University of Massachusetts Boston

From the SelectedWorks of Chukwuma Azuonye

1977

"Adaogu". A short story. Festac Anthology of NewNigerian Writing, ed. Cyprain Ekwensi. Lagos:Cultural Affairs Division, Federal Ministry ofInformation, pp. 79-86.Chukwuma Azuonye, University of Massachusetts Boston

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/chukwuma_azuonye/49/

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Yau will know her if you think very well:.yT~,thing thatwalks like antelope, the only daughter of oUr:deadbrothe~Mazi Izuogu. She went to Ala Bekee, but-there i&liothinginside her head, It is that thing which is saidtbat tallness is.not that my child has grown. Look now, .see_~hat;hashappened to the mother of Adaogu: 'a-woman who WjlSeating on table yesterday, she is now eatiagson the.floor.World has rejected her because of what her daughter wentand did. If you turn as if you are going to Ekeagu marke], atthe side of Iyieke stream, you will find. her .claylongdirgesteaming smoke from her house ..... Yca;.BQ&./wby'am, Itelling .you what you all know? Is there a ~n,in·tIUI.ourOkom who does not know Adaogu that keepJmouth liP.twin chips of firer .' '.' ~:,f~';'1 :, " '.' 'P,;\f...

Do' you know what happened? This. tigreu,-;this: ~ '. " '.,daughter Adaogu:shewent and told· her:·oWD'dauahterwhom, she bore nine months inside her belly to.be ~hec'''AnW'. Have :rou seen that k~dof~o.~Wr~tawoman whose child smeared With chalk '. rjift'chiId.should go and tell her own child to hec:a1lilW_~An~1You do not understand this thing.exc:ept:.youbowl"hat .

. Bek~ 'calls" Anty". Me, I did 110t 80 to,1ICboold~~t;lDYbrother who went to scho~1~as ~old~ ~~~,,-~~:~ ..children of Bekee call their big sisters like~our~ea1I·· .~:q:.~.;

their:own"Daada". When I heard this tbidIf·.c)uri»>eOple~l..:/;didliOi know myself again. I spat off:and,aid:i,'~Mayjmyeyes never see my ears except in a.mirrorl.R1IIKOIDeiandsee where the shit of dogs spark ftrel~, ""(~ii:'''i\,;i ..•,,,,il

" ;~,StOfY"concernin,, .·what . happened"!tOiit\~~" .••'Adaogu !Wentand did; I' tell it .withangerif.,.,f __ t-lO·,

: teJl:fuH,~eCause.this: thing is eating fOOd:iJl;,inYi~'l~t .Adit~does 'notr:&~1 it anything, andr<Adaoau~~'_ .hear;';Dogof~foul wind.rwherever she goo:sbe: __people1;Herstory will turn the hellyof everybod)'!~J Iknow;~BUt" tell it as I heard it, I will not hide-my:m9utb.Yes,whY'should I hide my mouth, did Adaogu hide-her

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anus when she was farting this bad air into our noses? Didshe' bide her mouth when she used the mouth with whichshe tats yams alld cocoyams and told her own daughter tobe calling her" Anty"? It was that time that the earth brokein two, my brothers. You see, this the kind of thing whichwhen it happens should not be covered; because when itrots-open everything with which we live will follow it androt. But Chineke, let evilnot prevail! I say tufia to what theearth deplores. Isay tufia to what ought not be heard withears!

.Uyou'go to town now, everywhere is shaking: AdaogulAdaogu! Adaogul Up and down, everywhere is shaking,shaking, shaking. There is nobody there who does notknow what Adaogo did with herself. It is that thing which issaid that at the ninth month who can hide pregnancy fromthe eye of the world? But the shame of this thing is not theshame of Adaogu but our own. The people of the town arenow putting everything on our head, because Adaogu isour daughter, What else will they say? They say thatAdaogu is what she is because the people of Okom are alllike that! It is that thing which is said that one finger takesoil but it spreads to the others. But that one is anotherstory.

