"Emeka! One more sniping remark from you about Emenike and I will show you that the lion didnt become king of the jungle by roaring alone", Oby barks as she flings the nearest object at me, her slippers, which unluckily for her flies over my head and lands in the bush.
"ha ha... Nwanne listen to the gods. Emenike is not the man for you" I laugh while going to fetch the slippers of my only big sister Obiageli or Oby as she is fondly called. This is the first time that nwanne is missing a hit at me. Oby was known to be precise no matter how fast you think you are. As head of the female sports team in our school, she could beat any boy hands down at sports if given a chance. Though my sister looked beautiful and feline, she had the stomach of an elephant and the ferocity of a tiger. Little wonder she was soon nicknamed "Ezenwanyi"
"Emeka... I warned you"
"Eeehh.... My ears o, my ears o", she must have tiptoed towards me as I didnt hear her approaching. I keep screaming as she fiercely twists my ear lobes.
"Gini ka m gwara gi... Not another word about Emenike from your mouth, else...", are those tears I see in the eyes of my nwanne, Obiageli wasnt one known to publicly show emotions. I had seen tears from my sisters eyes once , about six months ago after Papa held some long meetings with Udenta the Chief priest. Oby blamed it on the onions from "ugwu awusa" that she was cutting. I never saw any onions in the kitchen.
"Nwannem gini mere? Talk to your brother, have you and Papa sought the gods over this love you intend to tie yourself into?", I spoke softly, afraid to step on an already wounded lion.
Oby limps dejectedly towards the stool she had been sitting on at the edge of the clearing where i found her earlier that evening.
"Emeka, what do you know about the gods and how they speak?, Obiageli shakes her head as she bends to draw lines on the sand with a used match stick. I know it is to hide the tears that have already found a pathway on her beautiful cheeks.
"Emeka nwannem, go to your room. Just remember this, that a toad doesn't dance in the daylight except being chased by a lizard", Oby must have noticed the tears that were already glistening in my own eyes "....dont cry nwannem, you speak of the gods, you believe they feed and protect us, Remember Eme... The gods do not call their people to a feast to show them a corpse, go and rest tomorrow is another day".
I asked no more questions and spoke no more of Emenike, who the gods had chosen for my sister, Obiageli. After the six months of preparations had gone by and the quiet feast was held Oby was settled into her new home.
It was 3am, the first streaks of sunlight had not found its way through the sky, the air was chilly and smelled fresh with the scent of dew, the kind of atmosphere Nna anyi, my late grandfather said was good for his smoking his pipe. Gwachukwu my last brother had just pissed all over me, i stood up to change my cloth and dry the bed after gently placing him on the mat I spread on this floor. It was this day, three moons after my sister Oby was gone to make her home that I stumble on why the gods had made their decision.
I tiptoed quietly around the room, careful not to wake anyone who might be trying to make the most of his sleep, especially Papa, before Akaego, our dreaded cock crows. Then i hear voices coming from the living room, that of Papa, Mama is sobbing lightly and Udenta the Chief priest are easily recognizable, the other two or three I cant make out, so I move slowly towards the mouth of the door, careful not to trip over any object lying carelessly that might give away my prescence. What was so important that couldn't wait till the morning. Why were they discussing on whispers?
"Is everything settled? Have the gods been appeased?",Papa croaked. More whispers, more talks. I listened on, till the first farewells were bid.
I soon forgot Gwachukwu and my urine soaked cloth. As i made way back to my room dazed, I tried to phathom why Obiageli nwannem at sixteen had to be tied to Emenike a man of 32 whose ugliness was a tale in the four 4 villages. A man who still lived under the roof built by his father. I wonder why nwannem had to be tied at birth to this man, just to appease a god whose named had long since been forgottrn by humans. I wonder why Oby had to sacrifice her happiness to keep the peace for our generations, to save us from their wrath. I wonder what the gods would ask for next. I keep wondering till Akaego the Cock announces the break of dawn. If the gods do not call us for feast to show us a corpse, why then do they show us a corpse and expect us to dance. Indeed they can never be understood.
Coo...coo..roo...koo...