knitted hearts

"Author's note" "This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents depicted in this story are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental" Chapter one. Aralola who goes by the nickname "Ara" was looking dreamily out of the window when the lecturer ended the class. It meant a close of school day and the beginning of the day for her, "Oh! How she hated this particular class". Today is an important day in Ile_ Ife", her home town, as the most anticipated traditional celebration that usually lasted a week was to officially begin: "The celebration of the demigod of lightening and thunder". A quick time travel to their reign; "The legend of the "orishas" (deities)" Every night under the full moon, little children gathered in front of her house to listen to her grandmother tell the story of Ifa, Ade and Ibikunle, the triplets who were birthed forth by a human mother and walked the face of the earth as rulers... ~Ifa A hunter and a lover of women, the demigod of wisdom and divination, revered for his youthful beauty and grace, one who knows the past, present and future. A demigod skilled with bow and arrow (archery) and wooed a sum of 550 ladies into marriage. ~Ade The description of evil, a malevolent force who brings suffering and pain, known for his trickery and mischief, Ade unlike the others was born without powers and took his anger on his mother by bringing her life to an abrupt end. History records that throughout his time on earth all he did was chase after his brothers so he could possess their powers. ~Ibikunle There is nobody in Ile_ife who isn't aware of the legend of this demigod, a handsome man with a muscular build, of how powerful he is and also his peculiar colour, "red" and the most intriguing thing about his person was_his power over the weather, a skilled warrior who tore apart a dragon and fought for his people during wartime. "Ibikunle" is the reason for the celebration. Every child and adult in ile_ife knows that throughout the seven days celebration, you are to be on your best behaviour, doing good and staying happy as it is usually said that between the first day and seventh day, Ibikunle will come visiting again to reign goodwill and give answers to the prayers of his people, it is also said that whoever is caught doing ill or evil is quickly rewarded by this demigod who immediately transforms into a serpent and brings down quick justice due to his short temper. Ara chuckled, "such myth"...as she walked back home, she could see the market women with their baskets hurrying home to start the celebration with their children in their hands, the men gathered in a "palmwine" (a local drink) store drinking and laughing. The life in ile-ife is like that, it is the duty of women to cook, clean and reproduce while the men had to work on the farm, merry, get home, eat and have good s*x with their wives. Before western civilization, the male children went to the farms with their fathers while the female ones learnt how to cook and when they were ripe for marriage, were given out to a suitor. Thank God! She heaved a sigh at the thought of being married off so early to a palmwine tapper or hunter who already had four wives at home. Life was beyond that now, at least now she could study pharmacy in the university even though she didn't know what the future held for her, she hoped it was something beautiful. Aralola grinned knowing where she wanted to be on this special occasion, it was nowhere other than Adio's house- her boyfriend. She entered his one room apartment and gladly took solace in his broad chest as he embraced her tightly, he gave her a peck on her forehead. "You took forever ifemi" (my love) he whined I am sorry, you know how professor can be, he kept on rambling about the times he spent in St Francisco. Adio chuckled, "how does that in anyway relate to pharmacy?" I don't know for that man, in fact I am tired...hope you prepared something for me to eat because I am starving? I am sorry dear, I wanted to...but I just got back from engineering class. "So what you are trying to say in essence is that there is no food?"Aralola asked with widened eyes. Olounje! (Foodie) I stopped at that fast food joint down the road to get spaghetti and beans, your favourite, I asked her to add egg and meat too", Adio said smiling broadly. Ara squealed in delight as she grabbed the disposable plate of food and began to dig in. Aralola! Adio called softly "Are you spending the night at my place? He asked She stopped eating...i thought we already discussed this, you know I cannot... it's a taboo in our town that a lady and a man spends the night together if they are not married. But Ara why now? You know nothing will happen between us and if anything even happens, I will take responsibility...we are going to get married after all so what is wrong with a little bit of fun and s*x. Aralola dropped the plate and looked him in the eyes "better don't incure the wrath of the demigod on your head, besides did you say you won't touch me? You that loves kissing and carressing my boobs, is it the same you? I am not so sure" (she picked the plate and continued eating) But babe! Adio started Don't try to convince me Adio, I am going home this evening and that's final. "Alright!" Adio mumbled in defeat. (That evening) As Aralola approached the house, she could hear the sound of the pestle hitting the mortar...her mother was already pounding yam. Panic filled her being, she didn't realize how late it was until she looked out the window in Adio's house. You! Where are you coming from? Her mother attacked her. Mama! Errrmmm! I....I....she stuttered scratching her long flowing hair as she thought of a lie to come up with. Tobi told me he saw you with that school boy today. Ara glared at her junior brother "Tobi" hating his guts for telling on her. You know it's the celebration of Ibikunle, if you like continue...you know what will happen if the elders find out and let me ask you, what will you present to your husband as a gift if you don't have your virginity intact on the night of your marriage? Collect this thing from me and pound this yam well, you know we will be giving the demigod so he can bless us so make sure it's fluffy. Ara retired into her room extremely drained from pounding yam, she peeled the clothes she had on and took a nice bath before falling asleep with no clothes on. ******** (ARA's POV) The sound of thunder woke me up as the lightening kept flashing, I was sure everyone was awake...it was a sign that Ibikunle was around, his presence was always signified and known by the flashes of lightening and sounds of deafening thunders, I awaited the arrival of rain that usually followed to signify that indeed he has answered our prayers and blessed our town. It was exactly 12am, the middle of the night when rain poured from the sky. Even though I knew we were not supposed to look outside for fear of seeing this awesome being, I did anyway just like I did every year...I didn't see anything unusual other than the beggar who always packed away the food each household put at the doorpost for Ibikunle to eat whenever he came around, another reason why I believed this whole thing was just a myth..."for as long as I can remember, this beggar has always eaten the food prepared by our mothers sweat and nothing, I mean nothing has ever happened to him" I could hear the celebratory noises erupting from each house as everybody jubilated and danced excited the god of thunder had answered their prayers because of the rain pour and when they will check the doorpost early the next morning there will be no sign of the food left the previous night, I scoffed... remembering the day I tried to let my mother know and she shunned me and threatened me not to tell this to anyone so as not to attract doom upon myself, she didn't believe my story one single bit.