The ouse was mildly boring now, majorly for the left-behind Batch B Corps Members. Let's not be Chimamanda; her knack for the 'mild' word endears her to the heart often, reality was the ouse was BORING, scanty-boring. The Batch A, stream 1 Jesus Corpers were gone, solely courtesy of the misplaced directive from the Federal Quarters, absolutely misplaced.
Nonetheless Ada wasn't the least peturbed, the trio were still around, twas really a good thing they had all been dispatched as stream 2. Her joy wasn't exactly just that, twas also the frustration the POP-divide seemingly planted on the brows of not-exactly-friends brethren, Dikachi; the sister’s love for Queen’s Anglais had never settled well with Ada, it just reminded her how Nigerianly Igbo she often sounded, Abayomi; forgiving Bayo was still a battle she wasn’t about to quit fighting; Tc; got too endeared to Chizzy at some point and left Ada feeling threatened, she learnt to accept her as a friend’s friend, however painfully, so knowing Tc wasn’t finding the extended POP funny gave her a kinda victory-thrill, Tc’s almost perpetual brooding was just apt in keeping Chizzy farther from her and closer to the trio, and other brethren who unsurprisingly didn't make it to her GOOD BOOKS within the one year NYSC crisscrossed their paths.
Ada was like that, you got penned down in her illusionary ''ah don like this one' book for OVERDOING, posing a threat/competition, showing yasefeh et etcetera. And you know some brethrenS are gifted in overdoing nah, trying to act all Porsche; manufacturing unsolicited r’s in words; ill fitted Americanizing. That’s, you “praise ther Lorrrd” not “the Lord” or even “dah Lod”, the latter’s more acceptable to Ada; Igbo geh she be. Having the form of OVERZEALOUSNESS or an appearance of it; you're simply the 'zeal without knowledge' category, Bro. Abana’s type; eager to showcase your ‘apparent lack’ of knowledge in meetings, bible studies your HEROIC stage.
Then the RAINBOW brethren; spotting those eye-shuttering, AGRESSIVE colour shade combinasions; tatashi Red this, ripe cashew Yellow that, MS word Blue this, Super Eagles Green that, Chidire’s stiletto Orange this, a lil touch of Chichi’s bridal Purple that, then the clown apparel is crowned with the now ill-trending sweet potatoes Nude flats. Noticeably and without prejudice anyway, the RAINBOW brethren where majorly residential in Eastern Nigeria; mostly Anambra and Abia states and their immediate neighbours, say Delta, Enugu, Akwa-Ibom, Imo, Ebonyi, and etc, however few though, mean the immediate neighbours.
Ada and Dikachi had no direct feud; Dikachi just kept to herself, not exactly keep-keep, but she would likely not add more to a ‘hello’ she says to you except you say more and her reply even at that would be a polite, “I’m fine, thank you.” Let’s just say she is the supposedly introvert type who’s kinda extrovert with her friends only, however she makes ‘those’ friends. So until she’s spoken to, she’s with herself, by herself, that’s if her ‘acknowledged’ friends are MIA.
Ada did not exactly like Dikachi, not because she was always thanking the “Lord for a refreshing in His presence” in supposed Queen’s Anglais whenever she co-ordinated meetings, or that Chizzy somewhat became one of her acknowledged friends, twas just that she a threat, competition, for Ada. You know how brothers annoyingly tell you that they like quite sisters every time a seemingly quite sister walks by, they often never get to know these persons close up, just because the sister(s) no dey give them face, makes them, ‘...like quiet sisters.’ Dikachi was that seemingly ‘quiet’ type brothers always confessed taking a liking to, triggering Ada’s sense of competition. They should be liking nah, Ada sef LIKEs quiet brothers.
Ada didn’t fancy being told she was noisy, loud, sanguine, or etc. She wasn’t exactly sanguine, but could get so animated and aggressive you’ud think she was all San-choleric. Those seasonal, energetic displays could only be achieved by an ALL THE WAY extrovert, and Ada wasn’t even extro. She wasjust that unique blend nobody could tell when and how what went wrong did. She and Dikachi were both Mel-Phelgs, though she alone knew that. Hold o, Dikachi knew too. Ada felt the unspoken resentment from her sometime, twas VERY mutual, they didn’t have to say anything to each other.
T'was the day Chizzy introduced Dikachi, in her the-more-the-merrier way, “Ada come and meet our new sister-friend, Onyedikachi, but everybody calls her Dikachi now, courtesy of Brother Uche....” Ada had spontaneously asked “who’s ‘our’?”even before she sat up in bed where she’d been curled up, reading Randy Alcorn’s PURITY PRINCIPLE. Chizzy replied “Ossai and I nah, she joined our deco team and we’ud be, Ossai and I, her direct coaches, can you imagine? Shey you’ve refused to join us, we’re still increasing everyday o.” Ada just said “hello,” not bothering with the G-Aunty title that accrued Dikachi’s status as an immediate past AGS. Their eyes met and despite the smile, “we don’t like us” was an unspoken message between both.
Dikachi was an ex- State Exco, the immediate past Assistant General Secretary; G-Aunty, and so stayed in Deborah’s Corner; the room that housed all female State Excos, immediate past and present. Ada was not that waist-giving type, never.
In Mbaise, one is said to “were ukpu ya nye ha” when you belittle yourself or let’s just say, when you lack self respect that authors your being taken for granted. Ada had an over dose of self respect, she would never ‘were ukwu ya nye’ those sisters, excos or ex, never, not even in the Ouse, some brethren were just VERY Mafia in abusing such privileges. This ideology of hers was the reason she made no efforts to build any relations whatsoever with a plethora of sisters in the Ouse, especially female excos; their apparent Self-Constructed Spiritual Ecstasy was already an offensive deterrent, sufficient in itself.
It suddenly hit Ada one day that Dikachi sef nah RAINBOW sister, spiritual and rainbow ; you’ll be combining those colours and you’ll now be packaging yasef like Queen Obama and thanking God for a refreshing in His presence anyhow, colour-blocking all the anointing. She was overjoyed, at least something to gloat about, was she thrilled?!
Dikachi had, like her organized self would do, sent her belongings home a week to the initial POP day for Batch A’s, that was before the news that Stream 2 would now leave a month after shattered hopes. Ada learnt later that when the authenticity of the news was verified and announced via the Ouse’s Megaphone, G-Aunty cried in her room, Chizzy told her that much. Ada had joyously asked Chizzy to help convey her embarrassment on G-Aunty’s behalf to G-Aunty.
To her, crying was overdoing, what was the intended achievement? Sympathy? She nonetheless enjoyed the knowledge that her chief COMPETITON was emotionally weaker. Ada had nothing to lose, she wasn’t exactly sure where she was headed after service year and so the longer the evil day was moved the better...
