Mixed Scenarios

by Aluta Nite

  They are then usually played for fools and left penniless both locally and abroad. Destitute, they end up at their countries’ embassies seeking help to return home. Before they depart, their lovers’ wives emerge to emphasize to the mistresses how foolish they have been. Moreover, attempts by mistresses to charge their deceitful lovers with fraud have generally not been fruitful.

  Another typical occurrence, in addition to local married couples’ involvement in tourism, is that of single young men frequenting the beaches as beach boys to sell curios to tourists, but with the underlying intention of attracting female tourists. They tend to lure rich, older, retired women who are seeking rejuvenation with younger men. The men often have relationships with more than one woman, with whom they arrange visits throughout the year, coordinated to avoid the women meeting or finding out about each other.

  A few, however, end up marrying these women and living abroad or even locally.

  Furthermore some local young women also get involved usually when local beach boys sell their female siblings to male tourists for sexual encounters and money. The girls then get used to easy money and sell themselves on their own terms. Older women too sometimes sell themselves for money, or seek more permanent relationships to support a more comfortable lifestyle.

  The aforementioned aspects of tourism are entrenching so deeply in the local imagination and reality, that they are supplanting local production of agricultural goods for consumption by locals and in the local hospitality industry. As a result, most of the food consumed in the coastal area is imported from farms upcountry, which is increasingly diminishing the independence of local communities. Enslavement to quick and dirty money is generating a new type of economic enslavement to non-local basic goods.

  Child Abuse

  It is commonplace in some parts of the world to have a housekeeper who is referred by employment bureaus or recommended by friends or relatives. The housekeeper lives with a career-minded married couple, who may or may not have children.

  They may be male or female, old or young, a relative or non-relative and are typically employed informally, meaning no paperwork is filed formally for taxes to be deducted from the wages paid to the housekeeper. The housekeepers are also not members of unions - though there have been recent attempts to change that in some places - so their pay is not regulated, though the government might have some unenforced guidelines under labour laws,.

  In the case of one family, Jared and his wife Sofia employed an older woman from the countryside, to do their housework and care for their younger children. The couple had six children. Their youngest was a six-year-old boy named Dennis who went to pre-school in the mornings. Of the other children, two were in primary school and the three eldest were in secondary boarding schools.

  Dennis’ older siblings went with him to the bus stop to wait for the school bus in the mornings, and the housekeeper picked him up from the same bus stop at lunchtime on weekdays. While at home with Dennis, the housekeeper was to serve him lunch and put him to sleep until four in the afternoon. After four, she was to give him a bath before serving him and the other two younger children a snack.

  The housekeeper, however, never gave Dennis the chance to take his afternoon nap. She had a devious scheme up her sleeve that little Dennis, his parents and siblings knew nothing about. She kept him company and busy playing with his toys for a little while and then gave him a bath straight away. She introduced adult sexual games to the poor little boy at bath time and extended it into the bedroom after bathing him! The little boy was basically taught to do to her what a male adult would.

  The boy obviously found this strange and unfamiliar, but as time went on he got used to it. In addition, she made threats to kill him by slicing his throat, like she did when cutting open chicken in the kitchen, if he refused to do what she wanted or reported what she was having him do. This went on for a full year until the boy caught a sexually transmitted disease.

  One Saturday afternoon, when the housekeeper was away shopping, Dennis’ mother, Sofia, decided to give him a bath.

  He was, however, reluctant to have his mother bathe him, and said, “Right now, Mom? The housekeeper will give me a bath when she comes back. Isn’t she coming soon?”

  He said this while trying to free himself from his mother’s grip.

  Sofia thought that he was being playful in an attempt to delay his bath. Little did she know what was awaiting her! She insisted and took him to the bathroom; filled the bath with warm water; prepared soap, sponge and towel; and asked him to remove his clothes. Sofia then saw that her son’s skin in the genital area looked unusual and upon close inspection, appeared infected. She then remembered that he had developed an awkward walk over the past few months.

  She recalled asking him, “Dennis, what is wrong? You don’t seem to walk properly of late? Is your back OK?”

  He said, “Yes. I hurt my knees a little while playing at school with other kids.”

  “If you injured yourself, why didn’t you tell us the day it happened?” his concerned mother probed.

  The boy had no answer to that question.

  Remembering that conversation made his mother suspicious enough to want to check her son’s body entirely, so as to find out what else was injured or infected. She could not take his word for it.

  Sofia then called out urgently, “Jared, come quickly!”

  “Where are you?” Jared asked.

  “I am in the bathroom with Dennis.” She responded.

  On arrival Jared asked, “What is it?”

  “Look in this area,” she told him, while pointing to Dennis’ groin.

  Jared calmly asked the seven-year old what the truth was, and he admitted to what had been happening, including the threats made to prevent him from reporting anything.

  When the housekeeper returned and was asked about Dennis’ accusations, she denied everything, pretending that she had noticed the infection the day before, and was going to inform them that evening. Dennis threatened to call the police and she then admitted to her abominable behaviour.

