ATONEMENT (THE BOOK) PAGE 22

The tall woman was waiting by the edge of the broken tree trunk ,after a while she decided to sit not minding the creaky sounds of complaints that emanated from her weight. Her brown snickers dangling at the tip of her left big toe,a habit which had stuck with her from childhood.
She waited,her hands resting on each side occasionally she would sit up craning her neck to look at the deserted path,then she would lower back into her slouched position.
She had shaved her head clean again,he had joked about her looking like a djinn saying her small round ear-rings had pit final touches to the "bedjinned look" if there was any such word,she chuckled softly.He was just his usual funny self she reckoned.
She had arrived earlier than their stipulated agreement just to savour the essence of the serenity of the woods.The rustling of the leaves against the trees and the clean fresh air away from the toxic carbon monoxide of the city and the putridity from the overflowing gutters.All that was a part of her life in the city,here she feels pure.
Now she had decided to tell him that she would leave her conceited husband, whom she knew would never mind when she takes her children away from him.She knew he didn't care about her boys all he did was yell at them if he wasn't ignoring them.Kanu,on the other hand,is the epitome of a good father,she liked his concern and the respect which he showed for her adolescent children.She heard the sound of feet dragging through the sands,she knew it was him alright because of his bad leg due to a gun injury he had sustained during the Biafran war. She smiled and waited for him to grab her from the back and whisper whatever erotic thought came to his mind.She waited then turned round to her dismay he was resting his back on their fat tree.His hair was matted in blood his green shirt had huge bloodied slits all over a print which could have only been made by demented nails one of his eye ball was gone and blood trickled out from it. Still he clutched his .48 in a form grip close to his chest.He looked straight at her his voice barely above a whisper " Lydia run"Those two words were all she needed to hear her long legs and athletic build would be an advantage on this day................