CHAPTER FIVE

"I was testing to know whether you are still stuck to your late husband's ways. He was a man whose belief in Christianity was indispensable and when I heard of his name, I got inspired to know more about him. Unfortunately, I have been away at my grandmother's home in the far eastern part of Aleda and by the time I came back home, I found when he had already departured from life. He was such a renowned man in the whole of this village and not only me, but many young men and women always craved to interact with him.

"Have you come to remind me about the death of my husband?" Arac interrupted.

"No please," Odinga fearfully responded.

"It's me who placed those pounding tools on the compound and hid myself behind the ramada on a close watch. I am sorry if I have thrown you into a blue funk. Greetings from my mother to you. Allow me synopsize the reasons for my early visit here. I have come to ask for Akumu's hand in marriage and that's all," Odinga explained without minsing his words. His admiration for Akumu started long before Piranok's death, but he dumbly kept it in his heart. He had never had any close talk with Akumu, even when they had been growing together for sometimes before Akumu's relocation to her aunt's home.

Both of them were still in their tender ages, so they had no exploding love for one another though Odinga always leered at her whenever they were together. At that time, Akumu hadn't yet started school and she had no hope to get an elementary education, but Odinga had a kick at a cat to attend school. Odinga was a brilliant pupil and as a token of appreciation, he was offered free studies that would push him until the end of his primary education. As a young boy, he loved to acquire new skills and knowledge, and so he impeccably utilized the scholarship chance and inimitably completed primary seven without any difficulty.

At the time when had just returned from school, he kept hearing about Akumu's modest behaviors from the bandwagons of boys in his village and as time went by, he developed an impatiently immeasurable love for her. He kept his feelings about Akumu a secret from all his friends and this was the time that he wanted to see whether his undefined love would bear any true meaning to his life.

"My son, it's a very wrong decision that you have taken. Your mother is not only a pal to me but almost a sister because of some elements that we share in common although we have some clans' differences. I swallowed dusts together with her during our childhood, ate and drank from the same plate and pot, shared the same cloth and scrapped out a living selling thressed grains. My parents died at the time when I was still in primary one and it was your grandmother who adopted, inhabited and cared for me until the time when I completed my primary studies. I then had no option to proceed to the next level except to get married and here I am. In reality, you are supposed to call Akumu as your sister. For that matter, I cancel your decision to despair, not because you are unworthy, but due to the strong bond that I have with your family members. I believe you might have not taken time to ask your mother about this family before you came, but I urge you to go back and do so, and remember to come back and see us," Arac intervened.

Odinga's decision was totally maimed and he had nothing to do except to go back home empty handed. He left the chair with despondency and never waved to Akumu's aunt. With litany of excuses ringing in his mind, he branched to his friend's home and napped before he continued home through the hot sunshine.

"What will my mother tell me when she hears about this?" Odinga muttered. He was too worried about his devious action since her mother didn't tolerate such behaviors.

"I must go and tell her by myself before she hears from other people," Odinga decided.

He began to sing silently with a voice full of self hatred and hopelessness for such a stupid mistake he had made.

Odinga had always been intelligent in every decision he made and this was the worst ever in his life. He then waited one evening when they had assembled in the kitchen with a comprehensive chat as family members, and on the spur of the moment, he burst out with the story. He narrated it in a flippant manner and no one understood what he meant until his mother asked him deeper questions. She became too concerned and wanted to know why her son could have done such a nasty thing. He then had to tell his mother the truth and after a mere mentioning, "I have a feeling of engaging Akumu in a relationship," his mother laughed inattentively while asking, "how...?" She then cautioned him not to ever woo Akumu, and repeated the same statement as earlier aligned to Odinga by Arac. Odinga's younger brother casually mocked at him. He was surprised to hear such a story from Odinga who had always been too docile to talk about love.

Odinga's actions induced a lot of doubt to his mother with a thought that this could have been her son's common way of life, especially at the time when he was still staying with his grandfather. He always appeared joyous and humble and as well filled with humility, so for a moment, her mother failed to decide on what to do, thinking that by a mere talking to her son, he might still repeat the same mistake. After one day had passed, we then called her elder brother who settled a few miles away from her home, and requested him to advise Odinga, cautioning him about the strictness of clan's norms which see him punished if he continued to misbehave. At the meeting, Odinga accepted his faults and promised never to repeat such a silly deed. He continued and cried to his mother to believe in him and that he would never undermine her position as a mother at home.

