The old man brought out his box of snuff.

He poured a generous amount into the palms of his hands. His 35 year old grandson watched him from a distance.

The old man spat on the floor. Then pushed a thumbful of tobacco into his nose and sneezed. He looked up and saw his grandson looking at him...

…they looked at themselves for a while. Then the old man sighed and motioned for him to come over.

The young man hesitated. Then grabbed a low stool and walked to where his grandfather was and sat down beside him.

They sat quietly for a while.

His grandmother walked out of one of the huts. Her ‘’long flaccid’’ breast dangling as she moved.

The old man sighed again.

‘’Her breast used to be firmer. You know why she married me?’’ he began in their dialect.

‘’What?’’

‘’Her’’. The old man said. ‘’Your grandmother’’.

The boy looked at the frail woman, then back at his grandfather and shook his head.

‘’Yams’’. The old man said. ‘’I had the biggest barn of yam. And two titles. Same reason your wife married you’’

‘’My wife loves me’’. The young man frowned.

The old man laughed. A weak husky laugh

‘’She loves your cars too, and your house. And your money’’

The young man looked away…

‘’It’s normal’’. The old man said quietly. ‘’In my days it was the wrestlers our grandmothers wanted. Then in my own days it was the man with the yams. In your days it’s cars and the house’’

The young man remained quiet.

‘’It does not mean she does not love you’’. The old man sighed. ‘’But she needs security. They have always needed security. Your grandmother, your mother and your wife too. Its security they all want. It’s what they look out for before they want to marry you’’.

The young man reached for the cigarette in his breast pocket and pulled it out, the old man had a point.

‘’Don’t smoke that here’’. The old man said testily. ‘’I still have my breathing disease’’.

The young man always forgot his grandfather had Asthma. He returned the cigarette.


‘’Your grandmother fancies me now’’. The old man continued. ‘’Even without the yams and barns. She has come to know me. But the yams were the earthworms that made her bite the hooks. Now she has come to know me. So she fancies me now’’.


The young man stood up, and walked away. His cars and house and money were really the earth worm that attracted his wife. He knew his wife loved him, but he wasn’t a child. He knew she wouldn’t have looked at him if he was just a barrow pusher.

credit from facebook: Nnamani Czar Anikulapo Nonso

Nothing but the truth. A woman needs security all round and wants to marry a man that can provide that. That is nature.