AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It is not,” said Joseph. “What is an engagement ring? Our fathers did not marry with rings. It is not too late to change. Remember you are the one and only Umuofia son to be educated overseas. We do not want to be like the unfortunate child who grows his first tooth and grows a decayed one. What sort of encouragement will your action give to the poor men and women who collected the money?”
Obi was getting a little angry. “It was only a loan, remember. I shall pay it all back to the last anini.”
Obi knew better than anyone else that his family would violently oppose the idea of marrying an osu. Who wouldn’t? But for him it was either Clara or nobody. Family ties were all very well as long as they did not interfere with Clara. “If I could convince my mother,” he thought, “all would be well.”
There was a special bond between Obi and his mother. Of all her eight children Obi was nearest her heart. Her neighbors used to call her “Janet’s mother” until Obi was born, and then she immediately became “Obi’s mother.” Neighbors have an unfailing instinct in such matters. As a child Obi took this special relationship very much for granted. But when he was about ten something happened which gave it concrete form in his young mind. He had a rusty razorblade with which he sharpened his pencil or sometimes cut up a grasshopper. One day he forgot this implement in his pocket and it cut his mother’s hand very badly when she was washing his clothes on a stone in the stream. She returned with the clothes unwashed and her hand dripping with blood. For some reason or other, whenever Obi thought affectionately of his mother, his mind went back to that shedding of her blood. It bound him very firmly to her.
When he said to himself: “If I could convince my mother,” he was almost certain that he could.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Umuofia Progressive Union, Lagos branch, held its meetings on the first Saturday of every month. Obi did not attend the November meeting because he was visiting Umuofia at the time. His friend Joseph made his excuses.
The next meeting took place on 1 December 1956. Obi remembered that date because it was important in his life. Joseph had telephoned him in the office to remind him that the meeting began at 4.30 P.M. “You will not forget to call for me?” he asked.
“Of course not,” said Obi. “Expect me at four.”
“Good! See you later.” Joseph always put on an impressive manner when speaking on the telephone. He never spoke Ibo or pidgin English at such moments. When he hung up he told his colleagues: “That na my brother. Just return from overseas. B.A. (Honors) Classics.” He always preferred the fiction of Classics to the truth of English. It sounded more impressive.
“What department he de work?”
“Secretary to the Scholarship Board.”
“ ‘E go make plenty money there. Every student who wan’ go England go de see am for house.”
“ ‘E no be like dat,” said Joseph. “Him na gentleman. No fit take bribe.”
“Na so,” said the other in unbelief.
At four fifteen Obi arrived at Joseph’s in his new Morris Oxford. That was one reason why Joseph had looked forward to this particular meeting. He was going to share in the glory of the car. It was going to be a great occasion for the Umuofia Progressive Union when one of their sons arrived at their meeting in a pleasure car. Joseph as a very close friend of Obi would reflect some of the glory. He was impeccably turned out for the occasion: gray flannel trousers, white nylon shirt, spotted dark tie, and black shoes. Although he did not say it, he was disappointed at Obi’s casual appearance. It was true he wanted to share in the glory of the car, but he did not care to be called the outsider who wept louder than the bereaved. It was not beyond Umuofia men to make such embarrassing comments.
The reaction of the meeting was better than even Joseph expected. Although Obi had arrived at his place at four fifteen Joseph had delayed their departure until five when he knew the meeting would be full. The fine for lateness was one penny, but what was that beside the glory of stepping out of a pleasure car in the full gaze of Umuofia? As it turned out, nobody thought of the fine. They clapped and cheered and danced when they saw the car pull up.
“Umuofia kwenu!” shouted one old man.
“Ya!” replied everyone in unison.
“Umuofia kwenu!”
“Ya!”
“Kwenu!”
“Ya!”
“Ife awolu Ogoli azua n’afia,” he said.
Obi was given a seat beside the President and had to answer innumerable questions about his job and about his car before the meeting settled down again to business.
Joshua Udo, a messenger in the Post Office, had been sacked for sleeping while on duty. According to him, he had not been sleeping but thinking. But the Chief Clerk had been looking for a way to deal with him since he had not completed the payment of ten pounds’ bribe which he had promised when he was employed. Joshua was now asking his countrymen to “borrow” him ten pounds to look for another job.
The meeting had practically agreed to this when it was disturbed by Obi’s arrival. The President was just giving Joshua a piece of his mind on the subject of sleeping in the office, as a preliminary to lending him public funds.
“You did not leave Umuofia four hundred miles away to come and sleep in Lagos,” he told him. “There are enough beds in Umuofia. If you don’t want to work, you should return there. You messengers are all like that. I have one in my office who is always getting permission to go to the latrine. Anyway, I move that we approve a loan of ten pounds to Mr. Joshua Udo for the … er … er the explicit purpose of seeking reengagement.” The last sentence was said in English because of its legal nature. The loan was approved. Then by way of light relief someone took up the President on his statement that it was work that brought them four hundred miles to Lagos.
“It is money, not work,” said the man. “We left plenty of work at home.… Anyone who likes work can return home, take up his matchet and go into that bad bush between Umuofia and Mbaino. It will keep him occupied to his last days.” The meeting agreed that it was money, not work, that brought them to Lagos.
“Let joking pass,” said the old man who had earlier on greeted Umuofia in warlike salute. “Joshua is now without a job. We have given him ten pounds. But ten pounds do
