It's been a little more than a month now, and a strange rumour started spreading in the Acaulii Village.
"Have you heard? Old Man Basse might be into some shady child business."
"Why did you say so?"
An elderly woman asked her friend as they were passing through an old building along the street.
"It's been spreading that the old man, who always seems cool and aloof, might be doing something with children.
He adopted a newborn child, but there's been no activity from his compound for a month now.
How possible is it that a newborn child can go a month without letting out a cry?"
"Yo, I thought he was a good man. but something does seem strange about that," her friend added.
"But what about the village chief? Hasn't he heard about this, too?" he asked her.
"How'd I know? But I heard that Old Man Basse's neighbour reported it to the chief, but he dismissed her after confirming there's no record of child adoption by Old Man Basse. " The other friend replied.
"It is definitely her. I heard she's quite the busybody. Are her claims truly real?"
The two of them kept talking as they disappeared into the distance.
Inside Old Man Basse's compound. The old man and his daughter have been taking care of this child, whose hair, skin, eyes, appetite, and almost everything else were quite different from theirs.
"Grandpa, I'm back!" a tiny voice rang out.
"Little girl, go wash up. I just finished cooking fish for you and your brother."
The old man turned to look at the young girl who had just walked into the compound.
After freshening up and getting ready for dinner, she joined the Old Man in the living room.
"Grandpa, some children in school today were asking me a lot of rubbish questions.
Asking about the little guy and if there was really a kid inside here."
"It's okay. In a few months, this little guy might start walking. By then, you won't need to explain anything to anyone; he'll naturally walk out for everyone to see him. The old man reassured the little girl as they ate.
"It's weird to see a child who doesn't cry after all, so it's not their fault for being suspicious," he continued.
"Grandpa, I also heard from Sirar that it was the lady from our neighbourhood who reported to the chief about this, and it's likely she who is spreading the rumour everywhere," Shandha added.
They were still eating when they suddenly heard a loud knock on their gate. "I'll go check it out." Old Man Basse stood and moved to the gate.
"Good evening, Old Man Basse," two nicely dressed young men greeted him politely. "We're the Chief's people, and we're here to invite you to his place on his command."
"I say, why is that boy looking for me?
Is it really about these rumours? Don't tell me even he has become addicted to gossip.
Tell him I'll be coming later; I'm still having dinner with my daughter and son. "Old Man Basse told the two guys before going back into his compound. They looked at themselves in surprise; after all, even they were curious about the situation here.
After telling little Shandha to take care of the little guy while waiting for him to come back, he came back outside to meet the two young men.
Not long later, he went to the village chief's house. On entry, he saw a young man in his early thirties pacing back and forth in the courtyard.
"Ahhhh, Old Man Basse, please forgive me for what's going on right now. I really can't help but call for you at this time. Hopefully, this will be over soon."
"I say, Ollin Drax, you're already an Upper Level Constitution Attainment Warrior; don't tell me you're still bothered by these ordinary village people's gossip."
Old Man Basse replied to the young village chief, who looked like he was about to cry.
"Old Man, please hear me out. You know Lywa, that woman who lives next to your compound. Apparently, she's a relative of the Local Government Area's Chairman's favourite wife. Well, not too close a relation, but she can still be able to let messages reach her ears, which is basically the same as the Chairman's ear. And you know I still need to deal with him in my political career. I can't stay here forever, right? But I'm surely no match for him, and if I make an enemy out of him for this, I don't even know what it's all about..." Drax hastily explained to the old man.
"So?" Old Man Basse raised an eyebrow.
"No hurry, Old Man Basse; I'm not done yet. You see, this woman has been harassing me lately, saying that I'm incompetent and all that. This is because after reporting to me that you had taken in a new child, still, there hadn't been any sound of a child's cry or activity from your compound. I dismissed her after checking the records and finding out that you hadn't adopted any child recently. She claims you might be doing something unsightly to children in your compound." The young chief continued.
"Initially, I dismissed her, but she just doesn't know when to stop. Since then, she has spread the gossip everywhere and kept bringing people to my place every day to complain about my calmness on such a terrible occurrence. And finally now, she's threatening to write to the Chairman about this." he took a slight breath and kept explaining.
"Old Man, it's not that I wanted to disturb you; it's just that I can't help it with this situation. Please tell me, is there really a child in your compound?" He asked the old man.
"Yes, there is." Old Man Basse replied lazily, with a slight nod.
"So all this hullabaloo is just because one foolish woman is experiencing menopause, or what exactly is her problem?" Old Man Basse asked again as they walked into the slightly large parlour that had a long table in the centre with different sizes of couches on both sides of the table and a master seat at the head of the table facing the door.
"Old man, please take a seat." Chief Drax stretched out his left hand towards the master seat in the room. "Alright, let's talk about it if you must know." Old Man Basse started talking after taking a seat.
Sitting right beside him, "Okay", the young chief who just asked his boy to bring them a bottle of alcohol nodded. "A month ago, I was in my usual spot, you know, fishing, when a young newborn baby was floating down the stream. I took him out and brought him home."
"Eh", Chief Drax nodded a little
"That's it." Old Man Basse added with a fake smile as he took a sip of his alcohol.
Chief Drax widened his eyes. "That's it?"
"Old man, this is not good enough; you need to give me proper information to appease these people. Or they just won't drop this. I forgot to tell you that a woman has formed a group of people, a group of crazy women who go around the village telling everyone that you're kidnapping babies and that I also know about it but didn't stop you. I highly suspect that she was instigated by that lady Lywa."
"Oh, are you doubting me?" Old Man Basse took another sip.
"No, I just want to know what to tell them when I address the village on the 4th of next month. You know, that is the *Vâdasâva, and I need to address the village on that day." A tear almost dropped out of Chief Drax's eyes.
"What's the panic, young man? The child is a little different from others; he doesn't cry. That's why no one has ever heard of a cry from my compound." Old Man Basse replied lazily, like he had just said the most normal thing ever.
"How about this, I promise, that when he walks, I'll bring him to you? How about that?" Old Man Basse had finished his drink, got up, and looked at the young chief as if he were a predator looking at a prey. The young chief doesn't know he's planning on making him a baby sitter.
"Ollin Drax, you're still a young man who has a bright future ahead of him. There's no need to be scared of an ordinary Local Government Chairman. If you work hard in your training, no one will stand in your way," the old man added. "And lastly, since you have made me come here, I'll be taking back two bottles of this drink of yours. It's actually good stuff; can't believe you hid it for so long. This will be a lesson for you so that before summoning me for nonsense matters, you'll think about it twice."
"Alright, Philj, bring Old Man Basse two bottles of the drinks I just brought back, the one you just gave us." Chief Drax called out to his boy dejectedly.
'Thankfully, I bought them bearing you in mind, too. This old man is a rip-off,' he thought in his head.