Not like Us

Chapter 9

" Nana, can I go back to the town? " Bella asked to her grandmother. She needed to ask permission so that she could use the car.

Lena looked at her. They were preparing to go to the farm. It was Monday morning and it was time to help the farmers in harvesting the fruits that were on season.

" Alone? What are you going to do there? "

Bella wore the straw hat that her grandmother gave to her last Saturday. She was wearing the same plaid long sleeves and the one piece jumper that she wore the last time. They were now walking towards the farm.

" Madam Lena! Bella! Good morning! "

The farmers were waving their hands as they were performing their work. Lena waved back. She nudged Bella's shoulder to do what she did, too. Bella waved her hand awkwardly to no specific person. As Bella looked up. She saw the steep hill where she and her grandmother used as a path. They were no houses there other than theirs. She looked around. They were a handful of numbers of farmers that were working on her grandmother.

" Where did they live, nana? " Bella asked.

She looked forward and she saw a moderately big wooden house. " Is that it? " she asked pointing to the house.

Her grandmother chuckled. " No, you silly. It is the storage room. "

" They live somewhere around here. They were houses not so far from here. Maybe around 100 meters. " Her grandmother added.

Her grandmother hurriedly went to it and opened it. As they went inside, it was quiet.

" Even if it is early in the morning, it is so dark out here, nana. You should ask someone to attach some light bulbs here. " Bella suggested.

" Soon, " her grandmother asked and grabbed something in the dark. It was a lamp fueled with gas. She lit some match and the small lamp illuminated some parts of the storage room. She walked to the area where the woven bamboo baskets were stacked. They were going to use it in harvesting.

" We already collected some fruits and vegetables the day before you arrived here. Aa soon as we are finish with the harvesting today we are going to load it in a truck and bring some to the town and to some other neighbouring towns, " her grandmother said.

" You could hitchhike with the truck to the town, " her grandmother suggested. She looked at her. That means she allowed her to go to the town but is she not kind enough to let hee borrow her car? Bella asked to herself.

Lena handed the bamboo baskets to Bella. " Where are the harvested fruits and vegetables? " Bella. It was really dark and the only area the lamp illuminated was the wooven baskets area.

Lena handed the last basket to Bella. " Here, " she directed Bella to a corner and she lit it with the lamp. She looked at Bella." The lamp could not illuminate all of it but it is a ton, " her grandmother proudly said.

" Uhm, nana? "

" Yes? " Lena was still looking at Bella.

Bella did not want to spoil her grandmother's happiness but she saw something. She did not know whether it was normal or not but she knew it was not. " Is it normal that there were crawling around the tomatoes? "

Her grandmother looked at Bella and immediately looked at the produce.

" Oh, oh, oh no, " she panickly reacted.

She put down the lamp and hurriedly went outside. " Brando, Kulas, come! " Her grandmother shouted from outside, panicking.

Bella grabbed the lamp and stepped back. She needed to secure the lamp to avoid an accident.

" What is the matter, madam? "

Bella heard from the outside.

" Get inside and separate the rotten produced to the healthy ones. Hurry! " Her grandmother commanded.

She saw two men went inside the room and she heard there were noises coming from the outside. Curious of what happened here.

Bella lit the area where they had found the issue. " Thank you, Miss Bella. " One of the man said. She made sure that the light was enough for the men to see and enough that they would not be able to hit her and the lamp.

They carried the wooden boxes outside the room. One by one until there were no boxes left inside the room. Bella was the one in charge with the lighting of pathways because she was the one holding the lamp. Half of the farmers helped with the carrying while the others were continuing what they were doing. It looked like they would become busy today.

The farmers were now divided with three jobs. Some were planting and maintaining the fruits, vegetables, crops, and other trees, while some were separating the rotten produced from the healthy ones, and some were harvesting produced that needs to be harvested.

Bella's grandmother was determined to finished all of the tasks today. She wanted to deliver it as soon as possible to the market of the town and to other neighbouring towns so they would not get rotten on their hands and since the weekdays were just started, a lot of people would buy their produce and their hardwork would pay off. However, it was still visible on her grandmother's face that she was disappointed of what happened.

" Nana, are you okay? " Bella asked as she walked near her grandmother. She was holding a basket full of sweet mangoes, champagne mangoes. It was heavy and her slender arms were not used to carrying heavy stuff but she endured it for her nana. She was helping with the harvesting. This was the only way she could help her.

