by Aluta Nite
But in making the decision to transfer him, often somebody overlooked the fact that he had been on this job for so long that transferring him would not deter him from possible machinations built in him from day one. And working in collusion with his past and present colleagues, he could achieve what he wanted without setting foot in some of the stations.
He managed to amass so much wealth as a result. Undertaking a big project and finishing it was like a joke to him because funds flowed from all over. He bought a big piece of land in the district he worked in longest which was a coastal area and put up a big farmhouse and farm structures.
He reared pigs for meat for sale. He reared chicken for eggs for sale. He reared goats for sale. He employed two men who resided at the farm and did the farm work. There was also a house girl who took care of the house and his young children as he had three daughters. He stayed at the stations where he worked and went home during the weekends.
His wife was employed within the region and she is the one who lived at the farm and oversaw the farm operations every morning before departing for work, every evening on return from work. Weekends they were both there. He had bought two small pickup trucks and a big lorry for the business and two salon cars for family use.
He also bought several houses for rent in a few towns nearby. The men he employed at the farm were his relatives from his home area in the hinterland far away. It was easier for him to trust them than anybody else since he was not there on daily basis. Later, his wife conceived their fourth child and during her last month of pregnancy something odd happened.
It was during the week therefore he was away at his work station. She had withdrawn a large sum of money from the bank to pay advance deposit for her hospitalization at the time of delivery as was required by the institution she intended to go to. This money was required by the hospital that week.
She slept in the main house alone with her children while the two men and house girl were housed next to each other nearby in their own rooms. Some bad people who could have had knowledge of her having that money came that night to get it.
The bad people first of all locked all her helpers in their rooms from outside and some of them stood guard in case any of the helpers could attempt to break any of the doors and go to her aid. The bad people were many.
She heard them trying to break the grilled kitchen window and she rushed and took the money from her handbag and hid it under the carpet in the sitting room. After that, she engaged them by hitting them with saucepans as they struggled to break the window with crowbars and what have you.
The bad men managed to break their way through and got inside and straight away shoved her in her bedroom and raped her repeatedly till she started bleeding. They left her knowing very well that her baby would be no more.
They asked her for money and she told them that she did not have any. They then started searching the house and turning things upside down. They found the money and took it. They took some other valuables as well and left her lying helplessly on the floor and went away.
When they were gone is when she called out for her helpers who told her that all their doors were latched or bolted from outside. Being a courageous woman, she dragged herself on her knees to go and open for one of them whose door was nearest and who in turn opened for the others. Luckily, the bad men did not disconnect her land line telephone.
She informed her husband on telephone and he came immediately. She had already reported the matter to the police via telephone soon after talking to her husband while in a lot of pain. Her husband took her to the hospital and the doctor could not save the baby as too much damage had been done and she had already lost a lot of blood. The police went to her residence but the men were never found nor arrested.
As time went on Moses continued with his financial escapades and added on romantic ones. He drank a lot after work and evenings during the weekends when he was off duty.
Through drinking, his movements became numerous and before long he was diagnosed with hiv/aids. At the same time somebody somewhere decided to follow his trails because of his having plenty of money to drink daily, buy booze for others and boast arrogantly.
An investigative audit by staff from the head office discovered various sums of money missing in all the stations he had been even if for only one year. This issue could have been discovered earlier, but due to years' delay in public service audits, he had chances to do what he wanted. He was put on unpaid leave, arrested and charged with theft.
Through bond, he was released to await trial. Meantime, he went to live at his rural home while his wife continued to live at the farm. At the end of his case, he was relieved of his duties without pension, but he was not imprisoned as the connections he had helped him somehow.
He therefore decided to remain in his rural home while seeking herbal treatment for his disease. Unfortunately, as time went by, he infected his wife too. She became too sick to go to work and she had to call it a day with work.
She stayed at home while overseeing the farm and nursing herself and minding the children who were now big and in high school.
Li Farm
Li left his job in the city to go to a suburban area and do some farming by way of rearing chicken for eggs (layers) for sale and chicken for meat (capons) for sale. He put up two big bungalows to house both types of chicken with each type in its own bungalow.
He also put up a temporary house for himself while some people dug stones from one corner of his farm for him to put up a permanent house and live in later. He dug a well and bought a generator to provide power to all the farm structures and pump water for farm use.
