By Amie Sillah
The Elders
“One bangle cannot make noise ignore her and live your simple life
with your cousin you are family and she is not she has come to destroy
your family please don’t mind her.” “I’ll try but it is very hard as she always has an excuse to provoke
me and fight me at will.”
The elders left and went to their homes.
Korka went to the city for some transactions.
Tenneng
She washed her clothes and put them on the line then went into the
house. Jambal came out with wet clothes and pushed the clothes on the
line to the far end and spread hers and went back to the house.
Tenneng came back and yelled at the top of her voice.
“Who did this to me?”
“I did!”
“Are you looking for my trouble? How dare you?”
Tenneng pushed her clothes to the end and spread hers the women got
into a brawl and Tenneng wrestled her to the ground Grandma came out
to part them but Jambal kicked her and she fell and fainted. Tenneng
screamed.
“You have killed my aunt your murderer!” She went for a cab and
grandma was rushed to the health centre.
The elders rushed to the health centre to meet Tenneng.
Korka was called from the city and he came rushing to the health
centre to check on grandma.
Korka
He wept when he saw his mother on oxygen support.
“I am very sorry for bringing my troubles to the village and wreck
your peaceful household; I am blaming no one but myself, I mess up my
life and the lives of all my loved ones, I am sorry mama, I am sorry!”
Nurse Sally came and consoled him;
“Don’t be hard upon yourself, we will try our best and help her,
she will be okay, go home freshen up and come back.”
As soon as he left grandma passed on quietly and was carried away
to the morgue.
Korka
He rushed back to the health centre and found an empty bed.
“Where is mama?” He asked Sally.
She was overwhelmed as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“What! Is my mama gone? Her blood is on my hands, my troubles killed
her, I am dead! I am dead!”
Since grandma’s death Korka mourned her in silence and guilt as he
lead a life of seclusion to the worry of the kindred who came to
counsel him.
The Elders
“Grandma has lived her life a fulfilled woman but what about you?
You are still at your prime and your boys are still young, lived on
and pray for peace to reign in your household.”
The Inevitable
The shrewd drove all the kindred away and the fighting continued as
she continued to provoke and fight Tenneng who always wrestled her
down. Korka became a laughing stock and finally hypertension ended his
young life and the feud intensified unabated.
The Present Situation
“This is the story of your family.” Pa Sayerr told his grandson
and namesake.
“All the elders abandoned your dad to his fate blaming his fool
handiness but I could not because I am his direct uncle same father
and mother with his father your grand pa.”
Sayerr
“Grand pa my mom told me that I am the first son but how? Sengaan is
older than me by six months. And she also told me a lot of things
about his mother but I thought she was making it up to pit me against
my elder brother and his mother.”
Pa Sayerr
“Your mom is right and she is a living witness from beginning to
now. Sengaan’ mother was Korka’s concubine and as a result her son
cannot be the first son of Korka’ family as I narrated to you earlier
we went to rectify the anomaly but she would not let us therefore she
has to bear the consequences now that your dad is no more. Be very
careful because she was all the time poisoning his son’s mind since he
was very young, if they have the opportunity they will harm you and
your mother.”
Sayerr
“Grand pa why was dad so weak as not to send the scarlet woman and
her son away; he allowed her killed him and grandma?”
“As I told you your dad was an honourable man who does not want to
embarrass or harm anyone, Jambal took advantage of his soft character
to destroy his life; he all the time think the effect of driving her
away on his blood Sengaan that’s why he tolerated her excesses.”
He thanked his grand pa and namesake then went back to his mother.
“Mama grandpa told me everything and corroborated your story he also
cautioned me to be very careful of my half-brother and his mother who
will harm us if they can.”
Tenneng
“I am your mother who will never deceive you and I am also very
happy that grand pa Sayerr has confirmed my story. You are now a
graduate and should be very responsible with your job and your life,
get married, settled down and give me grandchildren.”
Sengaan
He developed lumpen attitude to life and harbor ‘bad guys’ as
friends. He did not complete his education. He now lives in the city
and living a bourgeois life style. Sayerr was duly informed and he
told his mother.
Sayerr
He came enraged and panting.
“What is chasing after you my son?” Tenneng asked.
“My friend Gora intimated to me that Sengaan is living an affluent
life at the city when he is jobless, I suspect foul play; I have to go
to the city and investigate for myself.”
“Go my son and go in peace but be very careful of the scarlet
woman and her son they are poisonous snakes.”
The Findings
He visited the mansion but it was intact and the tenants were
okay then he visited dad’s piece of land at a posh area and found some
builders when he asked them what they were doing at his plot of land
they said they were builders hired by a business man; he asked them
his name but they refused to tell him. He took a cutlass from the
ground and chased after them.
“This is my father’ land come here again and see what I’ll do to
you, go and get the business man I am waiting for him.”
To be Cont.
