chapter 2

Akunna arrived the following day. He was a man whose pride was his height. It was often said that, during his creation, the high god among all the other gods had decided to bless his mother, who had been patiently waiting for a child with him. The best way the high god felt to appreciate her good deeds was to give her a son who was as tall as the iroko tree. 

“How was your journey?” Echi asked when Akunna arrived.

“It was smooth. Father send his greetings,” Akunna replied.

“I hope you brought something for me?”

“I did. Let us go inside.”

They entered the hut with Echi leading the way. From the expression on Echi’s face, Akunna knew he was surprised by how tall he had grown over the few years, although he had refused to talk about it. Echi brought three pieces of kola nuts. He gave two big pieces to Akunna and reserved the small one for himself.

“How is your wife?” Akunna asked after breaking the kola nuts.

“She is in good health. I will call her for you to confirm. It is not a common practice for me to say she is in good condition when you have not seen her.” Echi’s voice was smooth. 

He called Olanna in a low tone. She came out at once and greeted Akunna before leaving for the kitchen to prepare something for them to eat.

“Now that you have seen her for yourself, I can now admit that she is well,” Echi said, smiling.

“Before you brought your wife, I have already accepted in my heart that she was fine. But, it is also a good thing for a man to see the face of his half-brother’s wife when he comes visiting.”

 Both laughed. They broke the kola nuts and started chewing, silently. They chewed for a short time before passing the crunched pieces down their throats. Echi brought out a keg of palm-wine and poured some of its contents in two gourds. He passed one to Akunna, who quickly accepted and drank. Echi drank too.

“Palm-wine is a gift from the gods.” Akunna burst out laughing.

Olanna came later when they were engaged in a heated discussion about the new girls, who had just arrived from some of the unraided villages. She served them pounded yam and bitter-leaf soup.

“Thank you, Echi’s wife. The gods will bless you,” Akunna said. 

He threw two molded balls of pounded yam in his throat and chased it with a few drops of palm-wine. As he ate, Echi watched him closely with dull eyes. He felt it was the right time to start a conversation about what had been happening in his father’s household since he left. After a few trials and short, uninterested replies from Akunna, he gave up.

After he finished eating, Akunna washed his hands in the bowl of water near him. The next thing he did was to demand a resting place.

“You have not stayed long, and you are already demanding for a resting place? Have you come to take over my home?” Echi asked teasingly.

“My brother, I only follow what my body orders me to follow. If my legs say I should move, I move. If my stomach says I should eat, I eat. If my body says it needs to rest, I have no other choice but to give it rest.”

Sunset quickly came. Everywhere was dark except the light emitting from the crescent moon that seemed unhappy from a heavenly decision. Echi knocked and opened the door. Akunna was sleeping in the room he had built specifically for his wife, but because of the love he had for Olanna, he allowed her to share his room. He was surprised to see Akunna lying still. He was not snoring as before, and his sleeping posture was something he had never seen before. Abnormal. He moved closer to him, felt his chest, his heartbeat was normal.

He left the room and retired to his room, where he found Olanna lying still in the bamboo bed, crying; her eyes were closed tightly, and her body was partly covered with the wrapper she firmly clung to. He blew the palm-oil lamp near their bamboo bed. It went off. He slipped in the bed and closed his eyes. He did not close his eyes for a long time when he woke up in a dream. In his dream, he saw his grandfather standing near the bank of a river with three children close to him. All boys. Echi drew closer towards them. His grandfather did not drag them along as he had done in his previous dream. Instead, he stood still, not moving.

“You can have them now. They are now yours. You have paid the sacrifice, and you deserve to be rewarded.” 

His grandfather instructed the three boys to go and hug Echi. He turned around and walked towards the turbulent part of the river and looked back at Echi with a smiling face before he disappeared.

Echi woke up in the morning. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he panted. It was just a dream, he kept on saying to himself. 

