Nights of the Creaking Bed
By Toni Kan
166pp; Cassava Republic Press
Nights of the Creaking Bed is like poetry; Toni Kan uses the minimum amount of words to tell all 14 stories with just the right amount of detail that you, the reader, feel that you were right there with the characters.
The collection of stories opens with the eponymous story ‘Nights of the Creaking Bed'. From the first line: "My mother was a kept woman," the tone of the piece is set. We go on to hear about this mother who has been ‘f***** somebody's husband'.
The language is very realistic and easily reflects the ages and the generations to which the characters belong. This natural voice is evident throughout the collection, whether it is from a parent or a child in ‘God is Listening': "His young, pink tongue touching his pink palate screams: ‘Please, please, please,"' or the audio pulse of the hustle and bustle of ‘under-bridge' life in the city of Lagos captured in ‘The Devil's Overtime': "Carry this JJC waka.
Make you show am way. If anybody worry una, tell dem say this JJC na my person." Or the slowed down tempo of the rural areas experienced in 'Ahmed': "He loved watching the sun come up through the branches of the trees.
He loved the gentle touch of the wind on his face." In general, Kan chooses his words to effectively mirror societal stories and happenings in such a way the reader comes away not only identifying with the characters and themes but also believing the ‘realness' of the stories and in some cases are able to draw parallel personal experiences.
In terms of characterization, nobody escapes the author's scrutiny. From the rapist in ‘God is Listening' to the police who make a double appearance in ‘Buzz' and ‘The Car They Borrowed'.
The author connects with families and the issues pertaining to them within the Nigerian context: extramarital affairs, lack of a male child, importance of the in-laws, the irresponsible attitudes of some fathers to their children, as well as larger societal themes of corruption, religious intolerance, gratuitous violence and the importance of joy and humour.
Evidence of his past writing in the soft sell Hints magazine shows up as he explores sexual taboos in several of his stories. In ‘The Passion of Pololo', there is an inferred sexual chemistry between mother and son.
"When Pololo pushes the door open, his mother has one leg on the stool by the dressing mirror. She is naked and cupped in her left palm is the cream she is applying to her skin.
He is naked, too, and the distance that yawns between them is a space filled with sad memories...
She watches her dear son, his head bent, his intent clear,... He must take that which he desires by force and against her will."
There is indeed a darker side to Kan's work, which the author has hinted comes to the fore even more in upcoming works. Such noir elements in this collection can be found in ‘Broda Sonnie' and ‘Sad eyes'.
The former is a grass-to-grace story in the making that suddenly turns Romeo and Juliet, where the protagonist pays with his life for the cause of love. In the latter, things just go from worse to worst for Stella with a slight glimmer of hope, which is dashed to pieces in the most horrendous way, "She died two years' ago. She was found in a ditch. Her private parts gone."
But not all the stories end in doom and gloom. Kan entertains us with some dark humour in ‘Echo of Silence,' where we follow Tony throughout the day, wondering how he would dispose of his neighbour's corpse ‘whose body fell past... and landed on the floor with a thud. ' All on Tony's way to work.
The climax of the story is when a friend insists on following him into the house where he temporarily stored the corpse only to find his neighbour ‘sitting upon the couch with a bored look on his face' accusing him that he was locked inside.
‘Nights of the Creaking Bed' is a book that one could dip in and out of anytime and easily reread. This book will make an additional notch on Kan's authorial belt, which already includes a novella, poetry collection and also justifies his new, work of poetry coming out within just a year of Nights of the Creaking Bed.
Isabella E.C Akinseye presents ‘Bookaholic With Bella' on Today on STV (Silverbird Television).