He maintained his town house where his grown up children lived with his wife. His wife visited the farm a few days at a time while waiting for the main house to be built and then move to the farm permanently.
Li also took time off and stayed in the city for a few days every now and then just to relax a little. He had two men who permanently stayed at the farm to mind the chicken when he was around and away.
One time when he was away, some bad people went at night with several lorries and carried all the stones that he had ready for construction. His helpers apparently were not around for some hours because they were attending a wedding nearby.
This threw him off balance completely. He had to put off the idea of putting up a permanent house. To crown it all, the next time he was away, someone removed his generator from its position and carried it away. He followed the issue and found it in someone’s homestead miles away and returned it and it happened again.
When it happened again, he found it again and it was returned again. It was again found in someone else’ homestead far away, but his heart lost the luster for the job due to the thefts and he decided to go back to the city and think again of what next. He decided to sell the land plus everything in it and leave the region.
His eldest son refused to have the land sold and decided to go and live there and try his luck on what his father had given up on. His father gave him the green light after a lot of warning. Li actually left the country with his wife after some time.
His son went to the farm, stayed for one year and within that one year, he was in drugs and even a neighbor’s daughter moved in with him. Not much was happening at the farm as drugs and feet dragging took over.
His father got wind of it and demanded that he leaves the farm and go back to the city where his sisters and brothers were. He was reluctant to leave, but his father insisted through his siblings who were nagging him on telephone and through visits.
He then decided to give in and leave for the city, but before leaving, he told the concubine that he was leaving. She told him that she would not leave with him because she belonged to that area and therefore could not imagine her life elsewhere.
He had no intentions of going anywhere with her anyway because he knew that his family would not tolerate her neither would she them.
She rushed to tell her father that he was leaving.
Her father came up with a scheme that because he had lived with her for two years and wasted her time and life, he had to pay her handsomely before leaving. Her father rushed and informed the local community elders about it and they backed him.
He was a coward and paid a hefty amount of money to her father and then left. Li then started making telephone call arrangements with some estate agents locally to sell the land on his behalf from wherever he was.
Poor Bebora
Bebora was this pretty public officer who was loved by many because of her hard work and attitude. She was a young lady who took the job after finishing high school, training for the job for two years in an administrative institution and settling on the job easily.
The training and the job were in one of the small towns in the countryside. One of the trainers met her there, liked her and decided to date her. He was called Joel. He was stationed in the city.
They dated for some time during her training and while on the job. The two later got married. They had a big wedding with ‘Who and Who’ present on D-day. They were happy as can be and their guests cheered them on to greater things in life.
Joel, her husband was well placed in public service and his promotions and transfers were imminent often. A few years after the wedding he was transferred to the seaside as the number two in the hierarchy and she decided to sacrifice the job she loved dearly and joined him there.
She decided not to look for employment and venture into other areas of development like business. They decided to settle in the area because they liked the environment. They therefore bought land and put up a big house. She would then buy dairy cows and supply milk to her neighbors and businesses around. She also grew hybrid oranges that matured fast and whose fresh juice she sold.
Her neighbors were well to do individuals, families, tourist villas and cottages. With the help of assistants at home, the work went on very well and money was flowing in nicely and steadily.
Since their wedding, it was about four years and no child was coming forth. They got worried and started checking issues out with hospitals and doctors and what have you. Nothing materialized. At the end of the sixth year, they threw in the towel.
They adopted a little boy that they called theirs and gave him their sir name. He was a cute boy with great manners. He was going to school religiously and performing well.
Meantime, Joel got another promotion and transfer and headed back to the city where the job was. He visited Bebora every other weekend; that is every fortnight or twice a month. This went on for two years then things started changing slowly but surely. Within that time, she visited him once both at the house and in the office.
Instead of visiting her every two weeks, he resorted to once a month. Bebora was not amused and asked him why he had changed the times. His answer was that he was getting tired of traveling every so often and that his job was also more demanding with time.
Then Bebora told him that if he felt tired of traveling then she would make the mid-month trips instead of him. This did not go down well with him and he therefore objected vehemently without giving any concrete reason. This surprised her because she could not see why he would object and so strongly too.
