Hannah's Prize

Chapter 5-1

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Hannah Campbell walked carefully along the road. It was evening and darkness was gradually encroaching. She had no wristwatch, but the clock had struck half past five o"clock when she left home. Feeling through the pockets of her coat, she searched for the gloves she kept there. She found them and put them on. Still feeling cold, she buttoned her coat. That day was the coldest of that week. The temperature could be as low as three degrees centigrade, from her guess. They did not have a thermometer at home. If the temperature dropped lower than this, it could start snowing. She needed to deliver this message fast.

She would rather be anywhere than doing this particular chore. This was because Dad had given her two older sisters and her strict instructions not to leave home. And she was still on her way to deliver a message to Dad. It was a terrifying thing to do because she may receive a hard beating from him at the end of it all, but she would still do it. She would rather take his beatings than face her two elder sisters, Mabel and Julia, who had obliged her to deliver this message. Mabel and Julia were on the verge of unnerving her.

Just that morning, she was woken by a cup of cold water splashed all over her by Mabel. Julia stood by laughing. While she coiled up on her bed shivering, Mabel had fumed at how lazy she was. She woke up late when she was supposed to be the first to wake every morning. Like she was their servant! She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and saw that it was half past eight o"clock. That meant Dad had gone to work. Their four younger ones had also left for school.

And she was up late because Mabel told her to wash Dad’s clothes that he needed to wear in the upcoming days. This was supposed to be Mabel’s chore. But like every one of Mabel and Julia’s other chores, she had also pushed this to her.

She had started washing the clothes: soaking them for an hour, scrubbing, and then boiling them. When she was done, she hung them indoors. There was a new invention in town for washing, called a washing machine. However, like many other things they lacked at home, this was also among them. But they weren’t the only ones that didn’t have such a thing. Only the rich citizens had washing machines.

That morning, Mabel had told Julia and her that she wanted them to have a meeting.

“Julia,” Mabel had started, “either Dad lets us leave home and get jobs, or I’m running away. I won’t be kept a prisoner.”

Julia had glanced down at her dress. “I hate this. I appear low and poor among my friends. I need a change. Now, supposing I get a job, I’d be able to buy whatever I want.”

“I’m twenty-two and you are twenty, Julia,” Mabel shot out. “Shouldn’t you be more concerned about getting married than such things as dresses? Most of your friends are married, Jul.”

“I’m not like any of my friends and I have a life I planned for myself.”

They had continued on until Mabel declared the meeting over. Then Mabel told Hannah what was needed of her. Go to the train station where Dad worked and deliver this message. The message was: it is time he allow Julia and Mabel to leave home and get jobs.

“And say it like you came up with the idea yourself,” Mabel ordered. “I do not want Dad to hold us responsible if you make a mistake. That is still the reason I want you to go to his workplace and deliver the message.”

Hannah nodded.

“Start up your chores at once. You deliver the message when all chores are done,” Mabel added.

She had slowly climbed down from her bed, changed her damp clothes and started her chores for the day. This included cleaning the entire house, washing dishes, attending to the chickens they reared for meat in their backyard and making lunch. After lunch, she washed the plates again. At about half past five o"clock, she was done and ready to go to Dad’s place of work to deliver the message.

She was a maiden of eighteen. It wasn’t proper that she was outside home without company when darkness was encroaching. Her reputation could be at stake. A man could molest her. There were such men hanging about everywhere and they mostly strike when dark. Mabel and Julia, however, cared nothing about this.

Mabel and Julia also failed to understand the reason Dad wouldn’t allow the three of them to leave home. Dad had explained this countless times to them. There was a rumor of an upcoming war. He wouldn’t want to lose any of them just as they lost Mom in the previous war. Well, she could call it lost in the sense of it. However, the real thing that happened was that a general in the army took Mom before the very eyes of Dad. Ever since, Dad hadn’t been the same. With regards to this, Dad would do anything to see that they were kept safe. This included ordering them to stay indoors. He had lamented on several occasions that if Mom didn’t own a restaurant that she needed to work in, were she to be a housewife, she wouldn’t have fallen prey to that soldier. The rest of them that were at home were safe.

Their four younger ones still left home for school daily. Dad had to allow this as they needed to get an education. He, however, took them to school himself. After school, they came straight home. Dad even told Mabel to write down the time they returned from school daily to be certain they did not go elsewhere after school.