Ever since she was a child, her grandmother always understands her. It was unfortunate that it took her ten years to be back to her. And right now, she was with her grandmother when her mother chose to give up on her. Her grandmother accepted her and let her be involved with the things her grandmother likes. She always checked up on her, too. Not like on the city, where she felt so alone even when she was having a fever her mother could not even notice her pretending she was fine but acted immediately of her younger half sister that cries for something so trivial. That was why she chose to be with friends. Party with them. Going home late at night to avoid her so called family. Be on hungover, to forget everything.

Her grandmother sighed. " Yeah, I am fine. I was just thinking how some of my beautiful produce became such a waste. If we had noticed it earlier, this would not happen. "

Bella put down the basket and went to her grandmother's back. She started massaging her shoulders. " No, it would not be, nana! You could use them as a fertilizer. " Bella suggested while smiling. " Through that you will have a healthier soil for your next batch of produce, " she continued.

Her grandmother smiled. " You always get to see the good of everything. It is nice to see you this way. "

Bella unsmiled when she made sure that her grandmother could not see her.it seemed impossible to be back to the way she was. She had neglected that part of her for how many years. It was already buried together with her happy memories ten years ago. It was buried so deep that she could not shovel it back.

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" I am sorry if you have not got the chance to go to the town. " Bella's grandmother apologized.

They were now at the house. The sun was already setting. They were supposed to only stay there for half a day but due to the unfortunate event they had no choice but to do over time.

" It is alright, nana. There is still tomorrow, " Bella replied as she put down the straw hat on the table and lay down on the couch on their living room. She rolled the plaid long sleeves and her jumper up. It was hot and it was sure a very tiring day. Her limbs were aching. She stretched both of her arms and legs and shook it a little to relieve the pain.

Bella looked at the clock that was hanged on the wall. She made sure that it was still working before concluding the time. It was already past 6.

Bella stood up and walked towards where her grandmother was. She was in the kitchen. Preparing their dinner.

" Why are you still dressed like that? Go now and take a bath. " Here grandmother commanded.

Bella looked at the clock again to make sure she did not count it wrong.

" It was already past 6, nana. Are you not going to do your evening prayer? I could take over, " she voluntarily suggested even if she was not good in cooking.

Her grandmother continued with what she was doing. " It is alright. I could do it at 9. You could sleep first at that time. "

Bella nodded and went back to where she was sitting. She looked at the window near the couch. She saw some streak of lights from outside. It looked like coming from a car.

" Are you expecting someone, nana? "

Her grandmother took a peek on her from the kitchen. " No one, why? "

Bella looked back at the window. There was really a car parking in front of the house.

" Someone is parking, " she replied. She could not see who was inside the car. It was tinted but for sure it is her mom or her husband.

" I am going to stay in my room, nana, " she said and hurriedly went upstairs to go to her room.

What were they upto now? Why were they back?

Bella lay on her bed, stomach facing the bed, and she covered herself with a sheet.

She could not hear what was happening below. It was quiet. Then it must not be her mother? So nana was really expecting someone?

She tried to take a peek from her door. She crawled on the ground to check who was grandmother's visitor.

The visitor looked up and saw her peeking. The visitor stood up, " Bella, " he called.

Bella stood up as well and patted herself to dust off the dirt that she got from the farm.

" Why are you here? " she asked in a cold voice. Her grandmother appeared from the kitchen and handed the visitor with a cold glass of water.

" I am here to get you. "

She rolled her eyes. " You do not need to. "

She walked back to her room but her grandmother called her, " Bella. "

Bella stopped and faced her grandmother who was in the living room. Bella softened her face and smiled. She wanted ro let her grandmother know that she was now already fine staying here.

" Your father wants to bring you back to the city, Bella. I know you really like that, " her grandmother said in an enthusiastic tone.

Bella looked at grandmother's smile. It was really genuine. Would she like it if she would go back to the city? Just by looking at her smile, I guess she would, Bella thought.

Bella heaved a sigh. " Fine, I will pack my things. "

Bella looked at her father. He sighed in relief. He thought he would need a lot of convincing to do in order to let her go with him.

" Eat a dinner here before you two go, " Lena offered.

She entered the kitchen and her smiling face turned into a sad one.