The Haunted Celebrity

By M.D. Charles Onyegbule Uzoaru

The haunted celebrity' is the story of an ambitious young man who left his quiet humble village in order to fulfill his hidden ambition in a rough, cold and hostile metropolis. While he was in the city, he fulfilled his hidden ambition in a manner and to a level that was beyond his intellectual capacity. With inflated ego and a sense of invincibili

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Vine Press
• Release date: Mar 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781960063403

Book preview

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my parents, Paul Uzoaru Njoku and Mary Otelahu Uzoaru (nee Njoku). For us their children, they went hungry and gave up every little thing they had so that we could be well-nurtured. They never let us witness their moments of pain, grief and sadness. What mattered more to them was our happiness; our joy…our well-being. My father was uncompromisingly honest and could never deviate from his demonstration of righteousness and good ethics. My mother was a gentle giant who could achieve the impossible with her simplicity, humility and tough love. They were the best parents in the world and we could never pay them back for their selfless sacrifice and unconditional love.

Introduction

Have you ever felt like one being haunted by something that happened in the past? You may have made a simple or big mistake in the past and the repercussions never seem to go away. You may have hurt or even killed someone in the past. You may have missed an opportunity of a lifetime. You may have been raped; or badly hurt by some individual. You may have gotten into a bad deal with a business partner or a complete stranger. You could be a member of a community, or even a country that has a bad name or reputation; and even though you played no role in acquiring the notoriety, you end up inheriting a negative image that follows you around. It could be a natural or genetic predisposition whose adverse effects on you are profound. There are countless examples of cases where the past, which is supposed to be gone, follows you around like the inseparable human shadow under the sun. Something from the past could have a great impact on you; physically, mentally, socially, professionally, financially, spiritually, etc. You can’t wish it away; or run away from it. It feels like a wound on the palm of the hand that heals and forms a permanent scar. If you try to cut off the old scar, you end up creating a new scar that is even deeper and wider than the one you replaced. The scar on the palm of your hands becomes a permanent remnant of the past wound. Each time you use or wash that hand, the scar reminds you of the old wound.

‘The Haunted Celebrity’ is the story of an ambitious young man who left his humble village and went to the chaotic city in search of quick wealth, greatness and popularity. He found what he was looking for and came back to the village to flaunt his wealth and newly-found stardom. He became so popular that people fell in love with the city and started flocking there to replicate his success. Suddenly, all roads led to the city. Except for a small minority of individuals that remained steadfast in their negative views of the young man and the city, everybody wanted to be like him. They could never get enough of the young man. They believed in him and sang his praises. To the world around him, he was so much blessed and envied that if anyone could feel happy and fulfilled, it had to be him. As it turned out; that was not the case. Instead, he was haunted by some inescapable forces; both known and unknown. In his near-retirement age, the man was led by his victim and legitimate enemy to discover something more valuable than wealth, popularity and stardom in a most unusual and unexpected manner. That discovery turned out to be the best gift anyone could have given him in his entire life. He wished he had made the discovery earlier when his life was still fresh and young and not while he was already at the departure lounge of life. He began to wish he could turn the clock backward and start living differently. He knew he couldn’t do that. The best thing he could do was utilize his experience to the benefit those that might see wisdom through him. The young man’s newly-found wisdom was obviously at odds with the sentiments that were already sweeping across the land. While the folks were baffled and confused by his sudden shift in priorities, his small group of detractors welcomed his change in direction and embraced him with open arms; the same way one would welcome back a prodigal son. His critics suddenly became his most valued friends and partners in life. As much as he would want the folks to change course and embrace his newly-found wisdom, he was not waiting for them to alter their lifestyle. Like a man who had fired a gun, he was not going to chase after the bullet. Besides, he was already at the departure lounge of life.

(The book had previously been published without the current changes as Trapped in Broad-day Light).

