The lost nation

"Come on, move it, move it, move it, you black monkey now or else you will be whipped again, come on" shouted the red faced white man who was sweating profusely as the weather in Calabar was almost 80° c. The one he was talking to was a weary tired Middle-aged black man who look like he has given up all hope in life, "Hmmm when will all this toment end? he spoke to himself "gods of my forefathers, mother earth Ani and chiuwam my creator when will all this come to an end" he grunted silently he started to move the bricks to the warehouse and the amount of bricks remaining was still a humongous amount, according to the rules of the prison he won't be given any food until he was done with his work so he staggered, got up to his feet and started moving the bricks again. "Umendu hurry up before the Mr. noseless whips you again and stop whining like a woman or aren't you the mighty man of Oguma kingdom again? "Well easy for you to say because all you have to do is just to cook" shot back Ume venomously, "that my friend this is the perk that comes with being one of the longest serving inmate in this godforsaken place because when I came in here I did the same jobs you are doing now" said the smiling Edet with a little schadenfreude as he discreetly passed a piece of dried beef jerky and water to Ume who just offloaded a box of bricks in the warehouse who collected it with gratitude and said his thanks in his native language but Edet immediately retorted in broken English "tell me something for language I fit understand u odeh abi I've told you to stop speaking Igbo to me bah? "Ooo I hear you Solly boss", "No it's sorry not Solly I don't understand why you Igbo people cannot differentiate between R and L" jibed Edet the cook who was well into the years at the age of 65. Edet loves to think of himself as an erudite and well learned gentleman who learnt the white man's tongue by him self without any teacher as poor as his control over the language may seem and has also taken it upon himself to make sure that every inmate learns the white man's language as he believes that ignorance is the biggest crime on earth and as rude as heay seem everyone in the prison respects him, as he's also the intermediary between the white men and the blacks.

After the busy day as Umendu laid on his mat to sleep Edet who was his roommate asked him a question "Umendu my man I've noticed that the white men seem to hate you why's that? But Umendu dodged the question my replying " they hate all the Igbo tribe" but Edet who was sharp as sword rebutted by saying "no my man I know they hate the people of your tribe but they hate you especially more can I know why? Then Ume replied because I'm one of the resistance leader fighting them and preventing them from occupying our lands and ruling over us" " wow, I didn't see you as that sort of man and even if you were among the leaders of the resistance I don't think you will be alive by now because they won't let you live"