Umudi beat their opponents always in moonlight plays with proverbs for their opponent would laugh off their head and would be thrown off forgetting what to say in reply.
That afternoon, he made proverbs so much that Ogidi his friend forgot he had a quarrel with his sister. He out-laughed at the quarrel and never remembered it. With the crack sound of bitter kola from Emenike, the two friends broke the suspended silence that followed the laughter. The heated man looked at his friend and said, “The sweetness of bitter kola does not depend on how it got cracked in the mouth.”
“Realistically,” said Emenike.
Both laughed and Emenike started narrating to him how the young Okoro gave in to the call of the evil spirit that afternoon, a story set apart and was not told until years later. Such things could not be said to the public hearing to any man outside the clan. It was enough to earn them criticism.
“The gods judge us from what we have uttered from our mouth. He was reincarnated by a woman on Nkwo day. Everybody knows that. Female gods are more wicked and stiff-necked than male gods. Never shall we expect so soon that the gods will spare him alive on what he said should happen to his father’s gods. I also heard he starved them for four years. He was planning to bring the white man’s religion to Umudi and was beaten heavily by his father’s chi on his way.”
“Aso! I will never die such death,” he rejected with his staff,’ pointing it to the earth. “I even heard that in Ibeku, that one man ate some fruit from their boundary forest with Arugu clan, he embraced their new faith but his god disappointed him, so his stomach protruded and he died, ending disappointedly with his colleagues. The members of his group who had gathered joined their father’s religion. They now saw how weak they were.”
“That is my fear, my brother; our young men are becoming dumb-minded and lazy. Assuming we succeed in our lifetime to oust these people from our land, what becomes of this great Umudi land in our absence? This is to me a subject of intense fascination,” he said.
“What turns the eyes of the old man red will blind that of the youth. If I cry because my wife died, what will I do if my chi cannot eat my offering? I don’t create funeral for myself, when I know I am much alive. He who entered the bush and found it pleasurable to fetch ant-infested firewood is asking a lizard for in-law. I do think like you, but any son of mine, who came out of my genital, that tries it, will be buried alive, not even in the evil forest. I must ensure that I strangle him or give him a slow-motion death,” he said, gnashing his teeth.
“These foolish men may be planning admitted tradition, but it is aberrant. I have never prayed a bad prayer. I only ask that whoever that wants my failure will see me grow and progress than many others.”
Emenike stood up to leave and was followed by Ogidi who gave him some steps. Seeing him off, he asked him to extend his regards to his family. They bade each other a fond good bye.
“Asokwa,” he kept saying on his way home.
*
It was a dry season night, cloud up in the sky, beautiful and numerous stars in the sky. The moon was shining brightly, showing every detail of things on the earth. Families gathered in front of their homes, seated on the mat, fathers sat on their goatskin telling their household stories of past wars and Umudi’s dealings with other clans. The clan was too lively for any trouble and in a happy mood. The night was clear as the day.
Emenike was no exception. He was aging and gradually learning the soft way to accommodate many failings of the children of his household. One changed as he grew older.
Iruoma and Ogonna, the last two wives of Emenike, had harvested sizeable cassava in preparation for the festival. They took it the stream for fermenting. The fermenting period would last for four or five days, depending on the age of the cassava, after which a basket would be used to wash it to prepare for cooking. Emenike did his part too, kept the house ready, bought kegs of wine and made an invitation to a sizeable number of people from his maternal home and in-laws.
Because it was a rich man's house, everyone would honor it.