Twice as hard as

I returned home, sat down to reminisce of what happened today, it was quite tragic, the shocking news went viral that a certain young man who was identified with the chieftency title "Eze anaechi na nwata" bearing his real name as Praise Tochukwu was found that morning lying on his bed by the road side. He was still sleeping while people were at the scene, it was like a worst nightmare to everyone.

It happened that i arrived at the scene when the said young man was running
home leaving the mattress there. After the incident a close relative began to talk to people around. I called him aside and began to interview him because i found out he was ready to talk.

"what happened today my eyes have never seen such in my entire life," he began to speak "Praise is my cousin but he never deemed it feet to help anyone. His elder brother who is  suffering of hunger and his family dying of starvation vowed never to receive anything from Praise, but the reason best known to him.

The last incident that took place between him and his elder brother was when Praise visited them in the company of his wife with so many foodstuffs with a cheque attached. When they waited for the arrival of his elder brother and until they became frazzled, praise stood and apprised of their going. "when my brother returns tell him that we visited, show him all the foodstuffs we brought and give him this cheque," Praise said before he saw his brother coming.

When his elder brother approached them "honey look at what your brother gave us," his wife presented to his husband, he took it and tore it before them, Praise and his wife stood watching him after greeting him and he ignored. He began to throw away and destroying the foodstuffs that Praise  brought "I have told you times without number stop bringing gifts to us, we don't need it, he turned to his wife, " I told you any day you accept anything from this man, I will kill you, i don't know him, he's not in anyway related to me, do you hear me," he warned.

Praise developed cold feet and his wife Ego-oyibo was looking dead worried, feeling broken.Ego-oyibo and her co-wife tried to find out from their husbands but all their effort was abortive. Ego-oyibo's co-wife keep wondering why her husband would reject a cheque of five million naire when they can't afford to pay the rent of one room apartment they lived in, why her husband would reject the foodstuffs and money which could go a long way to better life, given to him by his own blood brothers he rejected the offer, when they feed from hand to mouth and couldn't afford giving their little boy good  life.

She wept all through the night yet her husband closed his heart to swallow his pride. He went as far as to publicly denounce Praise of being his elder brother. No long after, his brother died with his wife of fire outbreak, they managed to rescue their son through agl glass windowpane.

Shortly, Praise appeared at the scene with his wife and sister in-law. The carried the boy home. Some years later. Ojukwu was twelve when Praise took him and showed him around his mansion, counting his cars, telling him that he had E-states across the world. He dropped one last comment with Ojukwu "all these you will inherit, they are all yours when i am gone but you have to work twice as hard as i do for you to be able to  control all..." Praise smiled and gave him highfive.

After the young man who identified himself as Praise's cousin finished his story, his last comment was, "it's obvious he knew what happened to his ability to father a child, what about the condition of his late brother and wife and the mysterous death? And today it's  sleeping by the road side on his bed, wasn't that a worst case scenerio? That's why i always tell our youths and parents to be careful with the way the make money, never resort to rigorous and scandalous means, the outcome is usually outrageous. No matter what, patient, everything must turn around at the appointed time. Money ritual is not hard work neither is it an alternative."