AWERO

FAMINE

In the dark of the night, when the hooting of owls could be heard from miles away and bats along with extraterrestrial beings took over activities, when men fantasied

in their beds, a knock was heard from the house of Balogun Arogunmatidi and within seconds the front door opened and out came a figure that stretched almost to the frame of

the door. The oil lamp he had in his hand lit up his face, his eyes were round and stern almost popping out of its socket, his nose covered most of his face, he had a scar on both

sides of his cheeks. "Ewo lo de ti o fi pe Kola" he asked as he led the man inside, "O ni bi bu ni ore mo ni la ti je ki awon te mi ni le sun ki to le bo de" the man

replied. Once inside he exchanged pleasantries with the other people that were present in the house and as he sat a figure caught the side of his eyes, he turned to see

Otunba Lekki deep in conversation with a woman, she backed him but her voice sounded a lot like Ireti the iyalode.

"Eiye o ke bi eiye eku o ke bi eku omo eniyan na o si fo hun bi omo eniyan e si ranti pe mo so ni ojo ki ni ano wi pe ki a ma fi Deotti je oye sugbon balogun ati Otunbako wan ya ri wan pa da ti Deotti de ori oye ohun lo ti de le ba yi o" Erelu blurted out before Otunba responded with "Ohun ti o ti se le ti se le ni otoo o so be sugbonni asa ati ise ile wa yi ba wo ni ki a ti gbo pe le yin iku oba kan a wa gbe oye fun omo oba to se keji ti aremo oba si wa ni aye" Erelu drew a deep breath looked toBalogun and said in a mocking voice "Sugbon oba Alaiyeluwa ki wan to se olo gbe ni ki a ma fi oye fun aremo re pe Derenle ni ki a fi je oye abi e o si ranti mo ni" theback and forth questions ensued for a while as the rest were quiet not sure of whose side they were to take because they were both right in a way. Finally Balogun jumped in"Ohun ti o ti se le ti se le ona abayo ni a ba wa si bi ni oni" they conversed into the dead of the night and by the first crow of the c**k they had dispersed to theirvarious homes knowing fully well that the next plan of action was to dethrone Oba Deotti after three years of his reign because during that period the heavens dried up, sheddingnot one raindrop, lives were lost, the fields dried up, livestock perished and the whole village was in disarray.

In the second year since the ascension of Oba Deotti to the throne, things went from bad to worse on a daily, there was drought and famine in the land as a result of no

rainfall and the whole village was in disarray and after a while some villagers started moving to other settlements, amongst these people was Tunbosun the youngest son of

Baba Falomi the oluwo of Mojoda, along with his wife and kids decided to leave the village and they sojourned at Beti.In the space of four years Tunbosun had become a prominent

figure in Beti, being his fathers favorite son when he was alive, he had learned all there was to know about herbal medicines from his now deceased father and within that period he had made a fortune

for himself from selling herbs and other medicinal concoctions.

"In the first years my father and mother took my siblings and i to Beti, things were good" he paused to draw a breath and also to search his uncle's face for any sign of compassion."i was only seven when we left, i could remember taking the morning walk with my father and watched as people greeted him with respect, him in turn offered help to some, people were always coming to our house seeking either a cure to an ailment or to ask for money and he never for once turned them away, he kept doing this till he passed away when i was twelve" he paused again to look at his uncle and for a split second he saw pain in his eyes before he blinked it away. A woman who claimed to be his fathers mother had been trying to fight back tears but blurted out eventually and the tears rolled down unopposed this time as he mentioned his fathers passing."iya re wa nko" she managed to let out without choking on her tears this time. His heart became heavy as her words hit his ears. she had asked bout his mother and the last memories he had of her were memories he had fought so hard to not reminisce on for years. Shortly after the death of his father while still grieving the death of her husband she made the decision to put Goriola her husbands most trusted servant in charge of her husbands business because neither of her children knew enough or were ready to assume responsibility but she never thought that Goriola would connive with some of the servants and abscond with most of her late husbands fortune. After a while some of the servants started leaving and by the end of that year they had all left mostly because the family could no longer pay their wage. Iya Jeoyemi didn't wait too long before joining her late husband after a series of sickness, by now Omotoye was fifteen and the events that followed further plunged the family further into despair.

Following the deaths of their parents, Simisola the second child whom at the time five years older than Omotayo eloped with Olu the blacksmith's son after Jeoyemi her older brother and olu's parents voiced against their being together so in the dead of a cold night, she waited till Jeoyemi had returned drunk from his friends place, Omotoye was already asleep, she snuck out to meet Olu who had been waiting a couple distance away from their house. He woke the next afternoon with a sore head he had drunk way more than he usually did but he cared not so much, he had demons he was trying to run from he always said when asked to hit the brakes on his excessive drinking so this morning when he awoke with a throbbing headache from his previous day escapades he thought to go ask Simisola what they were to have for lunch since he was sure to have missed breakfast. After days of searching for both of them the realization struck him and it further plunged into the bottomless barrels of palmwine.

Omotoye being the youngest had to take responsibility of himself at this point seeing as his older siblings couldn't in anyway steer him in any path and fortunately hefound favor in Dejare, Maja's father, he was a friend of Tunbosun, Omotoye's late father. He had tried to reach out to Jeoyemi in the past to help them but Jeoyemi had turnedhim down, even went as far as accusing him of being the catalyst of their family's misfortunes so Dejare had kept his distance until Omotoye reached out to him and hetook him in, catered for him as his son and for the last ten years of his life he had lived with the Dejare's family and hadn't cared what happened to his brother. By the time he was done, Iya Falomi was already drenched in tears, his uncle Shile had his head in between his hands and every other household member that were present tohear him speak were left a bitter taste in the mouth by his words. Iya Falomi was the first to hug him and she whispered "ka a bo omo mi" in his ears.