Olokun pt1 (the wind of destiny)

Tough luck

Chapter 3

21 OCTOBER 1990

“Is God really good, all the time? Are we part of his never ending plans?, or are we just pawns that he can use to show mighty power?".This and many other thoughts were running through Ekiata's mind, he was devastated, “why did this have to happen in his life time and to a member of his family?". He could not sleep even though he had pretended to by shushing his wife and telling her to end her tears, words which of course had fallen on deaf ears, even though he closed his eyes so tightly, he just could not.

“This was not fair in every sense of the word, he did not deserve it not one bit. He was a bible believing Christian, an elder in the church and a committed one at that, what happened to the part of the scripture that said; God would never leave him nor forsake him? What happened to the part that said; God was an ever present help in time of need? Where had he travelled to at this point in time that he needed him? or was this another way for him to show himself as God in Obti land?"

So many questions and yet no answer at hand, he was perplexed, he hated being the point of village gossip, soon the news of his daughter's status as a connector would be revealed and it would be greeted by jeers from the village, even the people who did not really like him in church because of his staunch honesty and commitment to the laws of the Bible would laugh, they would ask; " Where is all his I am married to Jesus, Satan leave me alone songs that he uses to disturb to disturb our sleep every morning by 5:00am, his pledge of loyalty to The Lord Jesus Christ and the cross only, his devotion to Mary the mother of Christ, what happened to it?, or had God become tired of his own holier than thou attitude and decide to deal with his excesses?". They would ask so many questions, jeer at him and his wife at every given opportunity and rub their misfortune in their faces.

He was brought out of his miserable thoughts by his wife's ruffling, he knew that she had not slept a wink too. Elizabeth, his Eliza, the wife of his youth, his pillar of strength. It seemed like yesterday when he had first seen her at the customary court where he worked as a messenger, it seemed like yesterday when he had heard her sharp tongue arguing at the court entrance with the man whose goat had gone into her garden, ruined her flowers and eaten all the pepper and tomatoes that she had planted, he overheard her calling the man a foolish and primitive farmer who thought all women were doormats on which any stupid person could step on, she told him that he should be grateful he was a titled man and if not, she would have killed his goat and used it for pepper soup and if he had dared to protest, she would have poured the peppery soup into his nostrils and on manhood. Such outbursts were unusual in Obti as it was unheard of for a woman to talk back at a man, not to talk of a titled chief. She was therefore either a stranger or a mad woman and Ekiata was intrigued, he wanted to see the woman who had grown a set of balls overnight and wanted to ask her what charm she depended on. When he got outside, the sight that greeted him was a great surprise, he had expected to see an ugly thin black woman, but the woman that was restrained by the bush police was the opposite of ugly, to say she was a goddess was an understatement, she was more than one, this woman would stand in competition with the goddesses and beat them hands down. She was not beautiful in the Obti way but this woman had a skin that was lighter than that of any woman he had ever seen, not that he had never seen a light skinned woman before but hers was different, she was not as tall as the Obti women but petite, and her breasts were firm and full, she had legs that looked like ripe plantains and black eyes so deep that he felt he would drown in them, just when he thought he had seen it all was when he saw her hair, it was dark, very dark, even more than coal, it was as full as an untamed forest and the only thing he wanted to do was to put his hands inside it and get lost in those eyes of hers. Just when he was about to go and speak to her, he was called in by the court clerk who had an errand for him, by the time he came back, she was gone, being a quiet and reserved person, he did not ask anyone at the court about her for fear that the people at court would feel he was getting ahead of himself and call him demeaning names. He never saw her again and neither did he tell anyone about the strange woman whose sharp tongue had intrigued and captured his heart except his mother of course whom he told that he had found a wife, when she asked him who she was his reply was; “ I do not know ”, she was shocked but not suprised because she knew her son to be a strange but wise person so she smiled and replied “How can you marry a person you have never met?", “Mother, I did not say that I have not met her, I only meant that I do not know her", “ It is well "she replied, “ Just make sure that when you finally get to know her, you let me know so that your father's kinsmen and I will take wine to her people", “ I have heard mother", came his gruff reply.

