The Dangerous Widow

LIBERTY DAY

Morning would sweep in very quickly, followed by the heavy works of the prison. Many inmates had wished that the schedule would change slightly, that it was better to work in the afternoon than in the morning while others argued that it was better to work in the morning than afternoon. But unfortunately, the inmates had no say on what time was best to work.

Week after week the work was doubled. The inmates were driven to places where they would work the entire morning and later in the afternoon they would be driven to another site to do other services.

The inmates who were soon to be released were assigned to more labour. It was some sort of paying the last respect to the prison before been set free. The officers enjoyed it more to see the women in pain.

The day that the soon to be free inmates hoped for had finally knocked on the gates of the Brutal Army Prison. It was liberty day at the prison. The inmates who had completed their prison sentences were so excited to be finally going home after a long time. It was a day were women who had served 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years and 30 years in prison were finally going to walk free through the gates of the Brutal Army Prison without handcuffs on their hands or chains on their feet.

It was a time were one would see all sorts of smiles on the former inmates and seeing them dancing with different moves. They couldn't wait any longer to see their children, their husbands and their relatives. They couldn't wait to hug them all tightly and give them soft kisses on the hand and on the forehead. On the other hand, others just wanted to be out of the miserable place as soon as possible.

The former inmates were first accompanied to the dressing room to change into civilian clothes. Secondly, they were handed back any valuable items that were taken away from them when they first entered the prison: some were handed back their pursues and shoes while others received their phones. It was actually by luck that some of the items were handed back to their rightful owners. Most of the times the valuable items would either go missing or thrown away.

Natasha and Emily were also among the group of inmates receiving their liberty after years of torture. Natasha was receiving her liberty after 7 years and Emily was receiving her liberty after 9 years in prison.

Unfortunately, Martha was still serving her sentences of 30 years in prison for drug trafficking. And Catherine was still pressing down another 15 years behind bars for assassination.

Both the inmates and former inmates were given 30 minutes to say farewell to each other. The two groups gathered outside the building: hugging each other tightly, and wishing each other well for the life ahead of them.

The officers, nevertheless, were focusing on the activities between the two groups of women, making sure that nothing is been exchanged. The officers were more alert during this time.

Meanwhile, Natasha, Emily, Martha and Catherine also met to wish each other well.

Martha spoke in a soft voice, “You have been the best people that I have known through out my entire life. Of course I know that this is a prison and that some women deserve to be here while others don't. But the big picture is that you are the best.

“We have gathered here to not only say farewell but to also remind ourselves of the promise we made to our friend, Catherine. Let us remain loyal to her and help in anyway possible to find the person that murdered her beloved husband. It is certainly clear that the police will not do anything about it. They concluded on the first false evidence they obtained. And that is the reason why Catherine ended up in this cruel place.

“If in the process of finding the killer, we face a situation of going against the law, we have to do it. Not until we bring that person to their knees and plead for mercy we will not rest.”

Martha turned to Catherine swiftly, she said, “As you can see, these two are going out through that gate. You know your world. Give them your instructions. But I'm afraid you have to do it by mouth because the officers are watching us like hawks.”

“Alright,” Catherine began. “Firstly, you have to book a taxi to Bob's store. It's a blue retail with a huge signage that reads: BOB SALES. You will go to Bratnom City . His store address is 213-JJ street.”

Catherine paused and said, “What did I say the address is?”

“213-JJ street in Bratnom City,” replied Natasha with confidence.

“Good. Do not forget the address. Once you get to him, tell him that I have sent you. Tell him that you are my friends. Perhaps, he might not believe you because he might be protecting my identity. If he denies me, tell him this: Cathy has sent us here. He is the only one who calls me with that nickname, to be honest I hate that nickname. Anyway, he is sure to accommodate you.

“After you are accommodated, you are to begin the first three phases of this operation: finding the killer. Phase one is gathering much information about the general of this facility. From there, that information will be used to carry out phase two: getting me out. Once I'm out we will proceed to phase three: finding the killer.”

Natasha quickly inquired, “What about our fare from here to Bob's store? We hardly have any money.”

Martha pulled out some cash from her pocket. She wanted to pass the money to Natasha without an officer suspecting a thing. In order to do that, Martha hugged Natasha with her hands right below Natasha’s head and slipped the money into her shirt.

Martha explained, “I have been saving that money for this exact occasion. Don't ask me where it came from, because I won't answer you. This will be more than enough for the both of you. Make sure to tuck in your shirt nicely otherwise the money will drop to the ground.”

Catherine added, “And yes. Pass my greetings to Bob but do not inform him of this plan. Good luck ladies.”

Natasha quickly tucked in her shirt neatly.

Their 30 minutes was up and a siren sounded. There was a separation between the inmates like a magnet attracting metal pins from pebbles.

