this time had never told a soul.

There was silence in the room.

Mr. and Mrs. C could not utter a word. She later knelt down and apologised for all her antagonism and coldness towards the new wife.

As I watched a movie late last night I suddenly remembered the story. I am in my quiet place (A place in my house where I recall events from the previous period) and I don’t even know what to think. Don’t be quick to judge people, things might be as you think. Even if you think you know, all you have is all you know.

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