Written piece
Tales for My People
Eric Omoruyi
Nigeria
About this piece
When a wrong becomes a common thing, trust is eroded. Wars leave lasting scars. Tales for My People—comprised of two flash fiction—reveals this. Let’s champion the course of peace to save the earth and humanity of scars of wars.
The title of story 1: Maybe We Aren’t the Children of Our Fathers
Number of words: 147
In two weeks, the same kind of news item made the headlines ten times. The latest, on the Aghos and the Udors.
A neighbor’s several visits to Agho’s wife with generous gifts for her two-month-plus baby precipitated a suspicion. Agho went to laboratories to unmask the truth. The results didn’t rule out his paternity of the child. So, as a last resort, he pooled resources for DNA fingerprinting.
The Udors relocated to Benin City years ago. The trouble started when Tanko, an entry-level politician, traced the family to Benin City for the family’s baby whom he claimed to be his daughter. Biological scrutiny confirmed this to be true after months of paternity dispute. This was headline news on the TV that night. It followed that on the Aghos the previous night. A DNA analysis proved Agho’s suspicion true.
From that night, we became unrepentantly suspicious of mothers.
The title of story 2: Why the Tiger Is Stripped and the Bush Pig Brown
Word count: 151
Once upon a time members of the Animal Kingdom, except the Tiger, pooled resources to build themselves a meeting house. When the project was completed, the Tiger moved in to have it for a dwelling place. This was discovered when members were going to the house for a meeting. The message was visible in its eyes: “You dare not come near or you die”. Members coming for the meeting turned and headed back home with a song of helplessness in their mouths. But the Bush Pig dared to move close and a fight ensued. They fought and fought. The Tiger plunged it into mire. And rolled it in the mud, imparting a brown colour to it. Then power shifted, changing hands. And the Bush Pig plunged the Tiger in bush of thorns, tearing all its skin on the thorns.
The Tiger’s stripes are the marks made by the thorns on its skin.