It was night of my father’s burial that I made up my mind to leave Delta state, I really could not ponder what was responsible for the calamity that befell my fathers house.
We were what the dictionary described as a church rat for in all ramification we did fit into that definition, Dad has two elder brothers whom according to him, he trained them both in school because he is the eldest of them all, he took to fishing and cutting of bamboo to fend for their fees because he never had such opportunity to be educated and when the education boom did hit agbor my hometown, he never wanted it to pass their family on the mere fact of being poor.
When Uncle Nosa and Samson had finished school and were both graduated, Nosa a lawyer and Samson an architect, he was a proud man that finally his family would be counted amongst those that had produced graduates in the whole of agbor, not long after their NYSC they both called him for a meeting which they said was of great importance, a date was set aside for the supposedly important meeting, they gathered infront of my fathers house, Uncle Nosa clinging his briefcase in a style I have come to know him for, tucked in his armpit as he stares at his watch every minutes as if he is in a hurry to leave, “Tony we want to share the plots of land our late father left for us” he said starring at my Dad with a stern look of all seriousness he could muster, “oghene! Is that the all important meeting you guys have hammering in my head like the blacksmith hits his metal in a furnace, and Uncle Samson cuts in “is that not enough reason for a meeting?” Dad could sense the hostility in their voice as he stopped smiling, dropped the kolanut he was chewing copiously by the stool and then looked at both of them before he spoke
“We are only three boys our father gave birth to and before he died he showed us three lands that is ours by virtue of being his sons, one is the one we standing on right now and the other by the path that leads to the river and the third is near the grave yard”
And Nosa stood looking at my dad through the spectacles that rested on his nose
“And tell me who do you think deserves the land by the grave side? Tony see you are not educated and their is nothing you can do with this land here, I suggest you take the one by the grave side for your farming”
That statement from Nosa ruined everything as dad stood up as the eldest son, walked up to Nosa and gave him a dirty slap, a slap so resounding that his glasses flew from his face and Samson ran back a bit for he could not withstand the might of my dads fist that has been ruffled by the so many years of bamboo cutting and tiling the soil for farming, that was arrested for attempted murder and he was given the acceptance of the land by the grave yard to regain his freedom which he accepted.
We parked to the grave side which had nobody as neighbours as we were the only one who lived there for we had no place to go, years past and the pain and anguished Dad passed through in the hands of his brothers made Uncle Nosa and Samson stay clear from us as they both built huge edifices at the other two land, and we continued to bask in our penury and untold hardship, I would follow him to the farm to cultivate or sometimes go harvest palm fruits for others for a fee, with this we were one happy family, Mama, Aleru, I and dad we inseparable as we were always together.
Almost ten years later and our village was flooded with white men dressed in red coveralls and their huge trucks, they combed the city as we all gathered to look at them, they used large tapes in measuring the ground and even took pictures of so many places including our house, days later my dad was invited to the palace by the Oba, mum was scared at first for we were never called for anything to the palace and this meant bad news, hours later dad came back with tubers of yam, rice and enough bushmeat enough to host visitors that came for a traditional marriage and he was accompanied by the palace guards, we all rushed out to welcome him, he look my then began to dance as he sang
“Doh doh ogene doh!, doh doh ogene doh…”
My mum joined him in dancing as we all followed dancing, in my entire life I have never seen my dad this happy before, he was so elated that he dipped his hand inside his pocket, brought out wads of naira notes and sprayed my mum while she danced, the rain of money was so much that mum paused and then began to shed tears, Dad smiled as he hugged and then said
“Enemies can only try, but it God that chooses whom to bless, big man no be by force”
My mum hugged him tight and then burst into another bout of cry as Aleru carefully picked each naira notes from the floor, dusting off the dirts from the notes as she carefully arranged them and then Dad said
“My dear! Dem say dem see oil for our land, infact for all this whole agbor na dis my land be where the oil brekete pass, so dem say dem go train all this my fine pikin for school for free, also dey give me two hundred thousand naira every month, see me see that kind big money”
This was more than a goodnews as the once despised plot of land had become the proverbial handkerchief that would wipe away our tears, I can never forget that night for we ate a well prepared meal with enough meat that we all slept after the meal without going outside in our usual pattern to listen to folktales.
The banging on the door early the next day was more like bombs to our ears, as from our sleep we all ran outside opening the door fast so as to know who that was, loo and behold Uncle Samson and Nosa were the one outside accompanied by two hefty men
“We heard from a reliable source that oil has been discovered in our land!” Nosa said
“Which land are you talking about Nosa” my dad asked as he yawned trying to get sleep off his eyes
And Samson cuts in shouting in a rather loud tone
“Tell me Tony is this not our land?”
My father shook his head and smiled as he looked to the sky raising his hand to the sky and said
“Ogene my hands are clean, if I have offended my brothers in anyway please tell me for am lost..”
Samson walked to were my father was standing and drew his hand down
“C’mon shut up” he added
From where I was standing I was infuriated as looked at him and said
“Uncle I swear if you touch my papa again me and you go die here”
My mum who was standing beside me slapped my mouth and said
“So you don follow dis your mumu uncle dem wey no get respect dey talk anyhow”
Nosa looked at me and said
“Look at this small rat, if you say pim again I will…”
My dad did not allow him complete his statement as he cut him short immediately
“Nosa do what to him? Kill him? Over my dead body will you guys take this plot of land”
“And so be it!” Chorused the both of them as they turned and left.
Later that day as we were still pondering over the turn of events as Aleru went to fetch water by the river, I and Dad were sitting outside eating breakfast when two girls ran into our house shouting
“Ogene o! Ogene o!”
I was startled as I stood up and then ran to where we were sitting and stopped, breathing heavily the taller of the two girl said
“Brother as I was going to the stream to fetch water this morning, I saw the lifeless body of Aleru by the bush path with her breast cut of as she was lying naked!”
Join our Facebook Fan page for superb mind blowing conversations
ff@Husband_materia
ff@Husband_materia
0 comments :
Post a Comment