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Ezekwe had prevailed on Chikezie in the past to come home and make himself useful, but he had refused. Right now, Ezekwe could see that things were really rough for him. Since his return, Ezekwe had noticed that several occasions, he had sat staring into space. So deep were his thoughts that at such times he was oblivious of every other thing happening around him. He had to be roused before he realised himself. Ezekwe had insistently probed him and he had finally confided in him about having trouble at his work place. At the end of it all, Ezekwe was puzzled that he had stayed on, instead of returning home for good.

As these were going in his mind, Chikezie looked up for the first time. He was wiping the soup plate clean with his fore finger. All the fufu had disappeared. After this, he put down the plate and started washing his hands.

"Dede, thank you," he said, picking up his radio once again which he had put down while eating.

"Thanks too." Ezekwe replied. "Please, leave the radio where it is. I want us to have a heart to heart discussion." Chikezie reluctantly obeyed. "Ure," he called, because he guessed that the children might all have slept by now. In a little while Ure came in. She started collecting the plates and clearing the table.

"Thanks for the food" Chikezie said to her but she ignored him.

"Are you not going to have a bath? Do you want me to put water on the fire for you?" she asked her husband.

"No. It is already late. Just go in. Good night," he replied, dismissing her. Ure took her plates and left. Ezekwe cleared his throat.

"You said your wife is expecting a baby?" he asked.

"Yes."

"When do you think she will be due to have her baby?"

"In about four or five month's time.'"

"And what are your plans? Are you not bringing her home to have her baby here since things are tough for you there? Will you be able to take good care yourself?" he asked

Chikezie opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it and changed his mind.

"I will manage," he rather replied.

"You will manage? How would you do that?"
Ezekwe asked and continued without waiting for a reply. "See what you are doing to yourself, Chike. Who would believe that you are a son of Oparaji, a man well-known for his industry? Oparaji had a famous yam barn that was among the largest in the whole of Nneri town. But look at you, living in hunger and want.You have reduced yourself to the level that the whole village now hold you in derision all because of your lifestyle. No matter how hard you pretend and try to hide things from me, I can read through the lines. You are not finding things easy over there. Come home, my brother, return to your father's house and inherit your own share of his property. Stop running away from your home, preferring to languish in the city. Return home to your people and stop making yourself the laughing stock of the whole village. Chike, a word, they say, is enough for the wise.'"

Through all these, Chikezie sat silently, taking in what his elder brother was saying. But how was he to tell his brother that he was disgusted with village life? How was he to explain to him that his wife, Euna, would never agree to their coming to the village to live permanently? Left to him he would have returned home all the same. If for nothing else, to save his life which he knew was now in imminent danger.

He worked for a white man as steward and cook.With the expansion of his master's company, it required more stewards as more people now lived in the staff quarters. His master therefore employed a new steward, Okon, who hated Chikezie right from the onset. Okon was a younger man who hailed from a different ethnic group. He had a different culture and language. As a younger, stronger and more agile man than Chikezie, he had, with time turned their master's interest away from Chikezie to himself.

There was a rumour also that he was into witchcraft. Though Chikezie had no evidence for his claims, there were many incidents which strengthened this suspicion. Such incidents never occurred prior to Okon's arrival, incidents such as that of the many lines like razor-cuts that ran across Chikezie's back and those of some of his family members. There were constant quarrels between Chikezie's wife and Okon over several issues since they all lived in the same section of the staff quarters in the main compound.

Chikezie would have loved to accept his brother's advice but he was afraid his wife would not agree to come home. She preferred to live in the city and had advised Chikezie to look for a better job elsewhere or to secure another place of abode for his family but this was beyond his income. They either had to manage with Okon or return home and his wife would rather manage with something worse than Okon than return home. He sighed dejectedly.

"Are you sleepy?" Ezekwe asked. "If you are, you can retire for the night, but think carefully about what I have said and give me your reply in the morning.Goodnight."

