chapter-2

A couple of years passed, skeeter was in her seventh grade. It was time the girls had to go back from home to the boarding school. When the granny reached school to drop them off. Skeeter refused to go back, she tugged her grandma, fragged herself to the ground stubbornly, would not let go of her granny's arms. She hated the boarding school. Her frights were that she left again for years and will not be able to see her granny or home again. She did not let go of her stubbornness after a long struggle finally her granny decided to take her back home with her but she had to face the consequences back home with skeeter's father reaction. When they reached home.

She was too scared to enter the house, her father [leonard.] He was standing there with a deadly look in his eyes. She was grounded for a day with no food and had to stay outside the house it was a much better option. She thought rather than going to that horrible lonely school. Again coming back to skeeter's aunt [leonard's sister Ann.] She was in her own world with two boys, of her own, staying three km away from Leonard her brother, and her mother. She was selfish although she was earning a good amount of money, she never financially helped her brother or mother although she knew their financial situation and poverty.

They were going through when skeeter and her granny would go to her house. She would make them clean her house, wash all the dishes and evening. She will give a bowl of rice to her mother not allowing her to share it with skeeter but to eat it in front of her but the grandmother was a very kind old lady. She loved skeeter a lot and hid the food from her daughter and slyly fed skeeter.

It was a rough stage for a child to go through while Luana stayed back at the boarding school. Skeeter had to do housework to get a meal for that day. one day the granny asked Skeeter to write a letter to her mother[jane.] Her granny narrated what to write, so skeeter wrote the whole thing that skeeter had stopped school and she's willing to do her further studies but not in that school.

A few days later she got a reply from her mother asking the granny to come along with skeeter Vizag [visakhapatnam.] and drop her there, so the two tickets were arranged for skeeter and her grandma. They left the next day on arriving at Vizag. Skeeter was very excited and eager to see her mother and her newborn half-sister but it was all not that exciting for the next changes in her life, life was to get worse. The reunion was a very happy moment for all.

Two days passed. The granny goes back home leaving skeeter with a sad heart when they departed. Skeeter was not feeling very comfortable with her new half-sister and her young baby brother, all she was supposed to do was babysit while her mother went to work at the night club and joe[skeeter's stepfather.] was on night shifts. Skeeter had to stay awake till midnight, till the parents were back.No experience of how to look after a baby and a two-year-old child.

She managed to entertain them every night with songs, dancing, making milk for her siblings until their mother was backing. She would be hungry waiting for her mom or step-father to return with something, which they would bring from the club. But her mom would wake up the two kids, feed them and if there were leftovers. She would ask joe if she could give it to skeeter to eat. There were days jane would buy fruits from the market and come home and peel the apples for her younger kids.

She would stand anxiously waiting for her share but she was never given a stripe of it, so she would take the skins of the apple and eat it, besides her mother, there were only one reaction and the cruellest words. What was said to skeeter by jane was don't touch this it's not your father's earning, ask your father to earn and buy you.

These words always stuck in her mind until this day. It was August 15 and she was sitting with her younger brother on her lap and suddenly her mother noticed something unusual about Skeeter's dress immediately. She took her baby boy from the shelter and took her to a small little hut house behind a well and locked her inside, confused why her mother was doing this to her.

Skeeter did not know the reason for nine days, her food was given through the window to her. She was not allowed to come into the house or touch any family member or even play with them.

She was allowed to only come out in the morning by 10 am. She had to draw her own water from the well to take a cold bath. This was the year 1983, skeeter had come of age[puberty.]She was a very innocent, shy, quiet girl. These nine days when a girl usually comes of age, they would be given eggs and nourishing food, but skeeter was given the next day's food to eat.

But she would never crib or push away what she got was contended with all she received. Her half-sister would bully her, take her advantage of her, tell her mother and get skeeter into a lot of trouble. The only thing skeeter would be upset about was she never liked her mother and Joe's photo's hanging on the wall. She would tear them into two.

She wanted her parents to get back. She could not see or accept another man taking her father's place. She brought both [jane] and [joe.]She was punished by not going out and making new friends. The best part of all this, Jane's neighbour never knows the truth of what relationship skeeter was to jane.

They all were told that skeeter was Jane's cousin's daughter who had come to spend holidays with her aunt, until later skeeter for her good behaviour, kind-hearted, friendly personality. She was recognized and made friends with the neighbourhood. That's when they came to know that Skeeter was Jane's real daughter in her first marriage with Leonard.

Skeeter was allowed to go out and play in the evening's from 4 am to 5 but not alone. She had to carry her half baby brother and sister along. One on her hips and the other by the hand. It feels as though her childhood had no fun. Then one-day skeeter's friend's were playing in the park. It was called Lakshmi town in Vizag.

Time went so fast skeeter did not notice the time. She had to get back by 6 am or her mother would beat her and will not allow her to come out again and play or meet her friends. She was scared she requested her friends to come home and talk to her mother, they agreed. skeeter liked by all of them. She had a friend named Sunita and Sunil was Sunita's brother.

They were marwadies, Parveen was another friend of skeeter. She was Muslim, they were all very fond of their new friend and they felt sorry for her as to what see skeeter getting beaten by her mother. They all sympathized with skeeter, they were very rich. They would share their books with her, take her to their homes, offer her foods, sweets, fruits, etc.

Their parents felt sorry for Skeeter because they would witness the ill-treatment, she was going by her mother[coming back to where I left.] Skeeter was late and she reached home. Her mother started questioning her, where she had gone and why she was late before skeeter could explain to her little half-sister who always disliked skeeter began to tell her mom that skeeter was dancing in her friend's house and enjoying herself.

Poor skeeter never had the chance to explain the truth in front of all her friends. Skeeter's mother took out a ladle [spoon] from a hot frying pan with hot oil and tagged it on her hands. Pity her what pain she went through in front of her friend's. She felt so miserable, crying she went and laid down on her bed and was sobbing.

Out calling grandmother's name, skeeter was a very god-fearing girl from the child she loved to read bible stories. She was always too herself. She loved reading comics, novels. Her first novel was Enid Blyton like any other girl child. She loved fairy tales and she believed she would meet her charming prince who would take her away. And you know Aquarians are dreamers. She believed in God, honesty, and truth. She thought when she grew up she would marry Jesus but her life was to turn into nightmares... ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` TO BE CONTINUED...