Hannah turned left to another road leading to the train station. The train station was Dad’s place of work. His job was train engine maintenance. He was locally trained. As the engineers burdened themselves with building these trains, such things as maintenance were left for individuals who were willing to undergo the technical training to be able to do it. So, Dad was a train mechanic.

Everyone walking towards the train station, apart from her, walked hastily. The trains they were on their way to board were the last ones for the day. These trains ran across most parts of their city, Ossawa, and continued to other parts of their country, Danaata.

After the war that ravaged Danaata three years ago, things hadn’t been the same. Although Dad had told them stories about many wars he witnessed when a kid and the ones he fought when grown, the last war was still as terrible. This was the war in which they had lost Mom. None of them could say if she was still alive. But Hannah hoped with everything in her she was. As for the other word which was the opposite of life, she never let such a word cross her mind when thinking about Mom. Her entire family never discussed her like she was not living.

She approached the station and sat on the bench. She wanted to rest for a while. Again, she wanted to appear like she was among those making a journey. She needed time to look around and see if she could sight Dad since she didn’t know where to start looking for him. He had no office. She hoped he’d come out in the open where she could see him—so she’d deliver the message and leave.

Most of the people waiting for the train stood with their luggage scattered about on the terraced station floor. Hannah was the only one on the bench. She looked at the longhouses opposite that housed the trains. It reminded her of the time these trains came into existence in Ossawa. At a tender age, she had heard stories about cities that had gone through civilization. These stories were mostly told by Dad. During his travels, he was opportune to see these advanced stages of social and cultural development in these cities. And so, her sisters, brother and she would surround him after dinner almost every day and demand that he tell them about these towns.

And one day, all the stories Dad normally told them about other towns started coming into existence in Ossawa. The other parts of Danaata, like the capital city, had started witnessing these tremendous changes a long time ago. These were tarred roads, electricity, modern hospitals and better means of transportation. Such means of transportation included trains, cars and even airplanes, recently. They had better schools as well. Ossawa was a small town. In Ridea, the particular area that they lived, the trains had come into existence ten years earlier. The airplanes followed too, three years earlier. There were also cars. These were owned by rich citizens. Poorer citizens owned carriages.

The airplanes—just like the cars and some other things—were for the high and mighty who could afford to purchase a ticket to take a ride in them. But Hannah was more than content with the trains. She had been granted the opportunity to take a ride in them many times. By her count, five times. She had entered a car twice in her life. One was at the home of one of her friends who married a wealthy aristocrat. The other was at another friend’s home. The girl’s father had bought the car. There were few people who used their cars for commercial transportation but she had never ridden in those. The cost of such luxury was exorbitant. If she ever needed to go to a far distance, she made use of the trains.

She had visited a few places in her life. These were nearby towns. Mom was from a neighboring town and Hannah had gone there with her sisters and brother when Grandpa and Grandma were still alive. Although content with what she had at the moment, which was her five dresses, a pair of shoes, a pair of slippers and a few other accessories, she would be glad if she one day had a better life. She dreamt of living a luxurious life and having everything she ever wanted.

At the moment, her home was a small cottage. She lived there with her entire family. The cottage was a four bedroom house. It had a parlor, a kitchen, a bathroom and a veranda, as well.

She had fantasized, many times, about a rich prince or a wealthy duke marrying her and taking her away from all her troubles. She had read Cinderella countless times. However, as much as she fantasized about such thoughts, she knew that such a thing would never happen to her. They belonged to the lowest class in their society. They had no rank. As though it wasn’t enough that they were just commoners, they were also very poor. They managed to eat three square meals daily—sometimes, they got just two meals. It had been registered in her subconscious mind that such luxuries and comforts weren’t for people like them. Based on this, most times, all she did was fantasize on such a life. She loved to dwell in those fantasies. It would do no harm fantasizing. But the reality always dawned on her soon enough. Most especially when she was hungry and there was no food at home. She also feared she might end up with a pauper like themselves as a husband and her entire life would be doomed to poverty. She felt most miserable anytime she came to this realization.

Like their class- and poverty-stricken state wasn’t enough torment, Mabel and Julia also had to add to her misery. They’d stop at nothing to see that she was always in pain, but she hoped Dad found them husbands soon. That had been a second reason she accepted to embark on this chore that they’d sent her, even knowing what it could mean for her afterward.