A Race of One Gender
by
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At this juncture, Urediya came along with Chikodili, carrying on their head a tray of pounded yam, a pot of soup, as well as drinking gourds, salt, and a keg of palm wine. They brought down their load to the ground and greeted the workers, praising them in turn for a job well done. She told Okpom-Eshina, who is still inexperienced in making mounds, to first dig open the ground before making a mound around it, this way it would help the yam to penetrate faster. She thanked them again and called on them to come for their meal. Alaneme was relieved in no small measure by this invitation to help themselves for he was in danger of being asked to relinquish his leading position to Obialo, who had purposely slowed his pace to accommodate Alaneme’s inability to lead. After eating, he would certainly ask Obialo to give him a head start voluntarily, this way he thought, would be more honorable than being asked to step down for an apparently much younger boy. Alaneme was the first to leave the farm and to beckon on others to follow. Within a short space of time, they clustered around the meal breathing heavily, and gulping down water with reckless abandon. They washed their hands and ransacked the ogbono soup, hand going to and from like on a parade ground. Alaneme’s size of the foo-foo attracted much attention as it was far bigger than the rest and always made a sound in his throat whenever he made the effort to swallow it. "Nwii." Okpom-Eshina would steal a laugh as he waited to be entertained by the sound again. At one point, he burst into open laughter to the chagrin of Alaneme. Others, too, joined in the laughing spree, as the sound the foo foo made in trying to gain passage through Alaneme’s throat gathered momentum. Okpom-Eshina was afraid of being beaten by Alaneme, so he changed position and kept his distance. Alaneme never cared a hoot about the laughter by his colleagues; he went ahead eating with more concentration and relish. At one point, he swallowed a lump so hard that everyone there burst out laughing, but of all that laughed, he singled out Okpom-Eshina and started chasing him all over the place. When it appeared that he could not catch up with him, he complained to Urediya to warn Okpom. Without waiting for her to do that, he resumed his seat, swallowing as before and watching sideways whether it made any difference. Alaneme should be about sixteen years old with his front set of teeth always jotting out and giving him the facial look of a burnt goat. To worsen matters, he always left his mouth ajar, thereby making it a thoroughfare of a sort to all kinds of flies. His overall body size never vindicated his age; at sixteen, he still had the look of Peter Pan. He has a bulging stomach that is always shiny, and an over-sized head that gave him the look of a hydrocephalic. To cap it all, he has very tiny legs that make it appear as if he is always standing on borrowed legs. Though he is by far their elder, younger children give him the appellation "Adam," probably since he existed before them and appeared to be the permanent representative of his pedigree. His great-grandfather looked just like him. Some call him "children’s father" while a few call him "Okpokuikwuibe," that is, an anthill that spreads on the ground and doesn’t attain any appreciable height afterwards. After eating their delicious meal, they thanked Urediya profusely and sat down to rest. By then, Urediya had gathered firewood from the farm, tied it with an improvised thread cut from one of the creeping flowers, and headed homewards with Chikodili carrying the bundle of firewood.
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About the Book
This book is about a certain man called Onuegbuna. In the culture where he was nurtured, both industry and family orientation were held in high esteem. He not only procrastinates a lot but also was said to be comparable in ugliness to a masquerade with a poor finish. However, he was a man of moderate means and that, he believes, is what it takes to achieve his life’s ambition. His life’s ambition was to have as many wives as he could afford and to expand his house to accommodate a large sized family. His dream was realized only halfway. Given his moderate means he could afford to marry a damsel, but even at that, it was mainly because Urediya was pregnant outside of marriage, which made her an easy package to collect by the likes of Onuegbuna. His house, which should have been an indication of his status, was badly executed, since additional rooms to the existing structure lacked any aesthetics. So much so that visible cracks adorned the structure round about. The night masquerade tongue lashed Onuegbuna for his apparent inertia and ineptitude. He however valued his only son more than any of his possessions. It was his only son Okpom that made him to survive any ordeal in a scary dream. This first part does not only serve as an introduction to the second part, but it also provides a lot of insights into family paradigms and cultural practices. The second part of the book is about Onwumere, a neophyte, who married from Umuhu. This place was where the white man first landed bringing with him his new religion. The advent of the white man was a source of concern to the inhabitants of Umuhu because it apparently condoned what the local culture abhorred. A conflict of values you might say. The clan of Gedegwu quickly saw through the mistakes of their neighbors, held a very crucial meeting to ensure that, the overtures made by the white man to establish his new religion in their clan was checkmated. Unlike Umuhu whose sole weakness was the division among it’s rank and file, Gedegwu on the other hand resolved not to give in under pressure and their only formidable source of resistance was to close ranks. As a precursionary measure they invited the new convert Onwumere to their meeting where they handed down to him the decision to desist from any form of association with the white man and his religion or face a heavy sanction surpass-able only by death. To Onwumere, this decision had virtually scuttled his entire life plan and has left him confused and disoriented. Mazi Orji, the clan head was very astute in handling the issue, so much so that he even succeeded in making Anorue, the white man’s emissary, to reconsider his decision to join the new religion. The elders equally handled the dog episode with much adroitness. The relocation of the dog site will not only help ensure security but it would also consolidate the leading position of the clan as the proprietors of the foremost market in the region. It may interest you to know that local names, which are not English, are explained in the glossary section in the back of the book. Names used in the book are entirely fictitious. And the religious ideas expressed are to be seen in the light of what the entire book represents, namely, a novel. This novel will help provide
About the Author
I was born in Umuobom in the Ideato-south local government area of Imo State in Nigeria. To be precise, I had always had the urge to write. This urge eventually found expression after my postgraduate diploma in education at the university of Port-Harcourt and during the time I was pursuing my master's degree at Abia State University. I wrote my first book on religious studies in 1992. This book was well received and was in use in many high schools in Imo and Anambra states. I got a very positive response from both teachers and students who read the book and also from a good friend of mine, Fr. Boniface Orji, who told me in confidence that he even used the book for his own private meditation. My publishers; (Etukokwu Publishers limited) equally told me how impressed they were with the outcome of my work. Given the foregoing, I was much more encouraged than ever before to be on the move. This creative work was a response to that encouragement, it was conceived and written in 1993. Reading and writing have been my favorite pastime. It was this interest in reading and writing that motivated me to continue my quest for higher education. Right now, I am pursuing my doctoral program in the USA. I have always believed that education is the light of the mind. In fact, it was my eldest brother who captured my interest in academics in these words: "He is not only an avid reader, but books are his companion." I also believe that anytime we add to the repertoire of our knowledge we tend to push the frontiers of knowledge even further, and that is a big win over ignorance and stagnation.