44 The Outcas (2/2)

”Nna oh, come and tell me who told you that?” she asked pushing the food aside, picked up her son and began pampering him.

”I lived there first before I came here,” he said looking down playing with his mother's wrapper. ”My name was Onwuhara” he added.

Ego screamed at him ”Keep quiet and listen to me. I'm your mother, I gave birth to you, and your name is Osundu, not Onwuhara”. He began sobbing and moments after tears were already streaming down his cheeks. She tired consoling him but it got worse. Oluchukwu who has been watching the whole drama without interfering came over and carried him threatening to beat Ego if she screamed at him again. After dancing around with him for a few minutes, he fell asleep. She went in, placed him on his bed and came back out to join her.

”Oluchukwu!” Ego called out.

”Nda!” she replied.

”Did you hear what Osundu has been saying?” she asked wearing a disturbed face.

”Yes, I did. Is that why your face is like that?” She asked her. Both of them have become best of friends. Ego loves her like a younger sister while she in return saw her as an elder sister and would do anything for her.

”Shouldn't I be disturbed? I don't know who came back as my son. We don't know what kind of life he lived previously. We don't even know whether the gods are punishing him”.

”You don't have to worry about all that. This life and how he lives it is what matters the most. Besides the gods can't be punishing someone by sending them back as your heir; the wealthiest woman in the whole of Nekede with a heart of gold. I rather see it as the gods favoring someone”.

”What if he is an Ogbanje?” she asked deeply affright.

Ogbanje children are said to be a group of babies who in the discarnate realm have become leagued together in a kind of conspiracy to harass parents by dying young. Typically, an Ogbanje child lives only a few months or years and then dies. Some die suddenly without any premonitory illness, others are frail and sickly for months or years before dying. A single Ogbanje soul may be born, die and be reborn in the same family, only to die again. Indeed, the Igbo word

”Ogbanje means ”To make several trips to and fro a place”. It can also be said to be a ”Repeater child” in English.

”I don't think he is” she declared.

”How can you be so sure? What other reason would make a father name his son Onwuhara?” she wondered aloud.