  She was sent packing that evening and Dennis was taken to hospital for treatment. He eventually recovered but his parents had decided never again to hire a housekeeper.

  Spoilt to Death

  Kish was a petite, shapely, beautiful girl. She was five feet and three inches tall, with a light complexion and short Afro hair. She was also soft-spoken, polite, cheerful and very persuasive; never loud, rude or aggressive.

  She was the first born of Manoah and Joan. After her, her parents had three more girls and four boys. Her father and mother doted on her and gave her all that she wanted. She went to school like any other child her age was expected to, until she finished high school.

  Kish’s parents showered her with love and over-indulged her desires. Regarding food, in particular, she ate what she wanted, and that meant what was tasty to her. So, she only ate fries or chips, sausages and soda.

  Otherwise, she ate nothing else, no matter how good the food was that her mother had prepared. Therefore, she never had breakfast because tea and bread were not to her liking. She preferred waiting to eat her favourites for brunch or lunch, as well as dinner. Nevertheless, she remained trim and elegant in build, with a twenty-inch waistline.

  She also enjoyed the good life her parents had afforded her and became attached to it, albeit without a corresponding desire to work hard for it. Consequently, she never got a job. Moreover, she became a single parent to two children after high school, and a heavy social drinker.

  She disappeared for weeks sometimes from her parents’ house where she and her children lived, and often reappeared with goodies for her children that had been obtained mysteriously. This went on for years and eventually, most of the time, she was unsteady in her walk, slurred her speech and clung to people she knew when they met, asking them for alcohol, coff
ee or her favourite foods.

  Kish then met an old wealthy man from overseas, who took her and her children abroad for some time, before they came back to live with her parents. Throughout, her drinking problem continued, with the support of her wealthy beau. Her beauty and shapely figure remained unaltered, like they almost were during her pregnancies, when she barely seemed pregnant even at full term. She, however, lost weight later and never recovered from her alcohol addiction, dying when her children were teenagers in high school.

  Her beau had taken over financial responsibility for her children quite some time before she died, and continued after. He then helped them get careers in the art world after they finished high school.

  Over-indulgence and a lack of responsibility paved the way to an early death for Kish, making life with her unpleasant for her parents and children.

  Repulsive Stuff

  In boarding schools, kitchen staff did some distasteful, incorrigible things. Students were at an age and in a circumstance whereby they craved food. Therefore, eating enough and on time were paramount. As a result, there was no hue and cry when students witnessed disgusting things.

  At one particular boarding school for girls, cornmeal mush, rice, stews and vegetables were cooked in huge, high pots set on raised wood burning stoves. Bola, the head cook, and his assistants stood on tall stools in order to properly stir the pots and cook food for about a hundred and sixty hungry girls.

  Because of excessive heat from the wood fire and the food, the cooks typically stirred the food while bare on the torso, for their comfort. Unfortunately, they had no chef’s hats to wear, but they kept their hair short. In addition, Bola always slung a medium size towel on his left shoulder to wipe sweat with from his head, face, shoulders, chest and back. Nevertheless, his profuse sweating or insufficient wiping resulted in rivulets forming on his torso. Inevitably, sometimes, drops of perspiration fell into the pot while he stirred it, blending with the ingredients and flavours in the food!

  A peek into the kitchen at this scene could make any student swear off dining hall food; but when hunger pangs struck, they would be among the first to rush for it when the bell rang.

  At yet another girls’ boarding school, George was in charge of selling slices of bread with jam to students at mid-morning break, and at four in the afternoon after classes.

  Girls stood in line with their money at a dining hall window, where George did the selling.

  He had crates and crates of loaves of white bread and a five-kilogram tin of plum jam. His sharp knife sliced the loaves to precision evenly. He had done the job for so long that he knew exactly how to repeatedly slice evenly. However, he sometimes sliced his left-hand thumb. Blood oozing out blended with the red plum jam, as he spread it on the slices, and he went on as if nothing had happened!

  He feared stopping because girls would notice and refuse to buy the bread. He wiped blood mixed with jam on his white dust-coat which had turned from white to brown with stains all over. This went on year in, year out and George made a lot of money in that business.

  Elsewhere in the kitchen and dining hall, aluminium saucepans for frying eggs and teapots were a sight to behold. They sat on steel racks lined along two walls in the kitchen when not in use. Rough handling and bashing while washing, moving or putting them down resulted in their developing a strange misshapen appearance.

  They were excessively furrowed and dented. Looking at them, one wondered whether they could ever be used without leaking or falling apart. Moreover, they had acquired a rusty brown colour. Yet at teatime, the many kettles bore their brew without issue and on eggs-days, the saucepans fried many an egg to the delight of many a student.

  Messenger of Grief

  A young lady, named Kinya who lived in the city, was sent by her father many miles away to the countryside to deliver a message to her paternal grandmother. Her nephew, Patton, the son of her elder brother had passed away. She travelled overnight by public transportation and reached at about eight o’clock the next morning.