Although his house was hers too, she did not feel comfortable insisting to him that she would make the trips therefore she gave up the topic. Instead, he called and talked to her on telephone as a substitute for the second visit. As much as she was not satisfied, she decided to stay put.
As time went by, he started missing even the monthly visits and the phone calls with claims that he had too much work. Something in her head straight way told her this time that all was not well between them and that he was not forthright.
She called him on the house number and a woman answered the phone. She stated who she was and that she needed to talk to him and she was told that he was not in and that he would call her on his return. The lady never introduced herself to Bebora.
He did not return her call and after one week, she decided to travel to the city and find out what he was up to. Her public means of transport that was a bus arrived in the city very early in the morning and she went straight to the house and found him still at home.
She knocked on the door and he is the one who opened the door for her. He had woken up and was about to go to the bathroom and shower ready to go to work. She headed to the bedroom to keep her traveling bag and there was a lady in bed.
The lady panicked and got up and Bebora could clearly see that she was very heavy with child. She was a woman in her twenties and highly fashionable or classy going by what she wore and how she carried herself with pose and poise.
The lady went and sat on the sofa in the sitting room. Bebora followed her there and Joel was also there. Bebora asked Joel what was going on and Joel told her that he had got what he was looking for finally, a real woman who could conceive and give birth.
Bebora asked him why he never told her all this before because she was not going to stand on his way, if that was his feeling and wish. He responded that he did not wish to hurt her feelings. She then told him that by doing things the way he had; he had hurt her more than if he had discussed everything openly with her.
He then told her, “Sorry, but this is how things are now, so take it or leave it”.
Her response to him was, “Good luck and she took her bag and left the house.”
She went to her friend's house and spent the day there and in the evening, she boarded another bus and headed back to the farm.
And, he never bothered with her again. He even forgot the little boy they adopted together. Over a span of six years, he sired four children with the new wife.
Bebora worked hard and educated the little boy who was no longer little, but had grown into a fine young man. She sponsored him for further education abroad after high school.
Unfortunately, she had been having some ailments that turned out to be cancer and she just suffered quietly alone without Joel going to help her. Her condition became serious and she died one night at the farm.
Joel was not seen around although word was sent to him through very reliable sources. Bebora’s parents had passed on therefore her younger sister struggled to bury her with help from her neighbors. The boy was still abroad, but he managed to send some money to Bebora’s sister to use for the funeral.
He was unable to go and bury her because if he went, he would not manage to go back because of cost of transport and yet he was not through with his education. He used the little money he earned from doing student jobs to send to his aunt.
Simple Elsa
Elsa, a simple and unassuming girl from a humble background saw dust in her adulthood. She had an admirable figure and a smooth face. Her parents who resided in the countryside managed to educate her to high school level just like her siblings.
After finishing high school, she trained as an administrative officer and soon after got married. She therefore had a day job Monday to Friday. In her marriage, she was blest with four children though not all of them were healthy. Two of them suffered from leukemia while the other two were just fine.
This meant a lot of attention to the two whenever they were down with the disabling disease that many times meant hospitalization. They pulled through every time and life continued as before.
Her husband too was a simple person with very pleasant behavior that tended to bend on the weak side. This came to the fore when he could not sort our issues in his marriage and his paternal family or put his feet down and say enough is enough to his siblings who interfered in his marriage and family.
Despite his being very highly educated with a college degree and a good job, he had limitations on problem solving skills. He had several younger siblings both men and women who resided in the same city as him though not in his house. They tended to try and drive wedges between him and his wife or just hurt his wife for no reason. And what hurt his wife definitely hurt his children.
One particular female sibling of his was the wor
st on these acts. On many occasions Elsa reported to him what she was going through with her in-laws and he brushed everything aside and took no action without realizing how much his wife was getting hurt and what was in store in the near future.
This went on for years with Elsa spending many times crying after a visit by any of the in-laws and in particular this female sibling of his. Unfortunately too, they tended to visit when he was not around like when he was attending football matches with his friends or welfare society meetings with his other older relatives over the weekends or after work when he could still be in his office.
One particular Sunday afternoon, after attending church service with his family in the morning, he ate lunch and headed to the stadium to watch football with his friends as usual. A dark cloud, hang over his family that he could not envisage. The famous female sibling headed to his house and disturbed Elsa downstairs to a level that she could not take it anymore.