Chapter 1

There were two women; both married in the same Umunta village. One was called Ihuoma (pretty face; the face of good); the other was called Ihuaku (rich face; the face of wealth). Their parents must have had their reasons for giving them those names. They were both pregnant for the third time. Ihuaku was pregnant with twins; Ihuoma had singleton gestation. They were both due for delivery at the end of the year. They must have gotten pregnant around the same time. Both women belonged to the same associations; so, did their husbands. The village was a close-knit community where people knew each other by name. No one suffered, cried, or celebrated alone. When one person failed, everybody mourned because it was assumed that the entire community had failed, and when one person succeeded, everybody else rejoiced; and celebrated. Without knowing it, the two women were in the process of making history in Umunta village.

The first trimester ultrasound performed on Ihuaku showed a six-week twin gestation. Follow up ultrasound performed four weeks later confirmed her twin gestation with two distinct heart beats. She was in celebratory mood; so were the neighbors. She started having slight vaginal bleeding with cramps and went back to the doctor for follow-up care. A repeat ultrasound at that time showed only one gestation and one heart beat could be heard. Ihuaku was told by the doctor that one of her twins had ‘vanished’. The remaining twin was ‘normal and healthy’. Ihuaku was as confused as she was terrified. What could have happened to one of her twins? She could only imagine the various rumors and gossips that would soon emanate from the community. Some would swear she had ‘eaten’ one of her twins. Some would insinuate that she was ‘a witch’ or a ‘mermaid’ in human form. She felt hurt as she suffered the agony of the mysterious disappearance of one of her twins in utero and carried the burden of being the object of gossips around the neighborhood at the same time. What might happen to the remaining twin? Would it survive or ‘vanish’ as well? Did the surviving twin conceivably ‘swallow’ the ‘vanishing twin’? Ihuaku and her husband had more questions than answers. Were they being punished by some evil deeds done in the past? Was the remaining twin, by any chance, a ‘witch’ that would soon come to life to cause them immense grief? They wished they could turn the clock back and start all over. Obviously, they couldn’t. What had happened had happened. Ihuaku did not have any further complications with her pregnancy. Amazingly, everything went smoothly till the very end of her pregnancy.

On the thirty-first of December, both women went into labor as estimated. Ihuoma had a prolonged labor that started around nine o’clock in the morning while Ihuaku had a rapid labor that started around nine o’clock in the evening. Ihuaku had her bouncing baby boy at exactly two minutes before midnight while Ihuoma had her own baby boy at exactly two minutes after midnight. There was great joy and happiness in both camps. The two boys were, therefore, born four minutes apart on different market days, different months and different years. All attention was quickly directed to the newborn baby boys as the new mothers struggled to deal with the post-labor pains. The new mothers could not help feeling ‘forgotten’ as joyful neighbors concentrated their interests and love on the newly born. They were happy; all the same.

Ihuaku’s husband, a man called Okwute (Stone) was a man whose primary objective in life was to get rich and famous by any means possible; fair or foul. Ihuoma’s husband, on the other hand, was known for his open contempt for fame and material things. His name was Ikemba (people’s power). Okwute quickly named his son Nwokeke (a man born on Eke day) while Ikemba named his son Nwokorie (a man born on Orie day). They were fondly called Keke and Korie by the folks. Each of the boys’ names was a reflection of the market day when he was born. The people had four market days: Eke, Orie, Afor and Nkwo. It was not unusual for a child’s name to reflect the day of his or her birth. A child could be named ‘Nwanyi Sunday’ (a woman born on a Sunday), ‘Nwanyiorie’ (a woman born on Orie market day), ‘Nwokafor’ (a man born on Afor day), etc. Parents chose names for their children based on certain principles. Every name given to a child in Umunta village had a special meaning based on something that happened in the past, something that was particularly important to the person naming the child, something that someone had a very special interest in, something wished for the child, or a statement of fact. A man, for example, could be expressing gratitude for a special favor he had received from God by naming his son Kelechi (thank God).

The elders believed that there was a strong correlation between a person’s name and his or her lifestyle and behavior. As a result, parents were generally careful in choosing names for their children. They would shy away from the type of names that would ‘lead’ a child in the wrong direction and choose ‘positive’ names for them. They might choose names such as Ezinne (good mother), Obioma (good heart) or Udokamma (peace is better) rather than Agbara (deity) and Isike (stubbornness). They could also name a child what they would want him or her to become in the future such as Akajiaku (the hand that has wealth) or Enyioma (good friend).

