The Good Man

Festus sells beans from a roadside stall and has earned the name King of Beans through years of early mornings and steady hands. In The Good Man he lives with Chioma, and their days follow a quiet rhythm until Kemi appears at their gate, having fled the house of her father Samuel. Samuel had accepted a dowry from an older man named Andrew and tried to force Kemi into the marriage, but she refused and Samuel cast her out. Festus sees a girl with nowhere to go and brings her inside, telling Chioma it is only charity. Chioma does not believe him. She watches Festus share his plate with Kemi and hears the soft laughter between them, and her suspicion hardens into accusation. She packs a bag and stands at the door, and Festus begs her to stay, swearing his hands are clean. Meanwhile Samuel meets with Andrew to plan how they will take Kemi back, and Kemi herself stirs charms into Festus's food, hoping to bind his heart to her. Then Chioma begins to cough, a dry rattling sound that will not leave her. She grows weak, and every test at the clinic comes back negative. Herbal cures do nothing, and soon she is admitted to a hospital ward, her breath shallow, while Festus spends his last naira on medicines that do not work. At the hospital the doctors find no infection and no disease they can name. A pastor arrives at Festus's plea and prays over Chioma in the ward, then follows Festus home to pray over the house. Under the weight of that deliverance Kemi falls to the floor and confesses: she has been feeding Festus love potions, and she has wished Chioma dead so she could take her place. The pastor breaks the covenant and neutralizes the charm. At the same moment Kemi's estranged husband John walks into the compound, a man she left after their bride price was paid. She admits she abandoned him for Festus. Samuel arrives and says he never forced her into the second marriage, and he forgives her.