“At least it’s worth the try,” said Tamura. He composed himself before going back to join the others, while Chief Bongo went to have a quiet word with Tamura’s uncle.
“Very well, if that’s what he wants. I can’t stop him from going back, if he changes his mind I will be around, he is my flesh and blood after all,” Wambu said, trying to cover up his shame and dismay at Tamura’s decision to stay away.
Chief Bongo sensed this in his voice and said, “Well, I don’t think its personal, the poor lad just feels there is something much more to life than staying at home and doing domestic chores when he could become somebody in life.”
“I wish my boys had the same ambition, my fault really, my eldest wanted to leave home to go and get an apprenticeship and I told him that I needed him at home,” reminisced Wambu. He continued, “Pathetic, isn’t it, having my own children giving up their lives to be with their selfish father?”
Chief Bongo said, “It’s never too late, if they ask again, let them be. Children are like birds, one day they will fly out of the nest, one by one, whether we like it or not.”
Wambu said, “You got children, my friend?”
"Yes, I do four of them in fact, the eldest boy is about Tamura’s age and he is finishing school next year and he is planning on going to the major town in search of work.
“We, Goza people, had lived in ignorance for many years, thinking that we were the only people who existed in the world, but my children have opened my eyes through what they are taught at school. That is what inspired my son to want to see more of what is out there beyond the Goza boarders.”
“At least then you can get help looking after the younger three, hah?” piped Wambu.
“That’s right, although the choice will be his, having one less mouth to feed is good enough for me,” responded Chief Bongo.
Chief Wambu burst out laughing and added, “Tell me about it, that’s exactly my situation at present, too many mouths to feed I have yet to see one of them fleeing the nest! That day I will sleep with my head in a bucket of beer in celebration.”
Chief Bongo chided, “Then when they want to go, let them go and ease the load on you. Maybe they are just afraid of what they might find as they have little or no knowledge of the world around them, due to lack of education.” Wambu nodded in agreement and the two men went back to join the others and Chief Wambu ordered his eldest daughter to bring the beer brew for the men to enjoy. His first wife was an expert in preparing the local brew.
He went straight to hug an apprehensive Tamura and said to him, “Don’t worry, son, do as you will, I will always love you and I am here whenever you need me.”
Tamura said baffled, “Thank you, Uncle, I love you too,” and he glanced at Chief Bongo, trying to figure out what he had said to him to cause such a turn-around in mood, but Chief Bongo just shrugged and smiled at him. Tamura understood what that meant.
The feast was prepared and they all ate and were merry till very late into the night. All the women and children had retired to bed soon after they had supped.
The hounds were lying down at a distance gnawing at the bones of the deer that had been eaten clean of all flesh with great skill. Tamura had loosened up a bit by then and was chatting away with his male older and younger cousins, who took to him the moment they saw him.
They had all sorts of questions for him, where he came from and what it felt like to be in school. Tamura enjoyed discussing his plans for the future especially travelling around the world and one of his cousins, Mafuko, said to him, “I really do envy you. I wish I was free to do what I want and to be where I want like you, Tamura.”
Tamura said, “Yes, maybe, but I also wish my parents were alive like yours, I wouldn’t be going through what I did these past few years.”
Mafuko quickly realised and said, “Ooh, Tamura, please forgive me, that was insensitive of me, I didn’t think, I am sorry.” He stuttered apologetically.
Before Tamura could say another word, Mafuko’s brother, Fanu, interjected and scorned his younger brother and said, “That’s the problem with you, Mafuko, you never think, do you? You idiot!”
Tamura said, “It’s okay, he didn’t realise, it’s just so very hard to get used to, you know, don’t worry about it.”
The boys went on to discuss how they planned to keep in touch and promised to visit each other and hoping to go to the city together one day. They later went in to sleep in the boys’ room including the other four men. Wambu’s sons felt there was hope for living after all, following their hearty discussion about the future.
The travellers hoped to return back home the following morning, but later in the day, as they were shown a shortcut route, which cut through the near side of the mountains instead of going back through the swamps again. This would allow them to rest first thing in the morning, instead of rushing off at the break of dawn.
This idea came as a welcome surprise to Kende who had fallen into the muddy waters in the swamps. Chief Wambu and his boys laughed their hearts out when they were given an account of the man’s fate.
From that moment, Kende was nicknamed ‘Frog in the mud’. As the other men slept, Tamura was wide-awake and in deep thought about how he was going to convince the king to take him and his siblings in as part of the Goza family.
He feared that if the king rejected them,
