AGAINST THE ODDS

CHAPTER 1

My family was by no means the poorest in the hamlet we called home. My father, elder Alex Katey, the undisputed head of the family, ruled us strictly and impartially. He was hardworking and worked diligently on his farm. He was jovial only away from the farms. He offered occasional counseling to other families both from with the village and outside it. In fact, our house was the second court to the villagers, apart from the chief's palace. So well did Father go about restoring severed relationship that the chief and elders felt that, but for him, the running of the village would have been laborious. To them, he was a God-send. A devout Christian, Father did not hesitate to have a member of his family punished according to the gravity of his or her offence. Despite his hard nature, he was an inspiration to me.
Mother was like an angel, always smiling, both with her eyes and her eyes. One could always feel the comfort and warmth radiating from her. She was a very humble person and fond of children. She easily cried over the most banal issue. Ma Mabel's main concern was that her children should all lead exemplary and blameless lives, without a hint of notoriety and shame, which would bring disgrace to the whole family. With four boys and three girls she has a cause to worry. She continuously advised the boys to be wary of girls lest they put any in the family way. She encouraged us to be hardworking and tough, yet gentlemanly in our dealings with other people. To the girls, her main advise was for them to withstand the temptation of youth and become faithful and dutiful spouses to their husbands.
I was the second-born child,  the elders boy and was the only one attending school. During holidays, I came home to help father on the farms, and with other general household chores. I was one of the very few boys in the village attending high school. It is, therefore, not difficult to imagine the pressure exerted on me by my parents, the chief and elders of the village and worst of all, the village girls.
I was not the boastful type, neither was I shy. The girls were, thus able to approach me quite easily. They were always talking about me and among themselves, speculating as to whom I would eventually marry. I did not enjoy this attention, for I was not a womaniser by nature, although I never shunned female company. I did, however, cherished the idea of one one day having a beautiful and faithful wife of my own, whom I could love and trust all my life.
At eighteen years of age, I knew most of my would have loved to be in my shoes. My colleagues were not particularly annoyed with me, for I assured them I would not use my education as a weapon with which to snatch their girlfriends. We lived humbly enough and they had enough respect for my modesty lifestyle. They also have qualities I admired, this our bonds of friendship remained strong.
Village life was quite monotonous, there were times I would isolate myself from the evening gathering and sit under a big tree in front of my house and think about the future. I was sometimes join by one particular girl, Jennie Sapne, who was known as Jennie by everyone and about my age. She was one of the few girls I'm the village who had never showed any inclination to seduce me. She understood that I was interested in her as a companion and had no other motive for befriending her, and she did seem bothered by it at all, thus matter settled, we became like a brother and sister. We loved each other, but it was a platonic love.
It was one one of my periods of isolation that James, a young boy of 10 years, came to informed me that Cherry was looking for me. I got up reluctantly and went where I was directed. Cherry was a girl whose arrogance was well known in the village. This was because she was extremely beautiful. Consequently, she looked down upon her female friends. She had fancied herself a natural choice for me and had continuously boasted to her friends that I would fall for her eventually. She was a year younger than me, and one girl I never wished to speak to.
I found cherry under the nim tree, which stood behind the tower from which hung the church's giant bell. I descended the ten-meter slope towards her. I made up my mind never to meet her again, since she never have anything worthwhile to discuss. As I approached, she came out and beckoned me to join her at her hiding place. She began to smile. I ignored this and, getting closer asked why she had called for me. I made it clear from my attitude I did not intend to stay long with her and to hide from the open.
An old man passing by stopped to find out what was going on. We had obviously been quarreling. I lied, quickly assuring him that nothing was amiss. He eyed us suspiciously. "Hmm" was all he said and walked on. I groaned. I had won much respect from both young and old in the village, I feared that this  would gradually wane due to meetings with cherry, whose reputation was far from spotless.

(Few days after the incident with cherry)

Two weeks before school resumes, we had gathered as usual in groups one evening and we were having fun. I was regaling my friends with with the tale of a funny incident that occurred at school when I was I was in form three. It had been about ten 0'clock in the evening, after lights out.we were all supposed to be asleep. However, two friends of mine and I were very very hungry. After the house prefect and senior on duty had checked to see that we were all in bed, I gave the signal and we crept out of bed and, under the cover of darkness, went to where our chop-boxes were kept. One of us, Sammy, offered to prepare the meal of gari and peppery stew with fish, after which he tasted it. On finding out the stew contains too much pepper, he took a bottle, of which there were two similar kinds and poured some of it into the stew to reduce the piquancy. We all closed our eyes for a hasty prayer but before that, Sammy started making some grumbling noises. We opened our eyes to see him spitting food out of his mouth. "What is wrong with you?" We asked him anxiously, still having not touched the food. "Ga-gas oil! There's gas-oil in the stew."
So that was it, I could not help laughing as I realized, Jack, while we were all praying, had quickly stolen a mouthful of the food and had reaped a just reward for trying to cheat on us. Sammy, our chef had mistakenly used gas-oil instead of palm oil. By the time I finished my story, everyone was in stitches. It was a sight to see is so happy. "I'm sure it was you who ate the food" John teased. "Oh no, u see..."
"Excuse me... Come here quickly!" It was elder Park who was calling me from a few metres away. He liked me very much but when I saw the frown on his face, my heart missed a beat. Why did he look so grave? What might be wrong? Was it mother or father or any of my siblings? My alarm grew as I ran towards him. He turned and began walking towards my house and I followed. What I saw when I entered the living room was more frightening. All the chief's elders were present. The Methodist minister was also present. I then noticed cherry's parents. What was going on? Everyone appeared so solemn. Father, looking stern, told me to stand before the gathering. I obliged.
"Look here, son, all of us seated here saw the sun long before you did. That baffled look gets you nowhere. You definitely know why we are here..."
"Father, honestly, I..."
"Shut up! Who asked you to speak?" Mother retorted "look at the disgrace you have brought upon this family. My only hope, why didn't you listen to me? I thought I had a saint in you. Have we toiled for nothing? Are you that treacherous? My God, how can you do this to me?" Tears streamed down her cheeks. My siblings began to comfort her.
"Well" began the minister, " we have heard that you have put cherry, daughter of Mr. khan and  Ms khan, in the family way, and that it was about two months ago. What's even worse is that she assert you raped her."
I instantly felt dizzy and could not speak immediately. Was I dreaming? This was a serious allegation! How could this be when I have not as much touched her hands before? I thought for a second and told them it's not true and it's a plot of cherry to get even with me.