Setting up the celebration venue was quicker than Danddy anticipated, considering he's doing the set up alone .
Upon finishing, he heard voices outside, on checking, he realized that the guest are arriving already, Danddy looked up towards the sun to check the time , then exhale deeply, the time is still early but they are already here ,when the palm wine he ordered has not been delivered yet.
Getting up ,he went to welcome his guest and to offer them seat to sit on. When he got there they all bombarded him with questions on the reason for the celebration, but he urged them to calm down that in due time they will know , these men are itching for answers but had no choice but to relax and wait for the announcement as Danddy has asked them to.
Not long after they sat down, a group of young men walked into the Compound carrying kegs of palm wine on their heads, Danddy quickly excused himself to go receive the palm wine and to make sure that the exact quantity delivered was the exact number he ordered.
More guest keep arriving by the minute which made Danddy really happy that his princess is going to be celebrated just like any other male child .
The compound was filled with people, men, women and children are all seen chatting and enjoying themselves they've eaten and drank to their heart content, the traditional musicians are a playing while the dancers are dancing and entertaining the audience with their skills, everyone was happy, and it seems like there were endless stream of food and drinks coming from the kitchen, everyone was in awe of the situation and kept guessing to themselves the reason for the grand celebration, one of the guest said, maybe God has blessed Danddy with two sons at ones while another voiced her own opinion, or maybe he has been given an appointment in the royal palace , there were speculations all over, everyone making one suggestion to another because they believed that whatever that made a man spend so much money in organizing this level of celebration must be very special.
Finally the time arrived to announce the reason for the gathering, Danddy walked towards the center of the crowd, cleared his throat and started speaking….
"My people I greet you all, and I thank you all for honoring my invitation , for leaving all that you have to do today to come here and celebrate with me and my family, we are very honored by your Presence and pray that your lives will always be filled with reasons to celebrate….., so thank you once again for coming.
Without wasting anymore of your time we ,..that is my Wife and I will announce the reason for this celebration. We called you all here to join us in celebrating the arrival of our ...beautiful….. daughter ….that God gave us yesterday..!! …bang.....it was like a bomb in their ear drum. those chewing paused mid taking a bit, those dancing froze mid step , the ones eating were not left out either, there was silence even the children that were not paying attention suddenly stopped what they were doing because they could feel the tension in the silence, the chill in the sudden stillness of the atmosphere, they looked up at the adults for the answers to the reason why the joyous occasion Suddenly turned tensed.
Danddy paid no attention to the sudden change in the atmosphere as a result of what he had said but rather smiled and continued with his speech.
As I was saying, she arrived late in the evening yesterday and we her parents, has called on all of you to celebrate her arrival with us and to thank our maker for that which he has done for us. As you can see there is much to drink and so much more to eat for everyone ,so please enjoy yourself…Thank you. He rounded his speech and gestured for the music to start playing but they too were too frozen to read the gesture that he gave until someone started to laugh real hard which snapped them out of their frozen state.
Olly was the one laughing, which caused others to to laugh with her until they couldn't anymore . Ude the wood cutter recovered first and asked .. Danddy my friend, when did you become this funny? I never knew you have such a sense of humor…anyway be serious now ,we are all waiting and eager to hear the reason for this grand celebration.
Olly tensed up, thinking Danddy was actually joking because She had laughed, out of mockery and not because she thought he was joking. All Olly has ever desired was to be the only one to bear sons in the family, she had offered sacrifices to the god of her father to grant her this one wish…
Danddy smiled again and repeated himself telling them, that God gave them a beautiful baby girl yesterday and that he was not joking at all.
This response wiped the Smiles on their faces again, they were really confused and didn't know what to say to their kins man for such a foolish and wasteful act he performed, does he now have so much money that he doesn't know what to do with an oldymore, why waste this much on a girl child?
Author's Note: sorry guys , I know this is less than the usual word count. been so busy . thanks anyway for choosing to read ZOD am thankful to you.