BLEAK PROLOGUE
Definition: Lacking vegetation and exposed to elements
Synonyms: Bare, Exposed, Desolate, Open, Empty, Unsheltered, Unprotected, Unshielded.
I looked at the blood-stained sheets and sighed, this was the third day in a week that she was asking me to wash her stained bedsheets.
I didn’t want to complain, I mean who would I even complain to?
Olipa was Mulife’s wife and Mulife was my boss’s first son. I found her when I first came here two months ago to look for employment. From what I could see he didn’t love her as much as she did but that was none of my business.
I had an obligation, to clean up after them and send whatever income to my mother back in Senanga.
‘Who is your bestfriend?’ Mundiya asked
He was the youngest and most talkative child of my bosses. Mulife the eldest, Lackson the second and Mundiya.
I smiled, I loved his innocence. At twelve he had big dreams, the dreams that I once had.
‘My mother I guess, she knows so much about me.’
‘Then why don’t you talk about her or even stay with her here?’
‘I bet you hate Shangombo and you would rather she stays in Senanga.’ He added before he ran off
His words left me wondering, I didn’t know where it all came from or where he wanted to go with the conversation but it stirred something in me.
I had no plans of ever going back to Mongu my home town, as much as I hated the non-civilization or sand that Shangombo came with, I would rather my mother stayed with me.
My names are Thelma Lubasi, aged 21 and working as a house help and this is my story.
Winnie