Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Days later,

It’s been a few days since Tabby went back to the city. The days have been very quiet, dad seems remorseful and I have really been avoiding him. I wouldn’t wanna cross paths with him because I really do hate pain.

He went out very early in the morning for a competition that he had with Liam. I am crossing my fingers that he doesn’t lose the bet. It might make our lives go crazy if he does. I do not know why dad has to do such things but he has the say.

I am feeling lazy. I stretch my body with a loud sound from my yawning as I look at Clare who is biting into her arrowroots as she will never eat again.

I like eating a lot but Clare usually beats me to it. She loves eating and she is very small. ‘’You shouldn’t eat lots of that girl, it might just make you fat, you know?’’ she automatically raises her eyebrows.

She picks a piece of stone and throws it at me. ‘’You don’t get to tell me what potions of food to eat. Besides, my metabolism is quite good and I will be feeling hungry in a few.’’ She says jokingly and I chuckle.

Dad has been so quiet and he hasn’t really spoken about my going to the city again. I wonder what came over him that day.

‘’Hey, has Tabitha called you?’’ Clare asks and I shake my head. If I didn’t know Tabitha so well, I’d say she has totally forgotten about m, that she has completely given up on me but no, she is one of those people who I would take a bullet for.

‘’She hasn’t called dear. She must be settling in first before she does. Besides, she seemed so broken that I wouldn’t wanna start talking to her. We might both break down, you know?’’

‘’I know right? Such crybabies.’’

‘’Clara!’’ My godmother shouts from the other side of our fence and we both run towards it, ‘’Come around, Tabby wants to talk to you.’’

Talk of the devil and she will appear. We just talked about her and she is here. Calling me? Wow, I do love Tabby so much.

I run really first towards my godmother’s home. I stumble on a big stone slightly bruising my leg a little but I don’t really think much about it.

I run straight to the table where the landline is and you can imagine how heavily I am breathing.

‘’Darling I have missed you so much, cousin!’’ I shout amid heavy breaths. I don’t know why I feel so lonely without this girl. She is my friend.

My best friend.

‘’I miss you too, babe. How’s the going over there?’’ she asks quietly.

Boring, dull, cold and …’’ she cuts me off when I am still trying to describe how the going is.

‘’Don’t say that, babe. You are going to make me cry. You know I wanna try and talk to you without crying one bit.’’ She says jokingly and I smile nodding at her. Well, the nodding is supposed to be hers but she cannot see me, right?

‘’How are you doing, darling?’’

‘’First things first, a friend to mum’s friend, the one I told you about briefly is in need of a house help. I am sure you’re gonna like her. She is this middle-aged woman who loves herself so much. I am not really sure if she has kids but she lives in a serene environment. I swear you are going to love her, babe.’’

‘’You think so? And who's gonna let me come to the city? You know my dad …’’

Stop interrupting me, babe. Your dad can go to hell for all I …

‘’Hey stop talking that way about my dad! Your uncle.’’

‘’I surrender, your highness. Anyway, as I was saying, I am doing well and especially now that I have located a job for you. You are finally coming to the city, babe.’’

‘’What about dad?’’

‘’Ignore him. You are coming for your own and family’s good right?’’ I nod. ‘’Are you there cousin?’’ it hits me then that Tabby cannot see me, so I shout.

‘’Yes, I am here.’’

‘’Good girl. You are coming to the city, babe.’’ I want her confidence, her cool way of doing things, I wanna be like her, she says and does things. Totally never procrastinates.

‘’You know I have no money though, don’t you?’’

‘’Umm … don’t you worry because we’re gonna sort that together.’’

‘’Ooh! Really?’’ I ask with a raised eyebrow.

‘’Yeah, really.’’ She says with confidence. ‘’Now, you will just go to my bedroom and take our home bank. Open it. I know we have been doing the saving for your dream fashion designing and that’s the money you will use to come to the city.’’

When she mentions that, I remember about the home bank that I haven’t put anything in for the past few weeks. I haven’t made any money just yet. Tabby and I have been very good and faithful partners. We’ve been saving the little money we always get either from hawking sweets or when given to us by our parents for something we need to buy.

I doubt the money in there will be enough but I know there is money. My hope is that I get a way to get to the city. It doesn’t matter to me if I will be going to work for some woman as a house help. I will save money and eventually be able to fulfill my dream.

‘’Babe, I got to go. My boss is here!’’ She says in a low tone and boom! The phone disconnects and I hear the annoying tone. I am stranded with the handset placed squarely to my ear.

‘’What’s up, young girl?’’ godmothers asks startling me. She is standing at the entrance her hands held across her chest. I try faking a smile at her but I suck at doing that big time. ‘’That fake smile isn’t helping at all. You should try harder.’’ She just looks at me and she can tell when I am and when I am not faking it.

I walk to her, I give her a hug, a warm one and she hugs me back. ‘’I have come to a decision,’’ I say loudly lifting my face to look at her and she raises her eyebrows.

‘’The final decision?’’ I shake my head. That won’t be my final decision because I do have lots of choices to make, till I reach the end right?

That’s it. So many choices and decisions. By the time I make up my mind, I want to have learned the pros and cons of the choices I will have made. I want to have known what they cause to my life whether positive or negative.

Well, they say, choices have consequences. I will want to experience that.