The youth, on the other hand believed that a person’s name had no impact on his or her behavioral patterns. A person’s way of life, they argued, originated directly from the chromosomes. ‘A criminal will commit crimes even if he is named an Angel,’ they would argue. As a result, the youth had a radically-different view of the significance of personal names as opposed to the elders. Given a chance, they would pick and choose names that had portrayed excitement and modern lifestyle rather than cultural beliefs.

Shortly after his birth, Korie developed fever from a viral infection which was transmitted to him by his mother. The doctor gave him aspirin to reduce the fever. Soon after that, the baby had seizures, diarrhea and rapid breathing. The doctor said the child had what was called ‘Reye’s syndrome’. The parents were not particularly interested in medical terms. They simply wanted their child to get well. He was placed on supportive therapy. He was so sick; everybody thought he was going to die. The baby, as it turned out, was a fighter. He fought through his symptoms and hung in there. A month later, he recovered fully from his acute illness without any residual effects. Ultimately, he caught up with Keke in both strength and vigor.

Meanwhile, Keke was flourishing right from birth. He was very energetic, alert, and full of life as he consumed his mother’s breast milk with vigor. His skin was moist and smooth. He didn’t suffer any acute illness. He had already fought his own fight, successfully, in utero.

At exactly nine months, Keke stood up one day and started walking. It was a remarkable feat for a nine-month-old boy to skip crawling and start walking when he was expected to start walking between one year and one and a half years after perfecting the art of crawling. Korie, on the other hand, went through the normal process and started walking at the age of thirteen months. The two young boys who started life from the same vantage point had clearly mapped out different paths in their journey through life. That was rather remarkable.

Even before he could come into the world, Keke had already become notorious for ‘swallowing’ his twin brother in utero. What else could he do in real life? He had become synonymous with ‘a snake that swallowed another with a tail sticking out of its mouth’. If Keke had come into the world to perpetuate mischief, he should be reminded that, like that snake that swallowed another, he could never hide his evil deeds from the world around him. Whether it was fair or not, folks were already biased and opinionated against him and could not hide their suspicions of his motives in real life. Already, some people had nicknamed him ‘the cockroach that ate another to blossom’. Others called him ‘the snake that swallowed another’. And yet, others referred to him as ‘the vulture that fed on dead animals’. No one would dare call him such names in the presence of his parents as that would invoke their anger. Rumors and gossips flourished in the village as part of daily life.

In Umunta village, everybody belonged to an age grade. Traditionally, those who were born from January to December of the same year were grouped into a separate age grade. In order words, individuals who were considered to be the same age were not necessarily born even at the same week or month. Your age mate could be almost a year older or younger than you. Based on the traditional age grading system, Keke and Korie who were born in different years could not belong to the same age grade even though they were born only four minutes apart.

Two individuals had come into the world in the same community with conflicting differences between them. One passed through a precipitous labor while the other endured the long hours of prolonged labor. One had won a deadly fight in utero before coming into the world in excellent health while the other started a seemingly-healthy life outside the womb only to face a potentially- deadly viral infection. One was born two minutes before midnight while the other was born two minutes after midnight. One was born short; the other was tall. One was in a hurry to come into the world and in a hurry to start walking. One came into the world, fast, through a rapid labor and couldn’t wait to start walking while the other endured the slow, agonizing journey into the world through a prolonged labor and took his time to learn the ropes of human development. One was perceived in bad light as a ‘snake’, a ‘cockroach’ and a ‘vulture’ while the other remained unscathed in the eyes of the public. They were born on different market days, different months and different years; four minutes apart.

A situation had been created where two young men of approximately the same age and from the same Umunta village were radically different from each other in both perception and behavior. Was their relationship a recipe for lifelong dispute and discord between them? Would the two ever get along in real life? Would they follow the same paths they had already taken or would the rest of their lives be different from what had already been perceived? Were they bound on parallel paths or would their paths ever cross each other?

