Chapter 3
The next day, Douglas woke up very early in the morning. He was already at a bus terminus before 6:00am. The first bus had already left so he boarded the second bus - a lengthy luxurious bus. The bus filled up slowly. In a short while, Douglas coughed and wanted to spit through the window but the bus conductor, a stout and angry-looking man, saw him and asked him to get down from the bus.
“Young man, don’t you know that it is improper to spit through the window?” the bus conductor queried.
“I am sorry, sir” Douglas apologized.
He alighted and spat by the roadside. When he was about to enter the bus for the second time, he heard someone shouting his name from a distance. He turned and saw Cliff shouting and waving at him. Then he hesitated to get into the bus. Cliff had not yet ran up to him when the driver hooted the horn - to warn the passengers that he was about to leave the terminal.
“Get into the bus!” the bus conductor shouted at Douglas. But he did not want to get into the bus because he wanted to know if Cliff could run up to him before they close the door. The bus driver moved slowly and hooted the horn again. When Cliff saw that, he increased his pace. The driver hooted the horn again and Douglas was forced to enter the bus. Then the driver pressed a button and the door closed. He pressed another button and cool air started to ooze from the bus’ air conditioners. Cliff finally ran up to the bus but could not see Douglas because the door was closed and the curtains, inside the bus, drawn to cover the windows. Nevertheless, Cliff kept on calling Douglas persistently. Douglas then got up, parted the curtains and looked through the window. He saw Cliff waving at him. He was also talking incoherently and Douglas couldn’t decipher what he was saying. Then he gently applied some pressure and forced open the window.
“Douglas, please don’t forget to express my sympathies to your mother and to your siblings” Cliff
said.
“Thank you Cliff, I won’t forget” Douglas said.
“Safe journey Douglas, safe journey”
“Thank you Cliff. Goodbye” Douglas said.
“Safe journey Douglas, may God be with you!”
The bus finally left the terminal but Cliff kept on waving until it was completely out of sight. He then looked around and saw an apartment with the inscription: “Travellers’ Lounge” He went inside the lounge and sat on a chair to rest, though the lounge was meant for travellers who are waiting for the next bus and not for mere passers-by or visitors. Shortly, the supervisor of the bus terminal, a bearded, hoarse-voiced lanky man with sunken cheeks, came into the lounge to check tickets. Cliff became afraid when he saw the supervisor and so he drifted from one end of the lounge to the other to avoid being caught and questioned. Shortly, the supervisor met him and asked:
“Hey you, where are you going?” “I want to go and ease myself” Cliff answered shivering.
“Can I see your ticket?”
“It’s with my friend”
“Your ticket is with your friend?”
“Yes”
“Where is that your friend?”
“He went to the restaurant”
“He went to the restaurant?”
“Yes”
“But our restaurant had been closed down?”
“Ha, he must have gone somewhere else then”
“I see. But where are you going now?”
“I’m going to the restaurant”
“To which restaurant? The one that had been closed down?” “Is that the only restaurant around here?”
“But you said that you want to go and ease yourself. Are you now going to ease yourself in the restaurant?”
“But I shouldn’t ease myself here instead, should I?” The supervisor scratched his beards thoughtfully and said: “Well, you can go”
“Thank you” Cliff said. He gently walked out of the lounge and disappeared.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
When the bus reached its destination, about five hours later, Douglas alighted. Then he boarded a rickety taxi to a certain bus stop, alighted, paid the taxi driver and walked into their compound. Eric and Gerald, his younger brothers, were outside weaving a basket while Alice, his younger sister, was inside the kitchen when he entered.
“Douglas! Douglas has returned! Douglas!” the children shouted excitedly. Alice came out from the kitchen and embraced Douglas.
“Alice, where are mum and Doris?” Douglas asked.
Doris was also Douglas’ younger sister.
“They went to the market” Alice replied.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes”
“What have they gone there to buy? Yams? Cocoyams?” “They went there neither to buy nor to sell”
“Mum can’t go to the market neither to buy nor to sell. I can’t believe that” “It’s true, Douglas. I mean it” Alice said with a grave tone.
