Against All Odds

Chapter Twenty Two: Ship Wreck

Obiukwu stared at the coconut tree at the center of the compound which had bent backwards. The tree reminded her of what she had learnt in biology about phototropism, especially where an experiment was carried out to prove that plants move towards sunlight and if growing vertically could not expose them to enough sunlight they would bend and their shoots would grow towards the direction that was suitable.

Obi remembered when one of her uncles had assumed it was the age of the coconut that made it bend. To him plants also mimic humans when it comes to aging. It had drizzled earlier, just enough to create puddles outside their compound. Chukwudi had climbed the coconut tree with Tobe pointing him in the right direction to move. After a while he got to the coconuts and began to pluck and drop them.

Chukwudi often came to visit Obi and her siblings and he made it a habit of bringing them eggs. Obi had turned 18, her brother Tobe was 6years younger than Obi and the twins were 9years old. Obi remembered how upset her siblings were the night she told them about their father. They had been questioning her and her mother and Obi decided it was best to tell them the truth.

Tobe was the only one who understood what Obi was telling them and walked out crying. The girls didn't quite understand properly what it meant to be rejected. Obi had been reading the book Chioma gave her, the book sexually educated her and even began to monitor her ovulation. But as she progressed deeper into the book she began to wonder Chioma's motives. Was the book with her to sexually educate her so that she could master her own body and avoid any form of intimacy with her brother? Or was the book given to her to understand what was intended for her while she was dating her brother?.

After pondering for a while Obi resigned to the idea that it was purely to educate her. They were Anglicans and it was very wrong for a young girl to be sexually involved with a man while unwed. Obiefune on the other hand had never requested anything from her, he was the one always showering her with gifts. His notes were mainly to enquire of her needs and also about her feelings for him.

Obi had the notion that Obiefune was insecure especially because of the distance between them and also he felt that Obi was bound to want a boyfriend from her age grade. Obiefune on the other hand was growing increasingly insecure, he had once mentioned his relationship with Obi to his roommates and they insisted that she wasn't faithful to him.

"Guy! If she fine as you take talk am! Forget am person dey knack am for you for that una village!"

Disturbed Obiefune cut the conversation short but the seed of doubt had been planted in him.

"If she's still a virgin! My guy then you can relax, she no dey cheat on you"

Obiefune knew how to find out about Obi's sexual status but he didn't want to pressure her into anything. He had promised her that he would respect her and that entailed keeping his hands off her. All he did was to ask her in subtle ways if she still liked him. Obi was smart, with time she would find out what he was aiming at.

Ifenna and oluebube were playing with ants that they extracted from small ant hills in the compound.

They would pick an ant, pluck a leaf and place the ant on top the leaf before dropping the leaf into a puddle of water. Trapped, the ant would remain on the leaf while it floated while the girls watched with rapt attention. They would often laugh whenever the ant mistakenly falls into the water and rushes back to cling onto the leaf.

Obi watched them for a while and grew bored from what seemed to fascinate the children. She had been reading a book by Danielle Steele titled the right time. She had read the book before but boredom drove her to rereading it. She despised a character from the book who she felt had used another character only to satisfy his sexual urges then toss her aside.