Chapter Thirteen

Caro and her chubby potential benefactor arrived at their final destination at dusk. It was a gigantic compound in a quiet and ultra-modern environment. When they stepped past the gate, Caro was awed by what she saw. A modern three-story mansion, several expensive-looking cars, a fountain, a little garden and a swimming pool were among some of the things her eyes first caught on and she couldn't help but stare at them open-mouthed. The woman laughed and patted her on the back.

"Surprised, eh? I told you I wasn't used to those miserable means of travelling, but a friend of mine took me to go see another friend and one thing led to another. The end result was that I had to make my way back home without a car. At first, I thought I would manage just fine, but... you know how that turned out. Come on, let's go in," she said, pulling the still awed and dumbstruck Caro by the hand.

"Rennie!", the woman called as they entered the house.

Caro stood beside her, more awed than ever as she looked around at the enormous sitting room which was decorated with every luxurious item money could buy. The small things like the AC were very small, smaller than any she had ever seen while the big things like the sofas were huge, bigger than both of her grandfather's fishing canoes (one of which was once rumored to be stolen property).

"Rennie! Mabel! Where are you guys?", the woman called again. A young woman, probably in her early twenties, rushed into the sitting room to meet them.

"Sorry, ma. The children were making noise, that's why we did not hear you."

"Yeah yeah, you always have a ready excuse. By the way, where are those kraperknuckers? Don't they know I'm home and that it's time to jet off to do their homeworks?"

"Emm... they... they are..."

"Anyway, show this young lady to the bathroom in one of the guest rooms and get her a clean dress. Preferably one of those new ones of yours. (to Caro) Come on dear, go with her. You should have your bath and get something to eat. It's been a tough day. And by the way, I never found out your name."

"Caro... Carolina Benson."

"Okay, Carol. I'd like to thank you again for saving my life. I'm more grateful than you can ever imagine."

"It's nothing, ma," Caro mumbled shyly.

"And by the way, my name's Trisha; Trish for short. Don't forget to toss the 'Ma' into the sink before you leave the bathroom. Now, you can follow this young lady."

Caro curtsied, but was quickly stopped by her host.

"Uh uh. We don't do that here. I'm not your mother and this is not an African village. We're all equals here. We're friends. Remember that, okay?"

Caro nodded, heavily embarrassed.

"Good girl. Now, off you go. I'll be waiting here for you."

Caro followed Rennie and the older girl led her to a tastefully furnished room and showed her the bathroom, promising to return with a clean dress as soon as possible. Caro thanked her and she left, shutting the door softly behind her.

Caro was now alone in the room. She took a careful but quick look around at all the fineries: the plush rug, huge bed, beautiful curtains... in fact, it looked like the rooms in those five-star hotels she'd seen in magazines - everything so classy and expensive.

Well well, she wasn't here to admire furniture. In reverence to the wealth and class all around her, she almost tiptoed into the bathroom. Everywhere was white and sparkling clean. There was a tub and a shower, but since she wasn't used to the former and also because there was no time for frolicking, she opted for the shower.

As she stripped, she couldn't help but wish that she was the one who would occupy the room. She would then have a chance to try out the tub as much as she wanted! But all those were fantasies. She knew she would only sleep in the kitchen or anywhere else she would be working from now on.

***

When Caro came back to the sitting room, she found that everyone was at the dining table, except Rennie. She was a little confused, not knowing what next to do. She knew she had to clean while waiting for them to finish, but where could she find a cleaning cloth and what on earth would she clean?

"Oh Carol, you're done," Trish said, gesticulating with her fork. "Come sit down beside me."

Caro's eyebrows shot up, but she knew better than to argue. She went over to the chair and sat down lightly. But right in front of her was a covered plate of food. She wondered whose it was; Rennie's perhaps?

"Come on, eat your food, dear," Trish said, gesturing at the plate.

"Hmm?" Caro was more surprised than ever.

"Sorry we started without you, but we keep a strict timetable, you know."

Again, Caro knew better than to say anything. Tentatively, she lifted the plate and was presented with a sweet-smelling and sweet-looking meal along with some cutlery, most of which she wasn't used to. She stared at the plate in mild confusion. The "food" was actually a small square of rice-colored chocolate-like substance and a few leaves. It looked more like a carpet or curtain decoration than something edible. With how famished she was, she wondered how this cube would satisfy her. It was only when someone dropped an apple in the empty cover-plate beside her that she realized that half the table was staring at her.

Recovering herself, she picked up the spoon, the only cutlery she could eat with, and started scooping the soft part of the food into her mouth. She would try to remember not to use her fingers on the tough part (which felt like meat), just like they did in the village. Had she even washed her hands? No no, she didn't need to do that since she was eating with a spoon. But how would she handle the tough part of the food? Whoa! She was getting ahead of herself now. One step at a time!

