“Yes,” replied Chike.
“You can go to a money-doubler.”
“Where does he live?”
“I don’t know but I can find out for you, tomorrow.”
So they agreed to go in search of a money-doubler on the following day. Meanwhile they decided to go and play. On their way they passed by people selling cooked guinea-fowl eggs and specially prepared meat called suya. An idea occurred to S.M.O.G. He had threepence in his pocket.
“Let us buy eggs and suya,” he said. “If I buy threepence worth of suya and you buy threepence worth of eggs then I can have some of your eggs and you can have some of my suya.”
“But the only money I have is for doubling,” said Chike.
“You talk like a small boy,” said S.M.O.G. “You will have threepence left which you can double to become sixpence and then double the sixpence to become one shilling.”
“That is true,” said Chike. “I can even double the shilling.”
“Of course,” said S.M.O.G.
“But why spend as much as threepence?” asked Chike. “Let us start with one penny each.”
“Small-boy talk again,” sneered S.M.O.G. “One penny will only buy one egg; threepence will buy four. Why should we have half an egg each when we can have two? Did we eat eggs yesterday? Why should we live by the River Niger and then wash our hands with spittle?”
Chike gave in. The proverb was very convincing. Chike had heard it used before about Peter Nwaba, the miserly trader. Someone said Mr. Nwaba lived on the Niger and yet washed his hands with spittle; he was very rich and yet lived like a pauper.
Chike did not care to be likened to Mr. Nwaba. So he gave in. He bought four eggs and received threepence change. He gave S.M.O.G. two of the eggs and put two in his pocket. Then they went in search of suya.
Chike felt like a grown man. He had never spent threepence at one blow and had never eaten a whole skewer of suya before. He had only eaten one or two small pieces given him by Ezekiel or S.M.O.G. Today he was going to eat a whole stick.
S.M.O.G. knew his way about and they soon found the suya people. Chike was fascinated by the way it was prepared. Small pieces of meat were skewered on a slender piece of stick. They were then dipped in a mixture of palm oil, pepper, groundnut, and salt. The sticks or spits were then stuck into the ground round an open fire which cooked the meat slowly.
S.M.O.G. paid threepence and took two hot and appetizing skewers. Chike almost danced with excitement. He wanted to start eating at once but S.M.O.G. insisted that they should go to the shade of a nearby mango tree.
“We must not eat like people without home-training, eating and walking along the street,” he said.
Chike felt somewhat ashamed of himself and agreed with S.M.O.G. They sat on the exposed roots of a mango tree and began to munch their suya, pulling off the small pieces of meat from the spit with their teeth.
8 Chike Falls Out with S.M.O.G.
When they had eaten the suya, S.M.O.G. suggested that they play a little game with their eggs. He knocked each of his eggs against his front teeth and from the sound decided which had the harder shell. He held it in his closed palm allowing the pointed end to show between his thumb and first finger. Then he asked Chike to knock one of his eggs against it.
“If your egg cracks it will become mine but if mine cracks I will give it to you,” he said.
Chike tried each egg on his teeth and selected one. He rubbed its pointed end on his palm and then blew on it with his breath.
“Go on. Don’t waste my time,” said S.M.O.G. Chike knocked his egg against his friend’s. There was a sound of cracking, but at first it was not clear which one had broken. Chike looked at his and it was whole; then he saw that he had smashed S.M.O.G.’s. He leapt up in joy. Very sadly S.M.O.G. gave him the broken egg. Now he had only one. “Let us try the other two,” suggested Chike. But S.M.O.G. refused.
“Get out!” he said angrily in English.
“Come in!” replied Chike, as he carefully removed the shell of the broken egg. “Why are you crying? You suggested the game.”
“Who is crying?” said S.M.O.G. “Mind yourself,” he added, again in English.
Chike laughed as he ate the egg he had won. S.M.O.G. broke his remaining egg against a mango root and began to eat it silently. Chike began to whistle a song about a boy who cries at play whenever the game goes against him.
S.M.O.G. stood up and began to look for something. Soon he picked up an overripe mango that lay on the ground. Something had eaten part of it and left a small round hole. S.M.O.G. held the fruit close to his ear, smiling. Then he gave it to Chike.
“There is something singing inside here. Listen to it.”