The secret of death episode 2
THE SECRET OF DEATH
(The Wise Don)
Episode 2
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Written by Author Nath
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Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and the gloom is just like a passing shadow of cloud. Nobody can fathom the mystery behind death, yet many wants to see their fellow embark on the everlasting sleep. You must have the secret for you not to sleep forever, covered in a silent darkness, six fit under the earth where the living can only imagine the perception of the dead.
“What in the world has gotten into your brain?!” Mrs. Rose shouted at her husband in,side the room. “You want your children to kill you? You want to make me a widow with your own hands!”
“What is the meaning of death if the dead still lives on in the heart of their love ones?” Mekus replied, facing a large standing mirror where he hung a traditional bead.
“I do not want you to live in my heart. I want you to live under this roof with me. Reverse what you said to your children now!” the wife insisted, yet the man made up his mind. He never said anything again until he was ready to leave the room for the ranting woman. Unfortunately, he met his P.A at the staircase who continued from where his wife stopped.
“The don, sir” he followed him side by side. Already, his sons had departed to their various houses. “I don’t see the wisdom in your proclamation a few minutes ago. It is totally absurd! What kills a man these days is as cheap as twenty naira ‘tusasia’. It won’t take your sons a second to have your heart stop beating especially the small one called Leonard. You know he’s…”
“I hope Evan is ready with the car” Mekus interrupted him.
Amazed, Kalu looked at him. “The don, don’t tell me you’ve not been listening to what I’m saying. Leonard’s madness is the beginning of your death. You just gave him a free license”
Mekus said nothing as they stepped out to the exterior part of the mansion. The ground was completely tiled. Flashy cars could be seen at the car park. At the sight of Mekus, the gateman ran to the gate while Evan ran to a red SUV. He opened the back door of the car for his boss. Just before he entered, Kalu held his hand saying, “Okay, you’ve made up your mind, don. Let’s have this house swam with security guards ‘maka na’ the boy called Leonard is not Leonard oh. Leonard is the baptismal name. His real name is Leopard. ‘Ọ ga dọ gi ka agu!’ he will devour you like a lion!” He demonstrated elastically by expanding his hands like a man stretching an elastic wire.
Mekus looked at him with a smile. “When a Leopard starts behaving like a lion, he’s not far from being the king of the jungle.”
“Wait, am I just being confused by my own words or you are the one confusing me? Are you saying Leo..”
“I’ll be happy to see Leonard kill me.” he stepped into the car.
Kalu held the car door. “What about the security guards, the don?” he asked.
“The gate keeper keeps watch in vain when the Lord is not watching.” The door closed, leaving the P.A bemused.
“Is he now a preacher?” He asked himself, watching the car drove off.
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Evan wore a white short-sleeve shirt with black stripes down the shoulder which he tocked in in a black trouser. He used a face cap to match his driver’s uniform. Through the centre mirror, he glanced at his boss saying, “Where are we going today, don?”
“To the mountains” he replied.
“Mountains?” Evan repeated incontinently while the boss remained mute, returning a stare by Evan through the mirror. It did not only disabilize his pituitary gland but also increased his heartbeat. “Okay sir.” he realized himself, put on the car radio, stabilized the air conditioner as Mekus lowered his eyes to his pocket where he saw a paper falling.
“What’s that in your pocket?” he asked him.
Evan glanced at it. “Oh, it’s just a carved image made by a child. I was suppose to return it on my way coming but time and traffic didn’t permit me.” he replied.
“I want to look at it properly.” Mekus requested.
Surprised, Evan brought it out. It looked like a hand but with just four fingers. Mekus stared at it for a long time. Meanwhile, Evan had seen the look on his face through the mirror, so he asked, “Don, is anything the matter?”
“You said a child made that?” he asked.
“Yes, but he’s deaf and dumb. His name is Jimmy.”
“You can return it before we continue our journey.”
