A Street Romance
THE WRITER
DAISY YAWSON
A STREET ROMANCE
The scene unfolded before her. He’s busied himself with the cute little girl on his lap. Making faces at her so she would laugh. In the end, he was rewarded with her endless laughter. He froze at the sight of her. The little girl turned her head to look at what had distracted her father. And blinked adorably.
“No don’t. You don’t have to get up,” he stopped in his attempt to get up with the girl on his laps.
Uncertainty had him locking eyes with her. His jaw clenched. Knowing that he’d been caught in the act of playing with his kid. The girl he’s loved so much since she was introduced to him as his daughter in the hospital ward. Not taking eyes off her even as Mina settled to breastfeed her.
She laughed briefly, pain laces in it somehow. “I knew this would come to an end but never thought it would be so soon, never thought I wouldn’t have a chance to think of the possibility of being alone when you suddenly decide to be a full-time dad” his face crunched up like he’s eaten something sour.
“Vee” what he called her. “I…I..I am sorry” finally mustering the courage to spew out.
“She’s beautiful” was all her mind could think of to bring out of her mouth.
“Huh?” The unexpected response threw him off the fence. He had expected an insult, no less than a rejection but this lady is full of surprises. The very reason he longed to be with her but would that be enough for them, or bind them together?
“Your daughter is beautiful.” He’d heard her right this time and muttered a thank you in appreciation.
“I came to give you this ” raising her hands to his eye level to allow him to get a better glance at what she held.
“It’s the promise ring” tears glistening in her eyes. She fought it back nonetheless. He stood up. Incoherently whispering something in his daughter’s ear before she bounced back into their room.
“Mavis, what is this?” Eye darkening.
She stepped back without realizing what she was doing. Still, she was no match for him. He got hold of her waist, looking deeply into her already wet eyes.
“Mavis don’t do this.”
“To be honest I’m glad you’re choosing your kids over me.” she uttered regretfully biting her bottom lips
“Stop it…. stop saying things like this please!” still holding unto her tiny waist.
“You know it will end, why drag it all the way” swallowing a huge lump in her throat, she continued. “My dad was never there for us. Not for Liza, not for Akua either. Seeing you together with your daughter just made me jealous” laughter escaped her quivering lips.
There was nothing he could do to stop her from reminiscing about the past. The painful past.
“Please, don’t let me be the other woman in your life, your kids need you” she wiped a tear which had fallen on her cheeks.
He reluctantly let go of her after her utterance. He stared in disbelief. How selfish could she be? Throwing whatever they had away like it meant nothing to her.
The past weeks had got her thinking. She’s decided to attend the three-year teachers training the church offered to young girls like her. To teach the young kids at the orphanage after completion of intensive training. God has opened a path for her to take. At least that’s what she believed. It’s been meetings after meeting with Mrs Mensa joined by her mum to discuss matters concerning Liza and her. Mum readily agreed that the child be taken care of by the church till she was ready as a mum to take over. The news had Felix badging into the house, misbehaving. Threatening to do crazy things. Exhausted, he sat on the bare floor, forehead on knees while muttering things we could not hear. He’s been hurt by the news. He wanted a chance with his child but was taken away from him by an incapable mother.
That happened six months into the pregnancy. Mavis figured he was into mild drugs. Something to take his mind off the fact that his mum abandoned him. A story told by his hurting dad to him. In the end, he left presumably having something up his sleeves.
“My mum didn’t get this kind of opportunity but her children have hope. Hope to a better life someday. She knew better not to ask but she did any way.
“Do you not want to see me differently?”
His eyes drifted away, not wanting to answer a question she knew he had no means of giving answers to.
She nods gently
“It’s okay, someday, you will understand”
“Someday what! Vee. You mean someday when I’m out of your league? You mean someday when you’re a decent woman enough to marry someone of your type right?” He eyes flared. Anger evident in them.
“So you agree I’m not decent.” It sounded more of a statement than an answer.
He looked away.
“You don’t have to worry. I knew that. And I want to change that.”
At that moment, he knew he’s lost her. He couldn’t come to terms with it in front of her. With one last look at her. He walked back away from her. Back to his life. Back to his kids.
It didn’t have to end that way not when he was starting to love her. To see her as a woman other than a tool for sex. Losing something makes you cherish it the most.
His kids were well taken care of. He sees them as much as he could. Never neglecting his fatherly role. His chance at love looked bleak and over for him when he walked away from Mavis.
