Chapter Two

 Abinla looked at her mother. 'I have lost my father to this disastrous environment. I won't lose my mother. I've got to look ahead, not back. I believe that you will be part of this new world,' she added with firmness, 'You may not understand me now, but I wish you to hold onto my dreams for they will all come to pass. We will be happy again,' she smiled. 'Now it is time to eat your medicine.' Abinla took out the medicine and placed it on her palm. 

Boma picked up the medicine with her fingers and put it in her mouth. Then, she took the cup of warm water Abinla handed to her and gently swallowed the medicine down with water. The warm water flowed from her throat to inside her stomach, warming up her body. 

 'Mum, how do you feel?' Abinla asked her mother as she watched her expression. 

 'I feel that we are already in your paradise,' Boma said jokingly and Abinla laughed, feeling happy.

'You will lie back down. The medicine will soon take effect, and pretty soon you will bounce back as before.'

 'Go and prepare for school. You can't be late.'

 'I will,' Abinla said softly to her mother before leaving the bed and started to turn away.

Boma watched as Abinla walked away with the dishes. Although she was still cold, her heart felt warm, especially when Abinla replenished her with hope.

 Abinla took the dishes to the kitchen to wash them and afterwards she took her bath and dressed up for school. Together, she and Ayibaemi headed for school. 

 In old plastic bags, Abinla and Ayibaemi carried their worn out books, and old water bottles. They each had pens that were not working properly but would be fixed in the school, and thick lead pencils which they would trim down when they got to school as well. Abinla valued her drawing materials more than her school books, so she had to hug her bag to her chest like it was a present direct from heaven.

 Their school uniforms were already worn out due to years of washing. Abinla and Ayibaemi along with other school children chatted happily as they walked to school. Most of them carried old lunch boxes while some had a few notes to buy snacks during break, and some like Abinla and Ayibaemi who spent almost all their earnings in buying medicine and food, never carried anything for lunch.

Ogbia Comprehensive Secondary School was several years old. It had been built with block and strong roofing but since the start of oil drilling businesses in the state many houses began cracking and even the roofs have been damaged as well. Of course, Abinla and Ayibaemi's school was affected by the gas flaring as their school walls had already cracked to the point the students were always praying not to be victims of collapsed buildings. 

 Since the buildings began to crack, school attendance on any given day became very low. The students preferred to look for what they would do to put food on the table instead of coming to school only to go home with or without any lesson for the day. Even the teachers are afraid to go to school and teach because of the fear that the school buildings might collapse any day. The school yard was always dirty, trash littered around the school. In a school of about eight hundred students only about fifty were seen milling about outside. Where did the rest go? It was obvious that they went to find menial jobs that would give them money for the day.

 'We should have gone to the factory to sell the empty plastic bottles that we picked yesterday,' Ayibaemi said to Abinla when they entered the school compound. 'I'm sure we won't learn anything today.' 

Abinla looked around. 'That's our teacher,' she said, pointing. 'Isn't that Mr. Johnson your Science teacher?'

Ayibaemi turned and saw his Science teacher with Abinla's Science teacher standing under a shade of a tree, talking. 

 'Of course, they are talking about Climate fiction again.' Ayibaemi rolled his eyes at them. 'How could anyone think of building paradise in a damaged world like this one? I wonder when these Science teachers will stop dreaming about changing the world… If they want to see so many high-rise buildings, why not travel to China or Korea or even to any developed country instead of everyday wishful thinking. I heard that the nightscapes in those countries are breathtakingly radiant. But then, our Science teachers keep talking about the world facing climate breakdown. That means before they fly to those countries we will all break into pieces.' He hissed at the thought of their Science teachers supporting Abinla's dream of building magnificent paradise in a collapsing world. How is that going to be possible?