Finally after so many days of looking out for her at the streams and farm roads, he saw her at the market haggling seriously with the woman who sold fufu, To say that Ekiata was overjoyed was an understatement, he almost leapt. Gathering all the courage he could muster, he walked up to her and said in his quiet voice “Why are you so quarrelsome woman? Have you no shame? Or do you want to remain unmarried for the rest of your life? “She was so startled, but that did nothing to quell the fierceness of her words, “May you rub that smelly mouth of yours in s**t, how does my haggling affect you, or do you think I am one of those girls in this village who believe that their lives depend on a man? How dare you? Please do not ruin my good mood this morning, just carry your bad luck and rub it on someone else, I am not interested", she ended with a loud hiss. The harshness of her words brought transactions around her to a standstill as people who came to the market for their daily businesses gathered to see the unfortunate person who was the object of her insults. People were shocked at the temerity of her words and felt pity for Ekiata, but her words had no effect on him in fact they gave him so much joy that he felt like a god who had just received obeisance from a worshiper, all he wanted was to marry her, so he asked; “Will you marry me?“, she was shocked, so shocked that for the first time in her 18years on earth, she had no words, she was dumbfounded, Ekiata knew and he was so happy, even the laughter from the onlookers did nothing to quell his determination to continue so taking her bag from her, he said; “Let me help you carry your bag to your house so that you can give me an answer to my question".

And so she had followed him like one under a spell, he spent the day with her and found out more about her than anyone else in the village, he had found out; that she was an orphaned Ibibio girl with no other other family except an elder sister who lived in the far away city of Lagos, that her name was Elizabeth and that she and her sister were raised by a white Catholic Priest who had been transferred to Cameroon about 2 years back. Theirs was a short courtship and in 3 months, Ekiata and his kinsmen made the long journey to Lagos to give wine to her Elder sister Ufot. Soon their union was blessed with seven sons which all came in spaces of one year, an event which brought gossip from the members of Obti land. They believed that the cause of such quick occurrences of child birth and pregnancy was due to the fact that Ekiata and his wife shared a single room, despite living in a seven bedroom house, an action which never occurred anywhere else in that land, which made some people think that Ekiata was under Elizabeth's spell, but this was of course kept to themselves for they feared her sharp tongue until now, until the birth of this child.

“ Woman why have you decided to keep me awake this night, you know I have to be at the court as early as 5:00am, so why have you decided to deny me the little sleep I can gather?", this of course brought a retort from his wife, “How can you sleep? Your child has been declared a connector and you speak of sleep and work, what kind of a man are you? you take everything, even serious issues so trivially, instead of you to think of a solution all you think of is sleep and work, have you no thought for the child's future?”, “Woman, I am still the head of this family and my word is still law, whether you like it or not, my decision is that you allow the break of dawn to decide the child's fate, go to bed now, by morning I will visit the Olokun priest to confirm the meaning of his words and I will also book mass on her behalf, so quit your sniveling and go to sleep", surprisingly Elizabeth did not argue anymore, she laid down and closed her eyes, Ekiata knew she would not sleep and neither would he, but the thought that they were both asleep would be enough to quell the thick gloom around them.

They were awoken the next morning by a loud knock on their bedroom door, and the voice of their last son Abel, when Ekiata opened his eyes, it was morning, “Oh no“, he muttered, “I am late for work” His wife too was up and she was putting Cassandra to her breasts, but the baby was still asleep and would not suck, the last time she had sucked was just before the Olokun priest arrived, she was a bit scared but she calmly laid the child back in her crib, Her husband who had gone to check what Abel wanted came towards her with a perplexed face and that alone worried her, “What is it my husband, is it because you couldn't go early to work?, “No my love,”, “Okay, so what troubles you?", “Mama is here", “ Do not fear dear, just tell her exactly what the Olokun priest told you", she replied in a surprisingly calm voice “Okay", he said standing up.

His mother's reaction to the news was surprisingly strange, she was quiet at first and then had burst into laughter, then she said “Let us go to the Olokun priest's shrine first, then I will tell you a story", “Is that all you have to say mother?", “Yes that is all I have to say". Whatever he had to say was cut short by his wife's piercing scream, when he got to the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary, he asked in a not too happy voice, “What is it woman?", “Look at her eyes", and then he saw it, ”eyes as green as grass", he was jolted to hear his mother repeating his thoughts, “She is the last of her kind, we have to hurry son, before it is too late”, she said walking out the door.