IGHO GOES TO FARM

The tarred road formed a thin, black strip that snaked into the bowels of the forest. They pa.s.sed only two cars, a woman on a bicycle and a man on foot coming from the opposite direction. It was all quiet; Igho felt as if the forest had eyes and was looking at them in the car. It increased his anxiety.

Then they suddenly came to an opening and it was the school; it was something familiar. Igho heaved a sigh of relief. They were not lost after all.

"Look, it"s a school!" Igho said as though he had made a discovery.

"Yes!" Uncle Utomudo. "I almost attended this school. But I insisted on going to NDC."

"It"s so bushy!" Onome said, disappointed.

It is nothing like they were used to in the city.

They drove on for about one hundred metres and saw buildings and then Edeni Primary School, the community"s primary school, came into view to their right. Farther into town, buildings dotted both sides of the road that run through the middle of the town. Shortly after the primary school, Ase Creek opened to them and Onome and Igho screamed in delight at the open waters.
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"Can you swim?" Igho asked his cousin.

"No!" she said, a bit sadly. "But Daddy promised to take me to NPA Quarters so I could learn how to swim. What about you?"

"I can swim," Igho said proudly. "We have a swimming pool at home."

"Well," Uncle Utomudo cleared his throat, "Igho, you may know how to swim, but that is in a swimming pool. This is an open river and it has fast-flowing current that makes it different from a pool. So, while you are both here, you must not go to the river to swim alone or with Onome. Thankfully, Ufuoma is here. You must never go anywhere near the river without him! Do I make myself clear?"

"Okay, Uncle!"

"Okay Daddy!"

They drove on in silence along Ibedeni town, with buildings sometimes on both sides of the road and at other places only to their right, with the open river to their left. Suddenly, Igho began to feel excitement welling up inside of him. He had heard his mother talk about this small town, but it did not occur to him that a river like this was part of it. He saw the inhabitants, men and women and children, on land and others right in the river, inside canoes, and could not contain himself.

He wondered why it was called a mere creek and not a proper river. He decided to ask his uncle.

"Well," he began, "in the estimation of those who measure bodies of water, it fits only into a creek description. Ase is the name of a town a little bigger than Ibedeni and is farther down the creek before another town called AsabAse, where this creek joins the mighty River Niger!"

"Wow, the River Niger!" Igho exclaimed. I read about it in Social Studies. I wish we can see it also, Onome!"

"Yes!" Onome said. "Is it far from here, Daddy?"

"No, not too far," he said. "Maybe what it took us to drive from Ugh.e.l.li to Ozoro. But I can"t promise now that I will take two of you there. Maybe at the end of your holidays, when we"re going back, we could pa.s.s through AsabAse and come out through Uzere to Oleh and back to Warri."

"Awesome!" Igho exclaimed. "Uncle, you"re the best!"

"Well, you need to know that there is more to life than what you have in Lagos or going to Disneyland in America!" he laughed.

Igho only smiled. He was not sure if coming here was a smarter idea. Although it was exciting to see Ase Creek, he was not sure the rest of the holiday would be that interesting. He would wait and see.

Then they left the town and entered a narrow lane with bushes on all sides again. His uncle drove for about ten minutes and entered a big compound, with a single building to the left and another to the left. Igho marvelled at the neatness of the place. Then Ufuoma emerged from the building to the left at the sound of the car to welcome them. Both grandparents also followed behind him and embraced their grandchildren.

"Digwo, grandpa! Digwo, grandma!" Onome and Igho chorused their greetings in Isoko.

"Vreh, wa dooh, emo me!" Grandma said in response. Grandpa was smoking a pipe and he periodically puffed smoke into the air. Igho had not seen anyone smoking a pipe before except in films. It thrilled him.

"Grandpa, what is in the pipe you"re smoking?" Igho asked.

"Oh, it"s tobacco," Uncle Utomudo replied.

"Wow, the aroma is great, not like cigarettes"!"

"Don"t tell me you want to smoke it?" Utomudo teased him and laughed.

"Leave the boy alone!" Grandma chided her son. "My Igho will not smoke."

"Well, I"m sure Igho would want to try every fascinating thing he sees here before the holidays are over!" Utomudo said and laughed some more.

Ufuoma got their bags from the booth of the car and took them inside the house.

"How are Emetena and my other grandchildren?" Grandma asked Igho.

"They will go to America tomorrow or next!"

"So, it"s only you they sent to us?"

"Yes," Igho said a little gloomily, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Come here, child!" Grandma said and folded Igho in her warm embrace that smelled of many old spices. "Don"t worry. You will have the best holiday. Trust me!"

"Thank you, Grandma!" Igho said and brightened up. He didn"t want to disappoint his grandparents. Igho felt comforted. He felt that Grandma understood his plight. From that moment, he was determined to enjoy his stay in the village and make his grandparents proud of him.

At that moment their grandparents" neighbours, Oghenekome and his wife Cecelia returned from the farm. They joined in welcoming Onome and Igho and Uncle Utomudo from the city. Their only son, Esomowho, who was 15, instantly took to Igho and they became friends.

Ufuoma quickly climbed the orange tree in the centre of the compound and plucked some ripe oranges and got down. He peeled and offered them to the newly arrived city dwellers. He also broke coconut that had been smoked for months over the rafters; Igho and Onome relished its juicy taste that melted into their mouths. They didn"t know coconut could be that tasty. A coconut tree also stood in the middle of the compound alongside the orange tree although it towered into the sky above the orange tree.

Everything in their grandparents" compound fascinated Igho and Onome. Behind their grandparent"s house were plantain and banana trees that grew wild. It was also where the yam barn was located. The barn was empty although a few yams still remained in neat rows on one side. A new one was being prepared for the harvest that would soon happen.

Behind their grandparents" neighbour"s house facing them stood a huge local pea tree also called ube. There were also plantain and banana trees and many coconut trees that had ripe fruits in them. Igho and Onome were happy that their grandparents" compound was a rich orchard that would provide them endless fun. Igho and Onome were also glad that their grandparents had one room full of dry palm kernel nuts. They were fascinated at the sight.

After Uncle Utomudo stayed for a while and ate a delicious meal of banga soup garnished with fresh fish served in a clay pot, and eaten with starch, he got ready and left. He asked Igho and Onome to be of good behaviour and not give their grandparents problems. They promised they would be good children and waved him bye. Then he drove off.