1 CHAPTER 1

ONE

She sat pensively, forlorn, lost in deep sorrow, with her head held in her palms like a weighty load. She quivered intermittently as loud hisses of despair escaped from her clenched teeth.

"I am finished," she finally blurted out. It was a piercing shrill. "Nwamaka has finished me. How can I survive this? So, I shall be humiliated twice in this village by these children? What will people say? How will I face my fellow women? What will the Church say? How can I face the Reverend Father with this? Surely, they are going to stop me from receiving the Holy Communion. How can they take the Holy Rosary away from me, a whole Eunice, secretary of Catholic Women Organization (CWO) at St. Pius Catholic Church? Haaah! I am dead! Nwamaka, why?''

Her fears were genuine, her predicament real. Umunze was a community that fronted her religiosity and took absolute pride in her Catholic faith heritage. They even scoffed at neighboring Umuopara, whom they still considered 'Christian pagans,' seeing as most Umuopara men were still tied to the dying strings of polygamy, with a healthy number of their women famed for promiscuity. To the people of Umunze, Umuopara was yet to see the light of Salvation, despite housing both Catholic and Anglican Parishes.

In recent times, the self-righteousness of Umunze was taking heavy knocks from all angles. The younger generation was increasingly forcing the old guard to gnash their teeth in agony. Loving the things of this world, they were no longer fervent in the things of God. Indeed, the Catechist had recently complained about poor attendance to morning masses. Even the adults were now becoming absent from Masses, too. The Holy Communion wasn't left out of this wave either; the turnout during Communion has been on a constant decline. Something needed to be done; Satan must be fighting the good people of God in Umunze. The Catechist had therefore declared that every family must say fifteen decades of the Rosary every morning and night for one month to ward off the attack of the evil one, Lucifer.

Madam Eunice was still lost in her thoughts when her husband came in. His heart skipped when he saw the look on his wife. "What could have happened," he wondered? "Was her mother dead?" The old woman had been very sickly of late. Then his mind went to Obinna, his first son, who was learning a trade at Onitsha under his master. His leg wobbled. He had heard a story, a day ago, at the market square, of how rough Onitsha had become in recent times from the activities of criminals and gangsters. Coupled with these were the menace of social miscreants popularly called Agberos and rival groups with their constant struggle to control the leadership of the numerous markets that dotted the city. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, please protect my son," he prayed silently.

"Nne Obinna, o gini? What is the problem?" He inquired from her.

She sighed in resignation, her head falling back uncontrollably. She tightly closed her eyes as tears streamed out in rapid gushes. At this point, Mazi Egbelu was now sure the worst had happened. His apprehension gave way to impatience, anger. "What is it, woman? Tell me now?"  He barked.

"Nwamaka is pregnant." Came her reply.

His head buzzed; his eyes turned in their socket. He felt nothing, the eerie nothingness of a dream. Maybe he did not hear her well enough. He stood there motionless, struggling hard to listen to her, to hear her. His ears were surely getting old; he had been having difficulty hearing of late. He looked at her, the tears were now flowing, and it hit him. He reeled and collapsed in the nearby chair.

"Eunice, what did you say?"

Lost for words, she forlornly shook her head in confirmation.

"Pregnant? When? How? Which stomach?"

Indeed, Nwamaka's stomach still looked as flat as a roofing sheet. Her time was strictly divided between helping her mother in her provision shop and church activities - especially in her Mary league society and the choir. When could a man have gotten access to her to the extent of impregnating her?

"Are you sure of what you are saying, Woman?"

She nodded in affirmation. "She was running temperature and vomiting. I noticed her full and firm breasts and thickening face and confronted her. She has not seen her flow in the past four months."

"Impossible! Where is she?" Mazi Egbelu bellowed. His wife threw her two hands up in an 'I don't know' fashion.

"And who did she say is the idiot responsible?" He quizzed angrily.

"She didn't say," she replied. "She ran away".

