Olokun pt1 (the wind of destiny)

False hope

CHAPTER 7

JULY 12 1907

Seventeen years had passed since the Agholors had moved to Ekpon and so far nothing out of the ordinary had happened, life had moved smoothly for them and no one had questioned them about their origins or about their hometown seeing that most of the villagers already knew the queer story of how they had come to stay in the village and that the lady of the house was the long lost sister of the chief's wife, those who did not have the opportunity of hearing it at the party thrown by the chief in honor of their visit got to know about it through the chief's wife who had made sure that Omo followed her to the market every day, clinging tightly to her hand, telling everyone in each stall she stopped at to get something that Omo was a long lost sister, she did this because she did not want her sister to suffer the same fate she had suffered when she had first come to Ekpon, she did not want her to receive the looks of pity she had gotten when she had first come or the emptiness of a stranger, she wanted her to know that she was welcome and that she was the second most important woman in the village. While the lady of the Igbinedion house was helping her sister gain her feet in the village, her husband also made sure that Agholor had a place in the village, he did not do this just because he was married to his sister-in-law, but also because he wanted him to be too comfortable to ever think of taking power for himself, since a man with a full belly had no worries he wanted to make sure that Agholor's belly was full to it’s bursting point with satisfaction, he made sure he lacked nothing in terms of clothing food and shelter, he had noticed that the Agholors had been happy in his home but not comfortable so he had asked the village youths to come together in the building of his in-law's house, clay was supplied from Ikpoba alongside with the finest of wood and iron sheets all these had been put together within a month, Agholor could not close his mouth when he had seen the edifice that had been raised for him and his family, it had 3 rooms and a big parlor, at the backyard was a separate room for the Izeh ( Iyamu had reunited with his sister and now lived in his late mother's house which he had inherited as was the custom since his sister was married he lived alone though he spent more time in Agholor's house), the toilet was also at the backyard, it was different from the ones in Obti which was just a piece of land covered with palm fronds, this was an actual building with a roof over it, its walls were built with thick mahogany wood , a roof of dry palm fronds and a hole on the ground on which one would bend and do his business, Omo feared that part of the toilet the most and she never let Omonoba go to the toilet on his own for fear that he would fall into it while he defecated, Iye had told her times without number that it was impossible for him to fall in seeing that it was smaller than his head, but Omo would have none of that and no matter how much Omonoba protested, she made sure he was followed to the toilet by any adult that was available at the time when he wanted to do his business there was also a place where one could bathe, though it had no roof like the toilet but it had a door and walls of Mahogany, this was also new to the Agholors who had never bathed in an enclosed place, they had always bathed at the river like everyone else in Obti. Iye had of course taught Omo how to maintain the toilet and bathroom with a thick-tipped broom, salt and soap, she taught her how to maintain their new clothes with soap and salt. Omo loved every part of the house, but the kitchen was her favorite part of the house, it was unlike the outdoor kitchens of Obti which had fire places that had to be rebuilt every day, this had a roof, walls and a door, just like every other part of the house except the toilet and bathroom, its walls and hearth were made with burnt clay bricks, which were to be mopped frequently with mud, a chore which Izeh never allowed Omo to do, infact the only thing he allowed her to do was to prepare the family meal and that was because he did not know how to cook, no matter how much Omo protested he would not let her do anything, he fetched the; water, fetched and tore the firewood, mopped the house and the kitchen, washed the clothes (except those of Omo of course) and dishes and bathed Omonoba.

