Good Pedigree (Bibi Ire)

By Adeola Oyekola

"Every child that comes from a proper home gets morning blessings from their parents. This is a tradition. It ensures you do well in life. A wise child should cherish a parent's prayer."

 

 

 

Iye has everything a good village girl should

• Language: English
• Publisher: Olabooks International
• Release date: Apr 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736388914

Book preview

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Good Pedigree

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2022 by Adeola Oyekola

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this novel are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Second Printing, 2022

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http://www.olabooksinternationalselfpub.com

Cover Photo ©2021 www.shutterstock.com. Used with permission.

ISBN: 978-1-7363889-1-4

Other Titles by Same Author

For Adults:

The Waiting Room

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Colors of Love

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For Children:

I am Mama’s Favorite

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My Play Space

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A Review of Adeola Oyekola’s Good Pedigree (Bibi Ire)

Good Pedigree, by Adeola Oyekola, is a story that revolves around Iyejide, a young lady from a poor family background who decided to change her lot and succeed against all odds, including negative societal pressure and peer influence. It is a story of reward for hard work and nemesis for evil. Some of the themes in the novel include: love, envy, diligence, piety, distrust, treachery, home training, discipline, redemption, etc.

Adeola knows her onions. She skillfully used various narrative techniques such as suspense, apt diction, vivid description of characters, places and events – all in simple language – to carve a very interesting story. Besides, she displayed impressive knowledge of her culture with words of Yoruba origin that ‘garnish’ every chapter. This, she did without compromising intelligibility by even non-Yoruba readers. Her description of a typical Yoruba village setting on one hand and that of a typical city life on the other shows her versatility and exposure.

Adeola is a Christian and she does not hide it. From time to time, there are biblical allusions through scriptural passages, most of which centre around the theme of redemption. The book contains a lot of lessons for everyone and it is suitable for all classes of people across different social backgrounds.

I have read a number of works of fiction but none of them engaged me and held me spell-bound to the end like Good Pedigree did. While reading the manuscript, I found myself showing empathy for the characters by nodding, smiling, shaking my head in pity, etc unconsciously. I recommend it to all and sundry and hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Gideon Olushola Dada

Department of English

Lecturer, Researcher, Writer

Federal College of Education

Pankshin, Plateau State, Nigeria

Contents

Other Titles by Same Author

A Review of Adeola Oyekola’s Good Pedigree (Bibi Ire)

Dedication

Chapter One: His Worries

Chapter Two: Disobedience

Chapter Three: Bolatito And Iyejide

Chapter Four: Ojule

Chapter Five: Lagos

Chapter Six: Campus Life

Chapter Seven: Reunion

Chapter Eight: Promising Children

Chapter Nine: Alani Visits

Chapter Ten: Chaos In The Family

Chapter Eleven: The Visit To Anita’s Home

Chapter Twelve: Another Wild Experience!

Chapter Thirteen: Will She Marry Him?

Chapter Fourteen: The Ambush

Chapter Fifteen: Aftermath

Chapter Sixteen: Wedding Preparations

Chapter Seventeen: Their Story

Chapter Eighteen: Adieu!

Chapter Nineteen: Will They Ever Get Married?

Chapter Twenty: And They Graduated!

Epilogue

Acknowledgement

Translations

Dedication

For my love, Tunde. This is for your love of culture and respect.

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Chapter One

His Worries

Alani wakes up with a pang of headache. Cock-a-doodle-doo! Today is the fourth morning he is waking up before the cockcrow. His worries keep him up for a long time at night. He likes to sleep. Even when he wakes up before the cockcrow, he stays a little longer in his bed. Alani is a worried father. His farm is sick, and it looks like he will have a poor harvest for the third year in a row. If he cannot sell his yams, he cannot send his eldest son and daughter to university, his two wives will hate him, and he will become a laughingstock.

He gets up and looks at the cock crowing behind his window. The cock seems to know he has an admirer as it takes a few confident strides, stops, and stretches out his neck to reveal its length and beautiful colors and crows again. The action reveals its glossy red, golden brown, and black color. Its red comb stands out, revealing it as the king in its neighborhood. The cock’s pride is a contrast to Alani’s ignominy. Hopefully, the treatment he gives his farm will make a difference this year.

Alani stays in the window a little longer, enjoying the morning breeze. It is that time of the year for him to harvest his yams. He would have done it the day before, but the fear of the unknown stopped him. Four years earlier, his farm produced the best yams, and he made the best sales. He was the envy of other farmers in his village. However, that was then. For the past three years, he has been a laughing stock. He cannot afford that this year. His son, Folarin, is going to college. It is indeed a splendid achievement. He has promised to sponsor his education. His friends had laughed at him when he broke the news to them during their usual hang-out night at Iya Rili, elemu’s joint. She sells the best palm wine in the village. They laughed at the ambition he could not achieve. One of them compared his last yam harvest with a chewing stick, isu logbologbo bi orin. They all laughed. He walked home, feeling sad.