The other person took gentle steps backwards. Trembling at the thought of losing him. Her steps were short and strained. At the long run, she left the compound. God has something planned for her, something of good and not of evil.
She went home, barely speaking to anyone. No one was daring enough to ask the problem. As the dark went cold, they drifted off to sleep and as usual without their mother.
***
“Yei, why has this happened Lord. When i started trusting in you eii!!” A misfortune has befallen the lost. The light at the end of the tunnel has been shut again to the lost. Liza wept her eyes out in the open, drawing attention to their house.
Mavis stood by the doorway, unable to utter a word. Akua sat on the stool, watching things unfold.
They had hope of turning their life around but one careless mistake changed everything.
A figure walked in quick strides towards the house.
‘slap’
He held his left cheek at the contact.
Liza’s eyes burnt with disgust and hatred for the boy standing in front of her.
“Did you do it?” Supporting her waist with one hand and holding her big tummy with the other. Eyes glared intensely into his. He flinched at the question, knowing fully well what his answer will be.
“Felix did you do it!” Her temper rising with each breath she took. Probably too tired from standing.
“I did what I had to do. No one should try taking my child away from me” He retorted, not taking eyes off her.
“So it’s true erh” Mavis casually picked up an old metal bucket, missing the figure she threw the object at. She cursed under her breath
Akua pleading with her to calm down. The guy grew hysterical but was calm enough to dismiss Mavis’s aggressiveness.
“Felix tell me, what should I do. Tell me now” she sobbed, grabbing unto his faded shirt which had probably seen better days.
“That woman you hurt, Felix. That woman” she repeated
“She could have helped take care of your own child you fool”
“Did I ask for that? You and your mum think you can decide the fate of the child without informing me.That was a warning to keep their hands off my child. Its mine” He barked tearing her hands off his shirt.
Their mum, working as a home cleaner, stayed out for most of the months. Coming back only to celebrate Christmas with her kids and move back to her owner’s house.
She has no idea Mrs Mensa was badly beaten by a group of boys Felix had paid. The elderly woman lived alone in her apartment at kasoa. The boys somehow found that out and took action. Breaking into the house and hitting her with anything they could find. A good Samaritan, a neighbor spotted a difference in her routine as she mostly came out unto her porch to do a bit of an exercise before heading to work. The neighbor knocked severally and eventually went inside. Mrs Mensa laid on the cold tile clutching her wet teared face and shivering in the dark. Panicking, he called the police and a few relatives he knew to come down to the scene. Pictures were taken before taking her away to the nearest hospital. The police are yet to investigate. They are yet to find the culprits and put them in jail.
“That woman could have been your mum what is wrong with you?” That did it. He went bizarre, clutching his head tight, looking into her eyes.
“I hate that woman! Whoever she is, for abandoning her only son. Don’t you dare talk to me about my mum” He cried.
Confusion, visible on Liza’s face. What is he talking about? For some reason, Mrs Mensa reminded him of his mother.
“You’ve never talked bad about your mother. This clearly shows how much you’ve changed. Get out!” She ordered with finality, sending him a message of being unwanted.
They watched him, together with the people gathered with their palms on their jaw, out of the small space they called their home.
A few days after the incidence, the church had been strongly advised to drop all support on recent people. The detectives of the Kasoa police department had assumed potential enemies Mrs Mensa might have had. People from her church, the strangers she visited from time to time and family members. They were all listed as supposed culprits. Mama Julie was invited to the station together with her children, to help with the investigation. Questions where asked rather calmly to avoid unnecessary agitation. Mavis came clean but never mentioned anything about Felix to them. They let her go. The fidgeting and sweating of the other girl made her suspicious.
“We will have to keep this one here madam. We think she’s hiding something” Two big men who stood behind the desk on which Liza sat. Maa Julie glared at her daughter, almost piercing a hole. “You better come clean with them. I will wait for you outside”. She checked the leather wristwatch on her wrist.
“After 30 minutes if you’re still in here, I will leave. This is not a place for a girl like you” and she stomped off.
Life is full of surprises. The siblings find God and something more to end their suffering and give them hope to a brighter future but it is crashed in a second by a lunatic who from his own driven demons, acts rashly, hurts a person and feels nothing apologetic for his actions. Whoever told him being a parent is easy has done big damage.
[insert-comment-form]
1 Comment
Leave your reply.