Amara had been crying for about an hour, something she always did every afternoon as soon as she got back from Ukigwe Secondary School (U.S.S). It was something of a ritual for her as she was always excluded in a lot of school activities because her family were outcasts. They always had been isolated for being “Children of the Gods”. Her father was very wealthy. He made the biggest contribution when U.S.S was being built. He made the biggest donation at the Parish Bazaar and he was also responsible renovating the Igwe’s palace. Upon all of this he always was turned down for any Chieftaincy title because he simply was an Osu.
Amara was the only child of her parents and her father always said that she inherited her mother’s good looks. At her youth Amara’s mother, Nkoli was the village beauty. She had defied her parent’s orders and married Chijioke, an Osu, Amara’s father. This automatically made her an Osu. Nkoli never since the day she married Chijioke had ever been back to her parents’ house. Her family had disowned her and chose to have nothing to do with her.
Amara was a bright girl. She knew what she wanted out of life and she was prepared to achieve it. Although she didn’t have many friends in school one person she loved being around was Chidi. She loved the way he never brought up anything to do with her being an outcast in any of their conversations. He always laughed at all of her jokes even though she knew most of them weren’t funny. She liked the way he would always tell her stories of his father’s pointless hunting trips. She also loved the way that Chidi respected her and all other girls at school. He never spoke to any girl in a disrespectful way. She liked it that he never talked about building huts rather he always spoke about leaving the village starting a business getting married to the girl of his dreams and having his own family. Whenever Chidi described the girl of his dreams she somehow felt that she fit in the description in every way and secretly hoped that it would be her. She knew that a marriage between them though would be virtually impossible because she was an Osu and he wasn’t. She also knew that Chidi never supported the whole Osu issue but she wondered if he would be willing to defy his family to be with her. Surely she couldn’t cause him so much pain and put so much pressure to him so she swore that Chidi would never know her true feelings for him.
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She came out of her room and strolled to the kitchen. Her family was the only one in the village with a proper kitchen. Most other families did their cooking out in the open. “Mama ke ki di” (Mama how are you). Her mother smiled back and said, “I am well o” Her mother then dished her rice and some stew with a piece of meat and handed it over to Amara. While she ate Amara told her mom how the day had gone in school. The usual of how she had been isolated by the girls and how Chidi a brought her some of the akara (bean cakes) left from his breakfast. She knew her mother had noticed that her and Chidi shared something special, a friendship that was slowly developing into a relationship. Nkoli always understood when ever Amara talked about Chidi because she too defied her family to be with an Osu. They both spent the afternoon clearing up the dishes and then talking about Chidi and his leftover akara. Amara found it funny how Chidi thought he had cleverly hidden his akara in the pocket of his white shirt. The whole of it was stained with palm oil but she found it funny. Chidi sometimes acted like a little child when being mischievous.
Later that evening whilst Nkoli and Chijioke sat at their veranda making jokes about their youth, Amara decided that she would instead spend the evening in the village square. Every evening, the village youth always gathered at the square to listen to the elders telling moonlight tales or sometimes the older boys had wrestling matches. Tonight though there was a wrestling match. Amara was going because Chidi had invited her. His brother, Amadi was wrestling Nnamdi. Nnamdi was a thickset young man. He had bushy eyes brows that sometimes Chidi said hid the colour of his eyes. The rules of the match were easy. The first person whose back touched the ground will be the loser of the match. While Nnamdi was a very built young man, Amadi was very light on his feet and also had a very slender built. As Amara approached the square she immediately set her eyes to look for Chidi. At first she did not see him but she saw a group of girls playing “ten ten”. She recognised Nenye among the girls and then walked to join them. As soon as Nenye saw her she moved back immediately as if Amara was a python about to attack. “My friend where do you think you are going?” Nenye asked as if she was a policewoman. Amara already knew they would not let her join them in the game so she turned away and looked for Chidi. Eventually she saw him amongst a group of boys and Amadi. “Chidi! Chidi!” When he saw her he quickly whispered something to his brother and left the boys. “Amara you this big head I thought you were not going to show up tonight eh where have you been?” He smiled warmly. “Big nose! I was just helping my mother clear up the kitchen. Have I missed the fight?” Chidi explained to her that the fight was no longer going to take place as Nnamdi was out of town. His sister was getting married to Chief Nnaemeka in Lagos so his family had left the village in the afternoon.
“Do you know what? I think we should just go for a walk or something there is nothing for me to do in this square” She expected him to ask her why she didn’t join the girls playing ten ten but already she knew he would understand.
She wanted to get away from the square. The square that rejected her, being there made her feel weird, as if she was an alien. “Ok let us go to the stream I could do with a swim” When they got to the stream Chidi immediately took off his shirt and jumped into the water. “So you are going to go home with wet shorts tonight eh? Your mother will break your head oh!” she joked. “She cannot break my head Amara, it is too hard from all the knocking papa does to it” Amara laughed loudly. Chidi had always told her of how his father will always give him a knock on his head whenever he made a mistake in a task.
When he came out of the water they cracked some palm kernels and talked about how their final SSCE exams were approaching and what they planned to do afterwards. “My father says that I will go to University of Lagos to further my education” Amara said this with some pride. She hoped secretly that Chidi was going to say he was going to Lagos but then she came back to reality. Chidi’s family would even be lucky if they were able to send him to Onitsha talk less of Lagos. His father was a farmer and his mother sold plantains in the market. “ I don’t know what I will do after secondary school but I want to go to Onitsha. I will love to go to Lagos but you know…” Chidi laughed as if to say “you know my situation”
They both started back to Amara’s house. Tonight he had promised to see her back home. They were holding hands and making jokes about their Agricultural Science teacher, Mr Nwosu. Mr Nwosu always wore the same pair of trousers to school but the problem was he never did his zip up. Chidi mimicked the fake English accent Mr Nwosu always tried to put on. “Well we are here then. I’ll see you tomorrow won’t I?” he asked. “Of course later tomorrow. Oya start going home before my papa comes and catches you here or he will cut off your legs.” They laughed still holding hands before she slipped her hand out of his and went into the house. She looked back and saw him stroll back into the darkness until he had disappeared. “My friend why are you looking at the gate! It is late I suggest you go back to bed before I count to 3!” Her father laughed as he said this. Amara liked her father. He was not very bush like most of the other men in the village. He was always calm and understanding but also very strict. As she lay on her bed she thought of going to Lagos. A town where no one would know she was an Osu and how she would be able to fit in a more accepting environment.
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