He touched the side of the bed where Olanna had slept, but she was not there. Quickly, he got up as if chased by a wild spirit, and paraded around the compound, searching for Olanna. His search suddenly came to an end when he heard soft cries coming from his wife’s room where Akunna had slept. He dashed in the direction of the room, guarding himself with a machete he had just abducted from a corner close to his wife’s room. He opened the door with fierce rage, only to find Olanna leaning on Akunna’s body. His brother’s body. She was crying.

An unpleasant far cry from within him burst out in the most horrific voice he had ever heard. You can have them. They are now yours. You have paid the great sacrifice. You deserve to be rewarded. Mother hen could now sit comfortably in her nest to watch her chicks fight for grains. The words of his grandfather echoed on his mind. 

Suddenly, the relief he had felt when he found Olanna, when he had assured himself with his eyes that she was safe, deserted him, leaving him in peace. He dropped the machete on the floor and asked Olanna what was wrong. She mumbled a few words while pointing at Akunna’s stomach, which had grown unusually big.

 Echi carefully pushed her aside in the most desperate but gentle way. He tapped Akunna gently. There was no response. He turned him around and raised his hands higher to hit him but suddenly stopped when he caught something that was not right. Beneath his raised fist was thick whitish moisture, flowing from Akunna’s mouth. It gushed out slowly and circulated his cheek.

“He is dead,” Olanna said slowly.

Echi dropped his fist down. He felt tired and faint. He exhaled a large amount of air and sat down. Out of nowhere, the laughter of Isiewu flooded his head. The laughter of a normal diviner with a deranged mind. How could he explain to the whole village that his brother who visited him had died the same day he came. Only the gods knew why they allowed such a calamity to befall him. He shook his head in dismay as he watched Olanna offer a solemn prayer for his half-brother. 

Akunna’s death stunned the whole village because it had never been heard that a man slept in another man’s house for the first time and died on that same day. A lot of accusing fingers were pointed at Echi. The signs were clear on the wall. Akunna had died from food poisoning. The only way the people of Umuolu could know the truth about the nightmare that had occurred in Echi’s compound was to consult the chief priest of their land, Isiewu.

Once again, duty called. Isiewu was quickly summoned to investigate the cause of Akunna’s death. He answered the call with his son by his side, and quickly set to work. By noon, Isiewu finally announced to the whole village after peaceful hours of silence, that Akunna had died an evil death and needs to be buried inside the evil forest as soon as possible.

This outrageous news sent shivers to the bodies and minds of the people of Umuolu because no one could remember when last any of the villagers had died an evil death. After much deliberation, the elders finally came to a conclusion that Akunna had committed an abomination. A foul desecration of the gods and deserves to be buried quickly, to cleanse the land from any evil he had done.

The burial date was set. It was done the next day. The funeral drums rolled and the flutes were blown. Every person in Umuolu kingdom including Akunna’s parents followed Isiewu closely as he led the way to the evil forest. The warriors of Umuolu had their bodies painted with chalk and tied banana leaves around their waists. They moved in an irregular pattern as they held the body of Akunna on their shoulders, pushing their legs backwards and forward, at every chant of the funeral drums. Though the death of Akunna was declared an evil death which according to traditions deserves silence and the absence of masquerades, but on that day, traditions were fully neglected. One or two masquerades appeared, dancing in circles and inflicting fear to the children. There were masquerades which belonged to Akunna’s age group. Each group had their different ways of treating their members before finally given their corpse to Mother earth.

The last masquerade to be seen was a tall and lean masquerade. He carried plantain leaves with his brown teeth and was completely covered from head to toe. He wore a thick brown mask with strange patterns drawn on it. He drew closer to Akunna, circled around him for sometime before rubbing his chest with a white chalk. A brief words of grief followed then he vanished out of sight.

Isiewu was the last man to touch Akunna’s corpse. With the help of a few able-bodied men, he dropped the body of Akunna close to the evil forest. Everyone was quiet as he did the final rite. He ended his prayers by begging the gods to accept Akunna’s spirit into the abode of his ancestors. A general word of agreement and Isiewu blessed Akunna’s lifeless body.