  Her grandmother was already up and about and therefore saw her grand-daughter through the front window of her house coming in from the gate. Kinya headed towards the house walking slowly from tiredness, after sitting in the bus for over ten hours, and from the sorrow of the news weighing on her mind.

  Kinya was in her thirties and employed, so she took time off work for the journey and funeral arrangements. Her nephew felt slightly ill before leaving for a short vacation with his parents and elder brother. His condition worsened on the trip and they had to curtail their vacation. Because the situation was dire, his mother flew back with him to the city while his father and elder brother drove their vehicle back to the city.

  Both his parents were medics, but they, nevertheless, took him to hospital due to professional ethics, and he died after a short illness. Because his burial was to be at their countryside home, the family had to notify their relatives there quickly. However, they did not wish to telephone, send a telex or letter, but preferred that someone deliver the message in person. Kinya was chosen to be the messenger.

  Her grandmother seeing Kinya arrive suspected the worst though she had no idea what it could be. Kinya, seeing her grandmother, tried to put up a front that deflected her burden. Therefore, she gathered herself and ran gleefully to meet her grandmother who was also approaching her from the house. Kinya hugged her grandmother with laughter and joy as usual, but her grandmother was not fooled.

  She said to Kinya after greeting her, “What brings you here so unexpectedly and suddenly? Come out with it. Do not try to pretend to me. I know there is something you are trying to hide from me. Tell me now!”

  Kinya had no choice but to tell her grandmother the news there and then. She had intended to clean up, change her clothing, have breakfast with her grandmother, give her the sad news and leave soon after to go back to the city.

  She had already bought her return ticket to leave the same day and travel by day to reach the city in the evening.

  Her grandmother was too savvy and intuitive to fall for her cheerful front, and said to her, “The moment I saw you open the gate, I knew instantly that something was not right. Moreover, my dreams and thoughts have been troubled of late. I indeed saw this coming.”

  Back in the city, Kinya’s family finalized the funeral arrangements and the body was taken to their countryside home and buried. Kinya then returned to work.

  Kinya and her family lived in a large house with many rooms and apartments, and so some of the apartments were rented to non-relatives.

  One of their tenants was a co-worker of Kinya’s called Nypha. Nypha was a single woman about the same age as Kinya. She worked in the city while her mother lived in the countryside. Her father had passed away many years prior.

  Her mother had been sick from time to time for some years, and Nypha had been traveling to see her often on weekends. One week and a few days after one such visit, her mother deteriorated and died early in the week while Nypha was in the city.

  Nypha had just begun her annual leave and was preparing to go to the countryside to stay with her for some time. She received mail at her employers’ address, as she had no private box. Therefore, when the telegram relaying the message of her mother’s death arrived, she was not at work. Sadly, her co-workers found out about the death before she did.

  The personnel manager chose Kinya to deliver the weighty message to Nypha because they were friends and basically lived together. The telegram had arrived at about nine in the morning, reporting that the death had occurred during the night. Kinya was therefore given permission to leave work and deliver the message.

  She was advised to take as long as necessary, so as to break the delicate news gently. Kinya drove home and arrived fifteen minutes later. She then went to her family’s place first, in order to divert attention from Nypha, who already saw her arrive and waved from h
er balcony.

  She conveyed the news to her family before going to Nypha, who was busy cleaning her apartment and washing clothes, in preparation for the trip to visit her mother in a day or two. They greeted, then talked and laughed about a variety of things as usual.

  When Nypha asked her why she was not at work, she responded that she was working outside the office, and had finished sooner than expected, affording her some time to come home. Kinya was a coordinating officer, whose work entailed some local travel outside the office, hence Nypha’s acceptance of her explanation.

  Nypha wanted to interrupt her chores to make tea for them as it was mid-morning, but Kinya discouraged her from doing so, saying she had taken tea before leaving the office. She told her to go on with her chores until she needed to make lunch, because she wanted Nypha to retain enough energy to clean, wash clothes, cook and eat, before having to absorb the shock of her mother’s death. This time Kinya’s plan unfolded as intended.

  After Nypha’s chores were done, Kinya helped her prepare lunch, while they continued talking and laughing as if all was well. When lunch was ready, Kinya said grace and they took their time having lunch. After lunch, Kinya washed the dishes against Nypha’s protests that doing so would ruin her office attire, and that it was not an urgent chore. They then sat down to continue talking, and then Kinya gave her the telegram.

  Nypha was devastated and cried inconsolably saying, “Kinya, why have you done this to me? You came here long ago and let me do all that work while you hid the truth from me. Uuuuuuii, you are a bad person. I will never forgive you for this. I almost didn’t believe you, because I saw no sad emotion in you.”

  Kinya comforted Nypha for a while before going back to her family. She then told them, before leaving for work, to pay attention to Nypha and go to her if she was heard wailing or screaming. As expected, her family heard Nypha scream in anguish and rushed to her apartment to condole with her.