“Close your eyes. Papa would be back soon.”
These were the exact words Father had said when Shiro caught him sneaking past the iron door.
The teenage boy beamed at him and snuggled his pillow, dreaming of roasted bush meat and salivating as he couldn’t wait for his father to come back with the game.
So, it was a lot of wonder when Shiro’s dream metamorphosed into a lion tearing his father limb to limb. He jumped awake and his head was pounding. His dream was terrible and he hated it.
He peeped through the window to see the morning sun shining brightly on the earth. He gave a little yawn and stood up, hoping to be all set before Father came back.
Like a flower that was blooming in the sun, he stepped outside the small room with a smile on his face.
“Good morning mama.” He bent, making sure that his fingers touched the floor.
His mother smiled at him and her eyes were glowing with joy.
He stood up and welcomed the hot rays on his face again, hoping that they would spell away the nasty feeling from the dream morning.
Like clockwork, he turned around and faced the hilly mountains on the other side of the house. It was from this mountain that Father made his livelihood and got all the stories he had raised Shiro with. It was this mountain he had promised would teach him how to be a man.
And every morning, Shiro stared at this mountain longingly. Not for the games that it promised or the stories that it held, but for his father and the love he had for him.
The young boy stood for a long time watching and hoping to get a glimpse of the sun shining off the bald head and majestic gait of his father as he walked back home with the evidence of his success in his hands. But despite how long he stood and watched, he saw nothing.
Heaving a sigh, he sat on the hard stone and decided to help his mother separate the wheat from the chaff. But she quickly swatted his hands away.
“You are a man. Men are only supposed to hunt and prepare meat. Leave the grains for me and your sister.” She said without taking her eyes off the tray sitting pretty on her lap.
He stared at the woman who had nurtured him all his life and shook his head. He wished she could understand that he saw nothing wrong in helping her. He enjoyed eating the wheat and he believed it was only appropriate to know how to prepare the wheat. But mother and father had drummed respect into him that the thought of voicing out his opinion vanished.
Lila, his sister, blushed as he rolled his eyes. And when his eyes fell on her, his lips curved in a smile. Despite what their mother had always said, he always allowed Lila to roast the meat when Father wasn’t looking and in return, she teaches him how to separate the wheat from the chaff when Mother wasn’t looking.
But this wasn’t what was nagging at his mind. He just wants his father to come back home. Father has never delayed like this. Not even once. Usually, at the first break of dawn, he was back, holding tightly to the night’s catch. Shiro didn’t know why he was delaying today, but he was filled with dread.
When the sky began to change to a rusted orange, Shiro could no longer take it, and with the frustration he had bottled the whole day, he sprang from the log where he had sat and began to run as fast as his legs could carry him.
“Where are you going to?” He heard.
He turned to the voice to find his sister running towards him.
“I have to go and find Father.” He replied catching his breath.
“I want to go with you.” She pleaded with her cute eyes.
Shiro wished he could take her, but the stories of danger Father had told him about the mountains wouldn’t permit him to.
“Just go back home. Tell Mother I will be back with Father soon.” He insisted.
He only continued running to the mountain when Lila turned around.
When he got to the feet of the mountain, the sun was almost a forgotten star, barely giving out its light. Only the top of the mountain seemed to kiss what was left of the sun. He had heard severally from his father that this was the wrong time to come to the mountain, but that didn’t deter him.
He strode in like a bull, hoping to gore the red cloth being flashed at him.
The chirping of birds and insects, coupled with the darkness that covered the mountain made the place feel ominous. From the house, the mountain felt like a spectacle. But here, it seemed like a prison he wanted to break free from.
But he wasn’t going to leave this prison until he had freed his father from its grasp.
The thought of his father added to his sense of urgency and he quickened his steps, climbing the mountain like a spider walking up a wall.
Finally, he got on leveled ground and stared around, hoping to catch a glimpse of his father. He has never been here, never climbed this mountain. The best he could do was to stand at the bottom of the mountain and stare at its peak, hoping to catch a glimpse of his father and imagine how great it would be to hunt on the mountain just like his father.
But now that he was here, standing on this mountain and looking around frantically to find his father, he realized there was nothing but dread up here on the mountain. He was shaking like a leaf and the wind that blew past the mountain kept whispering for him to run back to safety.
Like a child in pain, he covered his ears with his palms and yelled out to the air around him. “NO!”
