At the back of our thatched mud house where we sat with little to eat, father would come to bore us with old stories of either the ancient great warriors or his own hunting days. He would nick his fingers into our own calabash, pick out the groundnuts and emptied them in his mouths, the village would hear him belch when the groundnuts reach their destination. He would laugh loudly, hit us on the back
" you people should be like me when you grow, that's how you live a good life"
The truth in that sentence lies in the fact that he's the only man with one wife in the entire Amure village and thus, he boasted of his contentment. Asides that, the irony of the sentence is broad because, he has no farms, no cattle, no lands, nor possessions like others who are polygamous.
Yesterday , he was rather in a very sober mood. He hadn't buried his head deep in a calabash of wine where he tends to get his speech motivation. 'Where did this come from? ' we wondered.
He started, "we were five, each of us representing the best five hunting families in the entire village. The Doga, The Miga, The Asun, The Ede and of course The Adila whose crest I wore with pride.
The king's son was down with a mysterious sickness, no one knew what to do until the Oracle spoke. The Oracle spoke the impossible, to bring the ring of the mythical "Oboru". It was a difficult task as the abode of the 'Oboru' was the fearful Ijinle Forest. We couldn't turn down the king, the five of us headed into the forest.
Death came, took one every time it arrived until it was just me. I couldn't found my way back and I prayed for death as the suffering was too unbearable in the forest. Days later, I met a creature who told me to go back home or else I'd die if I tarried there. It helped me find my way to the outskirts of the village where I was helped home by some passing villagers.
It was later I learnt that the king's son got healed just a day after we departed for Ijinle Forest. It was also the day I stopped believing in the Oracle and all other diabolic things. Some divine spirit somewhere see to human's affairs. He holds our life and drops it anytime. Until that happens to me, I have decided to live simply all the time for I've seen what other humans haven't seen. I have seen an end that needs not your possession but your life and life alone. Nothing can atone for that, just your life".
He stopped talking, looked into our eyes until he was assured we understood all he had said. He stood up slowly, smiled again and went inside.
#AnsaFlashFictionOfTheWeekContest#
© Aj Maverick
am3mm10@ptsolest