He was finding it difficult to think straight. "Why again?" he heard himself asking aloud. The difficulties Ijeoma - his first daughter - put him through were all too recent. Ijeoma had gotten pregnant for Nnanna, Mazi Ikoro's son. Nnanna had only completed his furniture-making apprenticeship just three months earlier at Onitsha. Their saving grace was that Nnanna was deeply in love with Ijeoma, hence was willing to marry her if only he could perform the marriage rites. Unfortunately, he could not do this as a beginner in life, and Mazi Egbelu could not face the shame of a daughter being pregnant out of wedlock. He was a prominent church elder. He could have even been the catechist if not that Mr. Andrew, the present Catechist, was very forceful with the contest. Mr. Andrew pushed for the position by playing to the gallery - most times, with camouflaged eye service to the Parish Priest and the entire church. He did this even while the previous Catechist was still alive, but Mazi Egbelu lacked the brute edge to descend into such a struggle. Therefore, Mazi Egbelu took the ignominious task of providing funding for Nnanna's marriage rites to his own daughter. He tried as much as he could to keep this a secret, but apparently, he did not succeed. The rumor still persists in the village to this day. Even at that, what Ijeoma had, was a 'dishonorable' wedding, as she wore no veil during the ceremony because being pregnant before marriage was considered shameful. Losing one's virginity before the sacrament of matrimony was a grave sin, a loss of purity. Therefore, Ijeoma's type of wedding was considered inferior and looked down upon since it was obvious – as highlighted by her bare face - that she was no longer a virgin. It was generally believed that the church only consented to wed such a couple and administer the sacrament of matrimony on them to save the duo from continuing in their sinful union.

Ijeoma's marriage was a big blow to Mazi Egbelu, setting him back on the church standing - a position he had only recently started to rebuild with his wife's election as the secretary of the CWO. Even then, he was yet to be totally free from the financial burden Ijeoma's marriage forced him into. Apart from funding the marriage rites, he was almost solely responsible for taking care of his daughter for a while after her wedding. As a beginner, Nnanna could not take Ijeoma along to the city for some time, and his poor father, who was merely a palm wine tapper, could not carter for the needs of his pregnant daughter-in-law. So, Mazi was faced with the double responsibility of taking care of his immediate family and that of his first daughter.

"This life is cruel," he sighed.

Contrary to appearance, Mazi Egbelu was aware there was no love lost between him and the Catechist. He knew the Catechist was among those who used Ijeoma's marriage to erode his good standing in the church.

"Of course, only bad and irresponsible parents, who failed to bring up their children in the ways of the Lord, met such fate. Didn't the Bible say, 'Train a child in the way he should go and when he grows, he shall not depart from it?' Mazi. Egbelu had failed in his Christian duties and therefore was unfit for leadership roles in the church."

Mr. Andrew ferociously drummed up this into the ears of everyone. He always perceived Mr. Egbelu as a threat. His popularity amongst church members and his likable nature riled him in no small measures. Yes, he got the post of a Catechist ahead of Mazi Egbelu, but he was not placated. So, when the chairmanship position of St. Pius Christian Father's Association came up, and Mazi Egbelu indicated interest, the catechist heavily used Ijeoma's premarital pregnancy to whittle down his chances and batter his image the more. Mazi Egbelu was under no illusion of what the Catechist would do if the news of his second daughter's pregnancy got out.

He and his wife had been good parents to their children. They made sure their children attended mass regularly and received Holy Communion. They said their Rosary daily and read the Bible. "How did the devil find an opening to attack his household thus?" He wondered. Umuopara, could it be? It was said that several of their young men had been traveling to and sojourning in faraway towns in the recent past. It was this group that had learned the vile ways of civilization and brought them back to corrupt the ways of their land. Over the years, the parishes in the two communities have collaborated in several ways, such as through sports and choir competitions. Could these have been avenues of negative influence?

Or could this be a protest from Nwamaka over her inability to further her education? She was decent in class and had wanted to continue to the tertiary after completing her secondary education. Much as he had wanted to, Mazi Egbelu could not grant her wish because of the financial burden. He was determined to train at least one son in the university. He had been saving to do so for his other son, Chukwuemeka, who was about finishing from secondary school. His inability to do so for his first son, Obinna, owing to some defective eye problem, remained a great source of sadness for him. Income was lean of late; he had explained to Nwamaka. He wanted her to learn a trade or handiwork, and she had chosen dressmaking. She was not happy initially, especially because she had a good result and met the necessary requirements for tertiary intake. He, however, impressed it upon her to shelve the idea and was sure she understood. Could it be she had been seething all this while?

"Mbanu!" He thought aloud.

Nwamaka had always been a good and obedient girl. His household must be under attack, he concluded.