It is five months now since Tabo escaped from the plantation where he and seven others of his town boys have been working day and night for the past nine years and earned nothing tangible. There was no gain to show for their struggles and toils except palms made rough from hours of working with rough farming metals, numerous tears on the soles of their feet and furrows on their faces carved out by hours of hard work and sweat under the burning sun. As he sat on an empty barrel on the port side of the ship, looking out into the far horizon where his home was, he wondered what had become of his family and if they could still recognize him. He brought out a pouch made from the tanned skin of an antelope and untied it. He took out a small bone that seems to be taken out from a bird, the great Turaco that was considered the most royal of all birds in his land. The bone was regarded as a bringer of good luck to it bearer and it had been given to him by his father on the night before his departure from his village and throughout his wandering and sufferings, he had never parted with it. His father had to him to put faith in the gods and always on them for guidance and that he had done all these years and finally, they are taking him back home.
Tabo had been born in Kakale, a village that made up the Kawalele kingdom and for generations, this kingdom had been the glory of the people of the plain. Stories of the heroic deeds and the valor of their ancestors had been passed down to every generation and so their neighbors have always looked on them with respect and fear. They were good farmers and great hunters and so the kingdom flourished and prospered but about three decades past, a new era was born and the change that came with it swept through the entire land like wildfire and any town that could not adjust to it was been pushed to the bottom of the ladder. A new kind of government was established and for thousands of miles around, all the kingdoms were unified and made to interact with each other. Large markets were created and the commodity needed for trade changed. The new government that came required every man, young or old who was old enough to pull a bow to pay tax to the local office, any man that fails to meet up with this requirement was arrested and handed over to the chief officer for punishment. Most villagers were finding it had to pay due to the low products they have for sell and little earning is realized from these business.
Tabo’s father had been a hunter and in the past, whenever he had more than enough catch for the family, he exchanged what he does not need for other provisions they family needed like salt, pepper, millet, corn, cassava and potatoes, there was no need for money. When the new tax law came in, his father was finding it difficult to pay up and Tabo was also gradually attaining the age to start paying too, it was becoming a problem for the family. One night, Tabo woke his father up and requested to have a discussion with him.
“Father, I have thought about the predicament we are in and in other to avoid the wrath of the new government, I have decided to travel across the great river in search of a living”, he said. He was trying to avoid his father’s eyes as he spoke.
“What do you mean you want to travel across the great seas? No one from this kingdom has embarked on such a journey before and now you want to try it. The land across the great seas is not known by anyone from these parts, how do you intend to make it there?” his father asked with a bit of anger in his voice.
“Father, I cannot just and watch until these men come to take me away to work for them in the name of punishment for not paying our task, it is better I leave now and find a means to make a better life. Who knows, maybe the gods will smile on me and I will return with wealth”, Tabo argued on.
His father bowed his head in thought. Tabo could hear him grinding his teeth, a thing he always does whenever he was excited or upset. After what seems like an eternity to Tabo, his father finally spoke out.
“Who are you going with?” his father asked.
Although Tabo knew such a question will come, he had not anticipated it to come so early.
“Mamu, Damki, Sosatu, Fakale and Solele”, Tabo listed out the names of his friends whom they planned on leaving town with.
“That is alright. They are all good boys and from respectable families. Although it hurts me to see you go away from home in other to make meaning out of your life but am glad you are becoming a man not only in body alone but in your thinking”, he father had said. He bent down under the bed and brought out a little cube like wooded box and slides it open. He took a little white bone from it and handed it over to Tabo. Looking at the whitish piece of bone in his palm, Tabo recognized it as the bone of a bird commonly found among his people and it was believed to bring good luck and good spirits.
“Always keep this bone close to you, it has been in the family for generations and it has always been protecting us. As you go away from home and will sail over the sea, it will bring the favours of the gods on you and no matter what condition you find yourself, it will always bring you home at the end. Go well my son”, his father had prayed for him.
Before the first cock crow that day, Tabo and his friends sneaked out of the village and found their way to the edge of the great river and for nine years, they had wandered, suffered and toiled in different lands. About seven months ago, they had heard that the cruel tax law had been abolished and they had immediately decided to return home.
Tabo fingered the bone lightly.
“We are going home”, he said sofly.