Chapter 66

The Chief rued the day he accepted the position. 

He had quit his job to get away from the complex games of power in the city, and returned to his hometown to pass his days in tranquility with his family. Who would have thought a village also had drama and messes to solve?

First, orphan children living alone.

He had cursed and scolded the previous Chief for ignoring the matter for however long it lasted. He did not even care about the seniority. When he was at the city, he had scolded people with more authority than him.

After venting, he of course decided to help the kids as best as he could without being partial. He had discovered the late parents were not liked by the villagers, and the children were much less liked. The Chief sometimes admired the villagers' shortsightedness. 

With daughters being married out, few men staying at the village because they were looking for better opportunities in town or even farther, and only old people willing to remain behind, did they think the village would prosper without new people settling in?

Perhaps because he was aware of how politics worked so he knew that, if a village no longer provided taxes, then the land would be redistributed. He sometimes wondered what the villagers would do if that happened. 

Though, he could not entirely blame them for their ignorance. Being illiterate was a curse upon itself.

It was one thing to deal with illiterate kids, there was time to rectify that. With illiterate adults who already had a set mentality, it was more difficult to teach them new things. Then, they were left with nothing more than unsubstantial complaints and gossips to entertain themselves.

"Land's getting smaller, Chief." Of course it would get smaller if your family grew disproportionately and you had no space to let them settle.

"The harvest this year was bad, Chief!" It would have been better if they had paid more attention to the announcements of new plagues roaming around.

"Those Edris kids give a bad image to the village." Have you not seen your own son who's already big and goes around peeping on women and stealing?

"The Edris brothers got a whore for a wife." Stop worrying about others' wife and look at your own who actually has been seen with another man in town. 

Sadly, the Chief could not voice out all his thoughts. Otherwise, he would be lynched.

Now, he had to deal a budding family feud born from a past relationship. At times, he surprised himself with his own wisdom. The moment that girl from the Ekore family approached Joseph, he knew bad things would happen.

Not because of Joseph's reputation, which was bad to begin with, but because the girl also had her manipulative spurts. He had seen it when she interacted with her brothers. And, he didn't doubt Isabelle's words that claimed the problem began with her.

However, what was told was beyond his wildest imagination.

With this, he was no longer thinking village people were simple folks.

"The matter of your affair," he began, looking at the young woman who had not spoken. Neither to deny accusations, nor to defend herself. She let others speak for her. "I won't meddle with that. You have to resolve it with your husband. No one else." He put a bit of force in that last phrase.

She pursed her lips and nodded. The Chief didn't believe she would try to fix that marriage. Anyway, that was not his main concern there.

"Now, Mrs. Ekore, can you please tell me what were your sons doing in the Edris brothers' patch? I remember them claiming that if Joseph or any other brother ever asked for help from them, they would kick him out immediately." He looked between mother and son, daring them to lie to him.

The two shared a few quick glances. 

"We were chasing an escaped hen." The younger son started explaining. "It got into their patch. I asked Joseph to help me take it out. He threatened us. My brother didn't like that, and they started fighting."

Joseph scoffed. "If by helpin' you meant uprootin' all my vegetables and stomping on them, you sure helped me a lot." His voice dripped with sarcasm. 

"Joseph." Isabelle admonished him. The Chief was thankful for her help as Joseph could get rather intense when arguing. Even if he did it for the sake of arguing.

Though, the Chief thought Isabelle was going to be another problem if he did not solve the matter impartially. A headache was starting to attack him. That was why he loved and hated intelligent and literate people. 

They could be easy to communicate with, yet quite stubborn when they thought they were right.

"Go catch the hen, then. It must still be around. Unless you scared it when you destroyed the whole patch without leaving a single plant intact." Isabelle retorted. And, that's what they Chief meant.

She knew where to attack, what words to dig and use against a person.

"It should've run by now." The brother quickly said.