Igbinedion also helped Agholor to get a job at the coal mines as a head foreman, a job which was extremely hard to get, this he did for him a week after he had settled fully in his new house with his family, he had introduced Agholor to the welfare officer a day after his arrival in the village with his family, the welfare officer; Mr Clinton who was known in the village as “Owain Kileentin” was a tall willowy man with thinning hair at the middle of his head, a pot belly which looked like a medium sized calabash that was not properly balanced on a maiden's head, it seemed out of place on his body and most of the villagers thought it was because he carried the curse which Osanobua had placed on his brothers before him who had thrown out the old gods, torn down their shrines and had taken their brothers in big ships across the great Bini river to a land which no one knew about, or maybe he was affected by the curse of the Oba's spit, a curse which had turned the great Bini river to stone. He was known not just for his queer way of speaking Nesa (the local language) and his rickety bicycle, but also for his love for children, his kindness, his fair way of giving out judgement and the fact that he listened to their complains and made sure they were quickly resolved. The truth was that he did not really care about the people he was just being kind to them because he saw himself as the British puppet master in Ekpon, he believed that he held their puppet strings in his hands and that as long as there was a good road, a supply of enough British goods, like milk flour and eggs, there would be a constant supply of men in the coal, salt, Ivory and brick factories and more money for the queen and so when the head baboon ( for that was he called Igbinedion when he spoke about him with his comrades in Benin) had told him about his brother-in-law who used to be a king in Obti land but had been deposed and banished to Ekpon, the only thing Clinton thought about was how he would convince him to recruit his brother in the coal mine that was poorly staffed, most people refused to work there because it's smokes were killing the people, the mine was staffed with mostly foreigners who had no one in the village and were seriously in need of a means of livelihood, he had been thinking of how to broach the topic to Igbinedion when he heard him say “Owain Kileenton, abeg my brother him need work and I hear say una no get foreman for the coal mine, I for like if you help me put am for there”, Clinton could not believe his ears, this was too good to be true he needed to hear it again, so he asked in a voice of feigned concern, “ Are you sure, a foreman's work is for a strong young man, not an old weak man, most especially in the coal mines”, Igbinedion did not understand what he had meant by the last part of what he had said but he wanted to do everything to make sure that Agholor was on his feet and able to fend for his family soon, so he said “Owain Kileenton, this my brother him no old o, he Sabi work well well and he strong, infact I hear when him wife dey tell my wife say na warrior him be for their land before them come here”, Clinton was overjoyed by this news but he kept a straight uninterested face so that Igbinedion would not think he had an ulterior motive, he knew that Igbinedion did not trust him and only played along to protect his family and people. “Call him”, was the only reply he gave, when he had come out, Mr Clinton was overjoyed to see him, he had the perfect physique for the job, but being who he was he liked dangling opportunities over people's heads just to watch them beg for the opportunity, so he asked “ Young man, you need a job right?”, to which Agholor nodded, “so can you control people?”, To which he also nodded, not really understanding him, but hearing work which meant something good “Okay then, you are hired”, Agholor looked to the chief for explanation and he found out that he had gotten a job, this filled him with joy. And so that was how an Enogie who had looked down on the White man and called him a pig's belly now worked for him.

As he went on to work in the mines his children grew, soon a school and church was built in the village and it was compulsory for everyone to attend the church service every morning, anyone who did not was fined, so they all trooped into St John's Catholic Church every Sunday morning without even knowing what they were doing there, the only people who understood to an extent were the young children whose minds were clean slates without thoughts of any kind, soon St Gregory standard school was built and the welfare officer hired men who went from house to house to take children to school, the criteria to join the school was that your hand must cover your ear, on the day Agholor's house was checked, Omonoba's hand touched his ear and he was overjoyed to be able to go to school, his father had said that the only way he would go to school was if Izeh went with him, when he was asked the reason for his decision he thundered that Omonoba was a child who was taller than his age and he needed someone to watch over him. They were joined soon by Ivie, the light skinned, green eyed beauty, those eyes that caused commotion on her birth made everyone who came across her to be in awe of her, she was very intelligent and was toping the class at the tender age of 10 (she was the youngest in her class), her mother was extremely glad and proud and so was her father, by the time that she was 15 her father had taken her away from the school for he feared that if she was too wise she would not find a suitor and that would be very terrible, so he had handed her over to a woman who made clothes in the market so she would learn how to make clothes and it was in that market she saw him for the first time; his eyes were just like hers, green as grass, his skin was white, he was a master, but she did not care, she followed him like one possessed with a demon and when he pinned her to a tree asking her what she wanted, her reply was, “ I want to rub my skin against yours”.