“My father says I will go to the University of Lagos to finish my education,” These words kept repeating in Chidi’s head. He said murmured “So Amara is going to live me all alone? Any way God dey” He laughed to himself. As he strolled he thought of how he would tell his father he wanted to go to Onitsha. How his father would rant on about how he did not have any money to send him to Onitsha. He thought of how his mother would be happy if he went to Onitsha. He imagined him and his mother and his Ekene at the motor park. Ekene waving him bye with between tears and shouting out to him to buy her biscuits when next he visited. Chidi walked very fast he wanted to get home as soon as possible so that he could get some of the soup his mother was preparing that evening. It was Friday evening and therefore the day that his mother made all his father’s meals.
As soon as he got into his compound Ekene ran out to him and gave him a big hug. “Chidi where were you? You were supposed to tell me about how the tortoise beat the hare in a race. Will you still tell me the story?” She asked him with a look that made his heart melt. “Ok let me eat and then you can get Emeka and Nnenna and Chigozie and I will tell you eh. His father’s third wife Joyce was the mother of Chigozie. Chigozie was 5 years old. Being only one year older than Ekene, they had a in common. They liked listening to stories and Chidi always overheard Ekene telling him about the shoes and bread in the “Eze goes to school book”.
“Mama, the yam is too much. I won’t be able to finish it.” Chidi’s mother always gave him too much food. She always gave him the amount of food that 2 people will have to struggle to finish. “My son I want to you to be big. It shows that your mother is looking after you”. Chidi ate in his mother’s room. He told her of how he and Amara had gone to the stream and that he wanted to go to Onitsha to study or learn a trade. “Hmm you and this Amara girl seem to be spending a lot of time together oh” His mother did not mind him spending time with Amara. She also always avoided mentioning Amara’s name whenever he spoke about marriage. Rather she talked about him marrying other girls from the village. “That Mazi Amaechi’s daughter is nice. Very hardworking girl and I hear she likes you. My fine son”. She always laughed whenever she called Chidi a ‘fine boy’. Chidi laughed too. Not because he wanted to but because he felt sorry for the girl. He never fancied her even though a lot of boys did.
Soon all the kids were around him. Little Ekene, Chigozie and Nnenna. Nnenna was the youngest out of the three. She was just 3 years old but also very inquisitive. Chidi began his story. “One hot afternoon, the tortoise was lying under a tree when Budu the Hare came. ‘I challenge you to a race. The winner has to plant yams for the loser for a year and of course we both know there can only be one winner, me.” The tortoise laughed slowly and said ‘Budu are you sure you want to race me? I will win you very easily o’ Budu was determined to race the tortoise and eventually the planned to race the next day. Throughout the night, the hare jumped up and down practising while the tortoise slept. And so the day of the race came. As soon as the whistle was blown the hare ran as fast as he could the tortoise on the other hand took a normal pace. Eventually as Budu was nearing the finishing line he said to himself ‘ Well the tortoise is very slow and I feel a bit sleepy. Maybe I should take a nap as the tortoise must still be far away.’ So Budu lay at the side of the road and slept. Rather than having a nap he fell into a very deep sleep and did not notice when the tortoise passed him to the finish line. When he woke up he started running as fast as he could to the finish line. Unfortunately for Budu the tortoise had won the race and was laughing loudly when Budu got to the finishing line. ‘At least I now know that you will be planting all my yams this year. Maybe next year you wouldn’t be so boastful’.” Ekene and Chigozie looked amazed when Chidi finished. “What did you learn from the story?” “That I should not have a big mouth!” Ekene and Chigozie said at the same time. Nnenna was already fast asleep. “Good but also that you should never be boastful. The hare was boastful to the tortoise and that is why he lost the race. Sometimes silence is the best answer. Inugo (Have you heard?)” “Yes Chidi!” They replied. “Oya every one to bed eh and I will see you tomorrow eh. He then took Nnenna to her mother’s hut. Nnenna was the daughter of his father’s last wife. Her mother Anwulika was a very kind woman. However she was young. She married Mazi Nduka when she was only 18 and had Nnenna when she was 21. At 24, fortunate girls of her age where studying in the University, however Anulika was in the village looking after Nnenna. Maybe sometimes she wished she could have a life of her own in the city. Chidi and Anwulika got on very well. He always taught her some of the things he learnt in school, as she never went to school. Chidi always noticed that Anwulika seemed unhappy most of the time, he imagined what she felt when she thought about the future of her daughter, Nnenna. He imagined that she hoped that Nnenna would have a better life and not have to be a younger wife of some man in a village. She had a face that even when she smiled, there was a pain in it. He once heard her saying to herself that she had wasted her life marrying Mazi Nduka. Chidi did not like that but a part of him agreed with her. She was too young to be a third wife, Mazi Nduka was nearly 50.
He took Nnenna back to her mother’s home and placed her on the mat. “I thought she will stay with you tonight” Anwulika asked Chidi smiling. “No I was telling her, Ekene and Chigozie the story of Budu and the tortoise and before I could finish this one was already fast asleep. Did she have Pap for dinner?” Chidi said laughing loudly. “Anyway I didn’t even see you today. How have you been?” He asked her. “Fine my dear. I actually went to Ochanja market to buy Meat and I even bought you some Puff Puff. Wait let me bring it for you.” She unwrapped a small wrapper by her side and brought him the puff puff. “Hope you like it. It is the one that has pepper in it. Pepper mouth”. She handed it to him. “Thank you mah and yes I like pepper well well oh. Good night and sleep well oh!” Anwulika was the only one in the house that Chidi spoke English to the most. He felt that by this he would be helping in improving her vocabulary, and it did. He also taught her to read once in a while from his little books.
When he was back on his mat in his room he thought again about his future. His final exams were on Monday. The exams took only 3 days to write and after that students began planning whether to go to University or learn a trade. In his village, only a few people went to university. Their fathers always boasted of how their children went to University to become successful doctors even before the child had a degree. Chidi always thought, “In Ukigwe if every father had his wish granted, then Ukigwe will become the land of doctors.” He didn’t want to be a doctor he wanted to be a successful businessman. Tomorrow he will go to Brother John’s house and beg him to take him to Onitsha with him when he was leaving. Brother John had always been nice to Chidi and even though they were not related, Chidi always referred to him as ‘Brother’ with a slight Igbo accent. Brother John lived in Onitsha and ran a small electronics stall. He went to London occasionally to buy goods for his store. Chidi rose suddenly from his bed “I’ll ask brother if he can pay for me to go to University and in return I’ll work for him. Chineke please help me oh (God please help me oh)” He closed his eyes back to his usual dreams of Amara.
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