TEARS OF A HELPLESS WOMAN
Episode 4
The following day my eyes were swollen and the maids kept asking what the matter was but I couldn’t answer.
All I wanted was to work that day without responding to anyone. My aunty gave me laundry to do and I went into the laundry room to wash. The mansion had two washing machines so all I had to do was hang the clothes after they left the machine.
While I was searching the clothes before putting them in the machine I found K300 in my uncles trousers. A part of me wanted me to keep it because i thought of everything I needed but my heart couldn’t find peace so I decided to keep the money for my uncle.
He was not around at that time and I waited for him to come home for lunch.
Around 13hours I heard a hoot at the gate, it was my uncle who had just come home. So I rushed to the front and as soon as he pulled over I greeted him.
“What do i owe the greetings?” He responded as he left the car.
“Uncle I found this money in your pocket as I was doing laundry” I said as I extended my hands to hand him the money.
My uncle stopped and looked at me from head to toe and then got the money, after counting through it he looked at me again.
“Where did you say you got this money from again ?” He asked.
“Your grey trousers, the one you wore yesterday” I responded.
“I did not put any money in that trousers and in fact my wallet equally didn’t have money” he responded.
I was shocked and wondered what was going on. My uncle returned the money to me and told me to keep it instead.
“But don’t you think you should ask aunty first? Maybe it’s hers” I suggested.
Before my uncle could answer my aunt came out.
“Ask aunty what? What do you want him to ask me? Honey see what I meant when I said this child is the devils advocate?” My aunt said angrily.
I was shocked and I started shaking wondering what she was talking about.
“I lost a K300 in the house and she denied it, I asked her and even demanded that she would leave this house if she does not return it… Now foolishly she decides to play this trick. She is a pathetic liar!!! My aunty yelled
Those words echoed through my ears like a very loud trumpet and I already knew that i would not exculpate myself.
“Did you do it? Answer me you devil!!! Yelled my uncle.
I looked at him with no strength to respond, I just shook my head.
Tears were already washing my cheeks and my feet became numb.
I thank God that neither of them laid hands on me but I was asked to leave immediately.
My whole world was crushing but in between the crying and the state of confusion I managed to smile at my aunty and uncle.
My uncle asked me to use that money to go to the village, a place I last saw when I was 12.
Where would I even start from?Anyway, according to many tales I heard.. It was impossible to get lost in the village as everyone knew the other.
With the sack bag that I used to keep my clothes, I left the mansion around 14 hours to go and start my life afresh. I was numb to everything at that hour. I couldn’t feel any pain, i was in a state of shock.
All I could remember was saying to my uncle….
“I did not choose anything in this world, I only chose happiness. Because everything was decided for me”.
I don’t know what I was thinking but I communicated all my feelings through that statement.
My fellow maids cried bitterly and they said they envied me. I didn’t understand why because they had everything better than I did. But they assured me the God I trusted in would help me.
My sack was heavy because I packed all my novels and only two dresses and a small blanket.
I thought of the journey to the village and how long it would be. How my life would turn out there. Maybe I would be married off the moment I got there, maybe my grandmother would no longer be alive.
As i walked with the huge sack bag on my head I thought of aunty Patricia, the woman who had always wished me well. I had to see her somehow but I didn’t want to bother her anymore than I already did.
A thousand thoughts rushed through my head at the same time and I sang my school hymns again.
A picture of my mother crossed my head and she was smiling at me, she was still as beautiful as I could remember.
A car stopped in front of me and one angry looking lady came out yelling.
“Have you lost your mind?? Do you want to die!!! Why are you walking in the centre of the road and not moving when I hooted!” She yelled.
“Calm down!!” A voice shouted from the car.
I didn’t see the person but it was a male voice.
“Am sorry I did not hear you” I responded calmly.
I was frustrated but that woman looked more frustrated than I was. The car drove off in full speed leaving dust particles everywhere.
I kept on walking down the road until I couldn’t walk no more. I had walked for 3 hours and now my neck was aching from the heavy load.
I put the sack bag down and sat on it, evening was approaching and I had to find a place to sleep. Town was nearer to the mansion but for some reason I had taken the opposite direction and I was now in an area filled with many plots, some places had houses while others had unfinished buildings or just bare land.
I guess my intentions were to find some unfinished building were I could pass the night.
I knew the area but the furthest I went was the first phase where we usually bought charcoal for the mansion.
I was under an oak tree looking at the sky and wondering where I would go from there. Many cars passed along the gravel road and no one bothered to stop or to lower the window just to look at me. I guess a person like me would never be noticed.
I turned the sack bag upright and got my bible which I had placed on top so I could easily reach it. After closing the sack bag I turned it over again and I sat on it.
Just after saying a short prayer I opened my Bible randomly.
Deuteronomy 31:8
“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed”
It’s like heaven was smiling on me upon reading that scripture, I did not have a place to go or anyone I could lean on but those words alone were my source of comfort. I smiled to myself as I closed the bible.
“Life you can’t do anymore harm to me” I said to myself.
“Are you looking for a job” a man said to me as he parked just before me.
A black Mercedes Benz just like my uncles had parked before me and here I was staring at the man who had uttered those words.
“Sir are you talking to me?” I asked as my eyes focussed on him.
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