Chidi looked across the lake and he blinked rapidly to hold back the tear that threatened to break through and betray the gale of emotions blowing within him. He missed his friends, he missed his early days. His mind raced to that chilly morning that separated him from his home, his friends, his early days, two decades ago...
Chidi get up!'' it was his mother calling. ''Your uncle is here. You need to hurry and take your bath, the journey to the city is far''.
Harry hastenly stood up from the bed and hurriedly rolled up his sleeping mat. The prospect of going off to the city has always kindled a new fire within him and he had been doing the countdown with his friends, Ikediora and Chidozie. They chatted about what he was to expect and what he may have to take along with him. The prospect of him leaving has triggered moments of excited chats and hopeful wishes within them. They chatted on what he will see, what he would do and places he would see but what took up most of their chatting space was how he would blend his village hobbies with his new found environment and that puzzled them a lot! A whole lot!
My cousins told me last time they came home that there are no bushes and trees there, how do you intend to get your ukwa fruit and pear''? Chidozie had asked him with a puzzled expression. He had been told about life in the city by his cousins who came home two years ago for christmas and also to attends the wedding of his immediate elder sister, Akunna.
Am really at a loss too''. Chidi had said. ''It will be very disheartening for me if I can't find my favourite fruits there. How will I cope without those fruits for that long? I can't even begin to imagine that scenerio!"
What about your catapult? If there are no trees and bushes, that means there will be no hunting of birds and rats and it will greatly affect your shooting skills, that means we may lose out to Akpu and his gang at the end of the year shooting face-off! Remember we 've been beating them for three years straight and two more times we will be able to get the little billy goat promised us by the chief of the village's hunting group." Ikediora said with a frown on his face.
Chidi realozed the gravity of the matter and it dampened his spirits a little. His mother had told him that he will be coming home to visit during the christmas holiday and so he had no doubt he will be around for the game and therefore he will need to practice if he hoped to help his group win the yearly shooting competition held to determine the age group with the best marksmen. He wondered what fun the city will hold for him if all his favourite games and activities will not be carried out where he was going, but finally, the day came and he had to leave.
His friends came to see him and they cried their eyes out as they parted. Chidi got into his uncle's car and they rode slowly out of the compound.
But it never got to be as Chidi reckoned. He was immediately enrolled in a school in the city and he had to struggle to keep up with rest of the class due to his weak educational background and what hit him hard the most was that, he was not able to come home that december and not that year only, for two decades, he could not step foot in his village. His parents came to visit in the city occassional and it was through them he received and sent greetings to his friends during the earlier days of their separation but within a space of five years, Ikediora and Chidozie also left the village for other parts of the country and that marked the end of their communication for years.
Now he was back after so many years after completing his education and now a qualified and successful medical doctor. while on his way home, he had prayed his friends by some stroke of luck will coincidentally also be home but it never was.
He visited all their favourite haunts and play areas and he really missed them all! he missed everything!
I just pray we get to see soon enough, again!'' Chidi whispered to the breeze.