The thing that happened was that Adaogu wanted tomake "Miss". Everyday, everyday upon noon, upon moon,she has been making miss, miss all her life. Even if river iseating het she will, still be making miss. But how can you bemilking miss, miss like that everyday everymoon and nothiiS~:your road one night. That was what happened. SoAdaog\i was making miss, miss like that and one day likethi$lhe missed her road. Because everyday is not christmas.But Adaop does not know that yet. The whole town isbreaking its head because of this thing, but when you look,there is no shame inside the eyes of Adaogu, That is what Iwas 'saying,that shame does not catch a madman but hisbrother. Now this thing has happened, it is Okom they arecarrying about. I was in town. I saw Adaogu. Shame waskilling me for her, but she was flashing her eyes, flashingher eyes, flashing her eyes about like what I do:nof know,arid she was walking with all herself tied up·asiFshe:doesnot go to latrine. What else shall I say? Here in Okom, comeand seeher mother how she has shrivelled overnight, but go

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to town and see Adaogu how she is smelliilalikethe,queen~of spirits and dancing staccato from,man:to'..-IL::haY;1Tufial ' . ',', ' -;, -' -L '."

So Adaogu went and told her own daughtei wbom she;bore nine months insider he belly to be calling ber ~Anty".And this her daughter was calling her Anty, calling herAnty, calling her Anty .... My brothers, this thing: it is.fearful. Tell me, with which mouth shall we tell it1In allmytruth we have never seen its like in Okom.. ,

But you all know how Adaogu got this her-daughter,You will remember that time she came back. from AlaBekee, when we were making funeral for her father; you!remember how she march-entered our, house of J~rsJorher own father wearing trawsa like a man, and. the<only"thing that came out of that her bad mouth·'was"Ityshasheml" Today we know what that.bad word,meansand we do not kn6w what to say. Adaogu did not weep herfather three nights and she carried the corpse of herself andwent to town to dance harlot with everyman she saw. Thatwas why nobody agreed to marry her because they say thather eyes are too open, that she has killed herself withabortion. It remained like this, and everymoon the flower:was not seen. Every moon the flower was not seen. Adaogu.drank red ink, drank red ink, drank red ink untilshe nearlydied. Then one moon she forgot to drink red ink;forg()t her-abortion belt, and the thing that wanted' to~_happenthappened at last. It was that time that Adaogu ran to Lagosand hid until she delivered her daughter. That was the timeshame began to kill the mother of Adaogu, She.survivedthat one and agreed to suckle tha child\;:of, naked,conception. It was good thing for Adaogu and she-ran backto town to make miss and dance harlot with her child. '

How many years was it?-" Yes, yes: sevenyears. yes; Forseven years this daughter of Adaogu lived in this our,Okom, a child who never sucked breast, only drank cow-milk from glass bottles, because her mother; wanted. tomak.e"?:~_But it is a go.~ thing that Adao~ did not thr0!Vher lDS.';a.gutter. ThIS IS what they do m town. That IShow:'l~~rilen of the town sell themselves a penny inwhit~Jlilarket. They do not call children anything;they'nevet'dre&tn to suckle babies.

So the-daughter of Adaogu grew like that. She did not,

. looked at her face it was as if she \tiruld eat the speaker,.n~i But the one thatwQuld rip ()petrher bellY~lrithe eyes;. ·of.lM wortd:was stil1:Cdming.Thespeaker spoke;agaiQ;and:, . "Jt~H:he began to;8peak;~AdaogU-brOke mad." ;.>;)

,I:r<)ur; sistert· he 'spoke;,"We,thank you; and we 'thahk'.006i·Whatevet you 'touch.jnmaji mmaji! Your chi isgood.Chineke; his good armsl One thing we pray is that nexttriC:ftii\Whenwe come to eat Christmas again in this housea:n:d1lrtakeBatday when you become ninteen years oldagain;'let it be·that God will make it that htis your daughterwho calls you" Anty" wiDgrow up and know-that he shouldbe calling you "Mama"1 ', '..Before he spoke-finished, Adaogu rose like leopard. Herbreathrose like wind. Her heart bombed like krutu. Theysay:that she spoke fri-fri-fri like Englanlady and said shewould bring Police to lock up the speaker inside Cell, thatthe man insulted her in her own house. What was it againtbeysay she said? Yes, that in Ala Bekee, a man like thatbold speaker must be carried to court, that he would payout his eyes'to save his head for what his tongue fanned ..