Enrolled in different age grades, they grew up together in the same Umunta village and could never stop challenging each other at all times. They battled each other in every social competition, every wrestling match and in every discussion. The village had never seen two individuals go after each other’s throat as they did. One evening after their separate age-grade meetings, Korie came across Keke and decided to irritate him.

My age mate; how are you doing today? Korie started.

Point of correction; I’m not your age mate. I am older than you and in a higher age grade than you. You must learn to respect your senior, Keke shot back.

Any smart person should know that Individuals born four minutes apart are age mates, Korie reminded him.

If we are age mates, then become an official member of my age grade, Keke challenged him.

I don’t blame you. I blame the elders for their divisive customs, Korie replied.

Feed a dog and starve a cow; they’ll never be the same size. We will never be in the same age grade, Keke belittled him.

For your information, I’m proud of who and what I am. You can keep your age grade. I don’t care about it, Korie replied.

When a child’s prey escapes, he calls it ‘dirty’. Suddenly, you don’t care about my age grade, Keke ridiculed him.

Both of them knew that by tradition Korie could never be admitted into Keke’s age grade. In reality, they were age mates because they were separated in age by mere four minutes. Yet, traditionally, they belonged to different age grades since they were born in different calendar years. Age grade was a status symbol that separated seniors from juniors and it was not unusual for individuals to try to cheat their way into a higher age grade.

In Umunta village, seniority in age meant everything. Seniors were respected and held in high regard because age was synonymous with wisdom. It was a thing of great pride to be older than others. People would often lie about their age claiming to be older than what they were especially in the presence of strangers who did not know their true age. Korie was obviously upset by a process that made him practically inferior to Keke. He would always press the issue anytime they bumped into each other and would always address Keke as ‘my age mate’ while Korie would always address him as ‘my junior’. The tradition of the land had become a catalyst for vengeful antagonistic rivalry between two brothers.

Out of curiosity, one might want to know something about the men that brought Keke and Korie into the world.

Ikemba (people’s power) was Korie’s father while Okwute (stone) was Keke’s father. They were both born a few years before the white man came into Umunta village.

When the white man first came to the village, he brought lifestyles and values that were both different and contrary to those of the natives. The god he preached was different from that of the inhabitants and he established schools and legal methods of resolving conflicts that were inconsistent with what the natives had practiced successfully for centuries. The natives, by their nature, were known for their welcoming spirit and their generosity to strangers. However, because they were suspicious of the white man’s motives and felt threatened by his various activities, they gave him the cold shoulder. The white man needed customers for his newly-established institutions while the natives, fearing for their lives, did not want to provoke the white man unduly. The aggressive white man encouraged the natives to patronize his institutions and abandon their old ways which he painted as antiquated, unprogressive and ungodly. As a form of compromise, the natives quickly found a way to utilize the white man’s schools to shoot two birds with one stone. They sent the criminals and undesirable elements in their midst to populate the white man’s schools and various institutions and held their favored sons back to work on the farms and engage in commerce and industry. Some of the folks exploited the situation by leading their enemies into the white man’s trap just to get rid of them. It became a win-win situation for both sides; the white man got the much-needed manpower for his institutions while the natives breathed a sigh of relief after getting rid of those they did not want in their midst. A new symbiotic system had emerged with the natives living and functioning side by side with the white man and his group of dutiful young men and women who were trained to sustain, proliferate and enforce his philosophy and ways of life. Those who were not utilized in the village to populate the white man’s schools and various institutions were transported to the white man’s lands as slaves to do their difficult manual labor.

With time, the so-called criminals, the disfavored and the undesirables occupied the newly-created positions in the white man’s schools, courts, churches and various institutions and started wielding their newly-found power and authority. Both Ikemba (Korie’s father) and Okwute (Keke’s father) were already teenagers when the white man came to the village and were both favored sons who were forbidden by their parents to attend the white man’s school.