It is not a peaceful thing feeling like a failure. What happened to Alani nina lowo? He has known three consecutive years of financial loss because of poor yam produce. His big customers from the city have paid less and less for his yams, and he would have been in deep debt if not for his maize and millet farms that have made significant sales in the past years. How could Alani have fallen from the high-ranking farmers to the low in such a brief time?

Alani has put so much into his yam business that it is difficult for him to back out. He also has vast hectares of land for yams and less for maize and millet. If the farm produce turns sour again this year, Alani considers turning his yam plantation into maize and millet plantation. His fears mount. His yams were his world. What would a man do if he had nothing to fend for his family? If the yams fail him again this year, it will put him in immense debt. He cannot explain this to his family, especially Folarin and Iyejide.

So, his sleepless nights continue. He may find a way of dodging going to the yam plantation today. He will not let Folarin go with him. That way, he can go straight to the millet farm. He trusts his wives to make significant sales from the market. Makinde, his distributor, also bought a lot of his millet and maize last year. What about his son going to school? He will probably borrow some money from his friend, Adetoba. Folarin must go to school, he said out loud.

How will he pay him back? Adetoba is his friend but also a business owner. He will ask for collateral. His maize and millet farms put together cannot be enough collateral. He can tell him he is changing from being a large-scale yam farmer to a large-scale maize farmer. Yam is not his only product. His maize comes out very well, and he makes large sales out of it and still has some left from his last harvest. He hopes to sell to Makinde when he comes looking for farm produce for his store in the town.

Adetoba should be able to help. He is a rich man who trades in palm oil. He is an exporter of palm oil, and people know him far and near for his enormous assets. Alani wonders why Adetoba laughed so hard when they made a joke of him at Iya Rili’s spot. Is Adetoba happy that his friend is having a hard time? Was he drunk when he was laughing? He should have stood up for his friend, but he joined them to laugh. Can he trust Adetoba? Is he a friend at all? What if he lets him down? Who else can he go to for help? Alani sighs and shakes his head but decides to ask him. Alani has been there for him in times past. Now is Adetoba’s time to pay him back.

However, Adetoba’s son is a failure. He is the laughingstock of the community. What if he is jealous of Afolarin going to school? Is that why he laughed at him at the bar? He could see the contempt in his eyes as he laughed hard. What will happen if he cannot raise money for his children’s education? "Will Afolarin mi become a struggling farmer like I am? Will Iyejide mi become a petty trader like her mother? Or worse still, will she get pregnant by a nonentity and end up marrying at an early age of eighteen? He asks himself aloud and ponders the question in his mind. No! There must be a way out. I am a man and will continue to be one," he blurted out.

How about selling one of his farms? He continues to ponder. He will raise a lot of money and even have some left to do other things. Maybe save it and use the balance to pay for next year’s fees. No. Selling his farmland would be the last resort. He intends to leave his farmlands as an inheritance for his children. He intends it to be a family heritage, something his children will see as a treasure handed down from generation to generation. His father left it for him, and he has done so well by buying more. Selling it will kill him. There must be other means.

Each time He thinks about this, He feels enraged. He fears Iyejide will soon fall into the hands of one of the village boys who have no future. He thinks if a man’s future is not beyond his village, then he has no good dreams. He cannot imagine his Iyejide introducing a boy from the village as her fiancé. Ha! He glances to where his cutlass lays leaning on the wall and thinks of what he will do to such a boy.

Alani wants Iyejide to go to the city, to study and become successful. He wants his children to be part of their village success story and be prominent people who will bring the city to the village. If he cannot fund all his four children in school, he will struggle to send two.

Selling his property is not the solution. He will go to the farm and see what he can get from it. That is his source of livelihood, that is his strength, and that is where the solution is. He summons courage and gets ready for the farm. As he comes out of his room, he sees Fola sitting down with a hoe on his shoulder.

Ekaro, baami, he greets.

"Afolarin, omo ola, aajibi?" Alani replies.

Arale baami.

Why are you up so early? Alani asks his son, feeling concerned.

Because we will do the harvest together, baami, he replies, showing off his hoe and cutlass.

"Afolarin, I can do the job all by myself. I mean, your hands are for writing, not for the farm. If you continue to make me proud by doing well in school, I will continue to labor on the farm to pay your school fees. Afolarin, wole lo, ko lo sun." Alani advises.