“Do you mean to tell me that they went there for sightseeing? Has the market become a place for tourists?” Douglas asked, bewildered. Alice started to cry.
“Douglas, it is true. They went there neither to buy nor to sell but…it’s a long story” she said with a tremulous voice.
Douglas sighed and shook his head.
“That’s alright, Alice. Stop crying” he said.
Alice stopped crying and went back into the kitchen. Douglas was puzzled and he decided to ask Gerald about that. But Gerald and Eric were busy searching his bag at a corner. They imagined that an interesting thing must be inside the bag. At last, they found a loaf of sliced bread. Douglas took it from them, went inside his room and dozed off. Eric and Gerald went and continued to weave their baskets.
Some hours later, Douglas woke up. He was roused up by the noise of a town crier. He went out, took a bucket, filled it up and went into the bathroom to bathe. He bathed slowly, whistling a favourite song. As he was bathing, he remembered how a student in his school suddenly ran out of water when he was bathing on a certain Tuesday morning. The student had covered himself with a copious amount of soapsuds but later discovered that the quantity of water left in his bucket would not be enough to wash off all the soapsuds on his body. Douglas chuckled and quickly compared the quantity of water left in the bucket with the amount of soapsuds on his body. When he discovered that the water remaining in the bucket would be enough to wash off all the soapsuds on his body, he decided to wash his bathroom slippers.
Later in the day, Eric and Gerald went into Douglas’ room. They wanted to ask him some questions:
“Douglas, tell us about your school’s cooks. Do they cook delicious meals for the boarders?” Eric asked.
“Yes, they cook delicious meals for the borders but to some extent…” “To some extent?” the children asked. “What do you mean by that?”
“Yes, by that I mean the meals we eat there are not as tasty as the ones you eat here” Douglas replied. They children giggled.
“Now, tell us about that your friend. Is he judicious or extravagant?” Gerald asked.
“Of course, he is judicious like most boarders”
“Which of you was the first to receive the news about our father’s death?” “I can’t remember” Douglas answered.
“When you told him about our father’s death how did he react to it?” Eric asked.
“He sympathized with me. Oh, that reminds me; he expressed his sympathies to our family” “That means you received the sad news before him” Gerald deduced.
“That’s true, but why are you emphasizing on that?” The children giggled again.
“What of…”
“You are boring me with your questions!” Douglas interrupted.
“Now, Gerald go and get a cup of water for me and you, Eric, go inside Alice’s room and bring an old book or newspaper for me”
The two children looked at each other and observed that Douglas was trying to send them away purposely.
“One more question Douglas, “what is em…”
“Go and bring a cup of water for me! One! Two…!” Douglas shouted.
“Eric, off we go…!” Gerald shouted and left.
When the children went to do as they were told, Douglas sneaked out of the compound. He went out and climbed a mango tree from where he sighted the children as they searched for him. He picked eight mangoes from the mango tree. In a short while, Theresa came in with Doris. Eric and Gerald rushed
at them and shouted, “Mummy, Doris, Douglas has returned!” “Oh, where is he?” Theresa asked.
“We don’t know. He was here with us before but now can’t find him now” the children answered.
“Alright”
Alice came out from the kitchen to meet Theresa and Doris.
“Alice has Douglas eaten since he returned?” Theresa asked caringly.
“No, he hasn’t” Alice replied.
“Why?”
“I haven’t finished cooking”
“Hurry up. Douglas must be hungry”
“Alright, mum”
Some minutes later, Douglas entered with the mangoes. He used a cocoyam leaf to carry the mangoes.
Theresa welcomed him warmly, she was really happy to see him.
“Douglas my son, where have you been?” she asked.
“Oh mum, you’re back already” Douglas said, “I went to pick some mangoes” “Ha! So soon? Anyway, from which mango tree did you pluck the mangoes?”
“From the one beside that palm tree, of course” Douglas said, pointing to a nearby palm tree. “Does it not belong to us?”
Theresa came a little bit close to him.
