Tabitha Oyewole

It was a beautiful morning in May, and the weather was cool due to the heavy rain the previous night. I didn’t feed the horses (I think it is the most annoying chore ever) because of the rain so I had a lot of time to fantasize. I woke up with a smile on my face because my night was A-OK, and I didn’t want to leave bed early.  Despite my slothful feeling, I had to stand up because I wanted to avoid Father coming to wake me himself and see how messy my room was. Moreover, my father hated it when we didn’t do our chores on time. At times, I wonder why he made us work. He had more than enough servants but he still made my brother and I work so much. I summoned the strength and got up to go milk the cows when I saw my younger brother and father discussing Their voice was loud enough for me to hear so I didn’t have to eavesdrop. I heard my brother say to Father, “Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.” I couldn’t believe my ears. He wanted his share of Father’s property? What was he going to do with it? He just clocked 18. What does he know? I had a lot on my head at that moment.

My younger brother and I were very close, but not until Ahab and his family came to the neighborhood. My brother and Ahab became so close because they were agemates and they could play games together. I didn’t join them in their games because I felt I was too old to play such games. When Ahab clocked 18, his father gave him his freedom, so he left the country for another country. He told my brother that our country was very boring and had nothing to offer him. He said the country he was going to was more fun. I believe my brother had been thinking about leaving since then, though he didn’t say anything to me about it.

Hearing my brother say to Father that he wanted his share of the property made me feel bad. Father didn’t argue with him at all; he divided the property and gave him his share. It wasn’t long before he packed his bag and left. I didn’t talk to him because I felt betrayed and disappointed. How could he do that to Father? Knowing how much he has done and all he has sacrificed for us since Mother died.

We moved to this country a few months after Mother died during childbirth; the birth of my brother led to Mother’s death. Father made us leave the country for another so that we would forget the tragedy. He worked hard to make us comfortable, and he sacrificed a lot to keep us safe. I’m still shocked at how he could forget all that and break Father’s heart. He left without saying goodbye

Father prayed for him every day, prepared for his return daily, and was always on the lookout. Things returned to normal for the rest of us, and we were quick to let him off our minds. I continued my struggle with the house chores and I still hated the horses. I consoled myself with the dreams I had of the day I would marry Jemimah, Job’s daughter. Job is Father’s trusted friend so I believed he wouldn’t mind giving his daughter to me as a wife.

Father’s business was booming and he got more servants whom he treated very well, like his children. Father still made it a daily habit to look out for my brother through one piece of equipment he invented and called a telescope, which could make him observe distant objects.

My brother lived an undisciplined and dissipated life; he wasted everything he got from Father. I still wonder why he behaved like that, having heard Father tell us Uncle Joseph’s story several times. Father always warned us to save for the dry season as the Ants do; he taught us how to handle business, invest, and save. I expected my brother to be wise but he wasn’t; he spent all he had on wild living. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad fam­ine all through that country, and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corn cobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my fa­ther sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father, so he decided to come back home. Father, as usual, was on the lookout with his telescope when he saw him from afar. Father, filled with love and compassion, ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him. Then he said to Father, ‘Fa­ther, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’ What a nice speech! Father wasn’t even listening; he was busy ordering the servants to bring the best robes and dress him up because he was so tattered and smelly. He also ordered them to put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then he told them to kill the calf we had been fattening for the Christmas party we held every year because my PROFLIGATE brother was back home.

All that time, I was in the fields working. I got back home after the day’s work to see everyone dancing and feasting. I was confused because the last time I checked, it wasn’t Christmas or Easter, so I called Othniel, one of the servants, to ask what was going on. He told me that my brother came home and Father ordered a feast. He told them to make barbecued beef because he was home safe and sound. I felt bad and I didn’t know what to think again. I was very angry at Father so I just went into my room.

Father noticed my absence and came into my room to beg me. I told him how angry I was; all those years I had slaved for him and never once refused to do a single thing he told me to do, and in all that time, he never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet this son of his comes back after squandering his money on prostitutes and he kills the fattened calf. I stood by him, I did the work of two sons, I tried to make him forget my brother by being the best son and I got nothing from him—nothing!

Then Father said to me, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to cel­ebrate. This broth­er of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’. Those words hurt me so much so I walked out on Father. Later in the evening, when everything had died down, I went to my room to fantasize as usual but Father’s words kept ringing in my head.  

I realized that Father was right; all he owned belonged to me because, first, I’m the first child and an heir; then, my brother took his share of the property so what was left belonged to me. I never really asked my father for anything so it wasn’t his fault. I resented my brother for leaving me but I decided to forgive him at that moment because he didn’t know what he was doing. I was happy for Father; he could finally sleep and he smiled often because he didn’t have to worry about my brother anymore. I told Father about my love for Jemimah, and he said he was going to see Uncle Job. My brother became very decent and we got closer. I taught him more about the family business and he was serious about it. We were all happy.