"Stop that, Ian, or you'll feel my knuckle on your head," Trish warned suddenly, addressing one of the little boys seated around the table. Ian must have stopped doing whatever he had been doing because there were no more threats from his mother.

Caro was now comfortable enough to look around at the three unfamiliar faces seated around the table. There were two little boys, obviously twins since they looked so alike and a much older girl who looked a little like Trisha, though slimmer. Caro wondered who she was to the woman. Daughter? Sister? Distant relative? But overall, they all seemed nice. No one was giving her a 'bad eye', at least not yet.

"Great food," one of the boys said, dropping his cutlery into his empty plate and raising both hands with a smile, showing his incomplete front teeth.

"You have Mabel to thank for that," his mom replied.

"Thank you, Aunty Mabel," the boys chorused.

"You're welcome, guys," the older girl beamed.

Caro could see that almost everyone had finished their meal. It would not do to be the only one to be left behind. She had to stop eating like a White woman and eat like a bonafide African lady.

Taking a quick look around, she picked the meat and threw it into her mouth. Good thing she didn't swallow it immediately because it was actually much softer and tastier than she thought, so she chewed it as quickly as she could. Then she drank down a glass of water, doing well to drink it in a civilized manner and not make those funny sounds they used to make in the village with plastic cups. As she rose from her seat, one of the boys pointed to her plates.

"Your apple," he simply said. She nodded softly and grabbed the fruit, then she dropped it again and reached forward to gather other plates.

"Oh don't bother about that," Trisha stopped her. "The boys will handle it. Come sit and let's talk a little before you go to bed, so the food can settle down, you know."

Where was it settling down to? Caro thought as she followed her to the sitting room. All the food she had eaten melted and vanished before they could leave her tongue to her throat. If hunger could be measured, she was feeling a thousand watts of it! But she was never one to complain, so she followed her host quietly.

"So tell me a little more about yourself," Trisha sighed as she sat on a sofa, crossing her legs and waving Caro to the sofa opposite.

"Umm...", Caro was about to begin, but Trisha interrupted her.

"Oh sorry, I think I should start with myself. Ahem... I'm Trisha, like I've already told you. I'm a single mom. Those are my two boys, Ian and Moses. Unrelated names, I admit. And that young lady, Mabel, is my niece. By the way, I do have an older son from my first marriage. He's out of the country, studying. Yeah, I think that's all f..."

"Where's your first husband?", Caro suddenly asked, surprising even herself.

"Ha! I like your boldness," Trisha laughed. "Anyway, he's passed on. He's... dead, I mean. I remarried and... we got divorced. He's still alive though, I think. Haha. He remarried, to someone who might actually kill him one day."

"Umm... won't you... won't you remarry again?"

"Not at all, darling. I've had enough of men and they've had enough of me... not literally of course. Haha. Yeah, I was wild in my younger days, but I only went all the way on few occasions... Oh! I shouldn't have said that. Sorry. Umm... now, your turn. Tell me about yourself and your dark little secrets. Haha. It's from a movie, you know."

Caro cleared her throat unnecessarily. She needed the time to refresh her brain and put the Lying Center in order.

"I came to Lagos... (Oops! Error) ahem... After my uncle died, his wife then threw me out and..."

"Yeah. I remember you telling me this heartbreaking part. This is not the one I wanna hear now. Tell me about the good times. You know, a nice story before bedtime."

Then she leaned back and waited. Caro quickly fell into deep thought. She racked her brain, trying to find a fun memory of her childhood. Well, wasn't she still a child?

"Well, we had this teacher in JSS 2," Caro began. "He was a new teacher and he was very eager to impress the principal and even his fellow teachers, but he was very wicked to us. He used to beat us as if we were cows without owners. In only one week as our teacher, he had flogged everyone in the class. And it wasn't just any kind of flogging, it was merciless flogging. Both boys and girls, we all hated him."

"But why didn't you guys just report to the school authority?", Trisha asked, perplexed.

"Ah! That would have been pepper on our wounds o. The principal himself was the chairman of flogging in the school. If you report any teacher to him, you're finished. He'll tell that teacher to increase the tempo."

"Christ."

"So... em... the teacher used to flog us very ruthlessly and everyone was just fed up. Even the champion of chopping cane in our class was frustrated. All his cane-chopping tricks were useless when it came to Mr. Ugbuefi. So we held a meeting. It had never happened before... I mean, boys and girls in one meeting, but because of Mr. Ugbuefi, we had to unite."

Caro paused and Trisha shifted. She recrossed her legs and waited for the girl to resume her story.

