Insinuations

It's their way, it has always been the way of humans all over the world. It has no particular race or tribe as its core customer even though many believed it has some people as its ardent apostle than others. 

Maybe it's true or maybe not, I don't know, and I don't care that much. I made it my headache to worry about anything that warrant worrying about to the extent of my adding it in prayers or losing night sleep over it my priority. This story isn't one of those.

It's the issue of the guilty seeking for where to rest their case or the dustbin to dump their waste in. Once you give them any excuse, or signal with any kind of stories, they all gather in their hundreds of thousands to the extent you will be left with mouth agape wondering about the faces and the number that circled like vultures to dump their liabilities. It's our way. Pretentious kinds, holier than thou brands of humans being made these days.

The headache that is disturbing the elders of Umuofia community in Ogba LGA now is the issue of the cult their youths are swimming in in their numbers. Money rituals they kept camouflaging as Gay society. Gay ritual is what I am witnessing these days not only in Umuofia but everywhere. When you hear gay, don't your mind rush to sex? Secondly, is it not what you are supposed to come into this world with? But the way they present it these days, you can't help but notice that something else is being perpetrated under that name and don't want closer scrutiny from anyone. 

I think something more cynical than Sex is happening under that moniker called Gay these days. Money rituals, the kind that not only waste effort, contaminate the innocent, send out bad and soiled names. It wastes the economy, when you build your personal, family or nation's economy on that devilish money, you are hanging. It will be easily wiped away by the force that comes after it in their first trial to cripple.

That is what the youths of Umuofia were being pushed into just to make money and build up their personal and family economy as they thought but their elders know better. They knew that such hope is shit coming from desperate minds of the youths that will be left reeling from anguish when the evil one demands for his rights on their wealth. 

"Who do you think will be worse for it?" One concerned elder asked his compatriot. Of course, both knew it was the town cum shattered families which some will be too old to do anything meaningful by then. So, the king and his cabinet had called an emergency meeting of the elders and tabled the issue before them and asked them to speak  their minds and suggest the way forward. Afterwards, they called a general meeting and demanded all citizens of Umuofia to be present.

Three days after the elders had agreed that it was a good idea for all. Even Though not all elders were outright supporters. Some see the issue as interfering indirectly in another man's personal business. Some call it poking noses where its none of their concerns and some even insinuated that its those elders their wards isn't performing that is at work there trying to tarnish the image of their sons for nothing.

" Thunder fire whoever raised that topic. Jealous lots" was what one middle aged woman was shouting on top of her voice in the market when she heard it.

"Don't just mind the idiots. Because their wards are giving nonsense excuses as reasons behind their poor state in life, they are calling general meetings to tarnish others in public just because of their waywards kids and their excuses. No one from my family will attend such a hatred induced meeting" another chipped.

The voices in this line of reasoning were so rampant that the bitterness in them was so thick that it found it hard to flow out. That was the nature of bitterness in many that the day of the meeting was being dreaded by the same elders that called for it. But, they must be meeting to join heads together and find solutions and give advice to any listening ears. 

The day of the dreaded meeting came. All the  heads of the villages were among those that came earlier and  at their respective places. The king that was supposed to be among the first as the host and  the summoner of the emergency were yet to come. His seat remained empty up there in the podium. The people sat village by village waiting. Two hours after the official convening hour, the king is nowhere to be seen. Some murmuring started from his own village quarter: " It's unlike him. In his twelve years of ruling this town, he has never been late. Something must be wrong" someone pointed out. The other villages were murmuring too. All geared towards the same attestation of the king's punctuality. The murmuring was getting louder when one high chief coughed loud in the mega phone placed on the podium to attract attention. 

All the quarters went ice cold.  "We understand your concerns, and as you can see, we are worried about the empty seat too. We have sent two chiefs among us and some vigilante guys to go to the palace and bring us a message back. Please, let us exercise patients for few minutes" 

The hall was quiet for a few minutes till murmuring in low keys started and gained momentum as it spread as usual. " These boys, some of them are not what you would call gentlemen. They can do anything to anyone. Are you sure they did not kidnap the king to send a message across?" A voice said. "Why they made the subject of the meeting open is what I don't know. They should have kept it silent to surprise these youths. You see now?" Another replied.

As usual, many have arrived at the conclusion that the king might not even be alive anymore. The insinuations lean on that probability more than any other. When they heard the noise of the errands outside, some even started towards the exit door as if those outside were not coming inside to address them. "Please, be seated in your positions, don't cause commotion here. Be seated." But the high chief addressing them seems to be talking to himself. The crowd started crowding the door and some were at the windows stretching their necks to see outside and who was there. 

Eventually, the crowd gave way and the leader of the errand group went to the high chief and whispered something to him. The people were anxious to know the situation of the King. When the high chief and the man whispering to him continued to talk in that low voice, some started getting impatient. "Is he still alive or have they butchered him for more money?" One old woman asked in a high voice that attracted gazes her way. The question seems to silent the whole hall.  "Is nobody going to say it?"  she screamed again. "Tell us, we know we are among wolves these days.It wasn't this way in my youth. Eat today, die tomorrow I am seeing today. Heaven forbid"  The high chief coughed into the Mic to attract the attention of all. "Emm people, we understand your anxiety. But it's our thoughts running riot. Nothing bad happened. The king got an urgent call from the Governor's house around 4:00 in the morning and believing he will be through with whatever is going on there forgot to inform his household to tell us the situation of the things. The family even believed he was here with us. They at times finished late there. We have sent some to the government house to request permission to carry on here.

Murmuring heightened. People did not believe the high chief and some older ladies that have passed the year of I-don't-care were cursing out loud and invoking deities on the heads of the persons that are among that conspiracy and their generation up to tenth in future. Some were reeling out how they will all die in those generations to come: some car accident, some air crash, some will drown and some will go kaput in the head and roam the market square.  

When the hall quietened a little, it was almost an hour and half gone. And that was spent on variations of curses and manners that will happen in the future. Some were still at their own brand of curses to their youths they believed were into this modern Gay cult for money. All the talks by some so-called Gay-youths on how the elders should be happy that their youths are progressing instead of being old witches motivated by jealousy inflamed the older people more. Some talks like this have turned into shouting matches on many occasions and nearly started again in the town hall had some youths not controlled their anger.

"Worst of all is that they found it too hard to buy a common snuff for you" one older man quipped.  "The other day, I asked one to buy me food without meat, he refused," one woman added. The talk shifted to the youths' stinginess. They were still exploring that angle when the door of the hall creaked open and the King and his two body guards walked in.