“Big bro, why are snakes always around you?” The boy next to him asked in an accusatory tone. This boy was Jana Jua, Mwana’s eight year old cousin who was considered his little cousin by the customs of their tribe.

“Hmmm, what did you say?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

Mwana had indeed not heard him as he was engrossed in thoughts about his first experience as a walking ‘snake magnet.’

“What did you say?”

However to Jana, being asked this twice sounded like a threat. “It was nothing, I said nothing at all. Just treat my words as air.”

Mwana couldn’t be bothered to keep asking the shifty kid and he was more interested in checking the latter’s progress, after all he had always taken his big brother role very seriously. He knew full well how lazy Jana was, at least compared to his extremely high standards of hard work.

“Why did you only arrive when the sun was rising, hmmm? Was your bed that warm?” Before Jana could formulate a response, his ear was already in Mwana’s grip. He did not even see how the latter moved the distance between them. “Your answer better not disappoint me. You know your father left your training to me and as your teacher I have to show results.”

Jana almost wanted to cry hearing this; he was already attending village school for Junior Warriors just like Mwana, so why did he need a second teacher. However, being born in the same family as a training maniac like his cousin meant that he would always be compared to him. His father, seeing Mwana’s hard-work, wanted his son to follow in his older cousin’s footsteps but not every person let alone children like him, could be as tenacious.

“You, you, you know not everyone can be like you.” After a bit of stuttering, Jana spoke his true thoughts. He knew all his excuses would be useless. He had received many a red ear because of them several times before.

“I’m already working harder than most, I’m the best in my class right now and all the teachers have is praise for me yet you are never satisfied.”

After saying that statement, he felt as if he had gotten a bit ahead of himself but after feeling his ears were still safe, his budding pride got him to continue, “Are you better than the teachers in the village?” When Jana felt his ears loosening, he felt even more emboldened, “Do you know better than them!”

“Why do you even have to go at it so hard and even expect me to be just like you?” He finished the last question and prepared for the pain but to his surprise, Mwana had already let go of him.

He wasn’t even next to him; he was already close to twenty meters away right at the fence of the compound looking at the village roads. Other houses were already opening their doors and smoking chimneys could be seen all over the village just like every other day in the early morning. Day in, day out, life continued as usual.

Noticing Mwana’s silence, Jana could only stand there wondering what to say, ‘Maybe my words hurt him too much.’

“I have to become an intermediate warrior before I am ten. I have to join the hunts. I have to be able to leave the village as soon as possible.” Mwana’s words immediately interrupted Jana’s stray thoughts.

“After all, I have to think about my sister, my mother, about father.” On hearing this, Jana’s face changed, his little face showed solemnity not matching his age.

The father Mwana referred in this case was his uncle but per the tribe’s customs, uncles older than his father had the title of ‘big father’ while those younger than his father were ‘little fathers.’ The ‘little father’ in this case was his father’s cousin as Mwana’s late father did not have any other siblings.