Euna braced up and started picking the pieces of her life together. Firstly, she started trading with the money which her brothers and sisters gave to her. Ezekwe equally gave her some money to add up to what she had. Though she. was not an industrious person by nature, she was forced to task herself harder than before when she was quite content staying back at home, relying on her husband's meagre income. The driving force behind her decision to start this petty trading was that she resented the idea of having to depend on Ezekwe and his wife, Ure. She thought it beneath her dignity to go to them for anything. She believed that they were only being helpful in order to make her subject to them and that was the last thing she wanted. She wanted to be independent of Ezekwe, even if it meant going an extra mile. Ezekwe had already secured a stall for her at the big Eke market, so she had no difficulty carrying out her plans. She also began to regulate her daughters interaction with Ezekwe's children. Often, she would spend time telling them why they should keep to themselves. Children being what they are, this advice was only heeded when Euna was around but once she was out of the house, the reverse became the case.

Ezekwe loved them and treated them like his own children and whenever he had any delicacies such as dried meat, fish or items bought at the numerous markets he traded at, he usually shared these among the children equally. He paid the school fees of both his own children and Euna's children on the same day. What he usually did was to get everyone's school fees and pay same personally at the headmaster's office. He likewise bought their books and other items required for their education. When he had some money, he got them dresses, shoes and the like. This kindness and love drew the children closer to him and they could not understand why their mother felt differently about Ezekwe.

Ezekwe on his own side ignored Euna's behaviour and rather had a long talk with his wife, Ure, concerning Euna and her children. He instructed his wife to accept Euna and her children as members of her family and that on no condition must she and Euna quarrel with each other. He told her that if she had any grievance against Euna, no matter the gravity, she must first of all report it to him and not confront Euna.

When his wife complained that Euna did not seem to want any close relationship with them, Ezekwe silenced her with a reprove about her own unfriendly disposition towards Euna and maintained his stand about quarrelling. Ure accepted this and treated Euna with caution and trepidation. Soon Euna noticed that Ure seemed to overlook all her outrageous behaviours. She mistook this for weakness and became more assertive in her actions. She exhibited this in so many issues. In the case of the breadfruit tree behind her hut, for example, she maintained that since it was at her backyard, she must be the sole collector of fallen fruits. Ure took this as a joke and went ahead and collected two fallen fruit heads and took them into her cocoyam barn. When Euna returned in the evening from her stall that day, she discovered that two of the nearest fruit heads had fallen in her absence. She searched for them among the shrubs and failing to see them asked her daughter Oyibo about them. When Oyibo told her that Ure had collected them, she went mad. She made straight for Ure's kitchen where she was preparing supper and demanded for the fruit heads.

"Bring them out here now or I shall go in and
collect them myself" she told Ure.

"Euna is something wrong with you?" she asked really surprised. "Why do you want us to quarrel over this issue? This breadfruit tree belongs to our husbands' father, Oparaji, and as such neither you nor I can claim sole ownership over it. It belongs to both of us and the right thing would be that whoever was lucky enough to come across a fruit head when it falls collects it. You have been collecting most of the fruit heads yourself, but I didn't mind. So I don't understand why you want this issue to bring a quarrel between us," Ure tried to explain to her.

"You are mad. I repeat it, you are completely mad. You mean to tell me that you will come right behind my house and collect breadfruit. You must be out of your mind." She said as she made straight for Ure's cocoyam barn.
She collected two fruit heads from among the pile and made to come out. Ure stood between her and the doorway and tried to stop her. She put down the breadfruit heads and gave Ure a shove which sent her sprawling on the floor. Euna collected the breadfruit heads and went out heading for her hut before Ure could get up. Ure managed to get up and ran after her, but before she could reach her, she had already deposited the breadfruit heads inside her kitchen and
was coming out.
Oyibo and her sisters watched the little drama silently. None of Ure's children was around.

"Go and bring out those breadfruit heads now," Ure warned.

"And if I don't? You collect all the breadfruit at Eluama, Uhu, and Ndende, yet you are not satisfied. You want also to monopolise this one right behind my backyard. It won't happen," she concluded, standing by the kitchen door. Ure stood a little farther away not wanting to go into her kitchen. It was a taboo to fight a woman in mourning. In exasperation Ure lashed out at her.

"Right behind my backyard," Ure mimicked.
"Which backyard are you referring to and whose backyard is it? Senseless fool. By the way, is it now my fault that you are too lazy to get to Eluama, Uhu and Ndende to collect breadfruits? Anyway, I am just letting you get away with this for a reason; if not, I would have taught you that should a child lift his father up, his loincloth blindfolds him," Ure said making a retreat.

"If the spirits say they are not afraid of the living, let them prove it by coming out in the day time" Euna dared her.

"It is alright, let's leave it at that" Ure replied going back to her kitchen, feeling humiliated.

Her anger was more against her husband than at Euna. It was because of his restrictions on her that Euna now behaved as if she owned the whole place. It was more painful considering that she was older than Euna and as such deserved some respect from her. But in the end, she decided not to mention the incident to her husband in order not to incur his wrath. First, Euna was still in mourning and it would be unheard of to fight or quarrel with a woman still in mourning. Secondly, she knew her husband would support Euna.

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

LINKS:

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7