May 29, 2081

"Hey, Ivy, I'm going to the market. Do you want to come with me?" Wunmi asked, sticking her head through the doorway of the hut.

I nodded, gulping down the inky water I had set aside in a cup. Luckily, the water in the river today was not as inky as the day before so I could manage to bathe with it and drink it. After emptying the cup, I stood up and followed Wunmi. Mrs. Abimbola had gone to teach the children in an improvised school which happened to be under the tree. She took it upon herself to handle some of the children in the village while their parents were working, and I knew with parents still mourning, she might have a lot on her plate. I didn't know where Tobi had gone. I suspected he was with his friends playing football. Since no one else was at home, I pulled the door of the hut shut.

The events of the day before still seemed to weigh on all of us and only a few people were outside. As we approached the market, I looked around at those heading towards it with goods in their hands. We had gone back to the trade and batter sales since money had no use in our village. It was used in other places but we hardly ever left our village. Money was only useful if someone wanted to get something outside the village. At least, once in six months, someone was appointed to go to the city with the list of what the villagers wanted from the city and get it for them. We couldn't have everything we wanted hidden in this forest. Most importantly, the person got information on what was happening around the world. Since we were not using any device including TV and radio, our only access to information was from the city. It was how we knew about Angela Cassey. When the informer first told us, everyone had been happy but after a few days, they seems to accept that she wasn't going to save us. It seemed I was the only one that had hope.

I turned to look at the inky coat in Wunmi's hand.

"It belongs to my dad," she said, noticing my stare. "He says it can get us fish and a few other things and I can get something for myself too."

It seemed to be a good coat. As soon as we stepped into the market, we were attacked by calls from traders. Our village was a small place as there were not too many people here and so our market was smaller than the ones in the city since only a few eatable plants were still growing. The fishes in the water had died because of the ink but a new type of fish had emerged. Scientist said it wasn't new but a fish that had simply adapted to the environment. Similarly, new types of crops emerged, most of them poisonous. We had to be careful what we ate. The poisonous crops killed a person in seconds. Most land and air animals had died.

During the first few weeks after the inky rain, people had lots of meat to eat, meat from the dead animals. A new specie of land animals had also emerged but they buried themselves deep in the inky soil that they were hard to find, we called them inkkets. They looked like rabbits but with crab legs and no ears. Their meat was good but took a long time to cook. I remembered the first time we had noticed them in the village. It was a child that has seen it first and everyone had been cautious of the strange looking animal until the informer from the city came to tell us that researchers had examined it and deemed it safe to eat.

We went to a stall that sold foodstuffs. Wunmi and the seller discussed what the coat could buy while I looked around. A man selling clothes noticed me staring at his shop and started raising dresses, shouting the prices loudly across to me. I smiled and shook my head.

"What do you think I can trade this fish for? What should I even get for myself?" Wunmi asked, turning to show me a fish.

"How about a dress?" I asked, gesturing to the man who was still looking at me.

Wunmi looked at his direction and nodded. "Hmm. Good idea. My clothes are already tearing." She discreetly touched a barely noticeable tear in her shirt.

We went to the man's stand and after they decided on a dress, Wunmi exchanged it for the fish. As we walked home, Wunmi stopped and slapped a hand over her head. "I can't believe I forgot."

"What?"

"I was supposed to buy spices too."

"We can go back." We had walked a good distance from the market but I knew the spices were important to Wunmi's mum.

"Mum needs the fishes to start cooking." She paused and looked at me. "Can you help me take this to my mum while I go back and buy the spices?" She looked at me with pleading eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course."

After giving me the bags, she turned and ran back towards the market, holding a fish in her hand. I was walking back toward her house when something hit me over the head. I stumbled, catching myself before I fell, and looked towards where I heard laughter coming from. There were boys standing on a field, looking at a ball now laying on the ground in front of me. From the way some of them looked at Tobi it seemed he was the one who had thrown the ball. I felt anger rising in me as he looked at me with no sign of remorse on his face.

I moved the bag of the things we had bought from the material to one hand and picked up the ball. "Can't you say sorry?"

"It was a mistake so don't start throwing tantrums and blaming me for 'purposely' throwing the ball at you."

For some reason, I felt irked by his attitude. I had gotten used to it but this time, I felt a long suppressed anger rising up in my chest. If I was in a cartoon, my eyes would have turned red and smoke would have been coming out of my nose and ears. "You know, I'm tired of your stupid attitude. You say I am a spoilt brat but you are the one behaving like a child. Yes, my parents were rich and bought RICCO CORP devices but so did several other people in the world. Yes, I treated you and your mother badly before but that was years ago and I've changed now. Yes, I've accused you several times of acting meanly but that's because you are almost always acting meanly. You are behaving like a child who is refusing to let go of things in the past or someone who is so bored with life that he enjoys making others miserable. Go and get a life instead of trying to pick on every mistake I make and if you just can't get a life, go and hug a transformer. I don't care."

Oohs and Aahs surrounded us as I stopped talking. They obviously thought I had knocked down Tobi a peg or two. I waited for Tobi to retaliate, ready to spew more angry words at him but he stood silently, watching me. I huffed and threw the ball away from me, transferring my anger to it, and then stomped away. I heard footsteps following me and realized that unfortunately, I had thrown the ball toward the path I was going to take. I increased my pace not ready to deal with Tobi or his friends but the person caught up to me quickly and grabbed my arm. I turned and frowned confused when I saw Tobi standing in front of me.

"What do you want?" I snarled.

He raised his hands in surrender. "Look, I just want to apologize about the ball and...every other thing I've done."

My eyes widened as I looked at him. This was the first time Tobi was apologizing to me willingly. "What?" I asked, wanting to make sure I had heard him well.

He narrowed his eyes and then sighed, looking tired. "At first I truly was angry with you and how you treated me and my mother but somehow that faded and I just continued treating you anyhow because that was the only way I knew how to. And I have to admit, sometimes I looked forward to your sarcastic responses." He chuckled and then rubbed the nape of his neck as he watched me, probably waiting for my reply.

I remembered the times it didn't seem so bad talking to him. It sometimes felt like banter between frenemies. I smiled at him and he relaxed.

"Truce?" he asked, holding out his hand to me.

"Truce," I said as I shook his hand.

©Jesutofunmi Fekoya

AUTHOR'S NOTE
A truce? Hmm. Who else has mixed feelings?

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