Ikemba had weighed close to twelve pounds at birth and was named Ikemba because of his birth weight; and he lived true to his name. Because he was forbidden from attending the white man’s school, he transferred his academic potentials into sports and quickly rose to prominence as he defeated one wrestler after another throughout the villages. With his strength and imposing stature, no one would dare face off with him in the boxing arena. Deep down, he was soft and gentle. Though he was a man of imposing stature, he could never hurt a fly or purposely hurt anyone. He held no grudges against others and he, in turn, was held in the highest esteem by everyone. Ikemba was a tall, handsome and meaty individual with a kind harmless face and a soft smile. His calm demeanor and friendly expressions were enough to make a total stranger feel at ease. There was an element of shyness in his looks. As one would expect, Ikemba was as rich as he was famous. The site and thought of him aroused romantic sentiments in women and his fellow men envied him. Because he easily made lots of money with little effort, he squandered most of it on things he didn’t need and lived a flamboyant and reckless lifestyle. Women threw themselves at him. Though he was profusely generous to his string of women lovers, he would use them, and dumb them at ease. As if the single girls were not enough for him, he was known for gallivanting with married women thereby breaking marriages. He fathered many children outside his marriage. Some he knew; some he didn’t. He was driven, not by evil sentiments, but by his fabulous wealth. He was so blinded and controlled by his steady flow of wealth that he failed to realize the damage he was causing others. As he got older, he was overtaken by wisdom and guilt and tried to make amends for his rascality and irresponsible behavior. He went from being a rascal to preaching morality and good behavior. When his first son was born, Ikemba quickly named him Korie, (because he was born on Orie day). He also gave him a pet name; Ahabuisi (good name comes first), as a sign of repentance and because he didn’t want his son to make the same mistakes he had made. Age, not wealth, had brought wisdom into Ikemba’s life. He knew he had messed up his good name and reputation by breaking so many hearts and marriages; and he wanted his son Korie to be different from him in that respect. He was hopeful that his son would live up to his pet name and grow up as a reputable, well-respected member of Umunta village.

Okwute, unlike Ikemba, was a stubborn child who broke all rules and traditional norms. When his father ordered him to stay away from the white man’s newly-established schools, he sneaked into the school anyway to satisfy his curiosity. He liked what he saw, fell in love with the school system, and decided to register his name as a student. His father was distraught and angry that his favored son could so blatantly flaunt his orders. Knowing the punishment that awaited him at home, Okwute ran away from his father’s house and went to his maternal grandfather’s home. From there, he continued to attend the white man’s school and graduated with honors. As tradition demanded, any child that ran to his or her maternal home for any reason whatsoever was always warmly received and protected. Armed with his educational qualification, Okwute finally went back to his father’s house where, because he was already placed in a position of absolute authority by the white man, he was practically untouchable by all and sundry. As the most educated man in Umunta village, he became the law and the new face of the white man. Everybody was afraid of him. When he realized that neither the white man nor the natives could do without him, he took advantage of his unique position and enjoyed unlimited freedom from both sides. He was able to defy the laws of the white man as well as those of his native land without open retribution. Despite his education and in defiance to the white man’s laws, Okwute had eight wives; Keke’s mother being the sixth. He was often teased as a man who had eight coconuts fighting for a position to break his head. Polygamy brought along jealousy, rivalry, discord and in-fighting between co-wives who often took out their frustrations on the man. Even though the white man preached against polygamy to the general public, in the case of Okwute, he looked the other way. Okwute was serving two masters at the same time without retribution. Neither side was eager or willing to offend him; or lose his support. The white man was careful not to alienate one of the few individuals who could shield him from a community that hated his guts and ways of life. The natives, on the other hand, took great pains to keep Okwute from doing any more damage to the traditions of the land than had already been done by the white man. All they could do was remind him, from time to time, that the blood of the ancestors was flowing in his veins. To avoid any possibility of the natives and the white man uniting against him, Okwute exercised a certain level of restraint in his dealings with both parties and learnt to shake their hands without going beyond the elbow. He adhered to the core traditions of his forefathers while he protected the interests of the white man. Okwute was a short arrogant man with a lean-muscled stomach and a rather disrespecting outlook. He would go out of his way to make others feel inferior to him even when the odds were stacked up against him. His smile was like a threatening frown that lasted but a few seconds. When he walked, he shrugged his both shoulders in a show of indifference and power. He would walk right into your face like you were an empty space. It was always like…either you get out of my way or you get crushed. He exhumed so much audacity and confidence and would look you straight into the eyeballs. No one knew exactly why Okwute was so arrogant and threatening. Some people attributed his arrogance to his short stature. It was said that short people acted mean and pompous to make up for their petite stature. Some wondered if his actions and behavior had something to do with the name his father gave him at birth. What did his father have in mind when he named his son Okwute (Stone)? Others interpreted his actions and behavior as a result of the way he was treated in the past when he had been rejected and practically ostracized by his own father for attending the white man’s school. He knew how good the white man was at using his victims as pawns to achieve his concealed objectives and that, too, infuriated him. Education had turned the vulnerable chick in him into an avenging formidable rooster. When his first son was born, Okwute named him Keke (because he was born on Eke day). He also gave him a pet name, Egobuisi (money comes first) because he wanted his son to fall in love with wealth). He could not hide his lust for wealth and material well-being and he wanted his son to pursue and acquire wealth by all means. If age had brought wisdom to Ikemba and forced him to see extreme wealth as an undesirable factor in his son’s life, it did not change Okwute one bit.