"Alright, goodnight" Chikezie responded as he left the reception, dragging his feet.

Ezekwe sat back in the reception long after Chikezie had retired for the night, full of thought. He wondered why his brother wanted to waste his life in the city. He also thought about Euna.

Euna, yes, now that it crossed his mind, he began to wonder. She might be the answer to the riddle. Supposing she had refused to accept the idea of their coming back home, he wondered to himself. Judging from what he knew regarding his younger brother's beautiful wife, her defiant attitude, her self-willed nature, she might be the reason behind Chikezie's hesitance to return home. She seldom came home with Chikezie. Since her ten years of marriage to Chikezie, Ezekwe could count the number of times she had been home on the fingers of one hand and yet have some remainders. Ezekwe hardly knew their children and they too did not know either him or his children.
As he thought about all these, he decided. that if Chikezie should refuse to accept his advice, he would track him down to Enugu himself to see his wife face to face and talk to her. Once he arrived at this decision, he felt lighter in mind. He got up and retired for the night.

Early the following morning, without waiting for Chikezie to come over to him, Ezekwe got up and went to his hut. He had a parcel under his arm. Chikezie was already up and was busy arranging his few belongings in preparation for his departure. Ezekwe stood by the door watching

"Good morning, Dede." Chikezie greeted when he noticed him.

"Good morning. I can see you are about to leave."

"Yes, but I would have come to see you after
packing. Why don't you come in and sit down?" he invited.

Ezekwe went in and sat down on the edge of the long bench which was the only seat in the room.

"Have you thought about what I told you last
night?" he asked.

"Yes, I have. In fact I have decided to take your advice. Once I get there, I will come back home with my family for good. As the saying goes, there is no place like home. I promise to do as you said" he replied.

Ezekwe was silent for a while. This was not the first time Chikezie had made such a promise to him only to go back and stay on at Enugu.

"Well, it is a wise decision if only you keep to it. In that case, I would suggest you leave your luggage behind. I will also want you to go with Chidi so that he could help you in the arrangement." Ezekwe said.
Chidi was his eldest son of about seventeen years old.

"Why do I need to travel with Chidi?" Chikezie
asked, surprised. "There is no need exposing him to danger."

"What is wrong with his travelling with you? I will pay his fare. I just want to make sure that this does not end as one of your empty promises which I am used to."

"No," he replied, shaking is head frantically. "I have really made up my mind this time to come home for good. There is no point asking me to travel with Chidi and exposing him to the danger of road mishap, robbers and all. Take my word for it; I will be back here in no time at all. Just believe me, Dede; I will keep to my promise. I won't disappoint you this time."
He pleaded passionately and in the end, Ezekwe gave in to him.

"Alright. Let me take your word for it and see if you will live up to your promise."

"I will Dede, it is a promise."

"Here," Ezekwe said, handing the package under his arm over to him. "I got this for you from the Eke market. Put on one of these while leaving. I don't want you to go back wearing what you have on. Put it on without any argument and you would have made me very happy" Ezekwe said.

"Dede, why do you bother yourself? Why?" he asked as he unwrapped the package. There were three pairs of trousers and shirts to match. "Anyway, I will do as you say. I will put on one of the shirts now while I go with the others. Oh, they are all very nice clothes.
"Thanks for everything," he said, unbuttoning his old shirt.

He pulled it off and then took one of the new shirts to put on. The day had now fully broken and the sun was already appearing in the distance. As it was a bit dark inside the hut, he moved nearer the door to make sure he did not put on the shirt inside out. Ezekwe got up and moved closer to him.

"What is this I am seeing all over your back?" he asked quite alarmed.

"What are you talking about?" Chikezie asked in pretended surprise.

"I mean these lines like razor cuts running through your whole back as if someone used a sharp razor on you?" he asked.

Chikezie sighed in defeat. He turned away from his brother's inquiring eyes. He wished he had not taken off his shirt as he never intended letting him know what he was going through. He came back inside and sat down heavily.

