Ruth:From Farm To Queen

Chapter 8: The Deleted Files

The next morning, Ruth came to Sapele Road early.

She came by 7am, before everybody. She wore the same blue gown, but she ironed it well. She carried her small faded bag, and inside the bag was a small notebook where she had written everything David taught her yesterday.

"How to turn on laptop."

"How to open email."

"How to type and save."

She practiced in her room till 2am.

When she entered the office, everywhere was still dark. She turned on the light, sat on her table, and opened the silver laptop herself. She remembered the button.

The laptop came on.

Ruth smiled. Small victory.

She started working. David had given her a task - to type the names of 50 village girls from Ugonoba and other villages that will get the scholarship. She typed with one finger, slowly but carefully.

By 8:30am, she had typed 20 names.

Then staff started coming in. Tonia came in last, wearing a fine short skirt and smelling perfume.

When Tonia saw Ruth already working, she hissed.

"You came early to impress Oga? Village people and eye service."

Ruth did not answer. She just kept typing.

By 10am, David called for a meeting. All staff gathered in the conference room.

"Good morning everyone. Our first village outreach will be next week at Ugonoba. Ruth will lead it. Tonia, you will help her with the presentation slides."

Tonia smiled fake. "Yes sir."

After meeting, Ruth went back to her table to continue her work. But when she opened her laptop, the file was gone.

The 20 names she typed - gone.

Her heart beat fast. "Where is my file? I saved it as 'Village Girls List'."

She searched everywhere. Trash, documents, everywhere. Nothing.

Tonia was watching from her table, pressing her phone.

"Ah, maybe you did not save it well na. You know, village girl and laptop no be friend," Tonia said loud enough for everyone to hear.

Two other staff laughed small.

Ruth's eyes wanted to bring tears, but she held it. She remembered David's words - "They will laugh at you, but one day they will clap for you."

She took a deep breath and started typing again from beginning.

What she did not see was that Tonia had opened her laptop when Ruth went to the bathroom in the morning and deleted the file. And Tonia had already sent a video to Vanessa - video of Ruth searching for her file with a crying face.

Vanessa replied: "Good job. Delete her files everyday. Frustrate her. I will send your 50k tonight."

Tonia smiled.

Ruth typed again. This time she typed 35 names before lunch. Her finger was paining her, but she did not stop.

David came out of his office to go for lunch and saw her still typing.

"Ruth, you have not gone for lunch?"

"Boss, I am almost done. My file deleted this morning so I am retyping."

David frowned. He looked at her laptop, then looked at Tonia who quickly looked away.

He understood.

He did not shout. He just went back to his office and called the IT boy.

"Emeka, come. I want you to recover deleted files from Ruth's laptop and also check who touched her system this morning from CCTV."

Emeka nodded.

By 2pm, Emeka brought report.

"Sir, the file was deleted by 7:45am. The person used Tonia's login."

David's face turned hard. He knew.

But he did not fire Tonia immediately. He had a better plan.

He called Ruth to his office.

"Ruth, you have worked hard. You typed 35 names. Good. But I want you to go home now. Rest. Tomorrow is Ugonoba outreach. You need strength."

"But sir, I have not finished..."

"You have finished. I have saved your work already in my system."

Ruth was surprised. "You saved it?"

David smiled. "I always backup my Field Manager's work."

Ruth did not know David was lying to protect her. He had retyped nothing, he just wanted to stop Tonia from tormenting her more today.

As Ruth packed her bag to go home, Tonia whispered to another staff, "See her, Oga's favorite. Let's see how she will do presentation in Ugonoba without knowing English."

Ruth heard it. She paused at the door.

For the first time, she did not cry.

She looked at Tonia and said calmly, "Tonia, I may not know how to speak big English like you. But I know how to speak the language of hunger. Those girls in Ugonoba will understand me more than you. So I will do my presentation well."

Then she walked out.

The whole office was silent. Even Tonia was shocked that the village girl talked back.

In his glass office, David smiled proudly.

His village girl was growing.

But on w******p, Vanessa just sent another message to Tonia: "If she goes to Ugonoba, make sure she disgraces herself there. I have plan."

The battle was not over. It had just moved from office to village.