AFTER the delicious meal, their next experience of village life was a bath in the open river. Esomowho and Ufuoma took them down to the river. Onome and Igho were thrilled. They walked down the steps in the sloping walkway that takes you down to the edge of the water. It felt like walking down a staircase in a high-rise building. Gutters ran down both sides of the steps so it is not washed away during heavy rainfall.They could see across to the other side of the river and the trees on its bank. It was the same thing on the side where they were. At the edge of the river, they could also see three dugout canoes tied to two stakes stuck to the ground. The canoes were bobbing up and down and sideways as gentle waves of water lapped over them.
Esomowho climbed into the biggest canoe and walked on its edge till he got to the seat where the steersman sits. He regarded the water for a while and, like a real diver, leapt in the air and made a clean dive, like a dolphin, into the water. It caused a ma.s.sive wave and a million ripples. Esomowho stayed under the water for what seemed like forever for Igho and Onome before he burst out of the water in the distance.
Ufuoma did like Esomowho, too. He came out a farther distance than Esomowho. However, with the warning Uncle Utomudo had given them, Onome and Igho gently waded into the water until it got to their chest level. Then they dived under and it swallowed them completely. Then they came up. They saw Ufuoma and Esomowho in the distance in what looked like the middle of the river. They both threaded the water with their feet and arms to keep them from going under the water. Onome and Igho could only watch from the chest-deep area where they stood and began splashing in the water to create their own fun.
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When he came closer ash.o.r.e, Ufuoma asked Igho and Onome to swim towards him. Onome could not, but Igho did and swam towards him. By the time he got close to Ufuoma, he became tired and his legs could not touch the ground. Ufuoma caught him and held him up. Igho was not scared; he just felt thrilled at swimming in the open river. He looked to his right and to his left and the river stretched endlessly on both sides of him, with the left towards Ivrogbo and the right towards Asafo and Ase.
When he had rested a bit, Igho began to swim towards sh.o.r.e. Ufuoma swam alongside him just in case he could not make it to sh.o.r.e without help. But Igho did and got to where Onome stood. She congratulated him for being a good swimmer. Igho beamed with a big smile. They splashed around some more before they got out of water and went up the steps to the compound.
By the time they had a change of clothing, dusk had set in.