You See Me

Chapter 11: Max

Sweat pours down my face as I chop some more wood. I take a deep breathe and wipe my forehead. Munya gives me a look as I take more wood. Then puts his hand on my shoulder.

“Shouldn’t you be watching my sister?” He asks me. I pause.

“She’s doing kitchen duty,” I tell him. “She can’t get into any mischief around the other ladies helping them cook,” Munya sighs at my response.

“Look< I just said that so that you take a break. You’ve been at these tasks since the crack of dawn. And usually you use my sister as a reason to get out of manual labor…”

“Don’t talk like you know me,” I growl. Munya sighs and continues chopping wood.

“Neither me nor the wood did you any wrong,” he tells me under his breathe. I sigh and sit on the grass. The manual labor is getting my mind off the information that I got a few nights ago from my mother. We continue to chop the wood in silence and then Munya leaves to do something else. I continue to chop the wood. The dull thud of the wood splitting in two and falling to the ground. My lungs begin to feel with fire…like what it must be like when you’re in a burning house and you can’t breath. And you can’t understand what’s going on, that your life is about to end and it’s all because some inebriated jerk…I feel the world around me begin to turn and disappear.

*****

I wake up shivering. I look around and try to get up. I groan as my body resists the movement.

“Stay down,” Munya tells me. “We’re just about to drive you to the doctor,”

“I’m fine,” I cough and try to get up but end up groaning and leaning back into the bed. “I’ll just rest a bit, maybe I chopped too much wood,”

“This is not work that someone who is not used to the conditions can do and push themselves you know,” Munya says. Dr.Nadine walks into the room. I realise that I’m in the hut on my bed at that moment.

“Can you walk?” Dr.Nadine asks me. I raise myself despite the pain and nod. She sighs and looks concerned. “Munya please help him to the vehicle,” I try to protest but Munya lifts me up, almost effortlessly.

“I was a paramedic in London, you’re in good hands,” he tells me. I sigh. This is humiliating. There’s a car parked right outside the hut. Munya puts me in the passenger seat and Dr.Nadine takes the wheel. To my surprise Lilith is seat at the back.

“Are you happy with yourself?” She asks me dryly. I look at her.

“Not now,” I groan. Dr.Nadine begins to drive, not bothering to explain why Lilith is there. The clinic that we drive to looks like an abandoned bungalow. Everything is dusty and the nurses on duty look cranky and like they have bills and not enough money to pay them. Dr. Nadine helps m out of the truck and we seat by some benches that have seen better days. I’m honestly skeptical if anyone here can actually help me. Inside there is a doctor who’s coat has seen better days. This place reeks of poverty. I sigh. The doctor sits me down on the patient’s table. He examines me for five minutes.

“You’re dehydrated and worn out,” he tells me in a thick accent. He tells Dr.Nadine my prescription and says that I need bedrest for the next three days. And that I should take the medication twice a day. Dr. Nadien helps me back to the vehicle where Lilith is visibly sulking.

“We just need order some medication…” Dr. Nadine begins to explain to Lilith.

“We need to order medication all the way from Harare for the entitled rich prick that was having a temper tantrum….”

“And his dear blind friend will be taking care of him while he is on bedrest for the next three days,”Dr. Nadine tells Lilith. Lilith scowls.

“Excuse me?”

“Well, everyone at Kufunda needs to earn their room and board and this is a shift in the way that you’ll be earning hers for the next three days,” Dr.Nadine continues sweetly with the indirect threat that Lilith can’t continue to stay at the village unless she follows instructions. That keeps Lilith quiet as we drive back to Kufunda. Munya is waiting and helps me back to the hut and into bed. There’s food waiting for me. Rice and chicken. Munya leaves me to eat with Lilith. He’s gotten used to the fact that she doesn’t want her near him I’m guessing or maybe he also received an indirect threat like Lilith if he didn’t give Lilith her space. Dr.Nadine is a little scary. I finish eating then take my medication. I lie back to sleep. Something hard, metallic and cold hits my face as I close my eyes.

I jolt away and groan, pain searing through my abs.

“What the f**k?” I cry. Lilith threw her spoon at my face.

“Bullseye,” Lilith says triumphantly.

“Look I’m sick right now. Give me a break,” I tell her. Lilith rolls her eyes and lies back into the reed mat that Munya set down for her.

“Did you give yourself a break when you were chopping that wood to exhaustion?” She asks me. I sigh. “Didn’t we already have a talk about dealing with whatever crap that you’re going through without breaking down? We’re all dealing with crap,”

“Can you just f*****g shut up and leave me the hell alone for once!” I yell at her. Lilith pauses in shock. I lie back in the bed and try to get some sleep. Too tired to feel bad at having yelled at her.

“f**k you,” Lilith tells me, but doesn’t throw anymore stuff my way.

To my chagrin I find out that Lilith will be sleeping in the same hut as me until I feel better. Apparently Dr.Nadine thought that she was killing two birds with one stone by keeping us together. She has me keeping an eye on Lilith and Lilith making sure that I’m okay. That means that Munya must be sleeping the same hut as Karen for now. It would be cool if they linked up and I got Karen off my back. I sit up from my bed and see Lilith sleeping on the floor. Her eyes are closed and she almost looks angelic while she’s sleeping. For a moment I feel a pang of guilt. I shouldn’t have yelled at her. I don’t need to hurt any more people than I already have.

“Lilith,” I call out. I call her name two more times until she stirs. “I’m sorry that I yelled at you. You didn’t deserve that even though you’re really impossible sometimes. I guess I’m just a bad guy no matter how much of a nice guy I try to be. Nothing I do will ever be able to atone for the things that I have done,” I begin to rabble on. Lilith does not open her eyes. Then she sighs and sits up.

“Just give yourself a break while you’re here okay? No one knows who you were and what you did when you weren’t here. So instead of chopping wood to death, take a nap by the river. You’re less likely end up at the clinic unless you meet an unfriendly snake,” she tells me. I sigh, then feel myself begin to choke up. I can’t let her know that I feel like crying. I take a deep breathe.

“Thanks,” I manage to get out in the best voice I can manage. I turn back into the bed and let the tears flow as silently as I can get them to.