Civil Peace

Jonathan Iwegbu believes that he was unbelievably lucky to have survived the recent Nigerian Civil war, along with his wife and three of his four children. He’s also happy that he still has his bicycle, although that’s not as important, of course, as his own or his family’s lives.

During the war, a soldier had tried to take Jonathan’s bicycle from him, claiming it was needed for military use. Jonathan would have been willing to give up the bike, despite its value to him, but he was suspicious of the soldier who was trying to take it. He wasn’t suspicious because of the soldier’s shabby dress—lots of honorable soldiers were dressed like that—but rather because of his manner. To keep his bicycle, Jonathan bribed the soldier with some money that he had been planning on buying supplies with. That night, he buried the bicycle to hide it, right next to the graveyard where his youngest son and other dead had been buried.

After the war ends, Jonathan digs up the bike and is surprised and delighted to find that, with a bit of oil, it is still in working condition. He states that “Nothing puzzles God,” and he begins using his bicycle as a taxi in the camp where he and his family live. People in the camp with money are eager to spend it on his service. He is able to earn some Biafran money this way: one hundred and fifteen pounds.

Jonathan travels to the town of Enugu, where his home was before the war, and he is amazed to find that his house is still intact. He decides this is a miracle, and he can barely believe it, although it is not as significant as the miracle of his family’s survival. He again states that “Nothing puzzles God.” Nearby, a wealthy neighbor’s giant concrete house had been demolished during the war. There is some damage to Jonathan’s small zinc house, but Jonathan isn’t concerned about it. He hires a carpenter and uses some materials he scavenges from around the neighborhood to repair the door and windows. He’s able to pay the carpenter with his Biafran money (though the Biafran pounds are worth just a few Nigerian shillings).

Jonathan and his family move into the house happily. His children begin picking fruit from a nearby military cemetery for money, and his wife starts making breakfast that she sells to their neighbors. Jonathan bikes to nearby villages and buys palm wine using the money his family earns. He then waters down the wine and uses it to start a bar for soldiers and other people who can afford it.

Jonathan used to work as a coal miner and he goes every day to the Coal Corporation offices to find out if he can start working as a miner again. As the company continues to provide no information, he starts going less often and finds out that many other ex-miners have become homeless and sleep outside the offices at night while waiting for news. Eventually, Jonathan gives up on trying to get a job there again and instead focuses on running his bar.

One day, Jonathan is paid twenty Nigerian pounds in ex-gratia—or “egg-rasher,” as most people call it—for turning in Biafran money to the Nigerian Treasury. He must wait in line for five days full of scuffles and confusion to receive his new money. But receiving the money is like Christmas for him and others.

As soon as he gets the money, Jonathan is extremely cautious about protecting it, burying it inside his pants pocket while still holding it in his fist. Jonathan does this because, not long before, a different man had gotten his egg-rasher, immediately had it stolen, and then had an emotional breakdown in the crowd outside the Treasury. Few people were sympathetic to this man, though, as they felt that he had been careless—one of his pockets had a gaping hole in it, though he claimed he had kept the money in his other pocket. Regardless, Jonathan is extra careful, and he moves the money into his left hand and pocket so that he can shake hands if necessary with anyone that he meets on his way home without exposing the bills. At the same time, he avoids making eye contact with anyone so that he doesn’t risk needing to interact with them.

That night, Jonathan listens to the sounds of his neighborhood go quiet as he struggles to fall asleep. He notices that the night watchman has gone silent. After he falls asleep, he is suddenly awakened by someone knocking on the front door. His wife and children also wake up and are terrified. Jonathan asks who is knocking, and a person responds that he is one of a group of thieves and he demands that Jonathan open the door.

Jonathan’s wife begins to call out for help, and Jonathan and the children join her. They shout for the police and their neighbors, saying that there are thieves and they are in trouble. They say, “We are lost! We are dead!” Eventually, the family stops crying for help, and they wonder if the thieves have been scared away, since it’s silent outside. But moments later the thief and his gang begin to mock Jonathan and his family by imitating their calls for help—and it becomes clear that no help is coming. There are at least five people besides the leader in the group. Jonathan and his family are terrified, and his wife and children start crying. When the thieves stop mockingly calling for help, there is again complete silence.

Jonathan begs the leader of the thieves to tell him what they want. The thief says that they tried to call the neighbors and the police to help, but everyone must still be asleep. He mockingly suggests that Jonathan could also call the soldiers for help. Jonathan feels increasingly anxious about the situation and can’t bring himself to speak until the leader of the thieves asks again if he wants to call the soldiers. Jonathan says he doesn’t want to.

The leader of the thieves says it is time to talk business, and that they aren’t bad thieves who want to cause trouble. He claims that the trouble is actually over now that the Civil War has ended, and that now they are in a “Civil Peace.” Jonathan explains that he doesn’t have much money after the war and adds that there are other people with more money. The thief says he understands, but that they have no money at all. He demands that Jonathan give him one hundred pounds, and someone fires shots into the air as a threat.

Jonathan again tells the thieves that he doesn’t have that much money—they can come inside and check if they want. He says his only money is the egg-rasher, which the main thief accepts, although some in the gang believe Jonathan is lying. The leader quiets them, and Jonathan goes to get the money from where he had kept it and gives it to them.

The next day, Jonathan’s neighbors prepare to mourn the loss of the money with him, but he is already back to work. He prepares to use his bicycle to get more palm wine, his wife is making akara balls, and his son is working as well. Jonathan tells his neighbors that he doesn’t care about losing the egg-rasher, because he never depended on it, and it was no more than what he had lost in the war. He concludes by saying that “Nothing puzzles God.”