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“RUBBLES…”

Seun Touch

I cannot forget the day Papa died; I remember, that day, sitting besidehim at his sick bed, I watched the light fade out of his face. I remember therewas no star in his eye; the twinkle was gone, gone home to the place fromwhich it came; that evening I sighed as I beheld papa die, it dawned on methen that the bond was broken; there was nostar again in Papa’s eyes.Papa had been a famous man; he wasrenowned all over our little town, Asogbon

asone of the most successful indigenes of theland. Imofin

, as Papa was popularly known,was the trail blazer of the town, he was thestandard all other men followed in their dailyaffairs, Imofin was the lawgiver, he was allmen’s adviser, he was even the king’s mostrespected adviser; Imofin was more than justan indigene; Imofin was a deity in his ownright.

Papa started dying the same way he started living; it was the glory that brought papa to fame that also hastened his death.

It mightappear wrong for me to speak all these; I might appear to be bringing thedirty linen of the family for the world to see but the truth is rarely sweet inthe mouth when it is being told. The death of Papa began the day his friendsstarted giving him gifts of money; several bags of cowries in appreciation of the investment Papa’s family had made in them. Papa attracted gifts from alland sundry, Papa was a deity they periodically made sacrifices of cowries to.My brothers, Papa never knew, had their eyes in cowries, in the gifts, in thetubers of yam, in the cockerels of the visitors.

A place where wisdom is wrought.

Knowledge of the law

Papa started dying thesame way he started living; it was the glory that brought papa tofame that also hastened his death. It might appear wrong for me tospeak all these; I might appear to be bringingthe dirty linen of thefamily for the world to

Papa loved Alabahun

, one of us children. Alabahun was very active inthe home, people said Alabahun was gifted, ladies liked Alabahun. Alabahunwas a pride of the family. Alabahun was very witty; many times papa wouldsend Alabahun whenever any other of his children had any face off withperson in the community and Alabahun was always known to make thefamily proud by defeating the other person. What grieved papa however wasAlabahun’s inordinate ways at times. Many times had people complainedabout my brother to Papa, much to Papa’s grief; Papa had always thoughtAlabahun would do well as head of the family. Then came the day towards the end of Papa’s life that we children hadto perform the deer hunting competition in honour of Papa;

in the Asogbontradition, the deer hunting competition was the apex of activities incelebration of a well lived life, the child that killed the biggest deer became the head of the family who would take over from theincumbent.

The deer hunting competitionthat broke our family backbone was that onewe organized in celebration of the life of Papa, the bond that held our family togetheruntil then. Not easily will I forget thatcompetition, my heart still thumps at themere thought of what shame we brought tothe family on the day of the competition; inpreparation for the competition,Olowolayemo, my other brother had gone topurchase a new gun, he had bought several pellets and had hired the mostelitist of all village hunters to train him in the art of marksmanship.Overnight, they had transformed Olowolayemo into a makeshift Olofaina

.Alabahun on his part got together his friends with whom he drank palmsap in the evenings and together they ‘deliberated’ how to get the biggestdeer on the day of the competition. They swore, they threatened, theyvowed theirs would be the biggest deer of all. We all eagerly awaited the dayof the competition. Papa was as eager as all of us were, everyone in thecommunity wanted to see who the new head of the family would be. The situation was like that until I decided one day I would also join inthe competition; after all, Papa had always told us that as brothers, we were

The tortoise, a fable character who was known for his craftiness

A Yoruba mythical character similar to the Sagittarius of the Zodiac, he was renowned forhis skill at marksmanship and the deadliness of his arrows.

The situation was likethat until I decided oneday I would also join inthe competition; after all, Papa had alwaystold us that as brothers,we were all equal; if my other brothers could

all equal; if my other brothers could contestas head of the family, why couldn’t I? So Isearched my pouch and got the few rustyarrows that were there, polished them andalso prepared in my little way for the deerhunting competition. I was late, manyopined, I was incited, claimed others. I knew in my mind however, thatthough I did not have the advantages my other brothers had, I had as muchinterest in bringing glory to the family, if not more. I knew I had the passionin me to do Papa proud.What happened on the day of the competition does not readily lend itself toexpression in words.

All that my mouth permits is that we killed thefamily the same way we killed deers; they competed for deersemploying the most barbaric of all hunting skills.

That day we burnt to ashes acres of our family farmland in the quest tocatch the biggest deer.

That day we called each other names that grieved Papa to hear of, that day we sold ourselves cheap to peopleof other families; that day we became the fools of the clan; that day brothers killed each other for the love of deers.

That day Papa diedinside each of us, that day what was meant to bring glory to Papa broughtshame, enmity and bitterness.We got home to find Papa unconscious; he could not taste the deer weall killed each other to get for him. Papa could not eat, no one received theblessing of Papa; we became bitter rivals of the same household, all that wasleft were the rubbles of our broken home; all for the love of the biggest deer.We forgot the essence was to make Papa proud, not to glorify the self. Thatday Papa died in each of us, that day Papa died for all of us.Easier it is to maintain poverty than to maintain riches; when you arepoor you have nothing to lose, the burden of riches is its maintenance.*

This work is entirely fiction* *

Omotoso, Oluwaseun Adedayo

, Columnist and freelance writer. Omotoso,Oluwaseun Adedayo is the Principal Partner of Image-Anew® Nigeria, an organizationgeared at cultivating the seeds of leadership in young minds. His works have been published