CHAPTER TEN

It was late in the evening when Odinga and Akumu reached in the village of Ladigo, so they couldn't access the chief's home at that time due to body exhaustion. Though it had been many years that Akumu had left Ladigo, while in the land of Aleda and Mucwini camp, she still slightly remembered the location of her father's home. Odinga, though he had been staying for long with his uncle in Ladigo after leaving his late father's home in Kilokoitio, he didn't know that it was the chief whom they had been sent to, that he was Akumu's father. Even at the time when he tried to seduce Akumu into marriage, he only knew that late Arac was Akumu's mother with a green knowledge about her father. She directed Odinga as they went to her late grandfather's homestead where a young adopted boy called Debu lived. He was one of the children whose parents died during the gurerilla war. While many homeless young children were offered a refuge in the orphanage, he became stubborn and refused to go to the care center. At that time, Owele's father was still alive, so he accepted to keep him so that he could be helping him in some minor domestic activities. Many people called him Owele's young brother and he didn't refuse to be addressed in such a manner. After the death of Owele's father, he instructed the then village chief to take care of Debu and let him stay in his homestead forever. As dubious as Owele was, he warned him against mistreating Debu and promised to mysteriously end his life in case he acted against his will.

Since Akumu found herself maturing in the foreign village of Aleda, she wasn't known in Ladigo except in her father's home, but through Debu's help, they were able to trace for her father's household. However, Debu didn't go straight with them to Owele's home. He first branched to his friend's home and pretended to have come to wave to him. The hidden secret was that he had only one hut which acted both as a kitchen and a bedroom so there was no where that he could accommodate Akumu and Odinga. Owele's home stood far from his late father's old homestead and since it was late, Debu feared to walk with them in darkness.

His friend's name was Suudi. According to the village wealth rating, he was considered as the richest man in the whole villages of Ladigo, Kilokoitio and Aleda. Debu had worked in Suudi's home as a cleaner for sometimes before being adopted by Owele's father and though he had already left, he still begged him for some help in case he was in a hard life. Suudi had many workers ranging from house maids to garden workers and at the time when Debu arrived with his friends, he didn't get him but only found his workers at home. On reaching, he greeted them and made a brief description about himself and the two youths beside him. They generously welcome them and gave them a seat. When Akumu was given a chance to introduce herself, she didn't rush to tell them the purpose of their return to the village though she lengthily spoke. They recognized her as a close relative who grew up in later times and in the far village outskirts of her aunt.

Debu then led them inside the visitors house as they waited for food to be brought before them by the family maid. It was approaching late night and the visitors needed to sleep early, so Debu didn't wait for the maid to perform her duty, he rushed inside the kitchen and served Akumu and Odinga with food. He sat next to them in a joyous conversation. Akumu's appetite for food had gone off, so she only tested the meal in two hands and left. Immediately, she asked Debu where she could rest and without thinking of her safety, he directed her to go and sleep in the sitting room. The house had all necessities that anyone would ever need to use. Odinga continued eating slowly while thinking of the task ahead of them and how they would accomplish it.

"Why are you chewing the food in a slaggish manner? Debu jokingly asked.

"I'm quite tired and i need to regain some energy and relax myself," Odinga responded.

"My late mother once told me that people are not supposed to speak while eating. I disagreed with her that day and I refused to eat. When I asked her why it's so, she answered me that the spirits of our ancestors are always close to us whenever we are eating and they only manifest in silence. I hope you must have also ever heard about such a superstition before, and if so, is it true?" Debu added. Odinga got amused by Debu's tale and he first stopped eating for a while. Instead of answering what Debu had asked, he burst into a mild laughter which provoked Debu into a prolonged smile too.

"You seem to be a funny young man. It's true about the mythology but its hidden meaning is false," Odinga answered. He suddenly remembered that he had an acumbasome task in the following morning and he needed to have enough rest, so he kindly begged Debu to allow him have a nap and that they would continue with the story in the following day. It was around mid night and he could hardly hear the giggling sound of the children inside the house. As dizzy as he was,he dashed through the window and entered inside the bedroom where he slept without a bedsheet till morning. Debu's worries of how he would keep the two visitors faded as soon as Odinga slept and there was nothing else to do at Suudi's home at that time except to return to his dilapidated hut.

