Against All Odds

Chapter fifty Nine : Sins of the Mother

Obi was woken by a loud noise that emanated from the compound. The gong, the chanting from people and what sounded like feet stomping the ground. She jerked up and sought her way to the verandah.

She met Tobe and Chioma outside before they were joined by the girls. "Ọ gịnị na-eme, what's happening ?"

Obi enquired surprised by the strange event going on in mma Nkem's side of the compound. Obi slipped her feet into her slippers and went towards the direction  the uproar came from.
Old women danced in circles with some youths, chanting songs that Obi paid no attention to.Daa Nkem and her sisters stood in front of the crowd of villagers. Obi approached them and enquired of the reason for the strange visit.

"They're demanding certain things to cleanse the land and for the atonement of our mother's sin. Another thing is that you shouldn't have eaten the kola we gave you"
Obi was bemused, In as much as she didn't feel comfortable eating what was offered, it wasn't Daa Nkem who committed the crime that they're being punished for.

" Why? How does that have anything to do with this? We didn't even.. "Obi then remembered that Tobe had a bite, but it was only to make Daa Nkem feel comfortable.

" They'll be coming over to your house next, I heard the men are headed to Chukwudi's place. Honestly Obi ike agwụla m, why should we be condemned to things like this when it is clear we were not involved in anything. Is this not the same as judging the child from the sins of the father? "Daa Nkem was frustrated, Obi knew that cleansing the land would require sacrifices that she was sure Daa Nkem could not afford

" Why would they come to our house? I am a Christian, doesn't our religion condemn all this? "

" Obi it is better to do what they asked for, else the consequences may be dire"Daa Nkem replied

"I will not let them coax me into doing something against my faith."
The chanting women stopped and they called Daa Nkem and her sisters.

Obi stood aside and waited for the crowd to disperse. She turned to Daa Nkem "What did they say?"

"They wouldn't be giving mother a proper burial, we are begging them to allow us bury her here instead of her hometown." Obi felt very concerned about what they were going through and wondered how Chukwudi dealt with his own attack by the villagers.

The children were clearly being punished for something they didn't do and it was not as if her mother would be resurrected after the whole thing.
Obi went back to their house and it wasn't long before, she left with her people to Chukwudi's house.
The group of men at Chukwudi's house were wreaking havoc and calling him a ritualistic. Obi watched as they uprooted the plants in front of the house, tore apart his little house where he used to rear chickens as they ran around chanting and screaming.

Some flogged palm sticks on the floor with palm leaves in their mouth.
Obi, Tobe and the girls with Chioma ran to the scene and tried to coerce the young men into abating the destruction they were engendering.
Obi had barely spoken before a young went to Chukwudi's vehicle and smashed one of  his windows. It was then that Chukwudi came out of the house. Obi could hear weak protests from his mother but she was only afraid of the look he saw on Chukwudi's face.

Her cousin had tolerated enough and he was out for blood, Obi tried to hold him back equally enraged with the actions of the young men. Chukwudi lurched forward and tackled the man to the ground, throwing punches at his face before being dragged off and getting  beaten.

Tobe, received his own fair of shares of punches trying to pull his cousin out of the grip of the men. Obi grabbed a stick and started hitting as many as she could in order to keep them off her little brother. Ifenna and Oluebube threw stones, slippers, shoes whatever they could grab. While Chioma was at the back of a young man who had been hitting Chukwudi, pounding on his head and when it seemed futile she attacked his ear with her teeth.