The statement surprised Evan. He couldn’t tell why his boss will permit him to return an ordinary paper. He glanced at it once again to know whether there was something more valuable attached to it. He couldn’t see any, so he placed it on the seat next to him.
The car pulled over at Kate’s residence. Fortunately for Evan he saw her with Jimmy, outside. Mekus watched him through a tinted glass as he exchanged conversation with Kate happily. Obviously he was appreciating her for the plantain. Jimmy also looked happy when he saw the work of his hands. Just then, Mekus’ phone rang. He kept speaking on the phone until Evan returned then he hung up.
“Thank you sir.” Evan obliged then ignited the car again.
Getting to the mountains, he slowed down because the road wasn’t good enough for the tyres of the vehicle. He totally matched brake. He could see a high mountain from the windscreen, set a few meters away from them. Other views were scanty trees, grasses and rocks. “Could it be that my boss is aware of my movement the last night?” he began to think. The next paraphernalia that came into his mind was the very words of Alice, his wife: “Evan, what do you want to get yourself into!? All these big men are evil!”
The young man exhaled after remembering that. He turned off the car engine and said, “Don, the vehicle can’t move any further.”
“But we can.” Mekus stepped out by himself and closed the door.
“We? Did he just say ‘we’? I’m finished!” Evan soliloquized in,side the car before going out to see his boss standing on a rock and turning his back on him. A gentle breeze that blew across his ear was like a whisper to him that the time of his death had come. He composed himself, stood at ease with hands behind him just like his boss.
“If a man doesn’t go out all the days of his life but gets all he wants at home, do you think he will escape death, Evan?” Mekus broke the silence, yet without looking at him.
Evan swallowed hærd. “No, don.” he replied.
“That’s to say he’ll still die. But one thing is certain, he will live a longer life. The moment he steps out from his comfort zone, he meets his death faster than he should because many things cause death. Hence, we walk to our own death sometimes when we should have been at home to prolong our lifespan.” Mekus turned. “Where were you last night, Evan?” he asked.
The young man bent his head. Before he could raise it again, he saw another person, a young boy, beside Mekus with a gun pointing at him. He startled.
“You brought this upon yourself, Evan”
“The don, I’m sorry. My wife is pregnant and will soon be due for delivery. Don’t take me away from her. It will not only break her heart, it might also take her life. I promise not to say anything to anyone about what I heard.” He knelt down like an angel before God, weeping uncontrollably.
“What you heard is a great knowledge and knowledge is like a garden: If it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested. If you don’t make efforts to acquire knowledge then you will not expect to have it and use it, and if you do not put the knowledge you have to use, you cannot expect to gain anything from it.” Mekus signalled the man with a gun. Instantly, he pulled the trigger and birds flew away at the sound of the gun…..
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On the other hand, at the sound of the gun, Alice’s water broke at home, right in,side the room where she passed the time with a movie as if she heard the bullet left the barrel of the gun. Her blood pressure rose like a morning er-ction. She scre-med! “Oh my God! What’s happening to me?!”
The poor lady tried to stand up, but the pains increased. She scre-med again. “Evan! My heartbeat!” She shrieked as if the husband was at the corner to pull her up just like she did for him when she found him on the floor behind the door at 5:00am in the morning. When she didn’t hear his voice, she realized Evan was several kilometers away from her. Tears ran down her eyes. Luckily, her phone wasn’t far from her. She dialed the husband’s number, of course the line went through but Evan’s phone vibrated in,side Don Mekus’ red SUV without anybody hearing it.
“Babe, please, pick up!” Alice pleaded…
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Kate’s residence was located at the fringes of the city, a developing area where neighbours weren’t closely parked. A Cartoon Network channel broadcasted on a television enjoyed by Jimmy. He understood the ‘Tom & Jerry’ play even though he couldn’t hear a thing. He was licking an orange. Suddenly, he saw his mother’s phone ringing then took it to her in the room. Kate picked the call.