Chapter 2

The expression ‘like father like son’ seemed to apply, appropriately, to both keke and Korie.

Korie, (Ikemba’s first son) was a tall, handsome and meaty individual with a kind harmless face and a soft smile like his father before him. His calm demeanor and friendly expressions were enough to make a total stranger feel at ease. As big as he was, he could never kill a fly or try to hurt someone. There was an element of shyness in his looks which seemed to shadow his extraordinary intellect. He was a smart young man with a brilliant mind.

Keke (Okwute’s first son) was short, brutish and aggressive; an arrogant person with a lean-muscled stomach and a rather disrespecting outlook. What he lacked in height, he made it up with aggression. His smile was like a threatening frown of an adversary. He would purposely violate your individual space by coming too close to you. It was not unusual for him to spread his saliva during conversations. Keke was always aggressive, adversarial and prone to initiate arguments and conflicts even with individuals twice his size. He was always unrelenting in pursuit of victory by all means even when the tide was not in his favor.

Coming from a large family where there were many children, Keke was not particularly close to his father. Because she was married to Okwute, his mother saw education as a tool to surpass and suppress others in a competitive world and pressured him to become ‘the most educated young man’ of his time. Unfortunately, Keke was not an intellectual and had no desire to be one. Stubborn like his father, he had to find a way to defy his parents and instead of running away to his maternal grandmother’s house, he stayed home and attended school half-heartedly and resorted to falsifying his school reports and grades. As a result, and despite his ‘excellent grades in school’, he was as good as a high-school dropout. During graduation ceremonies, he would leave the house in the morning and come back in the evening; the same time real school graduates would be returning home. His mother, who didn’t know any better, always swallowed Keke’s lies about him doing well in school and graduating like other students. Keke knew he couldn’t stay in high school forever. So, when children his age graduated from high school, he made plans to swindle his way into college. In a country where corruption was so rampant, he was confident of getting into some college through bribery. He wanted academic recognition without being educated. From his early childhood, Keke was so good at recalling his dreams in its entirety that his mother dubbed him ‘the dream boy’. In addition to regular dreams, he day-dreamed most of the day as he imagined himself occupying positions of immense wealth and power. His dreams were filled with luxurious things and pretty girls and he loved everything modern. Coming from a polygamous family, the young man’s sentiments and lifestyle were clouded by suspicion and mistrust. He grew up with a sense of paranoia; neither trusting nor being open-minded. To him, everybody was out to get him and must be regarded as an enemy until proven otherwise. In addition, he was mesmerized by pretty girls. For an incompetent person whose mind was focused on galloping ahead of everyone else, he mastered the art of falsification and dubious activities. He was practically obeying his father’s wishes by falling in love with quick wealth without labor. Right from childhood, he acquired the habit of trailing those who were considered powerful, rich and famous by the society at large. He wanted to be like them by all means. He dreamt of growing up and beating the rich and famous at their game. He imitated the rich and famous and studied their overall behavior…the type of business they were engaged in, the way they operated, and the type of clothes and shoes they wore. He would even go to the extent of claiming close relationship with highly-successful strangers and say such things as: ‘my godfather, the governor’, ‘my friend, the president’s son,’ ‘my uncle, the minister’…. even when he was obviously a total stranger to them. He would take chances and risk everything just to push his way into the lives of those considered rich and famous. His one-track mind was fixed on popularity, wealth and pretty women. He lacked the ability to learn, either from personal experience, or from others.

