He had prospered more than any of his age mates in Umudi. Prosperity was not the only thing a man would need. He needed more than just that. He walked up on his dabere chebe chair and looked out into his compound; he saw two cocks fighting over a hen.
He remembered that two men had never controlled anything equally. Two was destined to love or to hate, to live or to die, to be rich or poor. Mbanta and Onia streams were as old as Umudi. They stayed in one place but never mixed. If by mistake during bath, water from Mbanta entered Onia, Mbanta would transfer itself back. They said it vomited it. The two rivers were very fearful and no hidden thing was done in them. He abhorred the two young men and the god that gave them to him as gift. It was a sure truth with his two sons that bravery and irresponsibleness never matched.
He kept time off at nights to think about these things. No matter how strong a man was, he must have something that ate food from his flesh, which kept him thinking and gave him coldness. He moved his teeth in disgust over his predicament. Here, their mother’s blood suppressed that of his, their father. They could have taken after him. A son was not supposed to take after his mother.
“No matter how far a man’s mind travels, he must have something that makes it come back. A good medicine man does not use one tortoise as offering to the gods,” he would always say.
Emenike had many sons who were just his reflection, but they came after these two weaklings. They were by age younger, but he had seen some signs of bravery in them. The gods never denied one of everything. He would leave him with something to keep him going. His subsequent sons, apart from Agozie and Udoka were by far better. By far, was better than Udoka. He would draw these two failures and their younger ones together, but they were different people. One was considered failure when he had reached the age of being a man and he would avoid it and rather took pride in being naked. Since Agozie was more adjustable and bendable than Udoka, Emenike saw no reason for molesting both of them together further. He disciplined them differently, yet they never changed. He soon allowed them to continue their lives the way they had chosen it because he knew the others would soon grow in his eyes and he would transfer responsibilities to them.
They were hasty gifts from Chukwu. He met his wives at the wrong time. That was his conclusion
*
It was Nkwo market day, the fourth and the last of the four market days. Emenike sat in his obi taking a little nap after coming back from the assembly of titled men. He never thought it wise to go out when his children and wives had left home for the farm. The home of a great man must always have one to sit and entertain visitors.
That morning he had no power in his bones to do any hard work, even the least of it. He had been lying down firmly on his mud bed, but was not sleeping. Voices rose and went down. They were familiar voices of visitors and his family members. He stood up gently and with some strength, walked close to the door, and opened it. It was a pure daylight with the young sun filtering the wave to the earth. He felt the gentle breeze of the cool morning and on the treetops; the birds sang with the dewdrops, fluttering their wings freely and jumping from one tree branch to the other.
Unfortunately, Udeanyi saw that situation as one of his chances to make much wealth by stealing from Emenike’s barn. This time it was not Udeanyi that came, but a thief he bought from Amato to steal. Umenna was a popular thief who pretended as if he was not. He could steal a woman on honeymoon in a twinkle of an eye. Whenever he was around, everyone moved with caution. Goats, fowls, farm equipment and anything could be stolen and be sold in Okene market or Amato. Amato was known for producing thieves. Udeanyi, who was only the bad worm, could make him a close friend and had kept him in hiding all night, feeding him and having good time with him.
It was some years ago, when the six brothers were still one. They had many things of which their parents knew them for and so those things were not bad in themselves, except few unnecessary things. It was some characters that children were known for and were corrected while they were still young by their parents, by flogging, beating, shouting and scolding. If these children were not corrected, they would grow with such lifestyles. So, on one night, things changed for them all. It was on a moon night and all the brothers and their children were seated in the large compound arena. There was an exchange of jovial and face-to-face criticism between the brothers and five were against one, Amato. It was a secret that they could have hidden and made it brothers’ secret, but they placed it in the hands of their children and so for all generations it survived. The man and his descendants were openly criticised for being notorious thieves. He was not born a thief. That was a sure truth. He grew to make himself a thief.