A GIRL'S MIND[CHAPTER FOUR]

The village of Awi is largely encircled by gmelina.The natural forest had been hewn down for farms and the farms had been taken over by government for gmelina plantation which was to serve the grand-scale national newsprint company,a viable project in most other countries.But greed twinned with mismanagement which had been sucking life out of the country's huge investment stole in and the company became moribund,even dead!But the plant that was brought to serve it keeps thriving,hugging the village with its broad  and rubbery leaves.1

Slicing through this is the two-lane Calabar-Ikom Highway as countless springs dot the many valleys ringing the village round.The permanent residents till for a living the rocky and rich terrains of this place,lying twenty-three kilometres or so from the state capital and port city,Calabar.They forage the jungle too,especially during the bush mango season,for additional income.2

But the college students remain the biggest source of living and the lifeline for most villagers as they rent out rooms and trade in the various needs of this educated lot.Holidays always take the bustle out of this farming community.And so it was this Saturday morning.3

Almost all the students living here,including Titi,had gone away for the weekend.The villagers very early had all dived to their farms for one item or the other or for some physical activities round these farms.And Eddy who preferred drinking from local wisdom and rarely travelled home to the adjoining sister state,as he was a man of few needs and these were  adequately taken care of by his sister who made money available through the branch of her bank in Calabar,joined Dave - the University of Calabar[UNICAL] undergraduate and eldest son of his landlord who never missed spending his weekend in the village - and they left for the farm,armed with machetes and sacks.4

Clad in long-sleeved shirts and trousers,the legs rolled up;they followed alleys and paths dissecting the village of thatched and iron-roofed houses rubbing shoulders,then crossed Akerekere[the small stream flowing through the heart of the village] and marched along the wide rugged path leading from the village and through the gmelina plantation to various farm destinations and beyond into the jungle.5

It had rained last night.The sun this morning hung like an orange ball in the gray sky.As Dave and Eddy walked on,the ball inched higher up the horizon turning red,and then gradually turned silver and glaring.6

The path running through the gmelina plantation took them past a spring and then brought them after an hour to a wide and fast-running stream called Irua.A time-worn log hung on the banks doing the work of a bridge.They gingerly crossed over.7

From here a narrow path took them through farmland and past another small stream.It ran ahead through plots of gmelina and linked a tractor path,which brought them to Irokut,a larger stream than Irua.A felled tree - the trunk broader than that of Irua - served also as bridge.8

'Man,I'm reaching here for the very first time.Where to?'Eddy asked,surprised.9

'Don't have much to do in the farms this week - maybe just look around later to see how the crops are faring.We have the appropriate weather for a good snail catch - as it rained last night and the sun is high this morning.We can do a good snail hunt at the edges of the jungle.I need a change of diet next week back in school.'10

'Great fun then,'Eddy said excitedly.11

The stout branches of the tree hooked to the bank here as the trunk had fallen short of it.Dave cautiously walked up the wide branch lying slanting - the aftermath of the fall which severed it.Careful as ever he stepped on the portion carved out for placing the foot on the shoulder of the branch sticking up and linked the main trunk,navigating the uneven base area.12

Eddy followed as a duck would follow another on the same procession.He keenly watched his steps and was thrilled by the sound of water rushing against huge black rocks partly submerged on his left.Fallen trees strewn the length and breadth of the water.From clear facts,the base of the tree had jumped the bank for more than a dozen feet when felled.Rafters linked the bank and what was once the buttress of the tree.The rafters bounced as they walked on them - Eddy feeling like he could be thrown any moment into the hazy,babbling water.13

They reached the bank and stretching far ahead,left and right,were clearings for new farms.14

Eddy voiced his fears.'Does it mean,with the clearings here,people come this far to farm?'15

'Even farther!'Dave replied.'As we enter the jungle,you'd see pockets of clearing and farms.People believe new clearings are the most fertile plots to plant.'16

'How do they carry their stuff out?'Eddy asked curiously,considering the distance of an hour plus and the rugged,hilly terrains.17

'On their heads and feet.The tractor paths you see are for tractors lugging timber and when the newsprint company was functioning,for heavy-duty vehicles lugging logs of gmelina,'Dave said.'It's even this gmelina thing that pushes people this far damaging the forest in the name of farming.Ten years ago Irua was the limits of the village farmland.The jungle spread from just the opposite bank.Who was the strong man that would reach this point then for fear of wild animals in the then virgin forest?The government came,collected the farms and planted gmelina.The newsprint company was mismanaged and the rest of the story we all know.So for the villagers,life must continue and the jungle suffers it.'18

