|
|
As they assembled on the appointed day, Anyadike's father had sharpened his knife prior to the arrival of his in-laws. As they arrived, they were showered with encomiums. He gave them seats. They sat down and were presented with kola nuts, before Anyadike's father excused them under the pretext of getting more kola from his room. Low and behold, he came out with a machete, and everyone sitting ran away. This ignited gossip and other scandals against the man in the neighborhood - that evil spirits possessed him. But he wasn't inhabited by any spirit; he was just ignorant of the educational system and also stingy by fate.
Where Anyadike was, he had neither brother, sister, parents nor any relatives. He was living life by friends, who were truck pushers. Because he lacked formal education, he couldn't get a good job in the city where even graduates roamed and scavenged the streets for jobs. He decided to join his friends in the truck-push-business. He had pushed this truck for three years and there was nothing to write home about. One day, he met with a new set of friends whom he carried luggage for and they said to him that he should come and see them at a pub the following evening, having given him food and drink and also N 2000; given what he had saved for three years, he knew he could not make N 2000 if he remained in the truck pushing business for the next twelve years. He was happy and prayed for the appointed day to fast-track. He couldn't sleep.
The day came, and he was handed a bag that he carried and slumped; it was heavy. When he got up, they told him that they gave him the bag to carry so that he will know that making money is hard. It's meant for brave hearts! They now gave him the light one, which he carried with his assumed last strength. They had not walked a distance and were rained on by cops. The three friends ran away, but Anyadike, who was a novice to all of it, got it now that he was about to be introduced into armed robbery. He pleaded with the cops of been oblivious of the plans, but was jailed for a five year term after a court's verdict.
When Anyadike was in the prison, he was only pleading to God to forgive him. He was impatient. He wanted to surprise his people, mainly his father, that he could make money no matter his negligence, which was why he became a miscreant. But no man can overtake God from His proposals. He was in penance and always seen crying. Because he had no relative to bring him food, he was only feeding on the prison's unnutritious foods. It was a punishment.
Anyadike, so frail, having served his term, was released and decided to reach home. His father was now doing well. He was a treasurer to a family association. He did not believe in the banking system. He didn't care if his son came back or not. But people from the neighborhood were coming to greet Anyadike, oblivious that he had served a term in jail. They wouldn't have come if they had known, because an ex-convict is treated like an outcast. They were praising him that his Christian 'moral' background had lowered his ego to learn the craft of watch repairs, not knowing that he was taught that in the prison, by persuasion.
After two days of staying in the house without even his father reciprocating his greetings, he decided to go and beg his father like the Biblical prodigal son did. His father took him back, now that he had won over all chaos as the man of the house. Not quite long after Anyadike had come home, his father brought in N 4000 that had been contributed by his clanspeople. Anyadike targeted how unsafe the money could be, and luckily it was unsafe, and he made away with the money.
His father returned from the farm in the cool evening and called him, but he was nowhere to be found around the village. He decided to check the money he brought in. Like a mirage he didn't see it. He tried to hold himself as men do; if Anyadike would come back home, he would ask him - but it was to no avail. Having condoned this, one day he decided to let his people know what he was passing through. His scream attracted people; when people came, he told them what he was seeing. There and then they told him that actions speak louder than the words, as if they had planned what to say, in unison. They dispersed to their various compounds. He tried calling them back, but no one listened, as a vendetta to repay him of his nonchalant behaviour when they were pleading with him to help his only son. He cannot do away with communalism, a very great bond. He was caught by cardiac arrest. He slumped and died.
When Anyadike heard this, he became annoyed and his conscience began to torment him. And he decided to return home; he had sold his morality because the fight of his fundamental needs and rights, and now his father was dead. But few people seemed deaf to this thought, while many people who were living the life of Anyadike's father changed to be good. They said that the deceased was even lucky to have gotten a child, like Anyadike, who fears God. What would have happened to those whose sons are evil? It may be their sons shooting them. Instantly. This went round the jurisdiction and today it became a very big lesson to people that no matter how poor they may be, they should train their children. But where they cannot, they should abstain from breeding children. Like in Africa, many men just marry for formality's sake, not because they have any future for the unborn child, which is why many youth engage in social restiveness.
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Odimegwu Onwumere
Odimegwu Onwumere, a poet and an author, is the Founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State , Nigeria . +2348032552855. apoet25@yahoo.com
If it's prose, he writes stories,
If it's poetry, he writes poems,
If it's drama, he writes screenplays,
And he has achieved some poetry nominations, in the USA and in Canada. He was born in Accra Ghana. A Nigerian by origin and is in his early thirties.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