‘’No, godmother! I still have a lot of deciding to do, right?’’ she nods with a bright smile. One that resembles that of her beautiful daughter, Tabby. ‘’I am still young, you know?’’

‘’Sure my young champ. I like your reasoning. You are going to make a very good woman in the future. You have my blessings baby.’’

‘’Thank you. That’s why I will never tire having you as a second mother. You are the best. I will always love you and when I succeed, I will make sure you come to the city at some point okay?’’ she raises an eyebrow.

‘’You have decided to go to the city?’’ I nod enthusiastically my palm leaving her back and rushing to cover my lips. ‘’You have my blessing all the way, okay?’’

‘’Thank you. That’s what I wanted to hear from you.’’

‘’How will you deal with your dad?’’

‘’I will cross the bridge when I get there, okay?’’

‘’Okay. Who is going to pay for your transport and accommodation?’’ I know this is a secret but I am going to let it out either way.

‘’Godmother, let’s sit down.’’ I lead the way and we both sit on the two available stools. It is only the two of us in the house, I know she can cover my ass because she has always done so. So, I will talk freely. ‘’Don’t get mad, aunty.’’

‘’I will not do. But I know when you call me aunty on rare occasions, you often have those ‘secrets’ that you want me to keep. Am I right or right?’’ I smile sweetly to her.

‘’You are right and right. Thank you.’’

‘’Babble and divulge it,’’ she says with the smile still on. My eyes are stuck somewhere above her forehead because we are literally not allowed to look at the elderly straight in the eye. Somehow ad according to my parents they think it shows lack of respect.

‘’Tabby and I have been having a secret home bank.’’ I start innocently. ‘’We have had it for the longest time that I can remember. When she called earlier, she reminded me of the home bank. She said I can open it, get my transport and lock it again. Our main aim is to fill it up at some point so that I can use it to fulfill my dream.’’ I try achieving eye contact but I cannot. I keep stealing glances though. I wanna gauge her reaction to that. To my surprise, she isn’t even worked up or something. She is super calm and smiley.

I love my godmother.

My mum would have been panicking already. Ooh! What will we tell your dad? How will he react to this? Where were you getting the money? And so on and so forth…

Well, sometimes God gives you someone who can actually listen when the other one cannot.

‘’Don’t worry, my daughter. You have my blessings. That is one of the best gestures I have ever seen. You are going far.’’ Wow! Just wow! My God should bless her for me.

Thank you. I walk right into her open arms when she stands up and I will forever thank the living God for bringing this particular woman to my life.

‘’Thank you. I don’t know how to thank you enough for this.’’

‘’I know how.’’

‘’I am listening,’’ I say pulling off the hug.

‘’Just be coming to check on me when you promise okay?’’ shit! I had promised to see her yesterday evening but I didn't come back to check on her.

Very wrong, right?

‘’I am so sorry …’’

‘’No need. You can forget but not always. You are forgiven but thanks for being here right now.’’ I nod with a smile. A guileless one. ‘’Now, can you get your home bank and see if you do have any money?’’

‘’Right away, mummy,’’ I tell her as I walk to Tabby’s bedroom which I am way too familiar with. Tabby and I have always had sleepovers all these years. Her bedroom is like mine and ours with Clare is like hers whenever she came over.

Her bedroom is quiet and cold. It is very simple but neatly arranged. It seems like someone hasn’t slept in it for years. She was here the other day but it feels very lonely. I smile when the beautiful memories hit my thoughts.

We have done wonders in this bedroom.

Years back.

‘’Welcome my daughter. Tabby is in her room. You can go ahead and see her.’’ My godmother told me when I appeared in her compound. She was busy trimming her fence and trust me I always admired that about her. Her compound was and is still really clean, courtesy of her. She did all she could to make it look quite neat.

It still is. I roll my big eyes when my subconscious reminds me of the same.

‘’Thank you, but I know where to find her,’’ I told her and ran towards the house. Her dad was seated with a magazine held carelessly in his hands. He looked at me over the rim of his spectacles. I walked to him, smiled and said my good morning.

He smiled back and nodded but didn’t utter a word.

I walked to her bedroom almost running. ‘’You won’t believe it Tabby.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’I just said greeted uncle and he didn’t even respond. Is he okay?’’

‘’I guess.’’ She said shrugging. ‘’Anyway, forget my old man now, let’s do other things okay?’’ she said with a wink and removed our home bank.

She opened and emptied the content of the home bank on her bed.

‘’Tabitha!’’ uncle called her and by the look of things, he was very close to the bedroom given the fact that their house isn’t that big.

We both got so confused and started hiding under the bed. Well, since the door was unlocked, uncle walked in and saw our poor legs.

‘’Don’t you think it’s super amazing for two little princesses to hide for dad and uncle?’’ I bit my lower lip to keep me from laughing. ‘’Get out girls, we need to go do some work.

Tabby who was holding the metallic home bank and the money folded with her dress got out and forgot to hold her dress. The home bank fell down with a loud bang making him alert. All the monies were scattered everywhere.

He shook his head but was happy that we could think of that. He embraced us then helped us to pick our coins and I have never heard of our secret anywhere.

He kept our secret safe and went to the grave with it. I feel tears drop. My uncle shouldn’t have died that soon.

‘’Are you okay in there?’’ aunty asks startling me from my musing. I wipe my eyes with the back of my palm.

‘’I am coming!’’ I shout as I reach for the home bank and walkout of the bedroom.