The drums beat again and the warriors danced again, shaking their bodies while chanting Akunna’s name. They led his corpse into the heart of the evil forest and stopped. The drums stopped too. Isiewu faced the crowd and started walking away with his son. They shifted their bodies away from the path so that the chief priest could pass. When the chief priest was finally out of sight, Adaku broke down in tears and cried, some of the women rushed towards her, to console her but she didn’t stop. They left her and each person went away to his or her own hut. Some shaked their heads as they passed her, others said she shouldn’t waste her tears on a mistake the gods had corrected. None of them knew the reason of his death. His death was an odd death. A simple awkward death with an awkward burial.

A month after the death of Akunna, the people of Umuolu continued their daily activities; going to the farm, going to the market and resting at home. Some of the villagers talked about Akunna’s death in low tones for a while. After two market weeks, no one talked about his death. Even his mother, Adaku gave up crying and pointing accusing fingers on Echi and his mother instead she decided to follow the advice of her husband and not waste tears on a corpse that would never be brought back to life.

The next month came quickly, unannounced. For the first four or five days, the new rains poured with sober mood, drumming the roofs of every villager. The wind accompanied the rain and threw forceful fists on the trees, scattering the green and yellow leaves in all corners of the village. It was in this period, when the cloud was wet with tears and the rain was executing its instructions that Olanna finally got pregnant.

Echi was the first to notice her pregnancy. The slight bulge in her stomach was something he had never seen since he got married to her but he kept his suspicions to himself. When the bulge in her stomach had grown up to the point that one could attest unfailingly that she was pregnant, he took three hens and paid Isiewu a visit.

“Isiewu,” he said when he got to the shrine of the chief priest. “You are a man of your words. When a man says something about the future, he is called a great man. If the words he says happen exactly as he had said, he is called a super human. Isiewu, the first son of Isiogwu, your words have come to pass. I have come here to do the proper thing. This is my appreciation to you.”

“You have spoken well,” Isiewu said as he collected the three hens and dropped it on the floor. “Nweke!” He called his son and instructed him to take the hens to the backyard of the shrine.

“Are these for me?” Nweke asked. He never let anything offered to his father pass his eyes without him requesting for his own share. It was one of the things Isiewu hated from him. Sometimes, Isiewu found great pleasure in believing that his wife which had died years ago had been impregnated by another man which resulted in the birth of Nweke. He never let the thoughts of his wife’s infidelity out of his mind because he was afraid of her spirit.

“You can take the smaller one.”

“May the gods bless you father.” Nweke dashed out.

Isiewu brought two kola nuts from his goatskin bag. He made an attempt to break the kola nuts.

“Let me do it,” Echi offered.

“Don’t bother. I will do it myself.” Isiewu broke the kola nuts and removed the shell. He gave one piece to Echi. He chewed the rest.

“The gods are good,” Echi said.

“Yes. The gods are good. I can see happiness flowing inside you like a newborn baby who has just discovered the joy of playing in the rain,” Isiewu paused and swallowed. “I don’t want to spoil your happiness with my filthy words. But, what is the use of concealing something that must happen.”

“Eye of the gods. Let your mouth bear the message of the gods. Let it say what the gods intend to do. Your servant listens because he knows the words of the gods are for his good and the good of his entire family.”

Isiewu cleared his throat. He rubbed his hands together. “Your wife is still needed. The gods changed their minds before and took another life in her place. I am sure you and I are aware of the person they took.”

“I am aware,” Echi said firmly.” It was my half-brother who was buried in the most disgraceful manner befitting of a mad man. The good half-brother who was only allowed the entertainment of masquerades. For weeks, I wanted to ask you why the gods did that. I knew something was wrong somewhere after the things you said during my atonement sacrifice but I was too afraid to speak. I don’t know why the gods changed their decision and took Akunna’s life. I still don’t know why they have changed their decision and are desiring my wife. I know the gods mean well. Whatever they want, I am ready to accept.”

