Beyond Reach
CHAPTER 9
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….It was a wonderful night rest,, my baby and I relaxed,, Day break,, Mr Helper c@m£ to me with his wife and gave me the sum of #20,000 that I may leave, the wife seems nice too, but I think they don’t like people in their space, and I respected that,,, 20,000 will take me to Enugu to my mum, so I was contended, his wife gave me a plate of food and I ate a delicious meal….
By 9am I was re-ady to leave, I went to the main house to appreciate Mr and Mrs nice, for their kind gestures and to bid them goodbye…
Getting to the gate, I saw a sign post,” House keeper nee-ded “, apparently they nee-ded an helper,, I thought about it and weighed my options, going back to Enugu will give my mom worries, and cries if I explain all I had been throu-gh, she would feel so bad not been there to defend me as a mother, I know mama, she could be very emotional, and I wouldn’t want to add to her worried, also,T may come over looking for me, I am not re-ady to face that beast of a man, so I decided it will be Nice I stayed with Mr and Mrs Nice, even if it were to be a house keeper, I am alre-ady used to that anyways, if I could be a house keeper to my husband’s mistress, I can be that to literally any one,,,,I thought it wise to seek employment ,this couple looks nice anyways, I thought..
With this new decision i went back into the house,,
“did you forget anything ,Mr nice asked,,,
oh no sir,I replied, sir ,mam,plea-se i saw a sign post outside,house keeper nee-ded, I would like to work for you plea-se if the position is still vacant….they Starred at each other,,,the wife broke the suspense,,
how do you intend to work having a baby of less than three years,,,
oh ma, plea-se I can, I am practically use to it,, I have done that effectively for quite some time,I promise not to allow my child st©p me from performing my responsibilities, I shall try to manage both effectively,, plea-se ma,you would not regret giving me this job,plea-se mam…..
“Honey let’s give her a try, she probably even nee-ds a place to stay, this will help her ,plea-se honey, Mr nice convinced his wife,,
okay dear if you say so,,,,she showed me my room and every other p@rts of the main house,,, indeed the house was exquisite…
….its been weeks and I have been living with Mr and Mrs Benson {Mr and Mrs Nice),everything seems perfect, the couple are both nice, I realised they were yet to have their own child, the man is a big business tycoon doing marvelously well, while Mrs Ben is a full house wife, her husband had refused her working according to her.
the couple seems to be very much in love with each other,,, they were simply perfect, my dream home, i was jealous,, no, don’t misun-derstand me, positively jealous, only wished I and T were like that, I loved how they love each other, In a nutshell I was happy for them.
I made sure I wasn’t a liability, and that they didn’t regret having me in their home,God been kind Junior sleeps quite a while in the mornings, that gives me the time to be throu-gh or almost throu-gh with my morning chores before he wakes up…Mrs Ben sometimes pl@ywith junior, but Mr Ben,was like a dad to junior, he was everything T wasn’t to his own son,,,he buys junior things,chocolates, clothes, shoes and everything there is to a child, Mrs Ben gives me some of her old stuff, I was extremely happy, guess what,my pay was #30000,i was practically saving my money, since I wasn’t feeding myself, paying bills nor buying clothes, I actually felt God had blessed me..
I prayed for Mrs Ben every night, she and her husband were too nice to be facing such challenge of del@yin child birth..things were going fine until mama c@m£….
Mama happens to be Mr Ben’s mother,, a typical African Nigeria mother,, she was a pain in the life of Mrs Ben, and a threat to the peaceful home of the Benson’s, thankfully Mr Ben loves his wife and wouldn’t allow anyone un-derrate or disrespect her.
Mama c@m£ that day and saw Mr Ben with my son, she was so happy and took the child from him
“I knew it, I knew it, my son can’t be so stupid as not to have a child, so you actually have a child outside your marriage, this is amazing, but you would have told me as your mother “I heard her say, I had to come out to see who the person speaking was
“good afternoon ma, I said upon seeing her
oh good afternoon she said running towards me, you must be the mother of this lovely child she had asked
oh yes ma, I said
oh my daughter, why didn’t you come and see me na,,, even all throu-gh the pregnancy, you know it is not good to stay away from your mother in laaaaaa
“mama will you st©p all these Mr Ben had scolded interrupting her, she is not my wife, and i don’t have a child outside my home, that’s Chika our new house keeper, and that’s her son….
House keeper and her son,,, oh Benson, so you are feeding another man’s child, don’t you think its high time you had yours,,,why can’t you take another wife if the one you have at home will not give you a child, you know you can afford it financially,,
“mama plea-se if this is the reason you c@m£ to my house, it isn’t late, you can leave…
I should leave your house Ben, because of that thing you have as a wife, this time Mrs Ben had alre-ady gone inside ,I believe she couldn’t take all mama was saying,,Mr Ben soon went inside to join his wife,and that evening was a fiasco..
It was the next morning ,as usual I had started my morning chores, while MR Ben seems to be in a hurry, he didn’t even have his usual breakfast of tea….i was almost done with my chores when I heard mama shouting from the Benson’s be-droom….