The former inmates walked happily towards the gate while the other group walked back timidly to their cells.

Meanwhile, Natasha and the other former inmates were standing face to face with the one thing which was separating them from liberty: the big black gate. Moments later, the gate opened widely and slowly. The women watched it as it opened widely.

General Rebecca was standing with her hands behind her back, near the gate just beside some officers. She spoke, “Go now. You are free from hell.”

Natasha gazed at General Rebecca in disgust while walking out. Natasha was never going to forget the torture that she had gone through in the General Rebecca’s hands. Indeed, it was a relief to be free from that kind of hell and torture.

Soon, their feet touched the ground outside the prison. The sweet relief ran deeply through their veins. Almost immediately the former inmates walked away in different directions as free women ready to conquer the life ahead of them.

The gate was immediately shut.

Natasha and Emily were still standing in front of the gate. They breathed in the fresh air, it was cool and fresh. It did not smell of any rats or cockroaches or choking smoke. They looked around the beautiful environment, it was like they had been in prison for centuries and centuries that they had forgotten what some things looked like. Everything looked amazing from their points of view: vehicles driving in opposite directions, green plants and flowers, green trees, tall buildings and skyscrapers.

Emily wondered aloud, “Are we really out?”

Natasha smiled. She had a beautiful smile on her face. Her face shone with excitement, blood was rushing through her veins, her heart beating softly.

She replied, “Yes, Emily. We are finally out.”

They hugged each other tightly and laughed aloud like insane people. Pedestrians who walked by wondered to themselves if Natasha and Emily were crazy.

Natasha sighed deeply, “Now we look for a taxi.”

Emily walked towards the tarred road, raised her hand high signalling for a taxi while Natasha removed the money which was slipped into her shirt earlier and shoved it into her pocket. Few moments later, a taxi drove towards them and parked right beside them.

They quickly jumped into the car.

Natasha instructed the taxi driver thoughtfully, “Please drive us to Bratnom City at 213-JJ street.”

“Very well,” came the reply from the driver. The car began to move.

Natasha and Emily were acting like children; looking out the window and pointing to the tall skyscrapers in excitement and admired it's features and modern design.

They would point out to the features and say, “Wow! Look at the size of that window! It's really big!” “How about that one? It's glorious!” “And look at the billboard, wow!”

The taxi driver watched in silence on the mirror. He had no idea that Natasha and Emily spent more than 5 years behind bars and that they hardly saw buildings as beautiful as the ones they were currently admiring. He only glanced at them and smiled.

The taxi drove for few hours. They could see the sun moving with them. It was slowly been disguised by the colourful ray of orange. It was almost evening. When they arrived at their destination, the car came to a gentle stop.

When the taxi driver turned to announce their arrival, he thought he was going to find them fast asleep. As he turned his head, he saw his passengers wide awake, not a drowse on their faces. He was puzzled but happy that he was not going to disturb their nap.

“We are here!” the taxi driver announced.

Natasha looked outside the window and scanned thoroughly for Bob’s store. It took her a while to spot the signage on Bob’s store.

She whispered to Emily, “I'm sure this must be the place. I came see a huge signage on that store,” she pointed.

Natasha pulled out some money from her pocket and handed it to the taxi driver.

“Thank you,” Natasha said aloud.

They got out of the car and made their way to the store.

On their way to the store, they saw vendors on the roadside advertising products. The vendors used a megaphone to make themselves heard by customers who were afar. The megaphone the vendors used reminded Natasha and Emily about the megaphone back at the Brutal Army Prison.

Natasha and Emily walked into Bob's store. It was not parked with customers as they thought it would be. There was soothing music playing in the background as the customers shopped.

Natasha shifted her eyes from one person to another. She did not know what Bob looked like hence she wanted to ask someone for help.

While rolling her eyes, Natasha spotted a man at the back of the counter counting money. She promptly walked to him. The man at the counter was Bob but Natasha did not know it. When Bob saw her approaching, he closed the cash register, put on a friendly smile.

“How are you, sir?” Natasha greeted calmly.

“I'm fine thank you. How are you?” Bob replied cheerfully. It was a warm and friendly reply.

“I'm fine. Can you please help us?” Natasha requested.

“What can I do for you?” Bob asked. He paid attention.

“We need to find Bob,” Natasha responded.

Bob's eyes popped out, he was a little scared. He rolled his eyes swiftly to Emily, Emily smiled at him. He looked at the door and finally looked back at Natasha. He hesitated to answer because he thought there was trouble.

Then he replied timidly, “I'm Bob. Sorry I'm not wearing my name tag. Is there any problem?”

Natasha exclaimed, “Oh, how wonderful! No. Don't worry. We come in peace. We have been sent here by Catherine.”

“What do you mean? Which Catherine are taking about” Bob acted surprised.