“It is painful. I am neither happy nor sad over his death. I am only the spokesman of the gods. I act like a towncrier who carries the message of the gods from one place to another. Whether good or bad, it is not my decision to make. I am not interested in the attitude of my listener. I am only interested in the accuracy of my message. If it pleases the listener or it doesn’t, I am not to be blamed but if it is wrongly said, then the wrath of the gods will be upon my household.” Isiewu took a deep breath. “In many years of my work, I have not been happy about carrying out some of the messages given to me by the gods. Some of them are ruthless. Others are plain stupid. Sometimes, I wonder whether the gods actually know what they are doing. No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t do anything about it because my hands are tied.”

“Why are you saying all these things to me?”

“I am not detesting the gods. I want you to understand that. I am only sharing my opinion. The first day I set my foot in Umuolu was the first day the former chief priest of Umuolu took me away from my own land. He told me that I was chosen by the gods to be their chief priest in Umuolu. He told me I was chosen by the gods to carry the mantle and lead the children of Umuolu to the right way. That was how I became a chief priest. I am tied to the customs and traditions of this village as much as you are tied to it. If I decide not to speak, the people will insist for a message. If I choose to speak, the words of the gods are most times not favourable and I am questioned for bringing such message. So what do I do? Have you ever wondered why the gods sometimes request for human sacrifices? Well if you haven’t, I have. I find it strange for the gods who created us to demand for our lives. Doesn’t it sounds foolish?”

“I can’t answer that, eye of the gods. Your words worry me a lot.”

“I know you won’t say anything. You are just like every villager that comes here. Whatever is good in the eyes of the gods, is good for all.”

“I am not like every villager. I am just a man who has no other choice but to accept that the death of his wife is near. You speak as if you are against the authority of the gods.”

“I am not against the gods. The gods forbid that I should be against them. I am only voicing out the lust of my conscience.”

“If the lust in your conscience is right. If the words you speak are carried out, there will be no order in this village and Igweka-ala’s shrine will be desecrated. The wrath of the gods will fall on you. They will do to you as they did to my half-brother.”

“I know what the gods can do. The fear of the gods is my fear, our fear. It is the reason why I obey them and do whatever they say.”

Echi felt betrayed. He felt lost in his own selfishness. He felt stupid and confused. He felt a lot of things he had never felt in his life.

“How can a man like you say what you have just said? How can a man who is well respected by the whole village, desecrate and insult the gods?” Echi asked.

“Everyone thinks the chief priest can do everything that he wishes. If he decides to fly in the air, he will. If he decides to turn invisible, he will also do that. Most people don’t know that the most important characteristic of a chief priest is their ability to feel like others. If a chief priest wife dies, what do you expect him to do? Pick up his wife, thank the gods and then bury her peacefully? Is that what you expect a chief priest to do?”

“Then being a diviner is bad. Being a chief priest is not a good thing.”

Isiewu did not respond immediately; instead he turned his face away and laughed, the atmosphere which he had created was growing more larger than he had expected, as if it had been waiting all along for a sign to be given to it before expanding.

“It is not bad to be the spokesman of the gods. After all, without the gods, we are useless. When famine comes in our land, we run to them. In the time of war, we also run to them. I am not neglecting the words of the gods, I am only questioning the need for blood. At first, the gods demanded for the blood of your half-brother. Now, they are asking for the blood of your wife. Is it not strange?”

“It is strange, eye of the gods,” Echi said. “I am not in support of their need for my wife’s blood. Whatever the gods want, I will give to them. I have no choice.”

They rested for a while and kept quiet until Nweke came back to clean the shells of the kola nuts. 

“Isiewu, a man is waiting for you outside,” Nweke said.

“Tell him to wait longer.”

“I told him that a while ago but he still insists he must see you.”

“Where is him?”

“I told him to wait outside.”

“Good. Can you leave both of us now?”

“Yes sir.”

After Nweke left, Isiewu opened his goatskin bag and brought out a herb. He brought it closer to where Echi was and told him to look at it.

“What is this?” Echi asked, puzzled.

“Sometimes in life, we make decisions for a greater good. This herb has saved many lives. It was a personal price I had to pay for the whole village.” Isiewu let the air around him shelter his insecurity. “This is the reason why Nweke doesn’t have a mother.”

