A short story centered on Baba, a man who insists his life-count differs from his birth years. Through his late-life oddities, a friendship with Alhaji Musa, and the family pressures that shaped him, the narrative traces how history, duty, and small deceptions shape what people reckon as a life.
A workplace cover-up involving Alhaji Musa creates a bond among four men that endures across decades and frames later grief.
# Overview
# Baba's private arithmetic
Some evenings he seems absent, lost in thought. He smokes and lets the clouds of smoke sit between him and the world. The narrator describes those moments as Baba finally belonging to himself after a life of belonging to others.
# The friendship with Alhaji Musa
# Family pressures and arranged life choices
The story traces Baba's private discontent further back to his youth. His marriage and other major life decisions were arranged by the Ukwase, the family elders, who evaluated history and reputations with severe weight. Their bartering over past rumours—however old—meant a young man's objections had the force of a child's tantrum: acknowledged, then ignored.
# Tone and structure
The narration is intimate and plainspoken. Ekam moves between scenes of quiet domestic detail and a discrete workplace memory to show how small acts—signing a report, looking away, keeping a secret—accrue into the life a man feels he owns and the life counted by others.
# Final impression
The story doesn't answer whether Baba's internal age is denial, resistance, or a salvage operation. It leaves readers with a clear portrait of how choices made by others and choices deferred can alter the way a life is tallied.
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