Emily stepped forward and spoke, “Catherine Anderson. The one you nicknamed Cathy.”

“Isn't she in prison? How then did she ask you to come here?”

Natasha promptly replied, “True. She is in prison. We were with her in prison. We were released this morning. Unfortunately, she is still serving another 15 years.

Natasha continued, “This morning she asked us to visit you. She told us that you are her good friend and that you would surely accommodate us. We might spend a night or two before we disappear to our final destination. By the way, she asked us to pass her sincerest greetings.”

Bob had a bright smile on his face. “How is she doing?”

“She's managing,” Natasha replied.

“Are you sure you are not imposters pretending to be Cathy’s friends?” Bob mumbled.

“We wouldn't do such a thing,” they both responded.

Bob stared at them curiously, from their nice colourful shoes, black trousers and all the way to their tight T-shirts.

“What do they call you?” Bob inquired.

Natasha replied as she tapped her chest, “I'm Natasha.”

“And I'm Emily.”

Bob spoke, “If I happen to find out that you are imposters, I will surely call the police.”

Natasha replied with a smile, “You can rest assured that there will be no such thing. We are who we say we are.”

“Can I offer you anything?” Bob insisted.

“Some snacks and water will do,” Natasha replied.

Bob rushed to the snacks section and picked up four biscuits with different flavours. He turned to the beverages and picked up two bottles of strawberry juice and two bottles of water.

He pulled out two chairs and a picnic table from the storage room and placed them beside the counter. Natasha and Emily sat down while Bob served them on the picnic table.

Natasha and Emily began to chew through the flavoured biscuits and washed the biscuits down with the cold beverages. The flavoured biscuits tickled the taste buds on their tongue. It had been long since they tasted something sweet and crunchy. It had also been long since they quenched down their thirst with ice cold water from a bottle. Indeed freedom tasted sweeter than they expected.

They saw customers enter and leave the store. They saw customers carrying heavy shopping baskets over to the counter and Bob counting the groceries, later he would put the groceries in a plastic and out the customer would go.

Natasha was impressed with the way customers were buzzing in and out of the store.

She spoke enthusiastically, “I see business is booming.”

Bob smirked and spoke, “Its funny for you to say that. This is nothing. In my opinion, business has really gone down. Few years ago you would see this place all filled up that it was difficult for me to handle everything by myself.”

“Why? What happened?” Natasha wondered.

“Slowly the store is losing money and it's value.”

“Why don't you get a loan from a bank? Don't they offer loans anymore? Natasha inquired eagerly.

“I wish I could do that immediately. In fact that would be the last place I would go to, but unfortunately, I still have an unpaid loan of K1.5 million.”

“K1.5 million?” Natasha and Emily gasped.

Bob explained, “The bank says that I will only be granted another loan when I pay back my current one. So right now I'm squeezing all that I have to try and save this place.”

Natasha spoke, “That's quite a bright attitude you have. You are in debt, your store is literally dangling but you still manage to keep your head way high. I'm very impressed. I now understand why Catherine was so fortunate to have a friend like you.”

Bob had a sad expression on his face for several seconds. He then checked his wrist watch and announced, “It's getting late. We have to go home before darkness strikes.”

With their stomachs all filled up, they stood up. Bob instructed, “Wait for me outside, I'll grab some groceries and the keys.”

Natasha and Emily went outside the store. It was dark but not very dark. You could see where you are going. Later Bob stormed out of his store and locked it.

They walked to Bob's house. It wasn't very far. It took them about an hour to reach the house.

When they entered the house, Bob accompanied them to the guest room and gave them a quick tour of his house.

Natasha began, “I thought we would find your wife here.”

Bob replied, “We divorced years back. I manage everything here on my own. I'm the cook and the store owner at the same time. It gets kind of lonely at times. But now that you are here, It's different, the house is a bit noisy. If you know what I mean.” He laughed quietly.

Emily spoke, “I have noticed that the neighbourhood is very quiet.”

Bob looked outside the window and replied, “You are right. It is very quiet. At times I get scared to death. Most of my neighbours went on vacation and won't be back anytime soon. That is why I mentioned that it gets lonely around here: No one to talk to or someone to share some trending gossip.”

Natasha asked, “So for how long have you known Catherine?”

“Quite a long time. I was there at her graduation and her wedding. I was also going to be there at her house when she adopted. But...” There was silence, he continued, “Anyway, make yourselves comfortable. Diner will be ready soon.”

Natasha refused, “Actually, I'm too tired and my stomach cannot take anymore food right now. It's better I take a quick shower and sleep. I will see you in the morning.”

Emily added, “Me too. I can't feel my stomach.”

After taking a quick hot showers they retired to bed. Bob made himself a simple diner of pasta and ate. He also retired to bed soon after his dinner.