"Dede, that was how I found myself" he finally said.

"You mean you have been under witchcraft attack and you refused to let me know? How long has this been going on?" he demanded.

"For quite sometime now. Ever since my master employed that Okon as a steward, things have gone haywire. He practices witchcraft; he engages me and my family in constant brawls and has poisoned my master's mind against us. I just don't know what to do," he said in despair.

"What do you mean by you don't know what to do? Don't you have a home? My God!" he said, snapping his fingers. "You mean you prefer to die there than to return home alive? You are the only brother I have and you want to die off just like a stray dog without a home?" he asked, shocked by the revelation.

"Dede" he pleaded, helplessly.

"Does this Okon also attack your wife and family way he has eaten you up? I demand the truth and nothing else."

"He - he -he..." he stammered

"He did what?" Ezekwe asked in bewilderment.

"He didn't quite do this to them. He concentrated his attention mainly on me. What he did to my children is that they are now constantly sick. My wife nearly had a miscarriage last month and he keeps on us and picks quarrels frequently with us."

Ezekwe was baffled beyond words.

"You mean you exposed your life and that of your family to this condition and yet it didn't cross your mind that I should know about it or to pack your belongings and return home with your family? Chikezie, are you sure you are sane?" he asked snapping his fingers in shock. "I feel highly disappointed and ashamed of you," he continued in anger.

"I am sorry Dede; it is just that I hadn't the transport fare to bring all of us back to the village. If not, I would have done that long ago. I really mean it," he confessed.

Ezekwe thought in silence for a while then he got up and went back to his room. He came out with his machete and went into the nearby bush. He brought some leave from the bush and made for his room once more. He came back moments later with some money.

"Take these leaves and boil some of them. You and your family should bath with the water from it before you go to bed. You should also hang some of them on your doorpost," he said handing him the leaves. "Take this money; it will be enough to hire a car. Return to Enugu this moment. Today is Orie, by the second Eke market day from now; I want you and your family back here." On a second thought he added "Or don't you think we should go together?"

"No, Dede, we can't both leave here like that. Our enemies will take advantage of that. I am swearing by Amadioha that I will be back here, latest next Sunday, with my whole family. Nothing is going to stop that. I swear".

"Okay. Let me believe you. Since you are returning on Sunday there is no point carrying your luggage with you, is there?" he asked.

"That's true. Let me just go back with this money you have given me and I promise to be here on Sunday."

He collected some fruits, vegetables, yams and every other food item available at home and left.

Chikezie returned to Enugu and Ezekwe started immediately to renovate the mud house he was occupying in anticipation for his return. He removed the thatch roof and replaced same with zinc. He had the walls and floor plastered with cement and as the weekend drew near, his excitement increased.

He made plans about finding Chikezie's wife, Euna, a stall in the big Eke market and also informed the village headmaster that his brother's children would soon be enrolling in his school. He agreed with his wife about what parcels of land that would have to be given to Chikezie for the oncoming planting season. They agreed also that whatever may have been the past grievances in the hearts of all against any member of the family must be forgotten, as they were all going to live as one large, happy family.

Ezekwe let everyone around know that his younger brother would soon be coming home to settle for good and they all agreed it was a wise decision.

By Sunday morning, the excitement had reached a crescendo as no one went to church that day. Everyone was home, waiting to welcome Chikezie and his family. Ure prepared a delicious meal for them and Ezekwe got gallons of palm wine ready for the celebration.

By noon a little crowd had gathered in Ezekwe's compound. Mama Vicky, Euna's mother, was also around. She was very happy when she heard about Ezekwe's plans for her in-law Chikezie and family.

But the height of excitement descended to the lowest point of deep despair when the sun went down without the return of either Chikezie or his family. A deadly calmness descended on Ezekwe's family that evening. No one, not even little Nkeiru, had the appetite for supper that night. Everyone retired quietly and in a mournful mood.

Thanks for reading! Check my blog daily for subsequent chapters.

LINKS:

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1