Trin shifted her thoughts from narcissism to criticism, the worst parts of her life. It all started by them moving out of the compound they once lived to another area but in the same community, part of the reason they moved this time around was because of the landlord and his evil machinations which was becoming more real each day that passes by, no single tenant who came into that compound could boast of any accomplishments rather they start feeding from hand to mouth, whenever something big happened for the tenants he goes in sorrow to his deities and lament why such could happen to a mere tenant in his compound when he has nothing, after he's done with his consultations, a catastrophe will befall the person who made the upgrade and the person falls to a more wretched situation than he or she ever was in. This went on for a while and when most of his tenants find out they park out immediately, but this doesn't stop more people from parking in because people need shelter and what he offers seems to be so cheap. Mr Simeon had to leave with his family to another village, six villages in and settled at a part called uruowelle, meanwhile this community has eleven villages. they lived at a rich mans Boy's quarter's, the compound was very large with vegetation covering most part of it, it has a handful of palm trees, three mango trees and squirrels will always jump around the fences and palm trees.
Trin went around sniffing as usual, she discovered the owner of the house was a deep rooted traditional man, a business man and a ritualist also, rumors had it that he used the compound Trin and her family members currently moved into for carrying out his occultism, which included burying infants alive and so on, Trin was terrified, now she thought to herself if there was any compound in Nigeria that was not involved in one kind of mess or the other, while she was doing her investigations she came across her classmate in her current school, she has just gotten to know the girl, the beautiful tall and light skinned girl asked her why she was doing in her area and why she wasn't dressed up for school as she was already in her navy blue gown and while coupled with white stripped navy blue socks on a brown pair of brown sandals with a portable school bag which was hanging loosely from her neck to her side, a little bit tilted to her back. Trin explained her circumstances and the girl Sarah by name happened to be happy by the news, she said it was a God given opportunity for her to get close to Trin, learn from her and master her drawing skills from her also as she was an art enthusiast. Trin retorted by saying "you're not serious" with a sniffle and a smile, Sarah took Trin to her house and introduced her to her mother who in the abakaliki dialect welcomed her, only then did Trin instinctively know that her friend was from Ebonyi state and people from this state and particularly discriminated in Ibo land because of their archaic knowledge and lack of development, she wasn't the type to get herself involved in tribalism or discrimination of any sort so she couldn't give a damn. After drinking child water and hurrying her friend off, reminding her of their strict principal who had earlier told her that she'll be the one to catch late comers to school the previous day and the said they happened to be that day, so she urged her on to the bus stop and bade her goodbye, she then went home. Back at home Mr and Mrs Simeon and Gloria have gotten worried sick all because of trin's adventure, for the record she didn't know anywhere in the vicinity, none of them did, when they saw her they became relieved, the parents cautioned her against going out without notice, they told her the importance of making her family aware of her escapades before embarking on them, and she apologized, also she told Gloria about her classmate she ran into who happens to be living down the street, Gloria said that she was jealous of her having made a friend and driving away potential loneliness attributed to that mobility. Trin said to her "you needn't be jealous, my friend is your friend, remember?" Gloria smiled and hugged trin.
They resumed school the next day and settled into the area more easily than they expected, the natives were so friendly, there was a provision store at the left side of the street towards Sarah's home and on the right also and a stream way down the right side. A mentally impaired man whose mental condition was said to be caused by over affiliation to music, and who happens to sing (usually raps) most of the time lived towards the stream, his house is next to an African apple tree, most inhabitants go and pick up the honey sweet apples and trin and Gloria didn't miss out as well when they got taken to the stream to fetch drinking water (most of the boreholes in the area has water not suitable for consumption) she also took the privilege of introducing them to this apple tree and they loved it. They picked for themselves and picked enough for the family as well.
One faithful day when they came back from school they met their parents discussing with a certain woman who from her intonation happened to be from Ebonyi state, they went inside and started eating their lunch, they weren't trying to eavesdrop but the woman was quite loud and they heard everything she was talking about though she was trying to sound secretive. She was introducing Mr and Mrs Simeon to a particular stone manufacturing business, in which they were supposed to bring out stones from the ground, break it into sizable particles, then sell it and make money. She promised to take them through the process because she's known them long enough to call them family friends, she knew them from bridge head market Onitsha when they came and supplied her red oil, that was when she was still into the red oil business before things turned around for the worst, she said that this stony gold mine has been keeping food on the table and sustaining her family despite her drunk of a husband, she went on to lament that she was better off a widow than to have that lunatic come back late in the night dead drunk, eat her food and vomit it all away, wake up, steal her money before she could say jack Robinson and make away with it to where he liquidates it in bars, but this stone business has saved her from committing suicide. Mr and Mrs Simeon liked the proposition and said they'll think about it and let her know of their decisions but it was obvious that they've already accepted the idea presented to them.