Despite everything that had transpired between him and Isiewu, Echi still managed to feel happy. He was happy that all his years of prayers had been answered. He was happy that the gods had finally paid him for all his faithfulness. When he got home, he was suprised to see a lot of people in his hut. The first person he recognized was his mother who was sitting close to Olanna. His mother was rubbing Olanna's stomach. Not too far away from his mother was his father who was smiling widely.

“Bring them some kola nuts,” Echi said to Olanna.

“No! Leave her alone. Let her rest,” Abali replied.

The few women who came to visit clustered around Olanna, each wanting to see the big bulge in her stomach.

“You have become a man today,” Echi’s father said proudly. His voice was low and cracky but he managed to let out his words in a clear and distinct form.

Echi laughed. “The gods have proven my potency as a man.”

“You have spoken well. A man who does not think it wise to appreciate the gods for his fortune will one day be visited by his own misfortune.”

Echi’s father reply showed once again how desperate he was to have a grandchild like Abali. Even his uncles supported him and one of them that Echi least liked was obliged to speak.

“A cock which plays around a hen for many days will not be cheerful when he comes back and see his seed enclosed in the stomach of the hen for many years,” Okponku said and the rest supported him with short laughters.

The last words of Okponku stung Echi like scratches of a stubborn wound. It made him look foolish in the eyes of his kinsmen. This provoked him. The comparison of him to a playing cock was acceptable but the insinuation that his wife will be pregnant for many years like the hen he had described was something he could not tolerate.

“Don’t insult my wife,” Echi’s voice blared. “If you have come to my hut to poor shit on my wife's face, you better leave right now.”

The visitors were quiet. Few whispers flew from one end to another, all bearing the name of Okponku, Abali’s brother.

“Let us not quarrel over this small matter. It is useless for kinsmen to exchange bad words in the time of merriment,” Echi’s father said, breaking the contempt that was starting to grow. “Okponku, mind the words you say to my son. He is not a coward to swallow insults when it is poured on him. If you are directed by the evil being to bring confusion in our midst, I will advice you rebuke the evil being that has sent you here or get out of here before he uses you.”

Okponku sprung up quickly like a man preparing for battle. His tone was deep. Free from any fear that was planning to pounce on him. “I will not stand here and receive insults for the sake of my sister. I am Okponku and i don’t feed on the carcasses of a dead meat. I have a dignity I want to uphold. I had rather leave in honour than stay in the midst of senseless people. I am leaving.”

One by one, the visitors began to pour insults on him for calling them senseless people. The words that stung him the most were words directed to his stomach.

“Dignity is meant to be uphold by a man who ties his stomach properly before going outside,” Echi said firmly.

“What did you just say?” Okponku asked as he turned back.

“You heard me well.”

What followed next was grim. Okponku ran speedily towards Echi; inspite of his high pace and well calculated movements, he could not avoid the blows that his face received. Before someone could separate the two of them, Okponku was already badly beaten. He wiped his upper lip with the edge of his wrapper. He was bleeding.

“I will deal with you. I promise you that. I will teach you never to play with fire. The next time you see fire, you will run away. I promise you that,” Okponku threatened and left.

“What can he do? Imagine him calling all of us senseless people,” the neighbour that spread the news of Echi’s short insanity said. “Anyway it flows in the blood of the family.”

“What did you just say?” Abali voice rose.

Abali grabbed the neighbour by her throat and an ensuing fight began. Some people volunteered to separate the two women who were already struggling to gain an undue advantage over each other but they left them to proof their strength after none of the two women was willing to stop. The fight was restless. A few slaps and throwing of dust on each other and that was it. No more.

The gathering which was for a peaceful and important reason abruptly ended due to the fights that had occurred. The visitors left Echi’s compound when the atmosphere was finally free from fighters. Many of them left with the feeling of resentments in their hearts. Echi was the only one who felt pleased about everything that had happened. Is it not an awkward thing for a man on bare foot to boast about the romance between his feet and the ground as he embarks on a meaningless journey? For a man to stand up and beat a fellow man for calling his wife inappropriate names was a wonderful thing to do. As Echi slept that night, under the warmth of Olanna’s breast, he felt like a good man. A perfect husband.