Bang! Bang! Bang! The sounds of the bullets released from Mazi Nduka’s gun. He had never caught an animal in his life yet every afternoon he would get his rusty old gun ready and his raffia hat and stroll with ease to the bushes. It had always bothered Chidi why his father was willing to spend every afternoon with this ritual and there was never any result.
But today was different his father was not going hunting alone, he was going with Chidi. As his father will always say “the man who goes hunting with his father is the man who will hunt better than his father”. These words worried Chidi, as his father had never caught an animal in his entire life. The road home was always a pleasant one, because his father will always tell him stories of the tortoise and the hare. It amazed him how an animal so small and vulnerable could fool an animal so fast and wild. But then as he had always heard Janet’s papa say “Things are not always what they appear to be”
Their compound was a big one filled with little huts. Each one belonging to one of his father’s wives. The biggest belonged to his father and was also the most respected hut in the house. Amadi his half brother had always said that one-day he would build a hut that was bigger than their father’s. Chidi though thought of different things. He didn’t want to build a hut that was going to be bigger than his father’s. He didn’t even want to build a hut at all. He wanted to go to the big city. He wanted to come back home in a big car and have little children run after his car every time. He didn’t want to have 3 wives, he wanted one. He wanted Amara. He didn’t want to wear raffia hats every afternoon and go hunting with a gun that never caught anything, he wanted to go to a proper office like he had heard of in the cities and sign loads of papers.
Amadi came into his hut and sat opposite the room. Today there was something in his eyes. Something serious but when Chidi looked deeper he saw a softness what he could only describe as brotherly love. Chidi wondered why Amadi looked so serious but yet his hazel brown eyes were soft. They sat in silence until the silence was broken. Amadi cleared his throat and said “Nna we need to talk”. For a reason Chidi did not want to talk. He could already guess that this seriousness had to do with a girl. One girl. The girl he wanted. Amara. “I know that you like Amara. Yes she is a very beautiful girl and very respectful but you must also know one thing. She is an Osu and our family have never been known to be associated with outcasts so I will say this to you only once. My brother please please please do not bring shame to this family by ever involving yourself with her.”
Amadi’s voice was serious but also there was calmness with it. He had always spoken to Chidi as if he was a thirty something year old man talking to a 3 year old child. There was never any room for interruptions or questions. Chidi loved his brother dearly but he didn’t like the way he spoke to him. Amadi was only a year older than him but he acted as if he was 10 years older. In the Nweke family Chidi was the only one who went to school. Amadi had gone to school until Primary 3 and then dropped out to serve as a houseboy for Mr. Theophilus Ugwu. Chidi always remembered when Amadi came home from Onitsha. It was always 2 times a year, Easter and Christmas. Amadi will always bring him and the other siblings bread and biscuits and for his mother and stepmothers he will always bring loads of sewing threads and needles to patch the holes in their wrappers. Chidi also remembered that fateful Tuesday evening when Mr Theophilus and Amadi came home. According to Mr Theophilus, Amadi had stolen his 50 Naira. Chidi did not like the way Mr Theophilus held Amadi by the ear. He also did not like the way Mr Theophilus spoke to his papa but being a young boy at the time what could he do?
That night Chidi went to his papa’s hut. Mazi Nduka was sitting on his stool talking to Papa Janet. As soon as he came in Mazi Nduka said, “That’s my son! Growing everyday!” Papa Janet replied, “It must be the pounded yam his mother gives him!” The two men laughed really loudly but Chidi didn’t. “Nnam Kachifo o”(Goodnight my father). In his hut Chidi lay on his raffia mat and thought about Amara. There was something different about her. While other girls talked about marrying rich men who will take them out of the village and buy them expensive laces, Amara talked about going to school and achieving something in life. Chidi admired this in her. He liked the way she spoke with confidence and sometimes authority. He liked the way she always had kind words for him. He remembered the first time she let him hold her hand while they went to Sunday school. It was the best feeling he had ever had. He wanted his stepsister Ekene to be like Amara.
Ekene was only 4 but she was sharp. Although she did not go to school she had an eagerness in her to learn which Chidi liked and so whenever he came back from school he would always let her read his “Eze goes to school” book. It was the only book he felt she would be interested in but a part of him felt she was interested in the pictures only. She will always turn to him when she got to page 6 and say “Chidi! Chidi! Eze’s shoe looks like your shoe!” Chidi was determined that Ekene will never grow up to be like the girls in the village who only spoke about marrying rich men.
No comments:
Post a Comment