Millipede Chasing - Part 2

MILLIPEDE CHASING

This story is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

PART TWO

“Thief! Thief!” some shouted in English, while others spoke in Igbo, “Onye óshi! Onye óshi!” Brother Sunday had grabbed the pastor’s chair and pursued the thief. He carried it on his head and looked really stupid. It was a silly thing to do, but no one gave a single thought to his actions. They were all after the wretched thief.

“God will punish you!” they all cried. “Onye óshi! Thief!” everyone yelled, including the pastor who left his wife behind him to rush ahead.

The crowd cried loudly as they struggled together to catch he thief who had awoken God’s vengeance. “Ooph! There he goes! Thief! Thief! Onye óshi!” the furious crowd screamed like a dog denied his bone, moaning like a child crying for food, wailing like a widow who mourned her husband. Mr. Emenanajo ran for his life, scampering as fast as his legs could carry him. His heart pounded to a rapid rhythm as he became aware of the sound of two women nearby in front of a restaurant, hitting yams in the mortar with pestles.

The madam of the restaurant rushed out to see what was happening. Some customers abandoned their food to watch while others carried out their plates, watching while licking their fingers like spectators at a sports match. It was like eating popcorn in a cinema. Cars, motorcycles and bicycles all pulled aside to make way for the marching soldiers of God’s church. Nothing could stop them. Even if Christ Himself descended from heaven before them, it would go unnoticed. Their souls were already consumed with lust for blood. Vengeance. Killing. Justice. They could call it whatever they wished.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

Wait! That was the Law of Moses, was it not? Did Christian practice not bear a new statement? “ Jesus said, ‘Forgive, forgive.” Who would save Emenanjo?

His eyes glimmered in red as if they connoted the hell he imagined, should that angry mob come down on him. Quite simply, nothing would stop these barbaric creatures like Romans participating in the amphitheatre of revenge. Human beings could be more savage than animals sometimes. They were like a male lion that hunts down other males to declare his territory. In instances like these one would be forced to ponder: Are humans and animals that much different from one another?

Although some can forgive others, most resemble this angry crowd, seeking revenge. REVENGE! Never before have the people in Ndioju’s estate seen anything like this. What was this thing that made these people so crazy, mad with hatred? The screams from the streets compelled people indoors to rush to their windows and watch the mad circus. This was far better than those boring TV dramas. Madams and Ogas left their businesses to watch the display and customers forgot to buy while watching the drama unfold.

Stones, sticks, brooms, high-heeled shoes, bottles, the chair from Brother Sunday and Bible from the greedy pastor – all were wielded in rage. Belts from the gentlemen all waved in the air, pointing towards the direction of the poor thief, Emenanjo. If the country’s law did not work the people took the law into their own hands. Where were the police?

“Get him! Idiot! Fool! God punish you for taking money meant for God, you bastard!” the people moaned and shouted louder and louder, wishing that thunder would strike him down. Emenanajo kept his distance from the people, running as fast as a cheetah in pursuit of prey.

Meanwhile it had started raining, but Emenanajo was still running, looking back and noticing the crowd behind him only ten feet away. He took the next left turn, but the crowd followed, staying on his track. Then he took right and still they followed. He went straight and they followed. They were like his shadow; like chicks and ducks following their mother in a disciplined row which moved rapidly. Emenanjo was doomed and he knew it.