The Foreigner

Storms

Chapter 13

"Heelay heefeh?"  Troy finally spoke "what's that?"

"Like I said, it's the source." Akin replied "the beginning of the Yoruba people and the venue for the crazy meet-up my ancestor and hers had."

"How are we going to get to Ife?" Samantha asked. "How do we even leave here?"

"You guys leave all that to me." Akin said as he walked out of the room "leave it all to me."

********

"Why didn't you tell her, Kelvin? I'm not pretending to understand your traditions and customs. I don't. I don't also understand why you, one of the most recognized scientists in the world would believe folk tales. I don't understand but you should have told her. You should have."

Mr Carmichael was lecturing his friend,Kelvin. His (Kelvin's) decision to not tell his daughter about something as important as an arranged marriage was costing him quite a bit. Samantha hadn't been to see him since the day Mrs Olakira had barged into the hospital ward. Not once.

Kelvin sighed.  He readjusted his sitting position on the hospital bed. He had been hospitalized for a while. His fracture and other injuries were mostly healed.

"Tom, it's not as easy as you think. As you say, I am someone given to provable facts and I brought up Sam to be like that too. Telling her all of a sudden to believe a vague theory..."

He spaced out for a bit,then sighed again.

"Anyways, enough family business. How's the reconstruction going? How about the media? Did the president contact you yet?"

"Really,you really don't have me convinced,Kelvin but it's okay. 60 percent of the lab has been reconstructed, your home has also been restored. There was a press conference yesterday. I handled it though there was a lot of heat over how the fire was due to our sloppiness. And yes, the president did call. Yours and mine. I had them both know that the cure for the virus would have to come a little later than expected. The Nigerian government then decided to cease all funding of the project."

"Damn, that's a hell of a report. Glad it was you and not me. Honestly, I was surprised the Nigerian government stuck with us for this long. At least now I know they were looking for an excuse to drop the project all along. Well then, I should be back home in a week or two. Please, look after things till I get back. It's about time you guys stopped taking undue advantage of the Olakiras' hospitality, don't you think?

.....

Mr Carmichael left the hospital a while after. In the back seat of the chauffeured Mercedes, He began to ponder. Things had really not gone according to plan. First they'd lost their lab (and the serum in the process), the Cokers' had their domestic (or not so domestic) issue and now they'd had lost a major sponsor. Try as hard as he might,he couldn't help but detect an undertone of disappointment in Kelvin's voice as he tried to feign nonchalance. It was both their dreams to find a cure for the virus ravaging the entire world. That they had gotten involved in a story straight out of a tv series was comical.
He looked out the tinted window, dark clouds were gathering.
"I wonder what the kids are up to."

********

"All preparations are complete,your highness." Akin said with a mock bow.

"Really? That was fast." Troy replied

"Are we really set to go?" Samantha asked

"Not immediately, Princess. We have to run through a plan I drafted earlier just for this event" Akin said as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. He straightened it out and put it on the table for them all to see.
"It's quite obvious that you've never had any reason to run away from home before, Sam. It isn't just something you randomly do. You need a good plan, something like this...
The most important thing to take into consideration is how we make our exit in the first place. We have to leave the house in a way that doesn't make anyone suspect we are thinking of running away. That means we aren't taking any additional luggage with us. Also, we have to make sure not to leave a trail behind so we've got to steer clear of ATMs and only use cash. Now, how much money have you both got at hand?

All together they had a total of #22,000 naira.

"That's not much, we'd have to make a final withdrawal before we leave the state. Now, Ile-Ife is the capital city of Osun state and it will take us roughly 5 hours to reach there by road. Taking a plane would be faster but that would leave a trail they could follow. I take it all three of us can drive?
Samantha and Troy both nodded their assent.

"Good,then we can share the drive load. We'll follow the map on our phones and it should be able easy enough to get there. We'd have to drop our SIM cards somewhere. I can configure your phones to work with CDMA network. It doesn't require SIM cards to provide mobile data. Now then, any questions?

Troy raised his hand.

"Yes,Troy." Akin said. "What's your question?"

"What age exactly did you start running away from home?" Troy asked. "You made it all seem like we're running away from the government."

"Troy, my dear boy." Akin beamed. "That is exactly what we're doing."
And he started laughing. Samantha just shook her head.

"Get ready" Akin said after he had stopped laughing. "We leave immediately I pack my chip packets."