Odinga's eyes barely caught slumber because of the the stress about the kind of preambles he would use in the presentation of his uncle's report to the chief. At this point, Odinga didn't want to expose himself to Kolumi before he arrived at the chief's home. He morbidly feared that Kolumi might treat him as a traitor since they had been very close friends in their childhood and one of the facts that would easily negate Kolumi's memories was how loyal and reticent Odinga acted when he held the last youth meeting before the mass departured to the camp. Though they had become apparent friends because of clan difference and other personal development, Kolumi still thought of him as a good person. He also respected Kolumi as a brave leader who feared no ill in any challenging circumstance. But how could he have accepted to represent the male catagory and make all these subsequent follow ups if he didn't wish a bad fate for Kolumi? To some extent, Odinga was traditionally right because he needed to remind Kolumi that, 'those who stay in the desert have been bestowed with the same kind of blessings as those in the savannah grassland, but which only few with ingenious thoughts see and benefit from.'

They all woke up from the bed at once as if they had whispered to each other to do so. Odinga steeply bent his knees and supported his back on the wall, mildly pandiculating like a hungry street kid, while Akumu sat on the bed with her legs stretched forward. With vigor, she said, "What troubles you? You have been quiet for the whole night. Is there anything bothering you thàt you can't share it with me? Remember your uncle's words before we set our feet to come here. We must forget about other things and concentrate on what brought us here. You need to remain jolly amidst troubles, and it's only few minutes now that we shall be leaving this compound for chief's home."

Silently, Odinga removed his right hand from the wall and moved outside. Since this was Akumu's first time to have a close interaction with Odinga, she got scared and her memory flashed on the several unsuccessful attempts that Odinga had been presenting to her late aunt to get her married by him. It could have been a point but it was now late since then, and this was a new advent so she needed not to think all that far. As soon as Odinga stepped outside from the room, Suudi called him forth to join him in his room. After conveying Suudi's news to Akumu, she changed her old dress and hurried to Suudi's room. She sat down on the mat with Suudi's wife while Odinga sat on the bench.

"How are you my children? I hope nothing disturbed you in the night. I was unable to have a conversation with you yesterday because I was exhausted with the garden work, but I have thought to share with you this morning before I leave for the garden. Can I please know the condition from the camp and how you managed to reach here? I would also wish to the reason for your ambushing visit in the village that left me eratic throughout the night," Suudi's mother said as she touched on her husband's chair. She briefly spoke because she wanted to catch up with her fellow women in the garden. Akumu breathed hard and said, "Thank you mom for embracing is at your home. You didn't hesitate to accommodate is even when we appeared as acquaintances to you. We have been sent by the office of the elders in the camp to deliver some message to the village chief of this village, "Akumu summarily responded. She didn't want to reveal the source of the information to her, so at the course of her speech when Suudi's wife still expected more words from her, she remained speechless. She thus didn't continue to ask more questions, and she immediately called begged her husband to lead them to chief's home. "Let my husband take you to his home. It's just few meters away from here and it will take you about ten minutes to reach." She then continued to the garden while her husband also led Akumu and her friend through the feeder road to chief's home.

With long paces of Akumu's movement, they reached in a stone's throw. They found when the chief hadn't yet woken up from the bed. The house maid was outside cleaning the compound and she didn't rush to welcome them. she had not yet seen Akumu when Odinga greeted her. After recognizing that it was Akumu hiding behind Odinga, she happily yelled and called her forth.

"Hey! Nice to see you with your friends. As always, Suudi first smiled before answering her. In a funny way, he said, here is your lost sister and her husband. They have come to visit you. They are mature and can talk for themselves, but before that, it would be sensible to talk while sat. Then the housemaid broke into silence and leered at him. He then moved to the kitchen and brought a long bench for them. "Thank you," Suudi appreciated. I have to go back and clean my compound too as you have been doing. My workers have all gone to the garden and there is no one at home. Now days it's too windy and if I delay, I may be smeared with dust,"Suudi claimed.

