THE UNKNOWN HANDS (EPISODE THIRTY TWO)

STORY SERIES

…I discovered that it was quite different from the sort of forest I had in my mind.. For one, it was too dark for anyone to want to venture into. Besides there was a dark alley leading to a bottomless valley on one side while the other side was covered by complete

darkness. Even where we stood, we were greeted by different noises of different animals. I told myself that I should simply take my visit with Oloyede that day as a fulfillment of my aim and let the matter rest once and for all. Oloyede himself did not really help matters as he continued to discourage me more and more. He emphasized the value of life and the need to keep hope alive in the face of tribulations. I was still considering all he was telling me when a strange spirit suddenly came upon me and I was made hardened by it. And perhaps, it was not even any spirit, for I had been ruminating over my life even after the sacrifice I had made and discovered that I was only managing life.

I thanked him for his words of encouragement and then reminded him that a man is not a man just because of the pipe dangling in-between his thighs but in his ability to stand by his words always. I told him that any man who could not live by his words should not bother himself taking a wife for that would mean having two women under the same roof.

With such words like those, Oloyede was able to see that I meant business. One morning, without bidding him bye, I trudged towards the fearful forest with full determination. I did not just take that decision, though. Oloyede, like every other people I had come across had shown me his true color too. In all my interactions, I had usually ensured that I did what was right and I strove to be blameless. But I discovered that these numerous people had seen my good conduct as a weakness. In fact, I seemed to be too naïve to cope with the human world. For how could someone convert the proceeds of what we both labored for to his own use and feel he had done the right thing?

It seems obvious that being bad is already entrenched into the human nature and there is nothing anyone can do to rid them of such habit no matter how one tries. There is nothing anyone can do to stop the “ebolo” leaves from emitting a bush-smell.

Oloyede and I had spent almost three weeks together living from hand to mouth. But we were not idle. We engaged our hands on weaving of baskets which we were sure would certainly fetch us money someday. I arrived one day from where I had gone to look for what I could lay my hands on as part of my survival strategy only to discover that he had sold all the baskets. But surprisingly he was not ready to give me a farthing from the proceeds.

“I’m sure you too have some money on you” he had argued and was adamant to all my explanations, that I was as wretched as I had left the hut that morning. I was put off completely by his attitude and I knew I could not continue to live with such an inconsiderate fellow. There was nowhere else to go than the Lantoro forest. I was prepared to pay the supreme sacrifice to get out of my cursed destiny. I could not see any reason why a blind man should be afraid of darkness when all his life, darkness has been his only companion.

Although the beginning of the journey was marred by the sudden fears that developed in me, this later gave way to thoughts of hope. I began to reason that I was heading to meet my parents who had long been waiting for me. Then I started to imagine meeting them, clinging to my father with all my strength while my mother would be busy preparing what I would eat. Since I was so hungry, I reasoned that I would first of all eat before telling them everything that had happened to me since their departure. Then, I started thinking where I would begin my story from, and everything I had passed through flashed through my mind one after the other. I was least aware of the time I got to the spot where Oloyede and I stood on our first visit there. I had in fact started to go down the dark valley into the unknown. It was as if I was returning to our hut from where I had gone to share in the moon-games in those days of my father’s existence. I was thinking of those days when I suddenly felt two strong hands abruptly on my shoulder, lifting me into the high heavens and that was all I could remember before I became unconscious. I could not even look back to see who it was performing the strange miracle.

It was when the hands dropped me in the midst of another thick forest that my eyes opened. All I could remember was that it was already evening when I was lifted up but now I could not say precisely what period of the day it was, for I could not say for how long I had been unconscious. As I lay breathing noisily, I took a glance at my surroundings. I was terrified to see a lion devouring another animal whose horns were very strange and out of proportion. It had perhaps heard something drop from somewhere and was still looking fiercely in all directions to see what was disturbing its peace. Our eyes nearly met but I quickly bent my head and ensured there was no movement of any sort where I lay. When I later looked up again, it was lying on its belly, busy with its prey

I began to think of a way to escape and why the hands should drop me where I was not safe. Was it to teach me a lesson that a man who attempts what others are avoiding should be prepared to face strange consequences?…to be continued on Tuesday.

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