"Then, you should be chasing it. Since you came all the way here to look for this hen, it means it is a very important hen. Instead, you two stayed to fight with Joseph after he spouted a few meaningless words. What was more important, the hen or what he said?" She countered.

The Chief thought it was very painful to see a person be rebuked this badly. 

"Destroying others' property needs to be compensated." The Chief sentenced. He didn't want for the matter to prolong in useless chatter. Mrs. Ekore and the younger son wanted to protest, yet the Chief rose his hand to silence them. "Same as the injury." He looked at Isabelle. 

The Chief realized that speaking with any of the brothers was going to be useless. All matters in the house were going to be handled either by her or the older brother.

Isabelle nodded. "I promise to pay the doctor's fee and the medicine. I will even send them these vegetables. They wanted them so badly, after all." She mildly smiled, though it looked more mocking, depending on who you asked. "As for the compensation, they owe us. 50 coins."

"What?!" The Ekore family cried out in disbelief.

"The vegetables here were going to be eaten or sold in the next weeks. Do you have any idea how much we have lost here? At least, it would be 10 coins per person. Since we are five in the family, then it would be 50 coins." Isabelle expounded.

The Chief was wrong. The Edris brothers no longer had a say in that house. If his wife was like Isabelle, he would gladly leave all matters to her. 50 coins! Though, for some reason, the Chief thought she was still going easy on them.

"Are you crazy?!" Mrs. Ekore went back to yelling.

"I'm being reasonable here. Either that or I destroy your patch. Nobody wins here." Isabelle shrugged. Mrs. Ekore was ready to faint from rage.

"We can't pay that." The woman who had been silent this whole time finally spoke.

"You should have thought about it before doing this." Isabelle coldly looked at her and quickly looked away. "So, what is it going to be?" She questioned Mrs. Ekore who was gaping like a fish, not knowing what to do bar look at the Chief and ask for help.

The Chief sighed. He was seriously considering quitting being Chief. "It will be difficult for them to get the money so soon."

"No problem. I can write an IOU that specifies how much they owe us and the time they have to pay. That way they will not renege on their debt." Isabelle remained unyielding. 

"I won't give you a dime, you whore!" The Chief looked at the sky. Why were women so stubborn?

"That is fine, too." Isabelle nodded. She turned towards Lucas and Felix. "Let us take out one of our hens and 'lose it' in their patch." The headache finally bloomed. She was going to be gossiped as an unreasonable woman. 

Though, the Chief thought it was a good way for others to learn and not mess with their family. 

"Chief!" Now, if only Mrs. Ekore and their family were this intelligent. 

"Enough!" The Chief exploded, not only halting Mrs. Ekore's words, but Isabelle's steps too. "10 coins as compensation to the Edris. In exchange, the Edris won't pay a dime to the Ekore's son for his injuries." He said, trying to reach middle ground. "Not a word, Mrs. Ekore. You know well who is in the wrong here." He glared at the woman who shrank and nodded. "I will write the IOU." 

"Let me know when it is ready." Isabelle nodded, finally relenting. The Chief sighed relieved.

"Everybody else, leave! Don't you have things to do in your houses? Always gossiping and making trouble." The Chief herded the onlookers and troublemakers away from the brothers' patch. 

Once the four were left alone, Joseph clicked his tongue. "10 coins is too little."

"Sell the fruits. Sell as many as you can. If possible, go to other villages or towns." Isabelle said, looking at the fruit trees that remained intact. "We also have to save as many plants as we can and transfer them to the house. As for the vegetables…"

"Not many can be eaten. They're still not ripe." Felix supplied. 

"Think about something, then." She turned and headed back to the house.

Lucas stopped Felix from following her and shook his head. "She's angry." He explained.

"Of course she is." Joseph gestured at the patch. Months of hard work gone just like that. He really wanted to kill that guy. 

"Let's just do as she said." A downtrodden Felix said, he really wanted to cry seeing all their food in that state. The most important matter for him was what they would eat if their vegetables were destroyed.