Just two weeks after Odinga's visitation to Arac's home, another boy from the same village where Odinga came from did almost the same thing as Odinga, but there wasn't a sign of magical threat as displayed before. His name was Ogwang. He had a slender body size with acute look on his face. He came with the same demand of placing his marriage proposal for Akumu. He reached amidst morning hours and found Arac washing clothes under the mango tree. She embraced him and gave him a seat. At that time, Akumu was still at the stream, fetching water. Ogwang appeared more serious than Odinga according to his approach. He didn't fear to talk about his family lineage and later presented a clear reason as to why he decided to come and ask for Akumu's hand in marriage. Although he physically looked young, he candidly spoke with a deemed confidence.

Before he had completed his speech, Akumu found them in a deep conversation and in her heart, she suspected something unseeming. After lifting the bowel of water off her head, she went and greeted them and later continued to the kitchen.

"I don't need to waste much of your time, let me go and come back after sometimes," Ogwang requested, and marvelously left with a super smile on his face. Arac then went back and continued with her work. Having seen that Ogwang had already left, Akumu quickly came out as asked her aunt, "What for again?"

"Go back and cook. Let me first finish my work and talk to you later," Arac rebuked.

Akumu curiously wanted to Know what the young boy could have come for, but after being negated,she went back to the kitchen with less morale, slowly pacing and nodding spasmodically.

"Akumu!" Arac called. "Come forth," she continued. With zeal, she ran and knelt before her aunt as a sign of respect. Her intention was still stuck in knowing Ogwang's interest.

"You don't need to force yourself in accepting what doesn't please you. I have always shared my experiences with you as a mother and I promise that I will never get tired of teaching you as long as I live. Here is what I have called you for: the young boy you saw here in the morning had come to ask for you, he wants to marry you as soon as we accept his proposal. As a mother, I told him I can't declare my response in your absence. I thus want to hear your decision towards his bidding because I don't want to interfere with your covered marriage interest."

"I still have more five years to stay with you, so I will not accept to get married before that time comes," Akumu briefly submitted. After hearing Akumu's laconic response, Arac suddenly remembered a statement that was once made by Piranok when she had just left Owele's home; "Akumu's heart seems contrite."

Now the year had ended with a massive celebration. Atleast every parent afforded to buy new clothes for their children. Flutes sounded in all the big village centers. To Akumu, the day had been dogged by misfortune. Her aunt's sickness seemed to have stopped her from attending the feast. Arac had been sick, one week before the celebration day and Akumu struggled, nursing her from home. She tried with all her level best to meet her aunt's demand as a sick person and never left her unattended to, at any single moment. She reached at a point when she abandoned her room and began sleeping together with her aunt in the same room in fear of the night misfortunes which might attack her aunt.

Then one day after the celebration had passed, Arac's health condition worsened amidst dawn with salty sweats streaming all over her body parts. Akumu didn't just look at her in a qualm as many children did to patients. She tirelessly wiped off the sweats from her aunt's body while cleansing her body with both jelly and clean water at the same time. She sat at a zero distance from Arac's half dead body, trying to lay her in a good position, unceasing weeping. While Arac still struggled with a littly hard suspire, she handled Akumu's hand and in a low tone said, "I'm gone my daughter and we shall meet no more. I don't know what we have done against the gods of the land for having ended the life of everyone in our family. Piranok paved the way and here I am soon following. Remember you don't have any sister here or any relative who will take care of you and give you companionship when am gone, but master and d not forget my teachings. All you need is a good future which can only be found within your potential. Protect the few remaining properties and utilize them well to help you live a better life. When you find that life is becoming harder, don't insist to stay here; you should go back to your father's hoe in Aleda and stay with your brothers Okuti and Kolumi." After releasing Akumu's hand from hers, she breathed her last. Akumu's tears began dropping like an interflow of water and blood. She tried as an adult to protect herself from the morbid fear that her aunt's death had inflicted on her, but every time she tried to console herself, she cried the more.

Early in the morning, she left the dead body inside the house and traveled across two wide villages to seek for elders' help. She reached up to Becky's home in the far eastern part of Aleda village which was ten kilometers away from where her father and the two brothers stayed.

Becky was Odinga's mother and had lived together with both Arac and Piranok during their childhood before Piranok had been chosen to be taken to the care center.

She happily appreciated Akumu for having delivered the message which wouldn't have reached her if she hadn't thrived and looked for her home. It was such a long distance between the two villages of Ladigo and Aleda east, but Akumu didn't care and all she wanted was, to let Becky be informed.