"No, baami, I want to help you. You usually hire people to help you on the farm, but you have hired none this year. I know it is because of the fear that the harvest might not be bountiful again this year, but I believe you will need help. With the way you worked during the planting season and how you tended the farm, I know you will need help. We will have a bountiful harvest. Let us go, baami."

Alani heaves a sigh of relief. I have raised a man. He said with pride. Let us go, my son.

Father and son walk towards the farm, chatting like old friends. Fola apprises his father about school and about how he likes agricultural science as a subject. Fola explains how they learn the theory and sometimes put theory into practice because they have a school garden. Alani is listening to his son, but he thinks he hears a rustle in the bush. He motions for his son to keep quiet and standstill. They listen. It is more than a rustle; they hear voices. Two people come out of the bush hand in hand, Ajisafe the tailor and Iyejide, Alani’s daughter. She freezes as she sees her father. She runs back into the bush, but Ajisafe runs after her and holds her back.

Iyejide! Iyejide! Alani calls. He runs forward, wielding his cutlass at Ajisafe; Fola stops him from using his cutlass. Iyejide and Ajisafe escape the cutlass attack and keep on running. Alani gives chase as he rains curses on Ajisafe. Fola runs along with him, doing his best to calm him down. Alani and Fola do not make it to the farm; they lose the lovers in the chase and head home.

They get home, and Iye is not there. Now, Alani is more enraged. He calls out to his two wives and demands to know who knows about Iye’s misadventure. The news surprised them. Iye’s mother does not believe him until she goes into Iye’s room and finds out she is not there. She trembles with fury when she realizes what her daughter has done. Alani blames her for Iye’s actions. He says she is not doing her motherly duties; that is why her daughter is selling herself like a cheap slut all over the village. Alani says he is sure that is the end of Iye’s misconduct as he will stop her education.

Iye’s mother goes on her knees and begs on her daughter’s behalf. Alani rages and rants and fumes. When he is exhausted, he resigns to his room. Fola worries for his sister. He does not know where she could be. He takes a walk down to Ajisafe’s home; he is not there. He also goes to his shop where he sews clothes, and he is not there either. Fola sees one of his customers waiting patiently for him, and he wants to know if Fola has seen him, and his reply is a no. Fola hopes he has not eloped with his sister. It is at moments like this that he wishes he has a telephone. His father did not think a telephone was necessary until he started dealing with Makinde, a farm produce trader from the city. Makinde bought a phone for his father as a gift. He showed Fola how to use it so he could display the knowledge to his father. Alani only communicates with Makinde on the phone as he does not know anyone else from the city. Alani is the envy of his friends because of his phone, but he never takes it outside his house for fear of his neighbors or friends stealing it. There are a few other people with phones in the village, but Alani is not interested in sharing phone numbers.

Fola knows the first thing he will do when he starts school will be to get a phone. If he has a phone and his sister has one, communication would not be an issue. He checks in some of Iye’s friends’ houses, but no one has seen her. He thinks about her going to their uncle, Amao, but brushes it aside. She would not have gone that far, and if she had, he was not ready to go to uncle Amao’s house. He walks back home dejectedly and tries to talk to his father, whose fury he cannot abate. Fola sits down to eat the meal his mother prepared. It was his favorite breakfast, eko and akara. He adds some honey to his eko. While he is eating his breakfast, he thinks about going to the farm all alone. If he can harvest some yams, he is sure his father will be proud of him, especially if he harvests huge ones. That will ease the tension at home.

However, doing it alone may be risky as he has no experience harvesting yams alone. Aderoju, his friend, should be able to help him. He hurriedly finishes his breakfast and heads towards Aderoju’s residence, about a fifteen-minute walk from his house. Aderoju is the son of a wealthy man, well respected in the village. As Fola approaches Aderoju’s house, he thinks of how foolish he is to have thought Aderoju would give him a hand on the farm. His father has servants who do all the dirty jobs for the family. Aderoju is his best friend but not in need. Not with getting your hands dirty. Fola does not like farm work and would not want to get his hands dirty. His beanstalk and lanky body, bewitching eyes, and thin lips appeal so much to him. He would rather be in a classy environment than on the farm. Nevertheless, he has to do what he has to do to get what he needs in life. One day, he will be ready to live his classy life, and his present life will be a story.

Fola knows he is by himself, and he worries about how unfair life is. He must do extra work to go to school. Aderoju does nothing but asks for money, and he gets it. He wonders about what Aderoju does with his time. Aderoju is probably on his phone, calling his friends who live in the city. Fola imagines himself Joining Aderoju in chatting with his friends. That would be fun. That would give him access to a phone or get him to talk to some of his future friends when he eventually gets to the university. He proceeds to Aderoju’s residence, but he halts when he remembers going to the university depends on having a good farm harvest. He takes an abrupt turn around and heads for the farm.

Fola gets to the farm, looks