You See Me

Chapter 6: Lilith

For once Munya has done me a big favour. I don’t like the idea of having someone constantly looking after me, especially someone that I never asked to do that, but it’s better than having Munya near me. I guess it works in my favour that the person is Max and I am also working for the money that Patrick promised to send me weekly as well.

This week were are working on building a sustainable garden. In the morning we wake up extra early and head to the fields. Karen leads me there by the hand because I’m still quite sleepy and the sense that I use to navigate using my cane are not yet fully awake. We start by tilling the land and start to form garden beds.

“Hey Lilith,” I hear the Asian call my name. He’s the Asian when I’m not in a good mood. “I’m going to hold your arm and help you till straight lines because you have been going kind of crooked,” he tells me. I scowl.

“I just haven’t woken up properly…” I tell him.

“Well the girls that has been following the lines that you have been doing is starting to look annoyed,” he tells me. I freeze and let him lead me as we till the lines. We finish in silence after about an hour and starts to dig holes and plant seeds. I take my cane and start to walk back to the village. I feel my hands are dirty and probably getting cracked.

When arrive back I get a bucket of water then feel someone put their hands over mine. It’s Max again. He’s really taking this favour to Munya seriously. I splash him annoyed with water.

“I can wash my own bloody hands!” I tell him.

“Hey! Some of the dirt is in your nails and you can’t see that that’s why I was trying to help…”Max begins.

“I’ve survived this long without you, I think I can survive a bit longer,” I snap. It seems to work because he moves away. A few moment later I hear his footsteps again.

“I’ve got a towel…I come in peace…”Max tells me. I take the towel that he hands me. He sits besides me. I roll my eyes, he’s getting too comfy doing that. “I’m sorry if I offended you earlier in the field. I was trying to help, but I guess that it was really condescending in the end,”

I scowl at him and get up. “You can watch me from a distance if you so please. But I don’t need you close to me okay?” I walk away to look for some mazhanje. I find a tree nearby and begin to hit the tree with my cane. They begin to fall and some hit me on the head. I sit down by the tree and begin to eat the ones that I can feel around for.

I hear someone scream and say something in Shona close to me and then foreign hands grab me, lift me up and run. They are the hands of a woman that I don’t know. From what I can feel she must be fat and an adult.

“Let go of me!” I scream. I hear footsteps surround me and a bunch of women start to coo over me. I’m beginning to realise that something bad must have nearly happened.

“What happened?” I hear Dr. Nadine ask and walk up to wherever I am. I try to get up but then find myself back down with numerous hands patting me down.

One of the women explain in Shona that I had been sitting underneath a tree and a poisonous snake had been about to creep up on me. That I shouldn’t be left to wander alone. It’s dangerous when I can’t see animals that can kill me. I sigh. Dr. Nadine lifts me up and takes me to her office. I sit there and she offers me some biscuits. Before she can talk there’s a knock on the door.

“Good, Max is here,” Dr. Nadine says. “Please sit,” Max sits on the chair next to me.

“We’ve had a situation here and it’s very clear that Lilith needs someone to watch over all the time. The rest of us in the village have our duties and we can’t do that all the time but what your role is is not yet defined,”

“I have no issue watching over Lilith if she’s okay with it,” Max says.

“I don’t need to be looked after…”I begin but then Dr. Nadine clears her throat irritatedly.

“You could have been killed by a snake right now and guess what, if we had managed to rush you to medical care you wouldn’t have been able to describe what the snake looked like so that we could give you the anti-venom,” Dr. Nadine tells me. I stop talking and keep quiet. “I’m sorry to say it like this Lilith but without this arrangement we might not be able to accommodate you here anymore if it puts your life at risk,”

I keep quiet. I resist the sting of tears in my eyes and nod. “Okay, what does having a caretaker imply?”

“This isn’t an attack on you Lilith. I know it’s frustrating but we care and we can’t put you in danger. Having Max as your caretaker will mean that you can’t travel anywhere without him. He doesn’t have to do everything for you but think of him as your new best friend,” Dr. Nadine tells me. I imagine the Asian smirking and thinking that I had just tried to avoid the inevitable. I sigh and agree to whatever. We leave the office after that. Max has to lead me out because my cane was left behind at the mazhanje tree. The ladies that saved me killed the snake so Max goes back and takes my cane from underneath the tree while I wait seated on a bench in front of Dr. Nadine’s office.

“Here you go,” Max says and sits next to me. “Hey, I know that you’re upset about this entire arrangement but we could end up being good friends,”

“Whatever. I doubt that you thought you’d be babysitting a blind girl when you came here,” I tell him. “I’m going to take a nap. I suppose you need to check my room for any critters,”

Max does check my room for anything. Karen is there reading a book and I can tell that she’s happy to see him and nearly doesn’t show enough concern when she finds out I was nearly bite by a snake. She encourages Max to stay longer but he says he has to go so that I can take my nap in peace.

“So Max will be around us a lot more often,” Karen says excitedly when he leaves. I sigh.

“My life flashed before me when I nearly got killed by a snake thanks for asking,” I tell her drolly. She blushes.

“Are you okay?” She asks after a moment. I roll my eyes.

“I now have an adult babysitter and am stuck being followed by some weird guy,”

“He’s not weird. He’s so…”

“Yes, pretty privilege, he is exempt from all negative characteristics because he’s hot apparently. Let me take my nap now,” I get into my blankets and close my eyes but Karen keeps on talking excitedly. This is going to be more unbearable than I initially thought.

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