Against All Odds

Chapter Two: Termites fall, humans fall

The rains had flushed the memories of the tales away from the children's minds as they ran around throwing mud at each other. Chukwudi had ended up with more bruises on his body than a mountaineer who fell off a cliff. His mother must have been pleased with the outcome because she brought Mma a whole box of her favorite snuff the next day.

Chukwudi's body was masked with grounded bitter leaf mixed with some other weeds to help him heal.
He had been sitting quietly in the verandah watching his mates enjoy the rain.

Their compound was a large one with different houses scattered around. Mma's husband had been polygamous and every house with it's location was a symbol that denoted which number the wife was and her rank in the family.

The first house which was by the right and the most beautiful was mama Ogbo's house. She was the first wife and her son had been fortunate to study and become a renowned business man. He had built the house for his mother after he claimed he made his first million.

Dee Ogbo as many called him was the first issue in the extended family. He had refused to get a wife even though he was almost 50. Members of the family accused him of making money through rituals and bachelorhood was the price to pay. Dee ogbo was a miser to top all his flaws, he never lent help to his brothers and preferred to dine alone.

The second house by the right with so many guava trees around was Mma's house. Obi's father had built a bungalow of four rooms which he couldn't paint. The plastering job had eaten a huge hole out of his pocket and as soon as he got the house roofed he gave up plans of painting.
Mma refused to move into the new house and preferred her mud house to the room Obi's father had built.

The last house was mama Nkem's house. She had the highest number of children in the family and most of her daughters were not so lucky to get suitors. She had accused dee Ogbo of using witchcraft to cage the other members of the family so that no one would surpass him on wealth.

Obi's father had four siblings ;two brothers and two sisters. Chukwudi's father was the youngest of the boys and had passed away two years after Chukwudi was born, in a railway accident.

The children wore very little clothing as they sauntered about, throwing mud at each other and dancing in the rain.
Their mothers often yelled at them to come inside the house, so that they wouldn't catch a cold but they turned deaf ears. If only they could remember Mma's tales.

Minutes after the women spoke, a huge lightening tore across the sky and the sound of the thunderclap accompanied it. Tobe ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He was the youngest male sibling of Obi and one of his greatest fears was the thunderclap.

As the poor boy ran with his private organ dangling in the air like a pendulum, he called for his sister Obi to rescue him. His naked self had barely made it to the veranda before the mud affected his feet and he landed on his butt.

The other children laughed so hard at his misfortune while Obi rushed to his side to check for injuries.
Obi scooped up the boy and patted his back, also admonishing him for running around naked in the rain.

If only children cared about modesty. Tobe's private organ had not been the only one dangling in the air outside and the girls only wore panties.

Tobe's cries had brought his mother out of the house. She watched the children who were still playing and shook her head in disapproval.

"They are all causing problems for their parents. Ụmụaka! Tomorrow their mothers would start rampaging the markets in search of good herbs to heal cough and catarrh. They've forgotten that school will be resuming tomorrow"

She turned to Obi who still had Tobe clinging to her "What happened to your brother? "

He slipped on the mud and fell " Obi replied

" Were you not there? Why did you let him out in the first place?" she asked with disapproval.

She took Tobe from Obi and walked into the house. Leaving Obi with her cousin Chukwudi in the veranda.
"Just see the way your brother almost lost his manhood today, as the only son of your father you people should always cover that important part"
Chukwudi began

"just imagine if his thing got squashed" he gestured with his hands what he meant and busted into a fit of laughter.

Obi was very far from amused with the hint of her brother's scrotum being crushed and gave Chukwudi the biggest scowl.

She always knew her cousin to be troublesome and avoided him in every way possible. But devil can not be avoided
"Do you know that your mother is very ugly?" Chukwudi spoke again

Obi had ignored his comment and buried her attention in the termites that had begun to creep out from the soil. The flying little ant-like creatures that the children called" aku" often flew short distances before losing their wings and falling to the ground.

The boys chased the flying ones while the girls covered their ears with fear that the creatures would enter their bodies through the opening.

"leave your mother, you are ugly. You are like a boy, then you also bear a boy's name. Your father must have been very disappointed when you were born. He definitely wanted a boy just like me, but a huge mistake was made and you came out. He couldn't change the name he chose so he gave you the name obiukwu" this time Chukwudi was rolling on the floor in laughter.

The subject of Obi's name was always sensitive to her. She wished her name was feminine just like her sisters' but there was no way to undo the act.

She walked to where chukwudi lay, and gave him a huge knock on the head. Enraged, Chukwudi engaged her in a pursuit, she ran out of the compound trying to escape him.

The track road that led to their church was just in view, hoping that her speed would get her far from her troublesome cousin. If she could get to the church, there would be someone who could save her from him. She had already made the mistake of not running into the house immediately she had struck him.

She ran with her neck constantly turning to check the distance Chukwudi had covered. With her absent mindedness she ran into a boy and their heads smashed together in a force that brought the pair to the ground.

Obi fell writhing in pain while Chukwudi ran back with a smirk on his face. Karma had done his stupid cousin well.

The boy got up and didn't even care about helping her up but continued running toward the direction he was headed in the first place.

A young girl who obi hadn't noticed before held out her hand and drew Obi up. The girl was about her age, light skinned and very beautiful. The young girl tried to suppress her laughter after she scanned obi from head to toe. Obi managed to shake off her dizziness, thanked the girl and went to search for her wrapper.

She was beyond embarrassed with the way she appeared, maybe that was why the boy even ran away without even apologizing . The wrapper she had tied on her neck had left her body and she was just like the children who had been playing in the rain. Worse even because puberty had began to show through the tiny bubs that developed on her chest.

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Author's notes

Hey everyone!

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I'll try to create a schedule for updating this story, we've got a long way to go. ❤️❤️❤️❤️