“What nons-en-se, you see how useless you are, you are still slee-ping, while a woman like you, with a child for that matter is doing your house chores, you can’t produce children like every other woman do, and you can’t also keep your home tidy, what makes You a woman, answer me Doris
what!! Mama was really shouting at Mrs B, I didn’t know how to help,, why can’t there just be a perfect marriage, I asked myself,,I didn’t have in-laws troubling my home, but i had the worse husband, now, this is a woman with the most amazing man on earth, but with a troublesome mother in-law….
Life is so unfair……
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BEYOND REACH…
CHAPTER 10
Written by Rejoice Igbinovia Aluyi
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……Mama didn’t st©p shouting, I could feel Mrs Benson’s pain,, mama dragged her downstairs, asking me to leave the kitchen and started insulting her before me, I just couldn’t take it anymore, I had to speak,,
mama, what you are doing is not nice, children are blessings from God, no woman deserves to be mocked over del@yin child birth, because if it were to be what money is involved, people like me won’t have, and people like madam will have it in abundance, plea-se mama, st©p all these,,, children are blessings plea-se,, i said
so why has the blessings refuse to come to Doris,, ohhh I know, because of all the sins she committed in her single days, yessss,she most have killed all the children in her wo-mb throu-gh ab-ortion, that even makes her case worse “Mama said, oh my God, I couldn’t believe my ears,,how can a woman say these against another woman,,,Mrs B just sat in pains and tears, frustrated….
The whole house was disorganized and the tension was high,,,I did all I ought to, mama ate enough feeling fulfilled having caused pains on another woman…
I went to the Benson’s be-droom,, Mrs B was still in tears ,its almost 2pm and she hadn’t had anything,,,
” madam you can’t continue like this,, you cant starve yourself, plea-se ma, eat something, have faith and be strong, you shall carry you own children, you are a woman, God gave you a wo-mb,your being a mother is your God’s given mand@t£ and right, just be strong,this shall pas-s,,I said all I know to say, but she didn’t say a word, she was just starring at the celling with tears drop running down her eyes,I knew she was in pains,and didn’t want to talk,I respected that and left,praying within me that God resto-re her peace of mind….
Mr Ben c@m£ back at about 6pm, and met his wife in that mood, she hadn’t eaten yet, I told him all that had happened since she wasn’t still talking to her husband, Mr Ben was really angry at mama
“you can not come to my house and speak ill of my wife in her own home,,, mama you are supposed to be a Christian mother, you are a leader in your church, what do you teach others, do you think if children can be bought we would have a dozen of them, what is all these for heaven’s sake
“Ben, you are raising your voice on me because of that man you call your wiffff
mama hold it there, you will not say such against my wife, especially in my pres£nce, mama plea-se you can leave first thing in the morning, you have over stayed your welcome,, you can go back to your husband now
what?,Benson you are asking me to leave your house because of Doris,,,
no mama, not Doris, because of my wife, you can’t come to her house and make her uncomfortable, we shall s£nd for you when we nee-d you, plea-se mama, first thing in the morning,you are going home….mama didn’t st©p, she kept insulting Mr and Mrs Benson all throu-gh that evening,, it was a terrible evening for everyone…..
It was morning,, Mr Ben went to mama’s room, asking her to get dressed so he could take her to the motor pack,she was alre-ady dressed,she was still angry at Mrs Ben
“Doris well done, tank you very much for asking my son to s£nd me out of his house, don’t worry,I don’t have your time yet, when I do, I shall answer u, I shall come back, its either you give me grand children or your leave and allow some one else in, ru-bbish, stupid woman,, mama said and angrily went into the car,while Mr Ben drove her to the pack…
Mrs Benson wasn’t herself, it took her days to get back to her usual mood.she was going throu-gh so much,I didn’t st©p praying for her,I wanted God to bless this wonderful family so that the joy in the home will be complete and full,they deserved to be happy…
It was weeks alre-ady, and things had gone back to normal, the peace in the Benson’s home had returned, Mr Benson still loves his wife as usual,if not more,i was really happy for this couple, they were a good example of what a couple should be….they still loved my son like theirs, especially Mr Ben,he had become a father figure to Junior, I was very grateful to have met them….
One faithful day, I was in the kitchen when I heard the door bell ring, I went to it and saw a nice looking woman, asking after madam, saying she is her sister, they looked alike ,and one can easily tell they are sisters.
I allowed her in, and called Mrs Benson to meet her,,Mr Benson soon c@m£ too to say hi, to her, he was about going out with junior, he wanted to get a cu-p of ice cream for him…
Who is this and that child that left with your husband she had asked Mrs Benson
“oh that’s Chika our new house keeper, Mrs Benson had said
and the child your husband just went out with,who is he?
he’s Chika’s son “Mrs B said
and what is he doing with your husband?
Benson’s just like pla-ying with the kid, he has taken him like his and a member of the family,.,…..
“Doris, are you blind,?, the guest had asked, how would you allow Ben disrespect you like this by bringing his baby mama and his child to your matrimonial home, all in the name of house keeper, do you know what you are doing…
I couldn’t believe my ears….
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TBC