Chapter 3

GUARDIAN ANGEL

It had been two years since Obi had her encounter with the two strangers all thanks to her cousin. She was different now, her bubs had slowly developed into full grown breasts and her shape more feminine. Stepping into adolescence was not a pleasant journey for her. There were many things and people (mostly boys) she had to avoid because her mother told her that such maturity came with a level of distance. She heeded to her mother`s advice even though she never truly had a social life.

As she walked to school that morning, she had prepared herself for her "nso nwaanyị "(Menstruation) as her grandmother had called it. A term that got Tobe riled up as he eagerly expected his own turn despite his grandmother`s warning that it was only expected by girls and women. He had hated that his younger sisters would one day partake in the secret ritual but not him. Thoughts of the previous day dwelled on

Obi`s mind. Chukwudi her troublesome cousin had fallen off a mango three which earned him a dislocation. She had sympathized with him openly but secretly thanked the heavens for the immobility it would cause him. His bad leg would make him stay put and keep him from coming to their house to tease her. Mma had diverted to amusing stories during their midnight fiesta and all the children present left with aches from laughing so hard. Mma's audience had begun to reduce owing to the fact that young boys thought it manly to set traps for bush rats at night, rather than listening to an old woman tell tales that were unreal.

Mma's biggest threat surprisingly had become maturity; the older the children became the less believing they were. Obi never missed their gatherings and even though she was older she enjoyed every bit of the stories she heard. She believed that she'd pass the stories on to her children one day, just like Mma was doing. The taste of the cassava cake from the previous lingered on her taste buds and she relished the memory that came with it.

"Uchulu eh Uchulu ee" Mma had called out when the time for the lore came and they all sang the chorus

Dele lele nda nunu dele lele

Uchulu wepụ nụ m iko, iko n'adum na-ọnụ (Uchulu remove the cup that is stuck on my mouth)

Dele lele nda nunu dele lele

"Did he remove the cup that got stuck on her mouth? " Amaka a young girl with bowleg had questioned. Obi noted her because she had once stopped her peers from teasing her and had even told the little girl that she had chances of her legs straightening out.

"He didn't, Uchulu wanted her to respect him and call him her husband. Remember he was the one who gave the cup to the herbalist to rub the potion. Adaeze was too proud and arrogant to show her husband any iota of respect, so he left her while she struggled to remove the stuck cup. Remember Uchulu had done so many things to get her to respect him, bought her clothes and cowries but she refused. He begged her to call him "dị" (husband) but she refused too. The only thing Uchulu did was to relax and take sips from his own cup while his wife battled with her insolence. Finally when the struggle knocked sense into her she called him "dị".

The children laughed at how Mma demonstrated Adaeze's ordeal. The old woman had even placed a cup on her mouth with her shaky hands. The lesson she taught that night would not be forgotten in a haste. Obi couldn't help but think it was karma that paid Adaeze a visit and she likened Chukwudi's condition to hers.

She smiled quietly again to herself as she walked the bushy track road that led to her school. Obi knew she had run so late to school but the cramps her period gave her, permitted her feet to only gait slowly. The only joy adolescence brought her was the shape she had developed overnight. God heard her prayers and blessed her with a very feminine shape. Her hips were broader and her buttocks were well curved. One thing to save her from the teases she got from boys.

Her large pleated skirts and oversized white shirt hid all the features she appreciated while at school but she didn’t mind, she didn’t have any friends in school. Her father was not the type to sew three uniforms in a term ,so she had made peace with the fact that her uniform would be twice her size throughout her secondary education. She was beginning junior secondary school class 3 and the uniform her father bought would have to serve till senior secondary class 2 at least. She had to grow into the uniform.

As the school gates appeared before her, she gulped in enough air and prayed that her punishment would not be so severe. The grass in the school compound had sprouted up and though the clearing of the school field was the job of the male students, miss Akachukwu would be so delighted to make her earn blisters just to feel good. The gigantic woman was the devil's incarnate who students were unfortunate to get as a Christian religious teacher and a labor supervisor as well. Her character opposed what she taught and mercy was absent from her own bible, lucifer preaching the word. Many of the students blamed it on her inability to find a husband because of her appearance, she passed her frustration to poor children who came to learn.

The lady always dished out punishments that made students shed tears, it was either picking a pin, sitting on the air or kneeling for hours or receiving enough strokes of the cane to numb ones butt before her sadistic self was sated. Many teachers feared her and rumors were that she had once beaten the principal and stuffed his mouth with sand.

The sound of the bell startled Obi and she tried to escape her current predicament. She barely made it past the school gate before she found herself standing face to face with the she-devil. Her long cane, swinging back and forth and a sadistic smile plastered on her face. Beside her was a student who was rubbing his buttocks furiously to abate the sting he had probably received from her cane. Obi began to sweat profusely when he saw the boy fighting his tears and her heart rate went up.

"Heees! Come here, you are late! "

The words delivered by the woman sealed her already disastrous fate. Obi had pinched her behind to reassure them and apologize ahead for the strokes that would soon kiss them.

" Miss miss, please I can explain"

"Oh you are still running your mouth, 15 strokes for you"

On the hand? "Obi suggested hoping that she'd agree

ON YOUR BUTTOCKS! She spelled out.

The boy beside Miss Akachukwu threw an encouraging smile at Obi after his pain seemed to have subsided a bit. Obi was to deal with cramps and a swollen buttocks that morning, maybe Karma had paid her back for laughing at her cousin.

She walked towards the giant lady and when Obi was within her grasp, she turned the little girl so that her buttocks was facing her right hand. The devil didn't stop at that, she drew Obi's skirt so hard that it lapped her buttocks, exposing the contours of her lower body,to make the sting of the cane prominent. Obi had only received one stroke of the cane before a vehicle approached them. It was a white beetle with only two occupants. Miss Akachukwu released Obi and sent her away then adjusted her oversized clothing to meet the visitors.

Obi had a glance and recognized the young girl who was in the passenger's seat. Though Miss Akachukwu was more interested in the handsome man driving Obi thought.

Whoever this particular girl was, she was an angel, who always seemed to help her out of trouble. She ran into her classroom after she made a gesture of the cross on her face. She ran as fast as she could before rejection would make Miss Akachukwu change her mind. She also couldn't wait to talk with her guardian angel.