Law Of The Sun

Chapter One: A Dreamy Friend

"The sun rises in the west and sets in the east, right?” Ebube my youngest brother questioned with so much glint in his eyes. He was always the inquisitive type and would wear a huge smile on his face whenever he threw questions at people. His question drew my attention to the sun, which had already turned orange as it descended into the clouds. The beauty of the setting sun was very catchy and many times I dreamed of capturing it with a camera. We were all seated on grandpa's wrecked black 504 Volvo car, which had been immobile, years before even I was born.

For years, members of the family had designed several ways to put the dilapidated car to use. While the women found it an appropriate site to spread food items like the soup thickeners;Egusi,Achị,Ọfọ,ogbono,vegetables for preparing soup and sometimes rags for cleaning tables.

The much younger ladies marked the car as a site for exchange of information whether good or bad. They would sit on the front and the back portion of the car while their lips moved spontaneously. Father always called it their "Ashiri center", gossip center. We all feared staying inside the vehicle as rodents had made the seats in the car a nesting place and most times where rodents reside, snakes also lurk.

The older men kept their kola on top of the car to abate the growth of fungus on them. Other times they sat on the car with long chewing sticks, their wrappers tied on their waist and a huge chunk of their protruding belly exposed to all while they spoke of manly things like business and politics. The much younger boys found use where grasses had sprouted from. They would hide their collectibles and football under the car every day before going to sleep.

Ebube, Chidera and I were the youngest and we did not make much use of the car, as the car was mostly occupied anytime we felt like using it. Besides Ebube and Chidera were so little that we had to use chair and tables to help them climb to the car. Carrying chairs from the house and returning them afterwards was far too exhausting and we had to rely on the older ones to lift us to the car. It was not until yesterday that Chidera discovered that we could spread our socks on the car too. Never had the family discovered a use for the car that will suit everyone at the same time.

The sun had captured all my attention and I could only think of how little by little the sun had allowed itself to be engulfed by the clouds.

"Sister! Sister! Tell me, tell me!"

My head snapped to face Ebube who was so eager to know the answer to his question.

"The sun rises in the east and sets in the west" I finally let out, still drawn to the beautiful display in the heavens.

Ebube seemed satisfied with this response as we continued to stare at the skies. Chidera had dozed off beside me and was snoring loudly. The sound that he produced often made his belly vibrate and soon Ebube was attracted to his stomach. He crawled to where Chidera laid placing his head on his belly and vibrated with each snore Dera let out.
For some reason Ebube and I were amused by the up and down movement. Moments later, the sun had completely gone down and the leaves which were green before could not be spotted by the eyes.

The trees that were planted around the compound often had a weird habit of forming strange figures whenever it became dark.

"Sister look! This one looks like two women facing each other” Ebube yelled. We enjoyed pointing at trees at that time and describing what we felt they looked like." How does it look like a woman?" I answered quite confused at the shape my eyes gave me. What I saw rather looked like a turtle."

" Sister, I said women! Two women who are rubbing their backs together". I meant to reply him but a sound resonated from the house, which meant it was time for us to bathe. Ebube reached out and shook Dera vigorously before he snapped his eyes open. Mother was calling out to us. I was the first to get down but as soon I did, I realized that there was no way for my brothers to do the same. Helping Ebube would be stressful but not impossible but the same could not be said for Dera who weighed a ton. I gaited gaily to the porch where mother had called us from. Thoughts of the sunset soon flooded into my mind and I found myself amused and fascinated by it. How ironic that the great hot ball could be subdued by clouds so soft?. Mother helped Dera and Ebube down but not without a stern warning about climbing the vehicle again.