Keith and I

Chapter 4

He took I and Sunki around the ship a few times and even sent us on errands to give the tailors updates or to pass notes from passengers. It turned out he was a watchman and my mother was a cook.

On a good day that was when I met Mr Greene who was a passenger on the boat who developed an odd interest in me, maybe because he loved my thick hair and continuously asked my dad whether it was real and my father would always answer yes and lead me away to avoid Mr Greene.

He met me when I went to call Father and called me to take some biscuits with him which I politely refused and he crouched down and called me pretty and I flashed him a pretty smile.

He then patted her hair softly at first before his hold became stronger and stronger and he pulled strands of hair from my hair removing them and sniffing loudly before putting them in his pocket.

I ran away. Anytime Mr Greene saw me he would flash a very weird smile and look away fastly. After a while, it was said he had passed away possibly from eating his allergy and he was thrown off deck because the ship couldn't carry any dead weight.

The night of his death I saw mother whispering to father in hushed tones.

"Are you they won't know?"

"I'm sure."

I thought nothing of it and soon we arrived in Ireland. The Irish were much more accommodating than we had expected. A strange but nice woman offered for us to live in her spare room because she said she liked Sunki and that he was "cute". I thought she was a pretentious old lady.

Mother had offered to clean her apartment as payment for giving us the room and every day she would go but with the sharp eyes of the woman on her. Maybe she thought Mother would steal or knock over her stuff but why accommodate us then?

Mother said we couldn't go out because we were different and she was afraid of people throwing us bleach to change colors or accuse us of being witches. I felt she was a liar.

Mother also said she was happy with our new lives as she showed me the new clothes she had bought some second handed clothes from the old lady but anytime Mother would take off her clothes I would see bruises on her shoulders and back and at night she would huddle at a corner and cry like Sunki when he stubbed his toe.

Mother was a liar.

Father always came back late at night with some trinkets of different things each day. He had a huge smile on his face each time and when he kissed me on his neck his mouth smelt like strongly fermented grapes with a hint of rum.

He excitedly told me and Sunki that we didn't have to live in the room every day and that he had found us a real home. I watched as his eyes glimmered as he told us all this. From the conversations I had eavesdropped on him and his mother, He had gotten a huge job but mother was scared because he wouldn't tell her what it was but he reassured her and said it was something safe.

The first day I left the room was a good and cold day. Mother excitedly dressed me and Sunki up. She wore us the new clothes my father had bought because she said it was really cold and wore us the scarves and the hats she had knitted during the time we stayed in the old woman's home and Dad had bought us some boots.

"It's real horse leather." He said excitedly.

His being happy made me happy. It delighted me.

We took a cab to the new apartment as my dad had called it and my eyes roamed all around. My gloved hands catch the white stuff from the sky.

The apartment was measly as it was almost empty but I loved it. I watched as my father spun my mother and she giggled happily. I held Sunki's hand happily as I smiled happily.

We were happy until…

I saw my mother screaming and shattering things in the living room. She spit out all kinds of vulgarities at Father but he wasn't there. She said some things about him getting involved with bad people as she cried loudly in the living room.

"Mother, where's Father? " Sunki quietly asked her.

She looked up with her red eyes and in a blink of her eyes I saw her hit Sunki and he was suddenly huddled in a corner.

I ran towards him covering his body with mine as she started screaming hysterically and kicking me intending to kick Sunki, a staking image of my father but I served as a shield for him as her kicks rained heavily on my back as Sunki shivered quietly in my arms.

Father wasn't coming back anymore I discovered soon enough. He was gone for good like that Mr Greene back then and he was n cwr going to come back.

I and Sunki stayed away from my mother after that incident and she didn't bother to check up on us even.

A creak was heard from our bedroom door, I looked up and I stared at my mother's desolate eyes void of emotions.

She let out a deep breath as she carried the bags by her side.

I ran to her questioning her on where she was going but instead, she looked at me quietly not answering, not moving and she then began to move towards the door.

"Mother please we'll be good don't leave," I say with tears pooling in my eyes.

She doesn't listen and she leaves I grab her coat but she hits me on my head hitting the hard floor and dark red staining my hands.

She leaves.

I wait at the doorstep for a long time waiting and hoping for her to come back. Morning comes and she doesn't come and it's almost afternoon when a kind gentleman asks me what's wrong and I tearfully explain my mother had left because we had been bad. I briefly explain it and he looks at me with pity and offers to take me and Sunki to the orphanage.

A truck comes and begrudgingly Sunki and I get on seemingly heading to the orphanage where a nice woman explains to me that we are going to have new parents.

The first night of staying in the orphanage Sunki begins to cry and describes how he had a dream that I had left like Mother. I assured him I would never leave and we would be together forever.

"Ndawonye phakade." We said to each other.