Okonkwo ran through the path leading to the village square shouting at the top of his voice, "It's a twin, it's a twin".
"God forbid" people murmured hearing the news.
Okonkwo was a tall, slim man who always dresses in jean pants. He was known for his gossips. Though people hated him, they always relied on him for new chatters.
"It's true, I saw the baby myself", he said to the king whose countenance was now saddened.
It was taboo for a woman to give birth to twins in Uzu village, the babies were believed to be evil and death was their fate. Ifeoma who was still in travail cried all through the night.
"Ifeanyi, please don't allow them to kill our baby" she pleaded holding the hem of his dress.
Ifeanyi held the window bar and stared at the open field outside his compound tapping his feet in intervals and biting his lower lips. He was an elder in the counsel, several times he had consented to the idea that the twin birth by other women should be thrown into the evil forest. karma was knocking and now he knows how painful it was for the parents. I am changing this narrative, he said to himself in a soft voice.
"I wouldn't allow them" he replied, loading his local hunter gun with powder.
"Igwe(king), I heard rumors that Ifeanyi is planning to run with the babies, denying our ritual as a tradition" Okonkwo said kneeling before the king.
" My king" a young man dressed in a black suit interrupted, "do you still practice this tradition of killing twins?".
" Yes, Rufus, that's what had made our land free from evil, I hope you haven't been deceived by the white men's culture where you went to study", Chidubem, the eldest among them said. He was known for his too many questions.
"No..no..This is unfa..."
"Keep quiet" Chidubem interrupted, "what do you know about tradition? when were you born to lecture us on what's fair and unfair?".
" Go bring me Ifeanyi, his wife, and the twins" the king ordered some of the guards.
It was 10:00 PM, the moonlight shined upon the village surrounded by mountains. The evening was silent except for the chirping of birds and the howling of owls. Ifeanyi and his wife made ready to flee to a different village, they kept the babies in a basket.
"Knock! Knock!"
Startled by the sound at the door, Ifeanyi quickly hides his wife and the baby.
"Do not make any noise no matter what you see" he instructed."
"Open the door or we break it," the guards said from the outside.
"I'm coming" gently he opened the door.
"The king demand that you, your wife, and children be brought to the palace now".
"My wife took the babies to prepare for the ritual, they'll join us later, but we can leave"
No one knew where she was going late that night.
"Where's Ifeanyi"? They asked each other.
"He should be sleeping," they said in a guess.
"My king, people from the neighborhood said they saw Ifeoma leaving the village yesterday night but no one knew where she was going" Okonkwo the gossiper said.
" You lied to us, Ifeanyi, you know our tradition and have deliberately defiled it, we ban you from this village and never to step your feet on it again" the king declared.
Twenty years later, James and John grew up to become medical doctors who saved the land of Uzu from the epidemic that took the lives of many.
"Who did you say you are?" The king asked.
"We are the sons of Mr.and Mrs Ifeanyi" who were one time members of this land"
" Mr. Ifeanyi..?" tears dropped down the chin of the king, "Who would have saved us if we had abandoned you in the forest to die". The people of the village were amazed, wondering how twins they believed were evil could be their savior in a time like this.
"From this day, no more killing of twin in the land, no child is evil" the king declared.