Against All Odds

Chapter Eighteen : Warm Welcome

Obiefune's return to the village was just to fulfill  his desire of seeing Obi. He didn't doubt for once that he was in love with the quiet, strong, beautiful girl with a huge heart and a tough skin. Chioma had mentioned to him things that were going on in Obi's life but he did not want to push or ask her. He just wanted her to trust him enough to tell him.

Their driver had driven past the village square, they seemed to have been celebrating an event. Dancers clothed in animal skin and cowries were the source of entertainment. Obiefune had a quick glance before they continued.

Few things had changed since last year, he had gained admission into the Abia state university to study Medicine and surgery. School made him even so busy that he had little time to visit home. He often gave his sister books to give Obi with notes asking about her welfare.

Obi loved reading novels, he also had the same affinity for books but his calling had been to help just like his parents or just to fit into the proper son image that had been carved out for him. The present government in the state had increased the amount of school fees to be paid by the students which was already expensive and difficult to pay. The student union government had informed the students about the protests that would be made for two weeks for the cause of the reduction in their school fees.

Obiefune wanted to be a patriotic student but a lot of things at home needed his attention more than carrying twigs or leaves marching around the school premises chanting

"we no go gree!".

Two kiosks had opened very close to their house, one was painted yellow with the acronym MTN written all over it, the telephone communication business had finally reached that side of the state. The other was painted blue and contained food items,snacks amongst other things  that he could not clearly identify.

Immediately their driver sounded the horn at the gate, his head snapped from the window and focused on it. They drove in after their gatekeeper opened the gates with series of stretching and yawning. Obiefune found it amusing how he still walked sluggishly even when all he did was to sleep.

He didn't expect to see anyone at home so he went to their doghouse and checked on the dogs. Almost all the puppies had been sold the previous year by their father. The man had claimed that he didn't want to start breeding the dogs and the number was just too much despite their protests.

The mother was excited to see him, she wagged her tail around jumped on his body when she saw him. Obiefune bent down and ran his hands through her white fur. This was the same dog that had chased Obi that day.

When he finally got up to leave the dog jumped on him, clearly wanting to play more but he shooed her away and walked towards their house.

"Everything from cervical vertebrae to lumbar, she said we should also label them" a voice rang from their house,followed by laughter

"Who knew drawing the skeletal system of the human body could be so difficult! This thing I'm sketching here looks like a tree with branches and it is supposed to look like a rib cage!"

Another voice laughed again before Obiefune was completely inside the house. He saw Chioma and Obi seated on the floor surrounded by cardboard sheets, erasers, pencils and razor blades. They seemed to be sketching from a biology textbook in front of them.

They did not notice him clearly engrossed in their activity and it was not until he dropped his bag which made a thud that their heads snapped in his direction.

"Bibi!" Chioma screamed excitedly and jumped into his arms. Obiefune laughed at how surprised she was and whirled her around then gently dropped her to the  floor.