The moon was up but because of all
the competition she was getting from all the light bulbs in town, her luster
went unnoticed. Nostalgia gripped my heart for I even missed the smell of
burning kerosene soaked wicks from lanterns and bobos. Who would have thought?
This was no city and there were certainly lanterns and bobos around but
somehow, the effect wasn’t how I remembered it. The canvas for my memories
seemed to be irrevocably damaged. Maybe it’s selfish of me but I wanted my
Lolobi to be the Lolobi I remember from long ago. I wanted the whole ‘village
experience’ to be like I always remembered. Maybe too, it is time I considered
that maybe, just maybe I am the one who has changed that much.
***********
I tried to recapture the little I
remember by going back years into my past. It was the dry season and it was
cold, chilling cold. There was a bonfire and there around the fire was us kids.
The older kids amongst us were roasting anything that was edible. Plantain,
yam, cocoyam, fresh peanuts in pods, breadfruits, you name them. The younger
kids were always charged to stay a certain distance away from the fire. I was
usually either with my maternal family or my paternal family during these rare
evenings but in my memories, I moved the characters around to the same location
and time, around a bigger bonfire with the adults and kids all around. There
was always a story or a riddle contest. There were also tidbits of local gossip
too. Hush, hush stories of what new marital scandal was in town, careful
accounts of which god was exacting a fresh stream of vengeance on defaulters.
Then there were the ghost stories of which ancestor had visited whom in recent
times. Civilization has certainly taken a lot away but the gods obviously still
worked their butts off not to be forgotten or taken for granted.
Earth to
Audrey, earth to Audrey! I came back to the present to a story about an
accomplished man who happened to drop dead after he came home to be king
because he was next in line. From what I could deduce from my aunt’s story, the
death happened under unexplained circumstances and though nobody dared say it
out loud, everybody ‘knew’ the faction of the kingmakers which was opposed to
the man ascending the throne was responsible, or as they like to put it; ‘they
had a hand in it’.
That night was the first time I met
Kalai. He was a young man in his early thirties, good looking and a hunter. His
house was a few houses removed from our home and he seemed to get along well
with everyone, that’s what I had been told. Did I say good looking? He was more
than that. He could hold a candle to any city boy I know. He had charm. He was
married to Dorothea and their marriage was about two years old. Kalai had
nieces and nephews but one nephew in particular stuck to him like glue
everywhere he went and this evening was no exception. Sammy, as usual, tagged
behind his uncle as they stopped by our little group. From then on, the
conversation turned to one of the bond between the uncle and nephew. The kid
wasn’t even that close to his own father. Then there were tales of his hunting
experiences. I personally thought some of them were exaggerated but what the
heck, the guy has earned himself the right to a few tall tales. Our visit was
almost coming to an end and we were scheduled to leave the following day so my
mom suggested that if he catches any game that night when he goes hunting, she
would be interested in buying. He was delighted to hear it and promised to
bring one back for us.
That night as the town slept, Kalai headed
for a thicket outside town with his riffle and torchlight. As he got away from
the town, the moon’s shine made it useless for him to use his torchlight. After
an hour of treading through the night, he finally entered into a thicket to try
and find some game to sell. He had dreams, dreams of making a better life for
Dorothea and himself and their unborn babies. A rustle from the dry leaves a
few feet away from where he was got his attention. He switched on the torchlight
and readied the riffle, only to find out it was a papa cobra probably on his
way back to his family. He decided on leaving it alone and waited it out till
it had passed. The dew had already started to settle on the leaves. It was past
midnight and the night was a chilly one. He would rather be sleeping by his
wife’s warm and soft body, occasionally tweaking her waist beads but with the
reputation he had earned himself as the town’s best hunter, he really wanted to
impress the woman and her pretty city daughter. Deeper and deeper, he went into
the woods.
He remembered the first time his father had
taken him hunting, he was so scared of how quiet the night could be, but now,
he welcomed this. The intermittent sounds of an owl or two were sounds he was
used to now. Once or twice, he’d met wild species like a leopard but he rarely
did. In fact, he hadn’t met one in a long while and he hoped tonight wouldn’t be
an exception. Occasionally he met a viper or two, like he just did with the
cobra and he almost always let them go, not wanting to waste his shots. One time,
he shot and killed a tree python and had good market for it too. He is a hunter
and because he is, he is particular about whose meals he bought and ate if he
ever does. Not that he has any need to since he married Dorothea. By now, the
moon had made it all the way to the other side, informing him that dawn was
breaking.
He turned to head back home,
disappointed. After moving a few metres, he felt rather than saw a movement. Leaving
himself no room to second guess himself, he raised his torch and riffle and
there in front of him was a beautiful and graceful deer. Before he thanked his
god and ancestors for such a gift, he fired. Picking up the poor animal, he
finally gave thanks and headed home.
By the time he neared home, the R.C
bell was sounding for dawn mass. He carried the game across his shoulders, his
riffle slung over his right shoulder and his torchlight in his hand, he walked
on home with a puffed chest. When he got to his buyer’s house, he saw that the
household was already up so he decided to drop off the game before heading on
home for a warm bath, a warm bed and a warm wife. He greeted them and laid the
game at their feet but instead of the looks of admiration and smiles of
adoration, they were all giving him looks like he’d just committed a sacrilegious
act. The animal was a beauty, if he does say so himself. The only word that
came from the group came from the old lady and all she had to say was “Aaaoooo!”
What had he done that was so bad? He brought
them game, that was it. Everything that happened after that happened so fast,
he barely had time to blink. By six am, there was quite a crowd outside the
house. Among the crowd was his Dorothea……….with tears in her eyes. That was
when he looked down again for about the hundredth time at the game and found at
his feet, ……………..the lifeless body of Sammy…….his Sammy. He suddenly felt sick
to his stomach. “How could, did this happen?” The million cedi question that
would be asked over and over again.
*************
I’m not a morning person and
travelling miles to Lolobi didn’t miraculously make me one. I woke up to all
the ruckus going on outside. I walked out and the sight that met me was one
that can only be captured by the imagination. I had never seen a dead body
before, much less one with so much gore. In the middle, by the body, was Kalai.
How could this happen? He kept on
saying he shot a game and not his nephew but how is that possible? What was
Sammy doing in the woods when his parents testify that they saw him to bed
themselves the previous night when Kalai brought him home? If he did follow his
uncle into the woods, then how could he not see him the whole night.
That was the height of my excitement.
The issue became a police case of course but I doubt any satisfactory answers
would be found. Back home, there would be all sorts of rituals to purge the
family and town of the calamity but poor Sammy was gone either way.
My mom was a witness, apparently, so
she had to give her statement to the cops. We had to deviate from our departure
plans but early Sunday morning, we said good bye to family and headed to Hohoe
to pick a bus back to the home I’ve had for the past fifteen or so years. Events
of the past few days would make for a nice story one day and I just told it.
***THE END****
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