It appeared like Suudi was known in all the village corners because wherever he passed through, his name would be called by either a child or an adult. What if he was to be a leader? He would have then been a more popular celeb, but since he held no position in the clan, his traits made him censorious even to his servants. Odinga and Akumu remained maimed in suspense after Suudi's departure. They were all alienators to the house girl who first thought that they had come to look for some casual work at her boss' home. She continued with her domestic work as Akumu and her friend quietly sat in the mango tree shade. After some point, they began asking each other on how they would approach the chief. Akumu insisted that it must be Odinga to present the report before the chief since he was present at the scene.

"As an elder, it would be understand to do it. How will the chief react if he analyzes this from the traditional perspectives. You do know very well that one's age is Paramount in such things. I would do so if I had come with either my age-mate or someone younger than me," Akumu elaborated. She was ready to preside over the message, but she realized that she couldn't do it in the present of Odinga based on the essence of norms. Both of them were eloquent to perform the task, but the baseline of the establishment of cultural norms remained the scolding point,"

"I agree with your statement. I will present this issue before him when he comes out of the house, but you should be ready to supplement. Now that he will be recording our statement in the clan's book, we must speak out what will be satisfactorily understood by everybody in the forthcoming meeting," said Akumu as she handled Odinga's hand. The housemaid finished her work and immediately came out in the shade and encouraged them to remain patient and wait for the chief to come out. " Without thinking, I guess you must be called Akumu from the far eastern part of Aleda. I was still very young when I last saw you in that land. My elder sister was once married in that part of the village and I used to take care of her children in her absence. I spent over a year with her and I still vividly remember your brother called Kolumi. We used to play together and jointly fetched water from the river bank. When I first glimpsed at you, I couldn't imagine you were the one and I had to cowardice. Anyway, let me get back in the kitchen to prepare the morning tea because I can hear the chief's voice inside the house," The housemaid supprised Akumu and she couldn't believe all these words after an interval of a sighing welcome from her. Throughout the maid's speech, she kept glancing at Akumu as if she suspected something wrong with her. The chief's figure immediately appeared out when the housemaid had just left Akumu and her friend. He was crossed with an ancient robe on his chest and held a small fashioned stick in his right hand. On seeing the housemaid coming out of the bathroom, he directly went to the shelter to have a bath. He wasn't yet aware of the presence of the visitors in his premises. In few minutes, he came back from the shelter and re-dressed himself on a venerable cloth which depicted the stylish fashion of the tradition chiefs. As he stepped out of the house, he didn't bother to ask the maid about the two new faces in his compound even when he saw them in the shade. He slowly walked to aramada and found when the housemaid had profoundly organized the seats to his comforts. As he sat, she immediately reached to him with a jug of milk tea.

The maid's name was Lisa and she couldn't just look at the two visitors with dry lips. So she generously served them and Akumu whom she partially knew her felt joyous with her welcoming heart while Odinga pretended to act more of a visitor from a foreign village who didn't know anything pertaining Ladigo. Somehow, he was scared of Kolumi and he perfectly knew that he was now in a family that had been the most notorious in the whole land of Ladigo, especially before Piranok's divorce. But as said by the sages, 'Regardless of what situation, changes will always come." Owele was now a renewed person, a responsible father and above all the most respected in the land of Ladigo, especially after succeeding Odinga's uncle as the village chief.

Lisa quickly responded when she heard the deep tone of the chief from aramada. Before removing the plates from the chief's table, she knelt before him and politely informed him about Odinga and his friend. Chief didn't nod on hearing her message, but humbly replied, "Let them come inside." Lisa felt relieved from thinking about Akumu's and Odinga's fate with the chief. We left the jug on chief's table and rushed to call them. They sat on the honorable chairs as Lisa took back the chairs to the kitchen. Odinga quivered with fears as if he had never seen what his eyes were exposed to at that time. Chief kept seeing Odinga as Akumu's eyes remained stuck on him. For a minute, slowly dashed his small fashioned stick on the floor as if he was remembering the lost answer about a particular issue and the room remained in a hush for a tentative moment. Odinga started gaining strength and courage to smile and swung his hand in space when the chief suddenly voiced out, "You can now talk." Odinga immediately closed laps and crossed his two hands on the knees while he swayed his head sideways. He slowly kicked Akumu's feet so that she could begin to speak. She didn't ask why Odinga could have kicked her and she distinctly knew that she was delaying to talk as demanded by the chief. Instead of opening her mouth to begin talking, she pressed Odinga's right leg and turned moody at him.