“Which of the mango trees? The one in between the guava trees?” “No, I mean the one beside the palm tree”
“You mean the one near… no, the one behind the banana tree?” “No. Can’t you see the tree beside the palm tree?”
“Douglas my son, I am gradually losing my sight. Age is no longer on my side. Now, do you mean the tree right in front of… no, at the back of …no…the one between or can I say beside the palm tree and the orange tree?”
“Yes, that’s the tree”
“There is problem!” Theresa exclaimed
“What?”
“That tree does not belong to us. It belongs to a well-known native doctor. Throw the mangoes away!”
“Mum, whether it belongs to a native doctor or medical doctor I don’t care, all I know is that I want to eat the mangoes. Everybody must eventually die” Douglas said obstinately.
“Throw them away or else…” Theresa threatened.
Douglas looked at the over-ripped mangoes and soliloquized:
“I can’t just throw these over-ripped mangoes away; no way, I can’t just throw them away. They are sweet to the eyes. Heaven only knows how they would taste in the mouth. Now I understand why Eve had to eat the forbidden fruit and damned the consequences. Oh! I have been castigating and blaming the confused woman but now I am beginning to see her reasons for doing what she did, albeit, unwittingly thereby plunging Mankind into serious trouble but it is all clear to me now…”
“Let me tell you” Theresa continued, jolting Douglas from his soliloquy, “If you eat the mangoes, you will develop protruding belly and then suffer from one strange and incurable sickness to another. Be warned! Remember what happened to Okoye, the palm wine tapper, and how he died mysteriously. Throw them away now and save yourself from blame” she warned.
Douglas looked at the over-ripped mangoes once again. Actually, he did not want to throw them away. “Douglas, I said that you should throw the mangoes away. Throw them away now!” Theresa
shouted.
Douglas looked at the mangoes for the last time, hissed and grumbled, and then he hesitated but finally threw them away sorrowfully.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
After dinner, Eric and Gerald went outside to go and meet their friends for some moonlight games while Douglas, Alice and Doris stayed with their mother. When Theresa finished eating her food, she called them for a brief discussion. When they were seated, she began:
“My children, we are here for a very important discussion. I imagine that you have already
known what we are about to discuss…?”
Alice and Doris nodded but Douglas didn’t.
“Douglas, are you listening?” Theresa asked.
“Yes mum, I’m listening” Douglas replied.
“Okay” Theresa continued, “Since your father, Francis, died, things have started to change from bad to worse. In fact, we have been feeding from hand to mouth. Things have really turned upside down. Before your father’s death, we had five goats in the pen, several fowls and three sheep, now there are no goats and no more fowls, not even one! I have virtually sold everything, now I am neck-deep in debts, penniless and totally bankrupt. Look at our trees - there are no more fruits on them. I have plucked and sold all the fruits in order to raise some money. If it is possible, I would have plucked and sold even their leaves by now…”
Doris giggled. Theresa waited for some time and continued:
“It appears that we are now facing hard times and, in fact, the vicissitudes of life. Meanwhile, I have sought for help from all my friends to see if they would lend me some money but they would always give one excuse or the other. I – I don’t really know what else to do. My children, I am clueless and that’s why I called all of you for this meeting”
She paused and waited for the children to react and contribute to what she said.
After a long period of silence, Douglas cleared his throat and said:
“Mum, I was puzzled when I heard that you and Doris went to the market neither to buy nor sell. I wondered what else you went there to do, though I didn’t believe that initially”
“My son, we went to the market to look for someone but we will talk about that later” Theresa
replied.
“…someone?” Douglas wondered.
“But mum, what about our father’s pension?” Doris asked after a while.
Francis had worked as a railway officer in the city before he retired and returned to the village.
“Now, tell us mum, how much is our dad’s pension? Douglas asked.
“Well, you asked an important question but your uncle, Geoffrey, has been doing away with your father’s pensions” Theresa said.
“What! Geoffrey?” Douglas and his sisters wondered, bewildered.
“Do you mean to tell us that Geoffrey and his family have been enjoying our father’s pensions?” Douglas asked in disbelief.
