Chord Limitless : Episode 5

"Rose! I asked you a question!" Mrs. Mbuzi said a little louder.
I felt.my mouth go dry. I had no idea what I would say to her. I looked past her and saw Aunt Martha standing behind her. She gave me a sign not to answer. Mrs. Mbuzi abruptly turned and found aunt Martha making signs at me.
"You know?" She demanded.


Aunt Martha dropped her head. "No madam...I mean yes but...."
"But what? This is the sort of rubbish I will not commend in my home. Instead of looking after my children you are busy having sex with only God knlws who?" She said angrily as she turned back to me.
I bowed my head as tears threatened to spill. How could she say that when her husband had been the one to do this to me?
"Has he been in this house? Have you been having sex in my house? On the beds I bought?"
I didn't respond as sobs wracked through me. I couldn't help feel like I was being cheapened. I had done her no wrong but here she was practically insinuating that I was opening my legs for men willingly.


"Martha I am disappointed in you!"I heard her say.
Aunt Martha didn't respond. "Who is it?" I heard her lash out at me. "I hope it is not a married man because you village girls are a problem!"
I just sobbed louder. Lord I had done no wrong but why was this woman treating me in such a manner. I wanted to tell her so much but I knew that things would.....
"Madam, calm down," I heard a strange voice.
I looked up with tears in my eyes. It was the elderly gardener who stood there. He had apparently heard the yelling when he had come to get some rope from the store room.
"There is no need to yell," he said quietly.


Mrs. Mbuzi stared at him in disbelief. "Ba Sydney honestly is that what you can say to me?" She snapped.
"I am sorry but yelling at the poor girl is not right. She has done no wrong."
"No wrong? She has fallen pregnant in my home and you people are standing here lying to me. Obvioisly there was a man who used to come here....."
"Madam with all due respect as a health worker you should have seen the signs of a rape victim," he said quietly.
I dropped my gaze as the word rape hit me. Yes I was a victim but how did the man know.
"Rape?" Mrs. Mbuzi said quietly.


"I am a quiet old man but I hear and see a lot. I have kept quiet but when an injustice is done I will not be silent. I have blamed myself for years for not doing the right thing last time. This time I wanted to do the same but listening to you yell at this poor innocent girl made me realise we all need to speak out. So yes,Rose was raped just like the last girl was rapes by the same man I call boss."
A deafening silence filled the bathroom. Silent sobs wracked through my body as I saw Mrs. Mbuzi lean against the sink. She seemed to be in shock.
"You lie," she said in a small voice.
"I have no reason to lie. I heard the two talk the following day. I heard the poor girl cry and ask why this happened to her. I have seen how the boss would look at her before all this...."


"Shut up!" Mrs. Mbuzi snapped. "You think I don't know your type? Filthy ingrates. After all we have done for you ;you decide to come up with a scheme to blackmail us based on my husband's promiscuity!"
"Madam...." Aunt Martha began.
"Don't. Don't say anything. I am most disappointed in you," I heard Mrs. Mbuzi scream.
"Madam..." Aunt Martha tried to hold her hand but Mrs. Mbuzi yanked it away as she wiped away angry years.
"Leave!"
"What?" Asked Aunt Martha.
"All of you get out of my house. Leave! I will not allow such filth in my home!"
Everyone stood frozen.


"Oh, you think am lying? Wait."
She stalked out of the room and returned a few minutes later wielding a belt. Before any of us could react she lashed it at me. It hit skin and I cried out at the pain seered through my body. I jumped up as she hit me again.
"Get out!" She had a look I had never seen before. It was angry and wild.
"I am not playing. Get out before I hurt you ungrateful pig!"
She raised the belt at me again but I was already on my heels past aunt Martha. I heard aunt Martha cry out. I ran towards the gate and yanked it open then ran outside only stopping a few meters away from the house. When I stopped I notices aunt Martha was behind me. We stood looking at each other sadly. A good ten minutes later the gate was yanked open and

Mrs. Mbuzi stepped with our things in her hands. She flung them onto the ground then went back and came back with more stuff. When she was done she looked in our direcrion before spitting on the things and calling us filth then walked back into the yard banging the gate behind her. We looked at each out before walking to gather our things.
Ten months later
Life had been hard. Aunt Martha had gone to live with her sister in Chibya while I found myself a one roomed place in chawama. The owner of the place lived in a two bedroomed house and she had built a block.of six one roomed houses and that was her lively hood.


 She was a good woman and she had been the one to encourage me and to love my son. Noy easy but she had told me the child was innocent. She reminded me of my mother. She told me to instead trust more in God.
"The more people curse and ill treat you the more the Lord will bless you," she had said.
She was called Bana Mapalo and she truly was a blessing. She was a mother to everyone. She had even delivered my son the night he came. Then she had taken us to Chawama clinic. I named him Lumuno as he had brought peace in my life. He came on the day my mother died.


Moses told me in the wee hours after delivery. I could not travel for the funeral as I was still too weak but I morned her.
"Bana Mapalo,I am going now," I called out as I bundled Lumuno on my back and put the dish of fruits on my head.
This was my life. I had started selling fruits to sustain myself.I would wake up early,leave Lumuno with Bana Mapalo and rush to city Market to buy fruits for sale before going home. I had been doing that through out my pregnancy. I would walk long distances and oy get home after dark. This day was no different. I normally sold at the bus stations and along offices.


The money wasn't good but it did make a difference. Around lunch I would buy water packed in a plastic for one kwacha and some ground nuts and cassava or I would go to kamwala matket and buy nshima for K9.
"You really need to stop with this selkung of fruit," Namonda my neighbor from the room.next door said that evening when I returned home.
I gave her a tired smile as I unlocked the house and then put my dish down.
I lighted the brazier and then put a pot of water on it so I could bath Lumuno before I started cooking. I had managed to buy us sime relish for K10 from Zambeeef.


"I am serious Rose. There is a way you can make more money," she said as she sat next to me on thr veranda as I nursed Lumuno after his bath.
I looked at her wondering what she was getting at. Bana Mapalo had hinted to me that she suspected Namwanda was a prostitute but she had no proof. Namwanda had however told me she worked for a lodge but only did night shifts.
"How?" I asked curiously.
"Join me tomorrow night and I will show you. In fact you are better off dling what I do and you can save."


I shook my head. "Lumuno..."
"Not to worry. My sister will keep an eye on him just like she keeps an eye on Mable."
I slowly nodded my head. "Okay. I will try it."
She jumped up happily."Great. Beside you are a pretty girl with a lovely body."
With that she left making me look after her and wondering what she was up to. I looked up to the sky. Lord whatever Namwanda has planned please don't allow me to go astray.

Watch out for episode 6