I was weeding behind our two bedroom mud house when my cousin, Funmi approached me to ask me what we would be taking for breakfast.
Our grandfather had left for a meeting in town earlier and he asked us to take care of the house. The work was shared between us; I was to weed round the house while Funmi sweeps in and outside the house. She had rounded up her task and was ready to prepare our breakfast.
"Let's eat yam and egg sauce." I responded to her question.
"Grandpa will scold us if we touch the eggs." She expressed some fears.
"Grandpa gave me the go ahead to pick two of the eggs yesterday. Don't be scared, he will not scold us." I assured her.
The previous day, I had pleaded with grandpa that I missed egg sauce greatly and that he should allow me to pick two eggs from the eggs being laid by his hen at the corner of the house. He graciously gave me the go ahead.
Funmi didn't hesitate to put yam on fire while she picked the two eggs and broke them into a plate in preparation for the egg sauce.
I was busy with my work when I saw a giant dog run past. Whenever such happened, it's always an indication that a herdsman, the owner of the dog, was around with his cows.
I continued the weeding but after a few minutes, Funmi screamed from the kitchen. The kitchen was made of a three stone stove, a traditional method of cooking where pot is placed on the stones of equal height and firewoods arranged in-between to cook the food.
I dropped my hoe and went to the front of the house immediately.
"The dog drank the egg solution that I mixed." She explained to me, holding a plate with stains of egg solution.
"Where did you keep it?" I asked.
"I kept it on the grinding stone and went inside to bring oil. Before I returned, the dog drank everything." She explained.
I was angry with the action of the dog but there was nothing I could do because the dog ran away immediately.
"We will use oil to eat the yam. Carrying another egg would call for scolding from grandpa." I concluded.
I went behind the house to pick my hoe because the development made me weak in continuing with the weeding.
I barely arrived at the entrance of the house when I saw about three cows in the maize farm that was a few meters away. Grandpa had told us to prevent the grazing cows from grazing on the maize farm.
I moved close to the farm to check if I could see the herdsman to tell him to drive his cows away from the farm but I couldn't find him.
I was terrified with the destruction happening on the farm and I was confused about what to do. The potential reaction of my grandpa when he returns from the market compounded my situation.
I picked some stones and began to pelt the cows in order to drive them away. When the cows started running helter skelter, the herdsman emerged from nowhere to intimidate me. He wasn't pleased that I was pursuing his animals from feeding on the maize plants.
On sighting the tall man with a broad chest and intimidating cracked voice having a cutlass hung on his shoulder, I ran back to the house out of fear.
The herdsman followed me for daring to pursue his animals from feeding on the plants. He brought out his cutlass from the case and began to fling it left and right.
My cousin was deeply terrified of the impending danger and she ran to the next hut house, some meters away to report to the available elders.
I was left alone thinking of what to do. The herder was asking me if I would ever pursue his cows again. I entered the house and at a corner was a locally made single barrel rifle that my uncle used for hunting. I picked up the gun and went outside immediately.
I pointed the gun at him and was pressing the trigger. Fortunately, the gun was not loaded. Gambo was prostrating on his chest flat on the ground begging me for forgiveness. His face was covered with sweat and possibly peeing on his pants with the expectation of the worst that was about to happen.
We were in this position when Funmi and two elderly men arrived. One of the men, a friend of my grandpa, shouted at me to drop the gun, which I did immediately.
He instructed Gambo to stand up. After listening to both of us, he scolded Gambo;
"See where your wickedness would have landed you. You are doing the wrong thing by destroying their source of livelihood yet intimidating these children. You are alive now because the gun wasn't loaded. If it was, you would have been dead. Learn your lesson and respect other people's source of livelihood the same way you guard yours."
Gambo was very sober, wiping away sweat from his forehead.
The elderly man turned to me to lambast me for going for a gun in such a situation.
"This is not meant for humans but for hunting for animals." He stated, pointing to the gun.
"Your sister ran to me. Why didn't you do the same? Next time, run to safety instead of resorting to self help. You are too young for this." He concluded.
Gambo apologized for his actions; he promised never to destroy people's farms again or take advantage of children's age to intimidate them to accept his excesses.