Okonkwo and John Chat

Two men, John and Okonkwo, hang side by side on a charred tree. Others hang around them but not close enough to talk to. 

"All I wanted was silence," Said John.

"And all I wanted was to live life as it had always been lived," Said Okonkwo. A slight breeze rustled them. "I've spent a long time here," continued Okonkwo, "I've reflected on a lot that has happened. Nothing else to do, especially when you remind me, white skin and all, of the Christians who came to my village. Those destroyers of culture made ferrets of my people."

"At least they weren't made into lambs of slaughter," John said staring at the eternal setting sun. "Or was it rising," John thought to himself, "war led them to that fate."

"I wrestled with many people in my life. I guess its fate I wrestle with the past while I hang on this tree," Okonkwo said strumming the rope. He sighed, "have you ever killed anyone before," he asked. John looked up at the rope he was hanging from. Okonkwo nodded in understanding. "I killed my son... adopted son, but the blood of the bond is thicker than the water of the womb," said Okonkwo. John compared the words to what he had seen, what he knew. 

John still fidgeted with the rope around his neck hoping to find a comfortable position but could never find it. Okonkwo merely swayed, with the tree branch they hung on creaking slightly. 

"And what if no bond was ever made. What if no silence existed to let you think," asked John.
"Then I guess we wouldn't be here, would we?" Okonkwo said with finality.
"No, we wouldn't," John said back. They hung there and thought, John let Shakespeare play in his mind and Okonkwo continued to reflect on what was.