"Good morning chief! I'm Odinga and the Pera beside me is Akumu. We have been sent here by the council of elders in the camp to bring this letter to your office." A moment of silence broke into the house again as the chief read the letter. After finishing to read the letter, he placed it on the table and madly scratched his head. He became unsettled and kept muttering when standing. He felt like he could not continue asking Odinga, so he kept quiet, but Odinga interjected and said, "We have been told to wait until the ritual is done, so we won't be able to leave before that happens."

'Don't worry my son, I will call for a meeting this afternoon to confirm the claim and if so, then we shall perform the ritual as required by the tradition. You can first go and relax yourself. Let the maid show you the room where you can change your clothes and pack your luggages.

Lisa couldn't wait to deepen her interactions with Akumu. After leading them to the dressing room, Akumu joined the maid in the kitchen to help her in other domestic activities. As a mature lady, she took over cooking processes and requested Lisa to first have enough rest as she did other things on her behalf. Lisa replied with a deep smile and sat on the stool near the hearth. She continued asking Akumu about Kolumi's academic progress and the kind of personal development he had now made. Little did she know that the chief was Kolumi's father.

Akumu briefly narrated her brother's social life and she couldn't explain much about her brother because he left Aleda earlier; just after Arac's death, so she was unaware of the kind of life that Kolumi had been pursuing in Ladigo. She couldn't explain his life in the camp because it didn't take more than a month that her brother escaped and behold, she never interacted with him on any single moment while in the camp.

The conversation stretched from one topic to another and it became a series of topical discussion, enjoyable to everyone's pleasant ears. No one seemed to be bored by the engaging stories but Lisa's designation was the only limitation of the chat. She reflexively remembered that the chief had more than two meetings that day, so she quickly rejoined Akumu in the cooking process. Lucky enough, Akumu had already finished all the cooking processes and only waiting for Lisa to serve. Just because she wanted to keep her reputation, she didn't continue with other irrelevant stories and kindly requested Akumu to prepare a table before the chief as she followed her with the meal.

After the meal, the chief called out for Lisa and sent her to Suudi's home. Only a week before Odinga and his friend's visitation in the village, Suudi had just been elected as the senior chief's messenger whose information from the chief first reached him before anyone in the village of Ladigo.

The chief trusted him because of his braveness and the coaxing traits. After few minutes, she came back while running and informed the chief that she got Suudi his way coming. The chief replied nothing but rather shook his head in appreciation of Lisa's sharpness. After leaving the chief,she went straight to the kitchen with an urgent need of cleaning the utensils that had been used during lunch hour. To her surprise, she found when Akumu had already finished what she thought of doing. "What a nice visitor!" Lisa appreciated while kneeling before Akumu.

"Good morning chief! I'm here because of the call you made to me via your house maid," Suudi said as he sat down on the chair beside him. The chief slowly raised his eyes to see him. He thus repositioned himself on the chair and first called out for a cup of cold drinking water before replying to Suudi's greeting.

"You are most welcome my son. I have called you for an emergency conclave. Here in my hand is a letter from the office of elders' council in the camp. Have a look before I authorize on what to be done" The chief said as he gave the letter to Suudi.

On receiving the letter, Suudi then silently read through the letter and at last, he shouted, "Kolumi again." Discontent spread in his heart and calmly told the chief, "This must be an allegation." As far as he knew Kolumi, he never believed that he could commit such an evil act.

"We must prove this, and the only way is to call for a village meeting which must take place tomorrow. I want you to pass this information to all elders in Kilokoitio, Aleda and Ladigo. You can now leave unless you have something to supplement," the chief informed.

