Against All Odds

Chapter Twenty One:Strange Allies

Akubueze was  known to be a notorious thief and a bully in the village. Tales were that the charms his late mother used on him to protect him somehow turned on him, crippling his business and rendering him useless. Somehow he began to groom young boys for the sole purpose of his thieving and bullying.

Akubueze began to use the money he stole from villagers in his crafty business which he used to forcefully claim lands and property from villagers. He had become the only loan shark in the village and because his interests made his borrowers unable to pay, he claimed whatever valuable property they owned. His case was often brought before the king's court and he was never found guilty. The rumors were that he also had the king in his pocket. One thing that was prominent in the tales of those who had lost something in his hand was that somehow whenever they received money intended to clear off their debts, a robbery incident would occur leaving them to his mercy and relinquishing their valuables.

Obi often saw Akubueze's goons at the market where she supplied pap and sometimes vegetable. On one of the occasions Obi had bought Okpa because she couldn't hold her hunger. She couldn't eat her food in the open because she was too shy and she decided to hide behind a kiosk close to a farm where her privacy would not be disturbed.

She took a bite out of her food and was about to grind the pudding with her teeth before a piercing cry stopped her. The force at which she jerked up caused her to sink her teeth into her lip. The cry rang once again and Obi became afraid. It seemed as if someone was in the bush and from what he perceived the person must have been hurt.

A small voice in her head warned her not to go but she decided that if it was danger that she'd would outrun it.
Obi followed the voice wading through tall elephant grasses that slapped her face as she progressed. Obi finally saw the source of the cry lying face flat in a pool of blood.

Terrified Obi rushed to the side of the figure and tried to turn him over. After many failed attempts she finally managed to turn him. The man's face was covered in bruises, he had been severely battered, and blood oozed out of his side. The man groaned weakly as Obi tore his clothing in the bid to reduce the bleeding by applying pressure.

Her hands were covered in blood and she knew that the man would die if she didn't do something. Obi ran back into the market and sought after the motorcyclists known as "Okada" men in the village. She went to the hut where they normally drank palmwine during their breaks and thankfully she met three men. She rambled about what she saw and showed them her hands which did more convincing than the breathless rambling she did. They marched after her to the scene and thankfully the wounded man was still alive.

Two of the men carried him to the place where they had parked their motorcycles and they lifted him onto the bike, one of the men drove the motorcycle while the other one held him in place because he was at the brink of unconsciousness after losing so much blood. Obi was coerced into following them on  another bike and Obi knew that it was because the men were interested in their payments and not even because of the man's welfare.

A small crowd made up of market women and hawkers had surrounded them, some offering prayers and piteous looks for the wounded man. One of the Okada men seemed to be giving Obi a look of contempt like she had committed a sacrilege. When they got to the clinic, the nurses took the man and went away. Obi was made to pay the men who brought the wounded with their supposed feeding money and she did so to avoid trouble.

Obi left the clinic after they told her that the man survived. She went home with less than quarter of the initial money she was supposed to come back with. Especially after paying for something called a patient's card for the wounded man. Obi and her siblings had lived off of roasted plantain and oil, occasionally boiled plantain with oil and pepper for that week. She did not mention the incident to her mother but she was happy that she had saved someone's life, even if her anus suffered from constipation and peppery purging.