. ,She ran prem-prem, ran prem-prem, ran prem-prem;but the speaker continued to speak what he was speaking.Speaking, but it was not him that spoke, because he was nothimself, Adaogo was barking like a dog, he did not hearher. He spoke. And he took everything that happened sinceAdaoguwas born and told the people in that madhouse.They laughed .. He told white, he told black. Then hebrushed his bottom sat down, demanded and was givenwine and he drank.

Adaogu was still barking, "Police! Police!"'Night caught fire in that madhouse. The people spoke:

they took .everything .they knew about Adaogu and'narrated.' The women spat off and said: "Ehl So Adaoguthis is whatyou arel" ; ; ,. ;

, " They believed the story; and do you know that that manwho spoke and burst the belly of Adaogu, he is from this

I our Okom. Yes: don't you know James-James OkonkwoI . the son of Okonkwo Irogewe. James the carpenter. Him; It; . wu him t,hlt said it out. And he was not talking what he did

I' i'lO{:krlo~.:H~wasrlot·talking whathe did not know. ':'.W;"da",~ still·barking, "Police! Police!" but she didI . '~;YJrj;'f\}h~< ~,-,.: : .' ; .~;. ': .... !,l'

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not stop to see what was happening to her daughter whomshe did riot allow to get father. - "

"Police! Police!" Would Police give father to this girlwhose heart she had killed? That was what everybody wUasking her. But Adaogu was still barking, "Police! Polieel"and she was inside her room rubbing pomade, rubbingpancake, rubbing perfume .... That is how they rub ifintown, rub out age, rub out pity, rub out truth,rub,outwomanhood, rub out manhood, that is how they rub outmotherhood, rub out generations, that is how they rub outwhat holds their lives. And Adaogu took another abortionbelt and divided her belly into two. Then she put on wigandcarne out. Everybody was looking at her face, but her eyeswere still strong as before. " >:'

James Okonkwo looked at this thing, shook his headand said it shall not be. You know that James Okonkwodoes not hear that twelve is striking, what more with winein his eyes. What did Police mean to him? My leopard! Herose when he saw Adaogu about to bolt out and ,wentandblocked the door. Again he spoke: "Go back, AdaogU. Goback and tell your daughter the truth!" '::'

People did not allow Adaogu to speak again. But if theydid not hold her shewould have slapped James as they usedto slap their men in Ala Bekee. Agwu was in her eyes. If youlooked at her, she was frantic like a mad cow. People heldher. They held her until her daughter carne. Poor girl, hereyes were swollen as if she had cried for seven moons. Therewas nothing else in her throat only tears and words thewind scattered: ' ' "

What else shall I say? That was how Batday ended thatday. It did not take another day and Adaogu sent back herdaughter horne, and she is still there in town making miss,and this thing we are talking here does not reach her there.It is her daughter that is dying, she who has Calledher ownmother" Anty" and will never know her father; she who willlive haunted by what her·mother went and did. What elseshall I say? Adaogu is there.: \ "

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FICTION. i~'

Fola Arllesere '.;:,;:;~\\\>:,}~~ '1b. 1943. Educated. Methodist Boys Hish School, La,os,1962; Federal School of Science,196S. Freelance Wnter.Now clerk in an Insurance Company.Umaru Balarabe Ahmedlives in Kaduna. The extract is from an unpublilhednoveltitled THE JOURNEY. ':Onuora Nzekwu ',f r;.o-;

Deputy Director Federal Ministry of Information, authorof WAND OF NOBLE WOOD. BLADE AMONG THBBOYS, HIGH LIFE FOR LIZARDS f', '.ht~'i~"'>";;'.(.'-'Chukwuma'A2uonye ' ',',', : ',:::;:) ,~~,~!;~;studied medicine at the University of Nigeria. 'EnupCampus ' ,

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rayoBalolun '-, r 1, "i " ,~studied English and Philosophy at the University,oUfe.Has contributed to /ja/a and to Indigo., 'Amol Tutuolaauthor of The Palm Wine Drinkard.Kunl,' Aklnlmoyln ' ",:, ;,';;[; 'J "·!t"'-,

wrote a children'l book Twilight and,hI TortDliI.' Prolific 'author of ellaYI. articles, shert Itories.' BroadCiiter.Widely published in Nigerian and Overseas media. SeniorOfficial in the Federal Mlnistry of Information. ,Ralheed GblClamOiI ",'""b. 1943. Read Economics at the:UnivenityofMancbetter

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