After being handed over the letter, Suudi sadly waved to the chief as he jumped on the bicycle. He had been offered a special bicycle for his journey which was kept at chief's home. His riding speed was intense and whoever saw him could easily guess that there was an emergency in the land. The chief coaxed him not to reveal the theme of the meeting to any elder,but rather to inform them about the schedule of the meeting and to strongly voice out that no one should miss, else he or she would be demanded of a stipend. Suudi tirelessly rode the bicycle while sounding the bell from one village to another. After ten hours of unceasing movement, Suudi finally rode back to chief's home where he informed him about his successful accomplishment of the task and confidently assured him that the elders had accepted to undeniably respond to the urgent call.

"What a courteous and a determined man!" the chief. commented. He impetuously remembered how his whilom messenger disappointed him at the time when he had just assumed the office as the village chief. It was late and Suudi found when he had sat outside around the hearth with the maid and the two visitors, boldly sharing the memories of the past. Everyone narrated his or her story, ranging from the chief to the maid as the youngest person in their ranks. While speaking with a lot of calmness on his face, the chief reminded them of the story about his late wife, described her as a devoted and a sincere woman who always agreed with his plans and couldn't complain whenever he wronged her. "I lost a soft hearted woman," he sadly said as he ended his story.

Everyone looked wearily after the chief's elegy. Akumu refused to tell her memory and the same to Odinga. They too, had lost their parents and the chief's story couldn't make them choke back their tears. All that the chief said struck her into tears as she remembered how caring her mother was, and in her mind, thought of her the chief as a hypocrite. At the time when Piranok still lived with him, in the absence of Akumu but in the presence of Kolumi and Okuti, he didn't treat her with respect and everytime she needed help, he didn't bother to respond to her plea. It only took two weeks for Akumu to grow up at her father's home and by the time when Owele declared that he didn't want to see any baby girl at his home, Piranok decided to take Akumu to Arac and in all her todlerhood, never knew her father, not until the time when Piranok died when she was told about her childhood's experience. Sometimes she doubted whether Owele; who had now been appointed as the chief was really her father. Even when she accepted to move with Odinga, she only wanted to safeguard the life of her brother, Kolumi and she didn't know that their still lived.

"I'm sadly moved by your testimony and I can't talk about my past experience at this point, otherwise I will weep the whole night," Akumu said as she covered her eyes.

"Likewise to me," Odinga added.

The maid remained in confusion, whether to share her painful memories or keep muted like her friends.

"Hey Lisa, we are curious to hear from you," the chief said. Tears welled from her face to the ground before she opened her mouth to begin speaking. The chief had never asked her about her biography and this was the only chance for the young maid to be understood by her boss in the context of her life. Everyone's eyes got stuck on her as she continued weeping.

"My mother died when I was one month old. My grandmother then adopted and took care of me amidst other fifteen grandchildren that she had been taking nurturing. She raised me up in a lovely way, unfortunately, she died when I was just fourteen years old. I then began wandering from one home to another where I received different kinds of treatments, most of which were harsh and brutal. In an attempt to relieve myself from those elusive experiences, I had to to seek refuge and here I am," Lisa elegized.

The chief shook his head in melancholy as Akumu bent in tears. He silently stood up and walked to the direction of his bedroom as Akumu followed him with the chair. They all departed to their respective huts and left the compound filled with the strayed goats and cattle in their permissive summer. It was a broad night of weeping and pensive sadness to both Akumu and Lisa.

Early in the morning, Odinga woke up and swept the entire compound before the inane voice of the ravens taunted him. He wore a wistful mood that symbolized a bad night. As he was now sweeping the sty, Suudi suddenly arrived while singing a song of a fickle memory. Soon the visitors would begin coming, so they had to quicken the arrangement of chairs, benches and tables.

