Rats in the rafters, lizards in the store room, and soldier ants advancing purposefully through the yard towards the house - millions of them. Babies under threat from a twin taboo, a neighbour engaged in illegal activity, and a "corpse" that climbed a palm tree. These were some of the adventures and misadventures that befell the author and his family during an eventful year in a village in the Niger Delta 40 years ago. And all against the backdrop of two military coups and increasing political tension that eventually led up to the Biafra war.