It was in November and the dry season had taken over the land, to the stage where a spark of fire would consume everywhere in the blink of an eye. Afternoon of that particular day, I was inside my room when I heard some trouble and continuous cries for help from outside in the compound.
"Umutu kweke! Please help oooh! Everyone, please come oooh!"
Feminine voices were echoing in a troublesome manner and other masculine voices in an argumentative tone followed, "Did he smoke? Catch him! He must be out of his mind!"
I didn't know when I dropped my Nokia 207 that I was gaming on and rushed outside to meet the compound filled with people both male, female, youth and the elderly.
The big house in the centre of the large compound was filled with smoke, the women including my mom were off their footwear and were shouting for help from afar the scene while my dad and other mature men in the scene were trying to catch Bro. Morrison(as we fondly called him because he's older than I and my siblings) who was swinging a shovel and chasing people away from getting into the house to quench the fire he had put in the house. He was shirtless, with his eyes burning as if someone had injected him with hard drugs. The men were up to 6 but it was hard for them to get to him because he was swinging the shovel so badly that if it touched someone, it meant death.
Bro Morrison was swinging the shovel in anger, ranting all sorts of things the family did to his father when he was alive, hence the reason he wanted to burn down the house.
Upon seeing how my dad and others were being careful and trying to catch him peacefully, I got angry, picked up a big stick and aggressively ran to join them. I could hear my mom shouting my name not to join them but I was deaf already due to the anger. I was mad at how one person who is in the same position in the family as me wants to burn down a house in the compound. That's absolutely rubbish!
Bro Morrison, when he was that he was about to be overpowered, he ran away and we quickly rushed into the smoking house with buckets of water and poured on the firewood he had set in the centre of the parlour which was burning very badly but fortunately, had not caught the ceiling or any furniture in the parlour.
Bro Morrison is a cousin of mine, his late dad was an elder brother to my dad and was his first son who is far older than me and usually rates himself above other cousins who are younger than him meanwhile we have equal rights in the family. He picked up the anger that day due to the family feud that occurred during the death of his dad and he thought burning down the house where they lived when his father was alive, was the only way to challenge the extended family at large. My dad was the youngest at home at that period, he used the police to arrest him and called on the older siblings who were not living in the village at that period to travel down to the village to come and settle the situation.
Well, it was found that he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs coupled with the anger from the issue he had with the elders when his father was laid to rest.
The evening of that day, his mom, an elderly woman in her 60s came in her short jeans, yellow polo shirt and a fastened wrapper on her waist, with her muscles ready to fight my dad for arresting his son but she couldn't do all that demonstration without tears and crying.
"Come oooh!"
"You must arrest me too since you know how to arrest..." She was very loud in her shouts, rolling on the ground and accusing my dad with all sorts of things just because he stood in his ground and arrested the boy. Unfortunately, my dad wasn't around in the compound, it was just us and we weren't moved watching her drama. The one that feared me most was the thought of my mom responding to her but my mom was in a good mood that day, so it was just her that was making the drama with no response from anyone. She did all her drama, cried and shouted to her satisfaction until it was late and she left the scene by herself.
Bro Morrison was released the next day and he begged the family for the troubles he caused that day.
"Kingsley, you won't understand the kind of 'highness' I took that day. Please don't take alcohol oooh!" These were his words the day he came to the compound after the issue was settled. He laughingly admitted that he was 'high' and advised us not to take drugs or alcohol.
Thanks for reading.
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