CHAPTER SEVEN
1526 Words
Saturday was a clean up day in my house. We deep cleaned, washed, arranged and rearranged, swept, gathered and burnt the fallen dry leaves, etcetera. Mum had woken up before me and she had already started cleaning the house. Before I came out of my room, she had finished cleaning her room, the kitchen and she was cleaning the guest bathroom when I greeted her.
“Good morning, mum.”
“Morning dear,” she said, cleaning the sweat on her face with a handkerchief, “how was your sleep?”
“It was fine mum.”
“Cleaned your room yet?”
“Nope. I wanted to greet you and drink coffee before I start cleaning.”
“Get on with it then.”
I drank my coffee and proceeded to clean my room. When I was done, I cleaned the living room and the dining. My mum and I swept the veranda together and did the laundry together. We were done with everything in two hours. I went up to bathe and so did my mum. I decided to make breakfast that day since I hadn't done so in a long time. I decided to make fried yam and egg sauce with vanilla custard. Uncle Ezekiel stopped by to see us, he came with coconut bread and chocolate spread. Mum's favorite snack. Breakfast was served and we dined together. Uncle Ezekiel began to tell us about his little garden in his backyard. He complained to mum that the pumpkin leaves were giving him a reason to worry. His tomatoes were doing just fine, and his peppers had begun to ripen. I asked if I could see his garden when I visit next and he agreed.
“Of course I'd love to show you my small creation. In the near future, I'd love to grow the food that I eat.”
“Interesting,” mum said, “I look forward to seeing that. If you need help, Tura and I are more than willing to help.” Our conversation was interrupted by a loud banging on the door.
“Who's there?” Uncle said, anger in his voice. He rushed to the door and opened it wide. He was answered with a strong punch on his face and he fell. I looked outside and it was my father. He was panting and sweating and saying things I couldn't understand. He was drunk, as usual.
“What are you doing with my wife? You're the one who told her to divorce me. I'm sure of it. You're not taking her away from me, she's mine!”
Uncle Ezekiel didn't fight him, he just stood up and tried to close the door but my father was too stubborn. My uncle continued dodging his blows until the police arrived. My mother had called the police. They arrested him and asked my mum if she wanted to press charges and she declined.
“We need to move.”
“Mum, we don't have to go anywhere. I can't leave my school and my friends behind.”
“We're not safe here Tura.”
“Then why didn't you press charges?!”
Mum went silent.
“Why, mum?”
“I don't know, Tura. I guess I didn't want to go through all the stress. Getting a lawyer, paying the lawyer, appearing in court, I didn't want to do all of that.”
“I understand mum, I apologize for yelling mum.”
“It's fine Tura.”
“Mum, we don't need to go anywhere. Let's stay here, everything we care about is here. My school, your business, uncle Ezekiel. We don't run away from our problems mum, we face them.”
“You're right, Tura. I got scared for a moment, that's all. I need to rest my eyes.”
“Go ahead mum, I'll go to the market.”
“I'll go with her, dear.”
“No, uncle. Stay with mum, just in case. I'll be fine on my own, the market is a busy place. I'll be safe.”
Mum wrote down what we needed in the house on a piece of paper, and off I went. The market was really busy; sellers shouting, customers bargaining, knives cutting through meat, goats bleating, babies crying on their mother's back and people struggling to pass. It took me almost two hours to finish shopping. I rented a tricycle home because of the number of things I bought at the market. It was a bumpy and windy ride. I called my mum to inform her that I was close to the house. She and uncle Ezekiel were waiting at the gate when I arrived. They helped me take everything inside the house while I paid the driver for his service.
“Miriam is in your room Tura, I think she's sleeping.” Mum said
“Okay mum. Thank you.” I went to my room and indeed, she was asleep. I bathed as quietly as I could because I didn't want to wake her. It didn't work, for she was awake when I came out of the bathroom.
“Hey girl, sorry for waking you.”
“It's fine love, it's not your fault that I'm a light sleeper. Your mum told me what happened this morning. How're you?”
“I'm fine. I was really scared when he came, I thought he had a weapon on him, thankfully he didn't. I'm worried about mum, though.”
“Don't be. She'll be fine babes, she has you, uncle Ezekiel, me and my parents.”
“That's true.”
“So, tell me, how was your date yesterday?”
“I knew you'd ask,” I said laughing, “it went well.”
“That's it? Give me the details gurl.”
“Fine. We really didn't do much, or say much, I was very time conscious, but, our time together was worth it and I look forward to spending time together again.”
“Awwww.”
I told her about the shoes he got me, how he waited until I was done with my shift so that he could take me home and I showed her the things he got for me.
“Tura, this Jaden guy is really serious. It doesn't feel like friendship to me anymore, I feel like he wants more.”
“He hinted at it.”
“Really? What did he say?”
“Trisha kept talking about how cute he was so when she asked if we were dating, I said yes.”
“Okay… go on.”
“Trisha asked him and I dunno what he told her but I think he said yes too. On our way home, he asked why I told her we were dating. I told him something totally different and when I apologized, he said that I didn't have to because he likes it. He went ahead to ask if there's a possibility that he would be my boyfriend.”
“Omg, what did you say?”
“I told him that I didn't know, then, he said he thinks it's possible.”
“Girllll!”
“I know! He got a pretty scarf for mum too.”
“If he pops the question one day, will you say yes?”
“Maybe, I dunno.”
“Sounds like a yes to me.”
“Whatever. We're going out again tomorrow so I'll need your help with my outfit.”
“At your service, madame.”
We did our assignments, wrote our essays, talked about the adventures we would love to go to, and how our kids were going to be close friends. Miriam left my house in the evening by six o'clock. By seven, mum and I began to prepare for our weekly ritual: karaoke night. We shifted the table in the center of the living room to the back of the chairs so that we could have a dance floor. We sang and danced to Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia by ABBA. We decided to watch a movie after our karaoke. Mum wanted horror and I wanted romance so, we played rock, paper, scissors to choose and I won. We watched Titanic and my mum cried throughout the movie.
“What a sad story.” She said, when we were done watching.
“But you've heard the story before.”
“Yeah, but I hadn't seen the movie. Hearing and seeing are two different things.”
“Yes, mum.”
We cleared the living room, brought the table back to it's rightful place, washed the dishes and went to bed. I texted Jaden and he replied almost immediately. He told me how he'd been waiting for me to call or text
Me: why didn't you call?
Jaden: I didn't want to bug you.
Me: that's a lame excuse.
Jaden: fine, you caught me.
Me: what really happened?
Jaden: something came up Daisy, I'll tell you when we meet tomorrow.
Me: something happened today too.
Jaden: really? Tell me.
Me: I'll tell you tomorrow when we meet.
Jaden: haha, goodnight Daisy.
Me: goodnight Jaden.
- Writer