Korie, on the other hand, was never pressured by his mother (or father) to be the best student in school. He was a good son who tried to do everything right and he made his grades in a truly professional manner. He valued education as much as his mother did. But they did not see education or anything else in life as a do or die affair. They saw education as a key to a better future and not a weapon to suppress and subjugate others. With little or no pressure, Korie did very well in school and enjoyed every bit of school life. However, something kept him from going beyond high school. While Korie was still in high school, students started forming gangs and killing each other. The school environment became so toxic for both students and staff that Korie decided to quit the only school around. He was not going to have his life wasted for the sake of education. He, unlike his kinsman Keke, viewed family and friends as people that could be trusted and relied upon. He grew up in a family where everybody worried about everyone else and occasional quarrels and disagreements did not destroy the fabric of family unity and togetherness. He was not the overly ambitious type like Keke. His main ambition in life was to live a simple clean life in a happy family devoid of rancor and simmering jealousy. When he learnt the details of how his father had lived a flamboyant and reckless lifestyle and had used and dumped pretty girls and broken marriages by gallivanting with married women, he felt ashamed. His father had told him the entire story and encouraged him to live a good life. In his determination to right the wrongs of his father, he initially turned to religion and spirituality for solace and salvation. He went overboard and became a religious fanatic. He shunned the pleasures of life and refused to drink and smoke. Due to his religious fanaticism, people feared for his sound mental capacity as he injected religion in every facet of life and one could never win a religious argument with him. He was rigidly devoted to his religious principles. Close friends and relatives tried to steer him away from extremism. They couldn’t. Some gave up in sheer frustration while others prayed for him. It did not take too long for him to revert to normal lifestyle like everybody else. Korie was inquisitive and explorative and tried to find an explanation as well as consequences to everything. Why did certain things happen the way they did? What could happen if an act was or was not performed? During the night, if he was not sleeping, he was busy figuring things out. During the day, his mind was constantly busy. If he wasn’t writing, he was reading. He learnt from what happened to others and paid attention to the words of the elders. Some talents he taught himself; others he acquired through exploration and listening to others. Though his dreams were simple in nature, he could never recall them entirely. He dreamt dreams of family reunion and trips; of graduation and naming ceremonies. Occasionally, he would see himself in a dream climbing hills and socializing with total strangers. Like someone who was obeying his father’s wishes, he dismissed wealth and power from his mind and dreams. He admired the wisdom of old age and appreciated the greatness of yesteryears.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone of the open rivalry and hostility that existed between Keke and Korie right from their early childhood. They always challenged, criticized and pestered each other at every opportunity. During the wrestling season when individuals of same age and strength were paired, they never failed to challenge each other in the wrestling arena. Any suggestion brought up by one of them during an open discussion was always certain to be challenged by the other. Their relationship had escalated into a heightened state of conflicts with no end in sight. They fought over insignificant matters. People came to know them as ‘the tooth and tongue’ sharing the same inevitable environment where one was likely to draw blood from the other. The folks often wondered if jealousy or even hatred played a role in their relationship. No one seemed to comprehend the scope of jealousy and rivalry between them. If they had a choice, they would have preferred never to see each other. They were like two incompatible shrubs planted together against their will to fight over limited sunlight and food resources. The unique differences between two young men who were born four minutes apart had become a source of lifelong dispute and discord between them. Tradition had inadvertently exacerbated a volatile wedge between them as they got stuck with each other for life in a small space called Umunta village.

