Chike and the River

12 The Miserly Trader

Chike did not entirely give up hopes of crossing the River Niger. But it now seemed more unlikely than ever that he would find the money. So he thought, what was the use of dreaming? As his mother used to say: A poor man should not dream of rice.

One day Chike saw Mr. Nwaba counting bundles and bundles of pound notes. He had not known that so much money existed in the world. If Mr. Nwaba had so much, Chike thought, why did he live so miserably? He lived in one room with his wife and five children. They ate hardly anything else but garri. If his wife put much fish in the soup he would rave and curse. Sometimes he even beat her. His children wore threadbare clothes to school and were always last to pay their school fees. He rode an old rickety bicycle for which he never bought a license. Whenever he heard that policemen were stopping cyclists to check their licenses, he put his old machine away for a week or two. His neighbors called him Money-Miss-Road behind his back.

Chike was so desperate for money that he began to hope that this miser might give it to him. So when Mr. Nwaba came home from his stalls in the evening of the next day Chike went out and said “Good evening, sir” to him and rolled in his bicycle.

Mr. Nwaba seemed very pleased. He returned Chike’s greeting with “Good evening, my son” and a broad smile. For about a week Chike did the same thing every evening. But Mr. Nwaba never seemed to think of giving him anything except once when he dipped his hand into the pocket of his khaki trousers. Chike’s heart beat with expectation. Mr. Nwaba brought out his hand again and gave Chike three groundnuts.

Mr. Nwaba was always thinking of profit and loss and doing sums in his mind. One day Chike greeted him with “Good morning, sir.” He replied, “Five pounds.”

His full name was Mr. Peter Nwaba. He was well known in the town and went to church regularly. Every Sunday morning he put on his gorgeous agbada and went with his family to the nearby church, and every Friday he went to the Bible class. Chike always wondered how such a cruel man could pay so much attention to religion.

Sometimes Mr. Nwaba left his room very late at night and would not come back till the following day. People said he belonged to a secret society which met only at night.

One night Chike had an upset stomach after eating unwashed mangoes. At about four o’clock in the morning he got up to go to the latrine. As he opened the door he heard footsteps outside. He held the door nearly closed and peeped out. It was Mr. Nwaba and another strange man returning from somewhere. They stood outside and talked for a while. Then the stranger went away and Mr. Nwaba retired to his room.

Chike did not give much thought to this incident at the time. But he was to remember it later.