CHAPTER 2

Holiday was finally here. Anita and her siblings were thrilled with excitement. School stress was over for a while. Mrs Ella was also relieved a bit. She could sleep for hours now and wake up whenever she wanted to.

It was already 7:30 am in the morning. George's family were still fast asleep when they heard a loud and resounding knock on the door of their apartment. Ella thought it was probably for the next door neighbor but this time , the knock turned to bang which made George sprang to his feet.

He went to take a look at the door just to know who was interrupting their early morning sleep.Lo and behold!It was Mr Chukwu accompanied by some of his lawyers and three hefty looking men.His brain went blank as his feet were pinned to the floor. Mrs Ella started hearing different voices so,she decided to step outside to take a look at who their early morning visitor was.

At first, Ella was confused.She asked George what the matter was but he kept silent rather which made her even more confused.

While the matter was being investigated and discussed,it was made known to Ella that the landlord wanted them to vacate the apartment immediately. Ella stood still for a while as she was flowing in thoughts of confusion.She asked Mr Chukwu the reason for his sudden decision without even a notice but his response wasn't clear enough to her.

All he could say was"George is not a good tenant".On hearing the noise coming from the front door of their apartment,Anita rushed outside to get a quick glance but her eyes couldn't behold what she saw. She was sure they were in a bit of trouble. Anita gathered courage to go outside and plead with Mr Chukwu but he would never listen.

Before Mrs Ella could say jack,the lawyers ordered the hefty looking men to throw every bit of their properties outside the building. They threw everything that belonged to them downstairs through the balcony.

"What a disgrace",Mrs Ella murmured

Anita cried out her eyes while pleading with the landlord but all to no avail. Her siblings were shedding tears too. This really hurt Mrs Ella so much but tears couldn't solve anything.

Shamefully, George and his family left the building. Anita had already run down the streets to her cousin's place in tears. She narrated the sad story to her uncle and he felt really bad. Mrs Ella managed to pick a few things from their properties which were thrown downstairs and left for Charles' place .

Ekwulumiri street was actually not a bad street but turned really ugly during rainy seasons. While staying at Uncle Charles' house, Anita and her siblings found it difficult to adapt to the environment. George cared less. He had already moved to one of his friend's houses by name ,Mike .It wasn't really easy for Uncle Charles to care for two families at a time.

George had either gambled with the money for the rents or maybe Mr Chukwu had noticed his ruthless character which was why he was sent packing with his family without even a notice. He probably had started keeping bad company if he really gambled with the money because the George that's Ella knew wasn't a gambler or a keeper of bad company

All these thoughts ran through Ella's mind as she lay on the sofa in the sitting room. George's bad company had probably ruined him but he was yet to see that.

George started keeping late nights and when he returned home, he showed no remorse for that neither would he explain to his family what kept him outside till that hour of the night he returned. Ella couldn't explain any of these.His sudden change of attitude killed Ella inside but she kept hoping that all was going to be fine someday.

She hoped and prayed George would retrace his steps and have eyes for her again.

Anita started losing focus on her studies .Her family issues had started weighing her down and messing with her mental health.She lost a bit of weight too. She was really frustrated this time but something marveled her.

When the results for their Junior WAEC exams were out ,Anita took the overall second position out of hundreds of students from different schools that sat for the examination. She was mesmerizing because she didn't expect it despite the whole trauma she was passing through.She really took after her mom when it comes to being brainy and creative.

While still staying at Ekwulumili, George only visited his family during the weekends .Ella was traumatized.

After some months, George fell ill.

He was diagnosed with diabetes. Same illness that sent his mum to an early grave .

It was probably in their family trait .

Initially,it came as a boil on his left lap,then it started growing bigger every single day. The pain was so severe that his brother recommended him to a Federal Medical Centre at Lagos where he was operated upon.Poor Ella!. She stayed with her husband at the hospital's male ward for a month and two weeks taking good care of him.

She was no longer focusing on her teaching career.

The salary she earned was no longer good enough.Ella needed to do something extra.She decided to leave the hospital because she was really lagging behind financially. She needed more than enough for her family.

She got Anita to stay at the hospital and take care of her dad since she was done writing her exams for their school session.

She started making plans on how to establish her own college of education. It was really going to be a tough one but Ella really needed to search for greener pastures.