Roses and Thorns

Marriage is a beautiful thing, but when it comes to the rigourous activity of searching and finding, one would realise there is more to it that meets the eye.

Nnanyelugo sat dazed in the armchair in her mother's room as she had just referred to the girl he wanted to marry as an osu- outcaste.

"Such practices don't exist anymore, Mother", he blasted helplessly at his mother.

"Onye si? Who told you?", his mother queried. " Jee juo ese". Go and ask questions she answered defiantly.

The osu caste system is an ancient practice in Igbo land that discourages social interaction and marriage with a group of persons called osu which means outcaste. Osus are dedicated to Alusi-deities of Igboland and they are usually considered as inferior beings and separated from the Nwadiala or Amadi which are known as real born.

The ferocity of his mother's voice scared me him witless.The thought brought a painful grimace to his face. His father was his lost hope. There was no way he was going to regard another human being as inferior. A human activist like his father, Eze Festus will not condone such evil.

He felt his father's obi become rather stuffy as his speech took the very direction that had him cringing in fear. His throat suddenly became dry and he was hyperventilating. His voice rugged and gagged.

"Where is she from?", Eze Festus asked, peering at his son w ith the daggers.

It was difficult for Nnanyelugo to speak audibly.

"Ihe-mbosi ", Mmiliaku answered almost immediately. Tapping her feet on the well tiled obi.

"You cannot marry her", Eze Festus said with a note of finality.

Hiss pupils dilated in fear. He cast pleading glance at his parents.There ought to be a hope somewhebre. It ought to be a nightmare but it wasn't.

He pleaded. He felt the tear escape his eyes. He had cried but they had remained as obstinate as ever. That was a part of his parents that were all to novel to him. The pain in his heart numbed him. There and then, a part of him died.