For all these three days that the chief and his messenger had been struggling to call for a meeting, Kolumi had locked himself inside the house and he had been keenly hearing every claims put against him. Hunger, thirst and fresh air weren't his burden since he used

to sneek outside during night hours to collect some food from his father's kitchen. When he heard that the elders' meeting was to be held for what transpired in the camp, he escaped a night before the meeting day to the village of Kilokoitio where his late mother had been married after divorcing with Owele. He stayed for over two weeks with Dumbe's first wife as he continued helping her with garden activities. For fourteen days that he stayed there, he never accepted to reveal why he left the camp and he always acted rude to whoever insisted on asking him. As wicked as his step mother was, Kolumi refused to eat her food and all that he used to do to survive was to move from home to home, seeking for some casual jobs to do in exchange for food. In Kilokoitio, many people didn't know him so he found it fitting to survive in such an environment.

Then one day, he went to one of the windows' home within the same village of Kilokoitio to seek for food. That day, the village had lost a very important person,so all elders and the concerned youths were gathered at the deceased home for a burrial meeting. Even from where he was staying, the woman had gone and he was left alone at home. Reaching at midday, he woke up from the bed and began his usual journeys around the village corridors as he tried to secure a living. In that home, there lived an orphan who was only twelve years old and was still new. Kolumi with his wisdom, deceived the young boy that he had been sent to renovate the kitchen's roof and with myopic thoughts, the boy accepted. Applying another ingenious trick, Kolumi sent him to the stream to fetch some water so that he could use it for bathing after finishing his work.

As humble as he was, the young boy picked a bowel and ran to fetch the water, but before he left, Kolumi asked him to handover the key for the main house to him so that he could be in position to pick some lacking tools by himself instead of waiting for him to return from the stream.

All that Kolumi asked for, the boy didn't refuse to either receive or grant. While smiling and boastfully shaking his head, he entered inside the kitchen and without looking up, began checking inside each plate and saucepan for either a left over of some packed food or sauce. There, he chanced and found when the widow had packed her food inside an outdated local drawer that had no lock. Instead of eating some small portion as he had always been doing in other people's homes, he removed the whole saucepan of food and wrapped inside a grey polythene bag. Then after seeing that the young boy was delaying to come back, he opened the main house and removed one wall clock. His aim was to pick money or something expensive, but as poor as the widow was, she could only be compared by a local church daecon and the only valuable property she had was that golden watch that was bought by her late husband before his death.

Kolumi didn't waste time after accomplishing his deal from the poor woman's home. He quickly left the compound and went to the direction that he didn't know where it led to. He wanted to get a trail that would easily lead him to Aleda village where he expected to hide for sometime before finally heading back to his father's home in Ladigo. As a young boy who grew up in an adventurous life, he didn't meander in locating the route that would lead him to Aleda. After following some trails through the bush for a while, he finally crossed to a road that led directly to Aleda center and in a slow but a carefullly calculated pace, he walked straight to his aunt's old homestead where he consumed what he stole from the widow's house.

In Aleda, many people knew him, especially his aunt's friends and neighbors and there he wouldn't easily continue stealing people's food like the way he used to do in Kilokoitio. Good that no one bothered to follow him to Aleda and all those that he stole in Kilokoitio just kept spreading the news among themselves. The young boy had already narrated the story of how Kolumi deceived him and everyone confirmed how nasty he used to live amongst other people. All that they waited for, was for him to go back to Kilokoitio so that he could be arrested and punished according to the village norms, but their expectation didn't come to pass. Kolumi's exile in Aleda was yet another big menace for the village members. Unlike in Kilokoitio, he began stealing rich homes and sometimes crops from the gardens. He mercilessly robbed families in Aleda and whenever he heard that they were looking for him to to be arrested, he hid inside the house for some days until his name could nolonger be rumored. That was Kolumi's life in exile. What of his interaction with those in Ladigo after leaving Aleda, having disappeared in fear of being summoned before the chief and his elders? Now that Okuti had remained in the camp and with only the chief and the maid at home, Kolumi wouldn't respect them and all that he did were directed towards the satisfaction of his personal desires. The only person he respected and listened to, was Okuti, but now that he wasn't around, Kolumi's moral life had totally decayed and those who knew how influential Okuti was, in Kolumi's life, mourned and silently kept weeping as that saw how nasty the young boy had become.