The Preacher Son

Episode 12

Location-Akwanga, Nasarawa state.
Year-2004
Class-Primary four

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‘Oya wake up we done reach Akwanga’ my dad woke us from the back of the lorry we used in transporting our properties.

What i saw as i woke up was interesting, there was a self contain apartment and there was a shiny light on.

“Mehn akwanga no bad at all, it seems better go dey”i muttered excitedly.

We went inside and slept but not after we packed everything inside and threw it any space we could find.

‘Tomorrow is another day’i taught, as i slept soundly.

We woke up to the sound of people shouting; ‘follow back, cover that side, no allow am run o’ some mad people shouted or so i taught. I peeped through the window and saw people both small and big chasing two fowls.

‘Mtcweew so na chicken they use wake person this morning, its gonna be a long day’ as i went back to bed and slept till 10am.

After devotion we went to brush our teeth and that was when it struck us-we had no water.

We went outside and searched there was no sign of a well or tap, every where was dry. That was went i started feeling sorry for myself.

We reported back to my dad and he sent us to go find the landlord, when we got to the man’s section of the house i saw a boy my age with bow-legs and a big head, he looked like a dwarfed wrestler because he had full hands.

We summoned courage and asked about the landlord, he told us he was the landlord son and that his dad was working in the farm at the back of the house.

When he was going to call his dad i ask him what his name was and he said ‘chokolo’. I wanted asking him if that was a name of a musical instrument or a music note but one look at his muscled face told me to keep my fat mouth shut.

‘This wan this boy ugly and short like this how would his father be’ i pinched my elder sister with a wink in my eye.

‘if u no wan die just better shut up your mouth because i no get power to help you if they start beating you’

‘you don forget say i be RVD’ i bragged.

For your information RVD is not a name of a computer software but an acronym of a WWE wrestler which means Rob Van Damme, he is a brother to the popular American actor Jean Claude Van Damme.

Chokolo came back and spoke the most funniest grammar combination i ever heard.

‘your father say make my father come meet am for farm’ he produced a Hausa man tongue grammar,

‘But my father dey inside room so how would he call your father into farm’ i asked a silly question.

My sister dragged me away before a got beaten with my useless statement. What the boy meant was that his dad was calling my dad to the farm but he exchanged the my dad to his dad.

Afterwards we all went to greet the landlord in his farm, his appearances did not surprise me, he had a big tummy that made me wondered if his wives shared their pregnancy with him, i almost shouted ‘see belly’ but for the timely intervention of my hands which held the mouth shut.

My dad ask him where we could get water from and he called Chokolo to show us where to get water, we all hijacked our little buckets and started the search for water like the children of Isreal looking for the promise land, with Chokolo being our Moses.

What i saw that day made me wish i had stayed back in Jos…..