Against All Odds

Chapter Twenty :A Song In His Heart

Ọ gịnị chagulu n'elu?         
                                                          yeyeye
Utu n' udara                                   yeyeye

Ọ gịnị chagulu n'elu?                    yeyeye

Ọcha gulu ọcha gulu.                   yeyeye

Utu isato.                                        yeyeye

Ọcha gulu ochagulu                      yeyeye

Ọ. Kwuru gbabiri n'ubi.               

Gbaa mmili kololom ree gbammili kololom

Mma had chosen to sing just folklores to the children without telling stories and they enjoyed all the songs, singing the choruses with her. The compound was dark and the sound of their voices were backed up by occasional hooting of the owl and the flapping of wings of certain birds that were disturbed in their nests.

The crescent moon did not give much illumination in the night and a lantern was situated at the center of the circle the children had formed with the way they sat. Unlike the other days they sat in mma's hut, today the old woman had decided that she wanted enough air. Obiefune had been the one who helped her out of her hut, while she complained bitterly of arthritic pains and the after deals of old age.

Earlier, Obiefune had made her Achara tea heating the liquid to the extent that he was sure that it would melt his tongue, had he tasted it. When he got the hot liquid to mma, he told her how hot it was but the old woman gulped the liquid and smiled exposing her brown teeth. She gestured that he comes close and when Obiefune did, she groped his face till her hand rested on his back. She patted him slowly while she drank her tea.

"I gbalịa la nwam, Chukwu gọzie gi(you've done well my son, may God bless you).

Obiefune's heart swelled with happiness and he leaned closer to the woman. He didn't have grandparents anymore and this old woman was filling that space. He spent the remaining hours of the day cleaning her hut, brushing off cob webs, arranging her herbs and clothes.

Obi had taken it up on herself to wash all her dirty clothes and Chioma helped out. Occasionally Obi would come into the hut to check upon him and give him food. They would whisper and laugh before she'd exit leaving him to his task. Obiefune's school had resolved the issue with students and he was to leave in two days time but he hadn't told anyone not even his sister. He knew he was going to miss them terribly and he wanted to make the most of the time he had with them.

The two weeks Obiefune spent at home had been quite fulfilling. Obi had told him how she felt about him and he had even gotten to meet her mother. Obiefune didn't know why he shivered when the woman ran her eyes from his head to his toe assessing him. Obi's mother thanked him for taking care of Obi and her siblings. Somehow Obiefune felt jealous of his sister who had become the woman's friend.

They had been laughing and telling jokes before he walked in and greeted her. Her look when she said "nnọọ nwa m ị biala?" welcoming him into the house almost gave him a heart attack. After the brief introduction that he gave her, the woman's hard face softened and she offered him a seat before moving away to get him kola.

Obi had been busy when he came and he did not want to go to their backyard because he was afraid of sending a wrong message to the mother. After a while Oluebube, Ifenna and Tobe came out and they ran to hug him. He was slowly gaining more siblings in them and the thought of being a big brother not just to Chioma but them made him happy.
He didn't feel as lonely as he used to be in the past.