'I feel sorry for people who farm here - the distance is wickedly long!'19

'They are coping though they are also groaning inwardly.That's why parents are struggling real hard to send away their kids to the city with the single hope things would eventually get better there.'20

'And a false hope that is!'Eddy said.'So many are falling victims of this erroneous assumption.Everyone thinks back in the rural areas the city is money,money,fun and more money!I was there once and still have a sister there - the bills to be paid always outweigh the income make.Good jobs with living wage are scarce and decent accommodation is a privilege.I'd seen guys with good degrees carting loads for survival and loads of humans live under the flyovers and bridges.For me I believe the city is a sea of hopelessness with just a handful of individuals luckily escaping being drowned.If few things are properly put in place in this village and other rural areas,life would be easier and sweeter down here.One would just go to the city to see the highrises on a picnic from time to time.'21

'With greed and corruption how does one get these people in government to put in place few basic things for the rural people?We have narrow-minded  leadership - monarchs created with stolen national wealth who must be worshipped blindly by the rest of us.'22

'Hmm,'Eddy hummed.'E go better!'He said hopefully.23

Countrymen and women termed seriously or derogatorily,depending on the mood,'E go better' - the pidgin version of 'Everything would get better' - as the poor-man's prayer.The soul of this country's resilience,the resilience that had seen the citizenry survive the crunchiest of time,is aptly captured in those tattered three words.This country limps along in its optimism.24

But Dave begged to differ:"I hope not when we are all dead!'25

'Your own 'inward groaning'?'Eddy lightly reminded Dave of a term he had used earlier on.26

'Of course,'Eddy replied.'The truth is that every citizen of this country has his or her own 'inward groaning'.I groan over the fact that this country has no messianic leadership!'27

'And the followership,'Eddy added,'is too chameleonic to lead.'28

'Not knowing if it was a jest or an earnest statement,Dave said:'Can you clarify that?'29

'We love money too much to resist its temptation.Our principles are easily sacrificed at the smell of hard cash.Leadership to followership,this is our weak point.'30

'Can you support your assessment with one clear incident in the distant or immediate past as relates to followership?'Dave challenged.31

'Let's not go too far - I give you the June 12 debacle!The key players in the enthronement of democracy,including the duly elected Vice President in an election declared free and fair by the international community,became at the snap of fingers portfolio ministers in the military dictatorship that kept them away from their exalted offices;and even a vocal constitutional lawyer and outstanding "fighter" for the masses became its chief legal officer!We all heard how each and every one of these individuals were disgraced from the corridors of power...'32

'That's about leadership,'Dave cut in,'which agrees with my stance.You have any incident to back up your assessment of followership?'33

'Of course,yes,'Eddy said.'We all heard and saw how "youths" trek from every part of this country less than three years ago to the federal capital and participated in the infamous "two-million-man march" to "earnestly ask" the beast that was hounding decent folks like rats all over to continue in power and with the sheer insult by the five political parties "adopting" him as the sole candidate to stand in a Presidential election in a nation of over one hundred and twenty million people.This drama was cut comically short by Providence with the apple incident that took his life.'34

'Man,you're right!'Dave said.'Forgive me for suffering a memory loss!'35

Then Dave stopped abruptly on the track,gazing up.36

'What's that?'Eddy asked,looking up and searching the branches of economic trees left standing in the clearings.37

Dave pointed his machete.A large hawk was dragging an amber snake and flapping upwards,avoiding the branches.The more than ten-feet-long snake wriggled in the air in a vain fight as its folds were gripped in the hawk's talons.And then the big predator whipped the large prey free of the branches and flew above the trees seeking a comfortable spot to enjoy its meal.38

Then an idea for a poem engaged Eddy's mind and he subconsciously drafted and entitled it:'Metaphor Of The Predator'.With the predator,there is no prosecution and there is no judge and the verdict is arbitrary and vividly clear:the prey forever would be wrong!And it occurred to Eddy suddenly most of his country's leaders are predators and the prey is no other person than the country's hapless treasury!And when the prey is caught - yes,the predator fly abroad to enjoy their meal!39

                                             END>>>Chapter FOUR.   40

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