“Alice?” she called her name. “Oh my God! I’m coming right now!” she jumped up on her feet, she signalled the son to stay home and never go out. Stepping to the door, Kate saw a young man with a gun, pointing at her.
“Where is the boy?” the man asked.
“There’s no boy here. Please, don’t kill me.” Kate’s heart accelerated.
However, Jimmy had gone to the backyard to throw away the orange. When he stepped in,side, he saw the posture at which the gun was positioned at his mother. Still at the horrible sight, the man pulled the trigger on Kate’s head. Blood splashed. Jimmy wanted to scre-m by felt a hand covering his mouth and eventually taken away through the backdoor. What a tragedy? Everything was happening so fast!
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The sun had set in the city. People met their death, yes, death hovered around the city, yet many lived their lives as if nothing had happened because the dead had just become what they were before their birth. At the same time, nobody knew the status of Evan, Alice and Jimmy, a five year old boy.
A smoke of weed saturated the living room of Leonard. He could be seen shirtless on a cushion. It was a befitted four bedroom flat, standard as the son of a don. Just as he smoked, he brought out some pills of drugs. On each tablet engraved the same ‘four fingers’ image Jimmy carved on a paper. He swallowed three of them at once, bent his neck. Obviously, his head had become filled with the manifestation of the weed and drugs. He stood up, dressed up and pulled out a gun.
“The lion himself!” the wife came out. “I trust you. He’s not your father. You were only adopted. Since he wants death. Give him one. Don’t allow your brother to kill that old bitch before you do.” She motivated him like a leader in a war front.
Leonard checked the gun. It was well loaded. “Isi jọrọ ikopụ m! Hey, Emeka the Mekus, you’ve dared me. Here I come!” He bounced out.
Mekus just drove into his compound by himself on the SUV. He stepped out to see Kalu approaching briskly. At the same time, the gate opened and Leonard barged in with a gun. Mekus turned, the gate man carried his hands on his head, Mrs. Rose ran out but was stopped by Leonard’s voice.
“Mother, if you come close you’ll take the bullet for him. My head wants to burst! Isi jọrọ ikopụ m!” He had said.
Even house helps watched from upstairs and windows. Everybody held their hearts with their hands.
“The don, I told you” Kalu began. “This leopard is a mad one. ‘Ọ ga dọ gi ka agu!’ . He will devour you like…”
“Quiet!” Mekus thundered, glaring at his son who straightened his neck and held the gun properly. “Leonard, let me tell you a story” he stepped forward. “One day, life asked death, ‘Why do people love me but hate you?’ Death responded, ‘Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth.” He took another step forward then continued. “Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?. So do it! Pull the trigger!”
Silence became the only friend everybody listened to in the compound. Just like it hovered around the city, death started hovering around the compound. Notwithstanding, Leonard pulled the trigger, but it jammed. Bemused, he tried again, yet nothing happened. “What’s going on?” he checked the gun to see that the bullets were fake. “How come?” he asked himself.
Mekus smiled. “I have come to know that death is an important thing to keep in mind — not to complain or to make melancholy, but simply because only with the honest knowledge that one day I’ll die I can ever truly begin to live. Before I gave out my life for you to take, I studied you and know your next move.”
“Yes ooo!” Kalu exclaimed. “An okra cannot grow more than the person that planted it! If a child carries his father up, ngwo ngwo na ngwo ngwo will blind his eyes! What an elder sees sitting down, if you, the leopard climbs the highest tree, you’ll not see it. Cha Cha!” the man danced around hilariously.
Mekus continued. “I have the gun sellers in my palms, I had them give you a fake bullet. If life must not be taken too seriously, so then neither must death. Use your head, son.” Mekus touched his side head with his finger and began to enter into the house.
“Odogwu!” Kalu hailed him. “You are a wise don!” He danced around again….
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TO BE CONTINUED FROM ALICE AND EVAN’S SCENE.