As Keke chased pretty girls in the open and displayed total disregard to decency and self-control, parents were distrustful of him and advised their young daughters to stay away from him at all times. Folks were afraid he would shame the village someday by impregnating a village sister; something regarded as an abomination of the highest order. His unworthy behavior did not go down well with the people, yet everyone was careful not to criticize him in the open. Apart from his father’s great influence and authority as the white man’s agent, he was an aggressive and unfriendly young man and nobody wanted his trouble.

In Umunta village, a majority of the people was poor and death among them was very rampant. Burial ceremonies had become so common and due to the sheer number of people that died and got buried, death no longer evoked as much passion and shock as it used to. With rising traditional demands on the bereaved, burial expenses had risen to the level beyond the reach of the poor in a land where tradition and customs were sacrosanct. When someone died, certain traditional rites must be performed and obligations must be met before the burial would take place. It didn’t matter if the bereaved was rich or poor. It was not unusual for the bereaved to borrow money and sell parcels of land and precious commodities to bury their dead. Even when someone died from hunger and deprivation, all traditional obligations must be met before the burial could take place. Relevant groups and individuals must be officially informed of the death, sometimes with a cow or expensive drinks; or both. The dead must be celebrated with unlimited food, drinks and traditional music. Cows and goats were slaughtered for the ceremony. Perhaps, to justify the process, they called the burial ceremony ‘the celebration of life’ instead of ‘the mourning of death’. Shouldn’t life be celebrated when someone was alive? The poor struggled to live and when they died, it was quite a task for their surviving relatives to give them proper burial. A rich man’s death, on the other hand, was something different. When a rich person died, the occasion of grief was turned into a competition of affluence and extravagance. Their surviving relatives flaunted their wealth while the opportunistic poor seized the occasion to feast from one burial ceremony to another. It was not unusual for the poor to keep their stomachs empty for days before a rich man’s burial ceremony in order to accommodate as much food and drinks as possible during the burial.

Coming from a village where death was so rampant, Keke had witnessed so many burial ceremonies in his young life. One year before he was trying to bribe his way into college….to keep his mother’s fury at bay…he witnessed a rich man’s burial ceremony that changed his life forever. It was, perhaps, his first taste of the level of extravagance and opulence surrounding the rich. The deceased was so wealthy in life that he was nick-named Itego (pot of money). Interestingly, his real name was Oyibo (white man); a name given to him at birth because of his curly hair and light skin. Unlike other crooked individuals who had made their money by foul means, Itego was a very honest and hard-working business man who acquired his wealth by a combination of sheer hard work and good luck. His business enterprises spanned across the land and beyond. Through his numerous factories, businesses and industries, he was able to employ a large number of workers who depended on him for their daily bread and livelihood. Despite his wealth, he was neither arrogant nor flamboyant or intimidating. Instead, he was a very humble man who respected everybody, shunned publicity and lived a very quiet, private life. He was a genuine philanthropist who felt other people’s pains and rejoiced with them in good times; and he never took credit for his numerous acts of mercy. People loved and adored him.

Unfortunately for Itego, his only son was a direct opposite of who he was. The young man grew up a spoilt child and took advantage of his father’s wealth and popularity to terrorize the community at will. He always got away with his evil deeds because everybody was afraid of his wealthy father. He could kill someone and get away with murder. Even the law enforcement agents were hesitant to prosecute the young man for his evil deeds. Itego was known for his intolerance of bad habits regardless of who the culprit was and would have disciplined his son if he knew how badly he was behaving. He loved his son but would never tolerate his lawless behavior. He was not aware of his son’s evil deeds and no one, not even the law enforcement agency, was willing to raise the issue with him. It was either because they were respectful of his privacy or they did not want to bother him with his son’s illicit activities. The young man, therefore, had no one to rein him in. Itego himself was an only child and throughout his life, he wished he had other siblings. Despite his huge wealth, he felt lonely and alone. He was constantly defrauded by people who were supposed to purchase materials or run errands for him. Yet, he was very charitable to the world around him. Even though his loneliness abated significantly when he got married, he still felt the pains of one without a sibling. He did not want his offspring to go through the same loneliness he went through; so he planned to have several children. But his creator had different plans for him. He ended up with three children; a boy