“Yes, that’s true. He stole your father’s pension’s book during the burial ceremony” Theresa replied.
“That man is heartless and cruel, an embodiment of evil!” Douglas lamented.
“This can’t be true, mum” Alice said.
“But mum, what have you done about that? Have you reported to the kinsmen?” Douglas asked. “Yes, I have done that but there wasn’t any effect from that direction” she replied. “To worsen it
all, he said threateningly that, by means of inheritance, your father’s entire property now belongs to him automatically”
“Impossible!” Douglas objected.
“This can’t be true, mum” Alice added.
“Why should Geoffrey do all these things to us?” Doris cried, “What have we done to that mischievous human being? So the kinsmen would just fold their arms and watch him take over our father’s entire property? Is there absolutely nothing they can do? No wonder, someone said: the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”
Theresa had been sighing and suppressing tears from rolling down her cheeks, but, at this point, she could no longer control her emotions. She shook her head regrettably and started to cry.
“Oh, merciful God” she said sorrowfully, “the discerner of our thoughts, why on earth must you allow Geoffrey to treat us in this way? God why have you deserted me? Why? Why? Why? Oh God, why me? Oh Francis! Who did you leave these children for? Who will cater for our children? If only you lived a little longer, Geoffrey would not have been doing all these things to us. Francis, my dear, Francis, arise, arise!”
Douglas was buried in thoughts while Doris and Alice started to rain curses and invectives upon Geoffrey and his family. In a moment, Theresa arose from her seat and made some frenzied steps towards Francis’ grave. Douglas was shocked. He rushed at Theresa but she slipped from his hand and increased her pace. Douglas rushed at her again, exerted some force and eventually brought her back to her seat. Alice and Doris calmed Theresa down, and hushed her to bed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The moonlight games were over; Eric and Gerald were singing and reciting what they learnt as they walked down the bush paths:
“Eric, do you still remember how to tackle your opponent and throw him to the ground?” Gerald
asked.
“Yes, just ‘grab him by the waist, put one of your legs behind his, and use your hand to seize his head, then push him’” Eric recited.
“You got it. Did you enjoy singing with the girls?”
“No, I didn’t”
“Why?”
“They always spoil the song”
“Okay, would you like to wrestle with a boy or a girl?” “Ah, I would rather choose a girl” “Why?”
“Their bodies are sweet and soft to touch”
“How?”
“I can’t explain. It is natural”
“Well, I don’t like to wrestle with the girls”
“Why?”
“They usually emit awful odours”
“Ha, that’s an insult. We are taught not to insult anybody, have you forgotten that?” “Yes, but one must always express his observations”
“Yes, that’s true, but we are also taught not to say bad things about others” “Observations, whether good or bad, must be expressed” “I see”
“But Eric… aren’t we taught not to wrestle with the girls?”
“We were taught not to wrestle with them but em…em one is free to associate with others. Isn’t ‘love one another’ the golden rule?”
“It is not the golden rule”
“It must be. If it is not, it can be called the ‘silvery rule’” “Have you ever embraced or wrestled with a mad man?” “No. Why should I?”
“Is he not included in your ‘golden rule’?”
“Well, some rules have exceptions”
“The golden rule has no exceptions”
There was a brief silence.
“Alright, why do you like to ‘associate’ with the girls than to ‘associate’ with the boys during the moonlight games?” Gerald continued after the brief silence.
“Gerald, my head aches!” Eric shouted.
The children chatted and laughed all the way home reciting some moonlight songs and poems.
They met Douglas, Alice and Doris when they reached home.
“Eric, Gerald, come here both of you” Douglas ordered.
“Why are you retuning by this time of the night?
“We spent a lot of time learning a difficult song because the girls always spoil each tune”
Douglas laughed and said:
“Now sing a song for us”
Eric and Gerald cleared their throats and sang a nice moonlight song. “This is a sweet song” Douglas commended. Eric and Gerald smiled. “Who taught you the song, little children?” The children giggled and said: “We still have more songs”
“More songs?”
