Thursday, September 13, 2007

Nomadic Fury

In 1985, we moved to the beautiful jungle I decribed in the Broda Sk Again post. We hated it at first but grew to love it like something fierce. It was our own private paradise. To our utter dismay, we woke up one morning to the mooing of cattle. Fine, we were used to the birds but cows? Oh no!! We rushed outside in our pjs and what did we see? A large herd of Fulani Whites with a sprinkling of Mutuurus being escorted by two nomads. My eyes widened, that was the first time I was seeing a real nomad. The two men were dressed in tunics and jumpers. What fascinated me most was their braids. They had long braids swinging under their wide hats. They were slim and weathered with years of herding cattle. Their long sticks completed the picture. It was a sight to behold. Pa had taught us some words in Hausa so I screamed,
" Ina kwa na" I screamed so hard, jumping up and down, that the two men heard me above the noise made by the sluggish cows. They turned sharply then smiled. There were several teeth missing.
" Ina kwa na" they shouted back in greeting and my day was made. I prounced like a peacock all through that day. Everybody got tired of listening to my story about the nomads. Well, I was the one that said "Ina kwa na" (good morning), nobody else did and the icing on the cake was their response. I told everybody who would listen until Pa gave me Decree No4..........'go and take a nap.' I tried to reason with Pa that I was six years old and too old for a nap.He gave me the option of Decree No 1......''house arrest''and i opted jejely for No4. No need to get arrested on such a trivial issue( sigh) Christmas was just three days away.
I heard Pa complaining to mum that he couldnt fathom how the nomads found their way to our neighborhood, they were sure to ruin our clean environment with all those cows' droppings. Mum laughed and said the droppings would serve as manure for her vegetable patch. See me see wahala o,and who would collect those cow droppings? Please take a guess!
Neways, I developed an obsession for the nomads. Everyday,I hung on the grape fruit tree by the fence watching in fascination as they communicated with their cows by clucking their tongues and slapping the big rumps. The two nomads became my special friends and sometimes I gave them some drinking water or filled up their water bottles.
Suddenly the nomads stopped passing through and I missed them but there was nobody I could ask and my six year old mind failed to come up with any tangible reason. I slowly forgot about them until three years later when we woke up again to the moos of the cows. I rushed outside, hoping to see my two friends but no, this nomad was a total stranger. He was a younger man with a permanent scowl. It was as if he ate cow dung for breakfast. He was mean looking and mean to the cows, always clucking angrily. I disliked him on sight. I wondered about my two friends but I couldnt bring myself to ask him, not sure I wouldnt get a whack on the head courtesy of the long stick.
This new nomad became a regular herder passing through our neighborhood. One day, I was on top of the grapefruit tree when I heard screams from down the road. Who was that? I climbed to the highest branch and watched in horror as my younger brother ran towards the house, calling for help. Behind him with a long wicked looking dagger drawn was the new nomad. I scrambled down the tree and ran to the gate, I was hoping to get the gate opened so that my brother could run into the yard but alas, he went past the gate like a bolt of lightining. I started screaming too,scared shitless then I quickly close the gate when the dagger came close to designing my big nose. Luckily, our neighbor's gate was wide opened so my brother ran into their yard and locked himself in.I didnt know this until later. I thought the mad man had killed my brother,my only brother and the male version of Yayi. I was crying and raining abuses on the nomad. Funny enough, nobody was home that day, just the two of us and my brother had gone to buy firecrackers, it was close to the New Year.
My brother came out of our neighbor's yard with blazing eyes, I was so happy to see him in one piece. He was still angry and spoiling for a fight. He was seven years old and spoiling for a fight with a crazy cattle herder.Ok o.
''what happened" I asked him. He said one of the cows blocked his path and yes, he called the attention of the nomad but he just ignored him as if he didnt understand then he slapped the cow and the man went berserk and drew a dagger. Ok, thank God we are both fine but dont tell Dad and Mum about this and he agreed. Hmmm, he told them and we both got Decree No 1.....house arrest till the first day of school. I wanted to strangle my brother.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahahahahha damn, you have me cracking up here. lmao! you had some childhood man.

i love your folks with their decree 1, decree 2. lol

yayi said...

I am glad you enjoyed it. The Decrees kept us out of trouble and saved my parents the trouble of shouting on us.

Eyin'ju Oluwa said...

LOLOL, he just had to tell. That Nomad was just angry, chasing a little boy like that, psssh.

temmy tayo said...

Chineke. I remember the guy that doesnt have a front tooth that passes in front of my house.

An-Igbo-Dude said...

what an adventure even as a kid.
will make good african movie script.
have u gottenin touch with spielberg?