The next day Mr Simeon left his bike work, went with the said woman to a remote community called umunya where this stone mines are located, she introduced her to the manager who sells a plot of land to the buyer who in turn works on it, gather enough stones by himself or with the services of labourers, break it into sizable portions or get a labourer to do that also, rake it together into a coned shape and wait to sell it, later he pays commissions to the manager as well. He liked the idea and thought that what would he be doing with labourers when he and his family are equal to the task? He went home and briefed his wife of this development and they started planning on how to get the money for the land, after a while they made enough money and bought the plot of land, Mr Simeon was a technical man and a fast learner so as he looked at the others close to him who were working on their plots also, he borrowed some of their spare tools, a digger, shovel, machete and bar. With this tool he dug systematically till he made a rectangular impalement to the width of the land and that'll make a good starting point for further excavations! His neighbors who knew he was new to the job judging from the clean clothes he was putting on, applauded him. He then went home and informed his wife again. He then hustled and bought the most basic tools, at first he'd go their and work alone till he dug out a trip of stone before four days, as he dug, he used his shovel and packed the sand and threw them to his back, and the stones he dug up he cleared the front of the plot and threw them in an organized manner into a spot, after he got the one trip, he tried to pack it with a Jerry can cut in half like others but he couldn't so he went home, he then told his wife of his difficulties, he never wanted his wife to do this strenuous job and under the excruciating sun because her complexion was so delicate and she easily gets sun burned. luckily for the family it was a mid term break period, trin and Gloria were on junior secondary class two now, they went to the site and wore ragged clothes, they started packing the stones from an extreme to avoid being hit by the stones their father would throw up, they were itching and scratching all over in no time because they're not used to such labour. They continued for a while more and packed like one twentieth percentage of the stone heap in front of them, they were frustrated but their father urged them to take a rest before continuation, that they did and had some food and water amidst rest, they somehow got more energetic and before the day could run out they packed more than thrice the quantity they'd had packed before they rested at 12 noon. It was 6:00pm now and they were totally exhausted laying their backs on the dug sand, their father was resting under the shade of a tree and later they washed themselves up with water they got from a nearby stream, the same source everyone around uses as well, they continued this throughout the period but one problem they had was they didn't have money to get a labourer to split the stones into sizable portions, so Mrs Simeon after some persuasions she dished out to her husband opted out for the job, Mr Simeon always dug around the area where his wife was going to sit and crack the stones with a bar and drive trunks of trees with shades into the ground so that the shades will protect her from the direct heat of the sun, she got a harmer and broke the stones into the samples she took from the neighbors already mounted trips and she did that quite well as a professional, but one challenge she faced was heating the harmer on her finger occasionally, she expresses immense pain when this happens, sometimes its so severe that her hand bleeds, she apply herbs to it, tie it up with a piece of cloth and continues, later before the holiday ran out they were able to mount two trips, Mr Simeon did the raking, they waited not much and the contractors came with a tipper truck and towed the stones paying in the process, the money was handed to the manager who in turn hands it over to Mr Simeon and he gave her a commission in a short while, the two trips were sold in the same day and it was such a big hit for the family. They went home that day grinning from mouth to ear and celebrated.
The next day, they started clearing the debts the family have accumulated through food stuffs they bought from the neighbor's provision stores, the kids school fees and purchasing more food stuffs to last them for a while but they never planned for the inevitable. Mrs Simeon was pregnant and this took a huge toll on the family, the kids dropped school most of the time just to work in the site and raise enough money hopefully for managing the family and the soon to come maternity hospital expenses, it wasn't an easy ride at all for the family and before they could even nail enough money, the debts will be singing a welcome song to the money, they also had to use the services of labourers now for the splitting process since Mrs Simeon wasn't available, her belly was peaking up at six months, that year's December and Xmas period wasn't much of a festive one for the kids though it was the most celebrated Christmas year till trin's present day. It was so feasted up and spectacular with tones of people returning from the cities and fireworks of various kinds illuminating the night skies, the kids watched with awe and social deprivation, the inhabitants who were well to do invited anybody that cared to come to grace their homes and eat whatever delicacy they wanted compliment of the season but the harmattans harsh hands rendered Mr Simeon's family's mouth dry because they don't fancy the idea of receiving alms. They fed most of the time with the mango in their compound, the owner of the compound often sends his brother to harvest the palm fruits and plantains in the compound and use them to his benefit since he can barely help his brother out in a reasonable way because of his busy schedules or so he would say, they starved throughout the better part of the season and the new year celebration didn't make them a part of it either because of monetary issues. On the 13th of February 2013 Mrs Simeon put to bed a bouncing baby Brian at immaculate heart hospital and maternity Nkpor Obosi a renowned commercial and developed mini town like Onitsha, they were very happy at the immerging of a baby boy in the family but they were not resting out and celebrating because they've used a total of four hundred thousand naira the family have realised to settle the hospital expensive fee and buy SMA gold infant powdered milk because Mrs Simeon had a problem at child birth which made the gynaecologist to advice her against breastfeeding the baby, and instead he recommended the baby milk, there's a superstition in Nigeria that anybody that didn't drink the mother's breast ends up being stupid, Mrs Simeon tried a lot to get this obnoxious notion off the mind of her concerned husband but he still harboured traces of it in his mind. The family suffered a lot during this period but as fate may have it, it seems to be only the beginning!