“Yes”
“Oh, that’s good. Now, let’s hear your second song”
The children cleared their throats again but sang a piquant song this time. Douglas was pleased.
“For goodness sake, who on earth taught you this song?” he asked.
“Our teacher taught us the song” Eric answered.
“But some are lengthy and difficult to memorize” Gerald added.
“Do you still have more songs for us?”
“No”
“Aww”
“Well, we can recite a poem for you”
“Sure?”
“Yeah”
“Okay, recite it”
“No, we won’t”
“Why?”
“It’s forbidden”
“Forbidden?”
“Yes”
“But Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit...?”
“That’s a lie”
“What?”
“Moses and Elijah ate the forbidden fruit and not Adam and Eve” “What?!”
“Our teacher told us that Moses and Elijah ate the forbidden fruit and not Adam and Eve” “That’s a lie. Your teacher had never read the Bible!” “Our teacher cannot lie”
“Your teacher cannot lie?”
“Yes”
“Well, he can as well say that it was God himself that ate the forbidden fruit” The children laughed.
“Now please recite the poem” Douglas persisted.
“We won’t recite the poem”
“Recite the poem I say!”
“We will not!”
Alice whispered some words to Douglas.
“Okay, little kids, please recite the poem” Douglas begged.
“Promise us some little goodies and a keg of palm wine and we will recite the poem”
Alice started to laugh. Douglas snapped his fingers and said:
“This is serious. These children are up to something. A keg of palm wine? For these little children? This is serious”
“I told you, Douglas, I told you. You haven’t seen anything. These kids can tantalize somebody with their songs and poems” Alice said.
“Well, I beg you, Gerald, I beg you, Eric, please I need to hear the poem. I beg you” Douglas begged for the third time.
“Alright, we will recite the poem but just once!” the children warned.
“We agree” Douglas and Alice said.
Eric and Gerald then cleared their throats again and surprisingly recited a romantic poem. Douglas was
shocked. “Alice, did you notice any meaning in that poem?” he asked.
“Douglas, I don’t know what to say. I’m dumb” Alice replied and left the children. Douglas looked at the children and shouted:
“Now go to bed spoilt children, one, two…!”
The children ran to their room where they continued to sing more songs. Douglas and Alice also went into their rooms. Douglas waited for some minutes and tiptoed to the children’s room. Eric and Gerald were singing a song but he could not understand what it meant:
“Gerald, don’t spoil this song again!” Eric warned.
“Okay, I will not spoil it again”
“If you laugh, you will spoil the song”
“Alright, let’s start afresh”
As they were singing, Eric said:
“Wait, I heard a noise”
“Oh you have spoiled the song again” Gerald hissed.
“I said that I heard a noise”
“A noise?”
“Wait, let me go and check”
Douglas quickly tiptoed to his room and closed the door noiselessly. He lay on the bed and closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep but, being disturbed, he couldn’t. He then went outside, took a cold bath, went inside his room again, switched off the light and lay on the bed. Still, he was unable to sleep. Finally, he got up and switched on the light. He picked up a book titled ‘A Selection of African Poetry’. He read the book for a while and hissed. Then he dropped the book and picked up a novel by James Hardly Chase. After some minutes, he chuckled. Later, he dropped the novel, switched off the light, blindfolded himself gently and lay down again. Still, he was unable to sleep. Angered, he got up, removed the blindfold, and started to think. He thought about Geoffrey and he would deal with him. He also thought about Cliff, his friend, and the numerous school activities that must be going on in the school. While he was thinking, he heard an unusual knock. Immediately, he picked up an old cutlass.
“Who is that?” he asked. There was no response.
“Who is that?” he asked again.
“It’s me,” said a faint voice.
Douglas opened the door only to see Gerald. He hissed and asked:
“Ha Gerald, what is it?”
“It’s Eric. He is disturbing me”
Douglas hissed again and said:
“Gerald, go and sleep. Go and sleep!”
Gerald left. Douglas hissed again and closed the door. Some minutes later, he dozed off.
