Running on the Spot is a narrative on poverty, illiteracy and lack of opportunities. From Mbente to Eniong, Ebiet Asibong to Ine Ekpenyong, Atakpa to Fernando Po, poverty looms large. Yet the human spirit is irrepressible, making the story to also be about love and betrayals. Edem Ikon, the central character, abandons his wife and his village, hoping to better his lot elsewhere. He returns, unexpectedly, after forty years of sojourning in various places, a spent man in his seventies carrying a sack on his head which makes the elders question his sanity, a walking symbol of failure though an unprecedented welcome party is spontaneously held for him.According to Elder Isang, Asibong, Edem’s father, was a weakling who incurred the wrath of the gods by bringing into their community a woman from Adiabo who had had a twin in an earlier marriage. "Edem is the product of that unholy union. He is a symbol of desecration and abomination. Nothing good can come out of him." Is Edem’s failure, therefore, fatalistically determined?Through a crushing irony, the author casts doubt on this line of reasoning. Isang has led the Mbente army for a decade and he is considered to be a lion. However when the Inokon invaders come on a reprisal attack, he is killed like a chicken in his own backyard and the enemies evaporate without even a rustle of the leaves. As a cult leader, he has compromised his office. The curse on Edem and his pedigree who he despises falls on him instead. The lion falls in place of the weakling. As the book of Ecclesiastes tells us, "a living dog is better than a dead lion." Edem’s adventure in Eniong and later Atakpa, where he serves as both the oracle and the herbalist enables him to deconstruct the gods. The author deploys series of anecdotes through him to whittle down the efficacy of the fatalistic streak in the narrative. Effanga, his uncle, does everything possible to set up Edem Ikon in Eniong. He gives him free accommodation, land, seed yams, labourers, etc, in order to make him a successful farmer like himself. Edem fritters away all the opportunities because he is not cut for hard work. Edem’s failure, therefore, results from the choice he makes. He chooses the easy or lazy man’s approach to life. This tilts him towards the fraudulent rather than honest hard work and drowns him in wine and women, despite his apparent impotence.Edem has no defined vision of the future. Even his decision to go to Fernando Po is taken on the spur of the moment. There is no calculation on his part to his marriage to Mariana in Fernando Po, though it is evident that Mariana has a design on him. The author’s descriptive power and his adaptation of the English language to bear the essence of the culture of the people, make the narrative quite entertaining as the reader is easily able to visualize the situations, characters and the coastal milieu of the story. It is a story intended for any averagely educated reader, not just for eggheads.The message of the author seems to be that honest hard work and/or education are fundamental ingredients for success in life. Effiong Akpabio and Effanga Mkpa are examples of those who succeed through hard work, while Mariana’s phenomenal rise is made possible by her education. Neither ingredient seem available to Edem Ikon. This is why he is such an abysmal failure. Though set in a traditional environment steep in internecine wars and cult devotion, a time past; Running on the Spot bears a message with a modern sensibility and therefore is relevant for all times.

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Running on the Spot

By Iniobong Awak

AuthorHouse

CHAPTER 1

At the onset of the rainy season of 1973, Mbrek wet land was cultivated having been left fallow for seven years. That season coincided with the mass return of the community members from exile occasioned by the civil hostilities that rocked the whole kingdom of men as it was known then. Edem Ikon also returned to the village about that time after four decades of his mysterious disappearance. On the day of his return the elders were gathered under the huge cotton tree that spreads its branches over the village square as an umbrella provided by the gods to shield their subjects from the harshness of the weather.

The meeting held that morning was to deliberate on the lingering misunderstanding between Mbente and their neighbours to the east, the Inokon people over the rightful ownership of Mbrek wetland. As was the custom in that community, the wetland although relatively better watered than the other parcels of land, was only cultivated once every seven years. Mbrek was the home of the deity, Ibritam, that superintended over Mbente and therefore, it was believed that to cultivate the land more frequently would amount to invading his privacy, a disrespect the community was not prepared to be charged with by the deity. It was a community land administered by the Chief and elders on behalf of the people. It was the tradition in any year that the land was to be cultivated for the people to first appease the gods that were believed to be the bona fide owners before allotting portions to each family that constitute the community for a token sum.

That same year, Mbente also witnessed the first ever visit of some white preachers who had come to ask for a parcel of land to build their place of worship. The community meeting that morning was also to deliberate and decide on the proposal earlier made by the youths that akai ekpo, the parcel of land that was reserved for the disposal of corpses of community members who had died abominable death, be allocated to them.

Mbrek wetland was located at the boundary between Mbente and Inokon bordering the great ravine. Every seven years the land had been cultivated in that manner until the present day. There had been no case of inter communal disagreement as to its ownership. At least none that anyone living could remember.

About two market weeks earlier, youths from Inokon community had sent an emissary with eyei with a loosely tied knot at one end, along with a well sharpened ndukpat to deliver both items to the Chief of Mbente village. It was not difficult for the elders of the land to decode the message that was implied by the two items, although the reason for such audacious action was not easily discernible. Having conferred with the Elders, Chief Uyai Akpan sent men to Inokon to find out what the problem was. The team was led by Isang Ama who was the Commander and chief trainer of the community warriors. Their delegation to Inokon was not intended to meet with the youths. Rather their mission was to meet the elders of the land. An emissary had earlier been sent to Inokon village to inform the chiefs and elders that Mbente people would desire a dialogue with them on fiongetok market day. Their arrival therefore, in that remote community was not unexpected.

The meeting was held outside the hut of Chief Inwang, the village head of Inokon. It was expected that the meeting would attract only selected elders of the people but to the utter surprise of Isang Ama and his colleagues, Inokon community had invited over twelve young men armed to the teeth to attend the

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Running on the Spot

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Acerca de

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Running on the Spot

AuthorHouse

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