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Amaka: (Sobbing silently) it is......

Ozondo: Enough. (He shouts on Amaka)

Okonkwo: (Still breathing hard) You . see, a woman of inability.

Ozondo: (In disappointment) Shut your mouth both of you.

(The couple remains silent) What do you think you're. doing? Both of you are a disgrace to humanity. (Turns to Amaka) What could you have done to your husband that caused him to descend on you with fury? What could you have said to him? Have you no respect for him? How dare you engage your husband in a brawl. (He sits on a chair)


Amaka: (Still sobbing) I didn't say anything wrong to him, Ozondo. Oh! Where are my ancestors. l have been cheated. Had I ........

Ozondo: (Cautions Amaka) Enough, woman. _Your ancestors will not come and .help you now. This is not their problem but yours and you should be in the position to solve it. What did you do to your husband? Remember; a man who is not at fault at all is a man who has done nothing.

Amaka: (Stops sobbing now) ' I didn't do anything to him. We both lay on the mat inside the house, discussing the possible way to let loose from the boundage of infertility when. suddenly he stood from the mat and went out to sit here, leaving me behind. ( Tears begins to roll out of her eyes.)


Ozondoshaking his head) Enough of the tears, Amaka.

Amaka: (She continues) When I discov that he was not coming back to me decided to come out of the house sit with him outside. | only expressed my feelings toward the fourth-coming festival when he started blaming me for our woe. (She stops talking amidst tears)

Ozondo: (Frowns his face) Woe? What do you mean by your woe? Whatever the woe is, I want to know. That woe must be consumed today not tomorrow.

Amaka: (Breaks into more tears) Our inability to have a child.

Okonkwo: (Impatiently) You see, is it our inability to have a child or your inability to http://www.naijahips.com/2017/05/story-time-pursuit-of-passion-act1_18.html?m=1

ACT1 SCENE11

(The door of the main entrance opens slowly and Amaka comes out of the main house, staring at the scotching sun and also stretching her body
showing she has just woken from her sleep. She sees Okonkwo, her husband sitting alone and walks to him. A pack of logs is at a corner very close to her husband. She brought down one of the logs, rolls it and positons it very close to her husband.)

Amaka: (Fails to notice her husband ’5 mood) ‘ Hope l'can sit beside you now. (She stares at her husband on standing)

Okonkwo: (He looks at Amaka) Is the log complaining?(He replies strangely)

Amaka: (Surprised) Is the log complaining? (She repeats, wondering) My husband, how could you reply me in that manner.

Okonkwo: Why wouldn't I reply you in that manner? A woman who asks a stupid question or suggests a stupid ideal shall be paid back in the same way.


(Amaka sits beside her husband still wondering why her husband has to reply her in such a very harsh Manner. Silence takes over for some minutes before Amaka opens up a discussion.)

Amaka: We're getting closer to the festive period. The town will soon be over -popu|ated with people from far and wide who will be coming to rejoice with us.

Okonkwo: (Suddenly turns his face to his wife)
Festive period. Is it festive period you're talking about?

Amaka: (Disturbed) I'm just saying we're getting nearer to it.

Okonkwo: (Claps) Woman, festive period is for those who can and who have gathered the wood to celebrate with and not for people like us. Where's your sense, woman? Is festive period more important to you than


having children who can make you a real woman? What exactly is making you joyous when you failed in your responsibility as a woman? Aren't you a black wo .......

Amaka: (interrupts in tears) Enough, Okonkwo. But why? Why do you always like pouring stones into my pot of happiness? The more I try to forget my path of Sorrow, the more you thread on it to remind me. Can't ljust have a day of happiness in your domain? I know there was no time that I told you I wasn't ready to be conceived. So, tell me how our childlessness has to be my fault? Why must I be treated unjustly? (She continues weeping)

Okonkwo: (Shaking his head) lt'sa witch that behaves the way you're behaving. What did I say to you to warrant your deep sorrow?


Amaka: (Snaps) What have you not said to me? You’ve said it all. I'm an African woman and I know when you pinch me with my inability. Is it my inability or our inability? Am i to be blamed for the fault we’re both guilty of? (She wipes off her tears) It's our inability and due to this, should we not be party to the forth-coming festival? Would that bring us a child? Haven't we been to different native doctors both in and outside this town? They told ,us we're going to have a child. A man of little faith. Can I impregnate myself? Okay, I'm all ready to conceive for you. It‘s left for you to perform like a man. (she stands from herseat)

Okonkwo: (Getting annoyed) Haven't I performed my duties as a man to you? Am I not trying? Or do you think I'm a machine that knows no rest?


Amaka: (Trying to embarrass Okonkwo) Your trying is not enough. If you want a child then you must work harder.

Okonkwo: (Surprised) My trying is not enough? I must work harder, fine. Woman i am nota horse. lam a human being, okay.

Amaka: (Affirmatively) Your effort is not enough. You only count years that we've married forgotten that a lazy man cannot count children. (she steps backward)

Okonkwo: (In anger) A lazy man cannot count children? Tell me then what a lazy man should count?

Amaka: (Standing) A lazy man cannot count children and that is all I know.

Okonkwo: So, who is a lazy man? You or me? i need to know the body of whom laziness is hiding.


Amaka: (Steppin’g a little backward) It's you. it's you Okonkwo who has failed to.....

(Okonkwo suddenly pounces on Amaka like a lion. Amaka quickly shouts for help. It takes few minutes before Ozondo, who is an old man continue Reading at http://www.naijahips.com/2017/05/story-time-pursuit-of-passion-act1.html?m=1

[center]Act1 Scene1[/center ]

(It is Sunday. Okonkwo is sitting on a bamboo chair all alone under a big tree with a big branch which provides a big shed from the scotching sun. He constantly changes his sitting position which signifies inconveniency and unsatisfaction. Suddenly, hestarts tosoliloquize. )

Okonkwo: (Stamping his feet) Sometimes, i wonder where the gods are when an innocent man like me is suffering, running up and down the town to combat the ugly spirit of infertility. l, Okonkwo born of a woman who was successfully impregnated by an able man but unable to impregnate a woman. What a Shame! (He shakes his head left and right, feeling so dejected) Is it my fault? I've married for ten years now without a child. (He stands from his sitting position, staring at the ground). My wife and l have been to different native doctors in different villages and nothing strange has been discovered in us. (He begins to walk slowly)

After how many years of marriage? Had I known that inability to bear a child after marriage is a serious challenge, especially to a man like me, I would have advised that lady not to abort the pregnancy she had for me during my youthful age. God ! NOW I'm married without a child to send on an errand. (He sits again) Nothing proves a man. worthless than not having a child. After marriage, the fruit of marriage expected http://www.naijahips.com/2017/05/story-time-pursuit-of-passion.html