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WEEK 16 – THE RAIN FALLS IN TORRENTS, Part 3 of 3
Ifegi-oku completely ignores her mother
Transfixed as she is with this pitiful sight:
Number Four on the ground, thrashing about
Her mouth still clamped in her refusal to shout
Ifegi-oku once again darts out in the rain
She would lend her voice to her littlest mom
"Everyone wake up-oooooooooooooooo!
Little Ma's child is coming-oooooooooo!"
She picks up a metal pot lying close by
Beats it with a stone she finds nearby
She next streaks into Number Two's tiny hut
Screaming and hollering at the top of her lungs
She stumbles right out, Number Two in tow
Her wide-eyed daughters not far behind
Ifegi-oku crashes into Number One's hut next
Drowning the rain with her pot's "Gong! Gong!"
From a distance far away, the gong-gongs echo
And rip into Obi's comforting semi-stupor
He rises from his goatskins completely naked
To behold Ifegi-oku standing at the door
Her eyes jet black – just like his dead dam's
"Father, come quickly!" she says, out of breath
"For Little Mother's child comes at last!
The birthing is difficult, I can feel it truly …"
"May Amadiora's lightening bolts strike me down,
If I do not purge this obscenity in you, Amaka!
Get the hell out and announce yourself properly,
Or do you not see your father stands indecent!"
The little girl recoils from her father's vehemence
And takes note indeed of his sheer nakedness
"Forgive me," she whispers and takes a step back
To re-enter with her back as a girl-child should
Outside, her head bowed towards the split tree,
Ifegi-oku starts crying, her body shakes violently
"You are a bad girl," she says mater-of-factly
As the rain condemns her, pelting her head
She composes herself and begins to walk back
To bump into Obi, clothed, standing there
A frown on his face, his farm tools in hand
He ignores her thoroughly to watch this scene:
Neighboring women pouring into his yard
Summoned by Ifegi-oku's pandemonium
They grapple Number Four's convulsing form
Drag her away from unwanted curious eyes
Obi skirts Ifegi-oku as he heads out the yard
Not wanting to be near for the birth of this girl
He curses the rain, his wives and his girls
And wonders what he did to deserve it all
The wives with their girls go back in their huts
Leaving Ifegi-oku alone with her thoughts
She stands with the tree Amadiora shattered
Losing herself again to ponder Nature's wrath …
… as all around her, the rain falls in torrents
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