SOMUANYIRO - CHAPTER 2

I was almost four years old when I noticed that my mother Aniogo was having a protruding stomach, I instantly became very curious. Upon my incessant probing, I was told that she had a child growing inside of her, and I could not imagine what that meant.

My mother was the epitome of beauty in my eyes. She looked so much like an unmarried maiden; very slender, with glowing skin that she polished often with ude aki, scented oil. It was hard to believe that she has ever had a child.

My father told me that she gave birth to a set of twins before me, but he had quickly done away with them that very night before the evil could spread through the village. Multiple births are seen as an evil act, permitted only for animals, therefore when it happens to humans they are thrown into the evil forests and left to die by which ever fate the gods assigned to them.

One hot afternoon, my father and I returned from the bush after picking herbs, to find the umuada (kindred women) busying about the compound. I could hear my mother’s voice as she screamed. I looked at my father; rather than running to my mother’s unu to find out what was going on, he walked towards his obi, the lounge; he had a worried, yet happy look on his face. I got troubled.

“Nna, father, what is going on here? What is wrong with my mother and why won’t you run in to help her” I asked him.

My father smiled at me, “Your mother is screaming in the voice of her ancestral mothers. She will be fine, don’t worry about it.”

This made me more confused. I started running to my mother’s unu, but my father caught hold of my hand. Some umuada told him to let me go, that it was never too early to learn my duties as a woman. Reluctantly he let go off my hand, and I ran in as fast as my thin legs let me.

What I saw with my eyes was nothing I ever imagined I would see. A child’s bloody head had gotten stuck between my mother’s legs, and it was screaming too. There was blood everywhere around her. Two women held her legs apart, another two held her hands. Orjiugo, my father’s sister was enchanting and blowing incense, while the other women chanted songs I could not understand.

Despite the obvious pains I knew my mother was passing through, she gave me a strained smile when I looked at her face. I smiled back at her and left the room to wait outside with my father and the rest of his friends and family that had come by.

That evening, my father took me to his sister’s house to sleep. On the way there he explained to me that what I saw was my mother bringing out the child that was growing in her. But he was unable explain further, when I asked him how this child had gotten inside her in the first place.

This child grew up to be my younger sister Echidime, who doesn’t like me much, but believes she is entitled to half of all I own, including my wife.

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Echidime has been married three times, twice to men from other villages, the last time to an old widower from our village, yet she always found a reason to return to our father’s house. She has had five children shared between her first two husbands. Now she leaves in my home with her last two children, mischievous boys they were.

Echidime never agreed with my wife and picked a fight over every little thing. She refuses to cook meals and expects to eat; neither she nor her sons help out in the up keep of my household. She wants to have a say in the way I run my family. She believes that my wife is incapable of giving me as much children as I should have, and constantly told me that I need to marry a second wife.

“Nwannem nwoke, my brother” she would say, “you know our father had problems performing his duties correctly as a man.  He was unable to give our mother more children after me.”

In her insolence she must have forgotten that her birth nearly killed our mother Aniogo, and that our father was a great man irrespective of his inability to have more children. Yet I listened to her.

"He was too stubborn and refused to marry more wives after the last two left him. You must not be like that too. Oke nwoke k'ibu, you are a great man."

She softly touched my left shoulder as she talked. 

“You, my brother, were the pride of his life. You cannot fail him now. You must keep proving to him that you were worth the sacrifices.” She says this with a sheepish smile on her face.

Like most married women, my sister wears an ogodo, a cotton cloth, wrapped around her chest. Her body is saggy as a result of child birth, but she doesn't help matters by eating too much.

“Echii” that is what I call her. “You know I have always lived up to father’s expectations. I have never and will never sway from it.

“Mba nu, no!” she continues “You have been doing well, you are wealthy and well respected in the village, but it is not enough. You need to have more children. Your wife has bad blood. She cannot have the right amount. Don’t forget that she is nothing but a war acquisition, who knows the kind of family she came from before our people captured her.”

She constantly tugs at her wrapper as she talks, maybe to make sure it doesn't fall off, or just a habit, am not sure.

“Echii,” I spoke softly. “I will not have you talk about my wife that way. If and when I need more children, I know what to do.” 

I have found that raising my voice at my sister is fruitless, so I don't stress myself, not even when am very angry at her.

“Kam nu nti, let me hear word” she says. “We both know that is not what you can do. If your wife was smart enough she would have had more.”

“I am the man in this house; you do not have the right to speak to me that way. Why don’t you go back to one of your husbands and run his house hold. This is the last time we will have a discussion of this sort.”

“Nna” she cajoles me. “I do not mean to run your household. I just have your interests at hand. The four children you have are not enough. I have found you a beautiful girl from the Ekufulem family.”

She stands up, looks around the obi, as to be sure no one else can hear, then she whispers in my ear “a maiden for that matter.” She sits down and smiles at me.

"I plan to go with the umunna to marry her for you soon, I just need your approval. Trust me my brother, she is of good blood."

I fully understand all that she has said; truth be told, I am not angry at her. I couldn't be angry at her. She isn't the first to mention that I need another wife and more children. But of what use are they to me.

If I marry another woman, she would go to another man to bear children with. When she does this, I wouldn't love the children enough because of their paternity. I couldn't imagine mixing up my beloved children with another and allowing them to grow up together.

I am in love with the father of my children and I loved my wife, I also know my wife loves the father of our children. This is the only reason why I don’t want more another wife and I can never explain this to anyone. After all I a man, how do I explain being in love with another man.

“Echidime I have heard you, thank you for your concern. I will put it into consideration and let you know when I have made up my mind. You can leave now.” 

As she left she had a frown on her face. We both knew I wasn't going to do any of it. I also prayed she wouldn't take any action that will make me unhappy.