And it was as if something within him had clicked, changed. The voice in the wind seemed to have disappeared and he was only left with the sound of his echo.
Armed with bravery, and filling his head with the smile that would appear on his sister’s face if she saw Father, he braced the wind, moving around and yelling out his father’s name hoping for a reply.
But every yell of “Papa” only returned to him as an echo.
Well, not until he heard a roar shortly after calling out to his father in defeat.
Like a deer caught in headlights, he stood, frozen, wondering where the roar had come from. Well, it shouldn’t have. This was the exact reason why his father came up here alone. It was the reason why he was told he would only climb this mountain when he was set to be a man.
With majestic steps and a sense of ownership, a mountain lion stepped out of a corner and stared at Shiro with a piercing gaze.
The young boy nearly peed in his shorts as he had never seen an animal as ferocious as the cougar before him.
The wild animals in the mountains were the reason why his father had refused to take him hunting despite so many pleas from him.
The animal had some fresh injuries on his body and Shiro could swear that his father had done this. Shiro knew that he was probably as dead as his father and the young lad could not believe where that thought was coming from.
“No. Lali must smile. She has to see the father.” He muttered to himself as he bent and snarled at the animal.
That action seemed to have angered the cougar the more as it roared louder and took two steps closer to him. Shiro was scared. He didn’t know what to do, but he was certain that he wasn’t going off this mountain without his father. The cougar before him was an obstacle he had to face and he was determined to move past the lion.
The cougar seemed to have gotten tired of his dilly-dally as it sprung high in the air at Shiro. With a jolt, Shiro moved away from the cougar just in time and crashed into a small cave and pain raced through his body from the impact. The cave was so small that he had to crawl into the space, keeping his legs tucked beneath his knee to keep himself away from the lion that was snarling at him.
“Oh, father!” Shiro cried as he bent his head, wondering how he was going to get off the mountain with a lion trying to kill him.
“Shiro.” Came a whisper and a frail finger brushing his arm.
With a surprised jolt, Shiro hit his head at the top of the cave and did a lot to keep his scream within him.
“Shiro.” The whisper came again, but this time he could recognize the voice.
“Father? Father?” He screamed while touching around trying to find his father.
The cave was dark and he was having a hard time seeing around.
The whisper came again and this time, he located a body lying on the floor in the cave. His hands touched the bald head and Shiro had no doubts that this was his father.
“Father, I am going to take you out of here.” He said touching his father.
However, his father yelped in pain when he touched his chest. Thick liquid caught his fingers. A quick sniff brought the smell of blood to his nostrils. Shiro hated to admit it, but the longer his father stayed here, the slimmer his chances of survival.
He had to find a way to get them out of there as quickly as possible. The only way out was to face the cougar or outrun it. Outrunning the mountain lion was impossible. Finally, he touched his father’s spear and he embraced his only option.
Inhaling a deep breath, Shiro crawled out of the cave and faced the lion that was prancing about. As soon as Shiro was out, the cougar turned around and faced him. Shiro could almost swear he saw a smile on the cougar’s face and more dread gripped him.
“Not today.” He managed to whisper and ran towards the lion with the spear in his hand.
He collided with the lion but was immediately thrown away by the force of the collision. He opened his eyes to see that the lion was barely injured by the spear and knew that his death had come. He had signed up for this when he decided to climb this mountain without the blessings of his father.
Before he could do anything, the lion was standing before him and snarling at him.
“Forgive me, Lali. Forgive me, mother. Forgive me, Father.” He said with tears running down his eyes as he placed his palms above his face, waiting for the pain that would engulf him.
But the pain never came.
A spear whizzed past him and the cougar gave a high-pitched cry as it crashed to the floor. Shiro forced his eyes open, only to see more spears flying past him and stabbing the cougar.
When the spears had stopped wheezing past him and the lion had stopped moving, he saw men from his clan running toward him. Relief washed through the young lad and he laid his back on the floor and caught his breath. Lali and his mother must have reported he and his father missing.
“Where is your father?” Adakin, a respected hunter asked him.
“There,” Shiro whispered, pointing at the cave where his father was.
“Good job. You are now a man.” The man patted my shoulder and moved to the cave.
That night, when they got back home, and his father was been attended to by the medicine man, Lali wrapped her arms around him and gave him the best smile.
And at that moment, he understood that being a man was more than just going up a mountain and fighting a lion. It was making brave choices to sure there was a smile on the faces of those he cared about.
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