"So, in the meeting," Caro continued, "people were bringing up ideas on how we would deal with him or punish him or frustrate him and things like that. But all the ideas that were brought up had serious flaws and we had to trash them. Then finally, one girl called Grace brought an idea that everyone liked. Ahem." Caro paused and smiled mischievously at her host.

"Uh uh, don't even go there," Trisha said, shaking her head in opposition. "I'm no good at guessing. Just tell me what the idea was."

"Okay," Caro shrugged and then whispered, "a letter."

"A letter... to the principal?"

"No, to the teacher. Grace said we had to write a letter of query to the teacher, not as the class, but as the principal."

"Wow! Impersonation? You guys weren't scared?"

"We were, but we had no other option. We were pushed to the wall. Since we all knew how scared he was of getting sacked, we knew it was the best solution."

"Lemme guess..."

"No, don't guess. I'll tell you. I wrote the letter."

"Right," Trisha laughed. "So what happened next? Who delivered it?"

"Mom! Moses has taken my storybook!", one of the twins shouted, running down the stairs to meet his mother.

"Oh my," she sighed.

"Moses! Let Ian have his book!", she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Come on, go meet him. He'll give it back to you."

"Mom says give it back!", Ian shouted as he ran back up the stairs.

"Ain't it yet bedtime for you guys?", Trisha called after him, but he was running faster than her words.

"Rennie!", she called.

"I'm here, ma." The girl appeared from God knew where.

"Where's Mabel?"

"She's in her room."

"Then go make sure the boys are ready for bed. Come, what's that on your lips? Did you just start eating?"

"Yes, ma."

"Really? What have you been doing all evening? No wonder you don't like eating with everyone else because of the humongous quantity you consume."

"Ah! No o, ma. I eat on..."

"Oh, it's okay. You can go. Just make sure the boys are tucked in."

The girl nodded and swiftly went off on the errand.

"Go finish your food first, if you're not done eating," Trish called after her.

Rennie stopped at this, unsure whether to go up the stairs or back to finish her meal, but Trisha was not interested in watching her moment of indecision.

"So, where were we?", she asked, turning her attention to Caro.

"Uh... I wrote the letter..."

"Yes yes, but who delivered it? How did the person manage to not get caned?"

"Well, it was Grace. She found a way to drop it on his desk in the staff room without getting caught."

"Hmm. And he found it... and read it?"

"Of course. And then he came to our class with two big packets of Cabin biscuits and a bag of all these... soft drinks in plastic bottles."

"Wow. Is that what the letter contained?"

But Caro ignored her and continued. "He dropped the drinks and biscuits and apologized to the whole class for flogging us savagely. Ahem... We accepted his apology and shared the biscuits and drinks amongst ourselves. That's the end of the story," Caro sighed and leaned back, trying hard not to smile.

"What! Nothing else happened?"

"Not at all."

"You little vixen," Trisha growled. "I know there's more to the story. I can see it in your eyes. Better start talking or I'll tickle the entire thing out of you right now."

"Seriously, that's the end. There's nothing more to tell."

"You think I'm kidding, huh?" Trisha jumped off her sofa and made straight for the girl. But Caro dodged out of her reach just in time and ran off towards the stairs. She climbed the first step and leaned on the railing, grinning triumphantly at the panting Trisha.

"Come on, Carol. Why are you being so hardhearted? I know there's more to that story. You guys couldn't have gotten away with that stunt..."

"No, we didn't. Satisfied now?"

"No! Tell me exactly what happened."

"I told you the first time, now it's time to guess." Trisha sighed and let her head fall back on the sofa. She remained silent for a while and then suddenly got up to her feet.

"Good night, Carol," she said as she made for the stairs. "I'm no longer interested in your story. Do have a good night's rest."

"Thank you, ma. Good night," Caro replied quietly, feeling sure that she had gone too far with the play. She wondered how the woman would act towards her from now on. Would she forget what happened tonight or will she throw her out? Well, time would tell.

She gave one last glance at Trisha's figure retreating up the stairs before going back to the sofa. She stared at it, wondering whether sleeping on it would further anger her host.

"Ah!", she gasped in shock as she felt a sudden jolt of electricity run through her ribs. But before she could say Jack, she was face-down on the sofa, squealing and squirming helplessly. "Please, ma. Stop Stop Stop! You'll kill me! I'm dying!"

"What did I say about calling me 'Ma'?", Trisha returned, not letting up on her assault.

"Trisha! Trisha! Trisha! Trisha!", Caro shouted as the torture went on.

Suddenly, Trisha stopped and stared down at her with both hands on her waist. Caro rolled unto her back and returned the stare, panting.

"That was Round One. Get ready for Round Two," Trisha warned.

"Ah! What did I do again na?"

"The last part of the story, I wanna hear it. Or I'll..."

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. Don't tickle me again, please. Just let me sit properly."

Trisha watched warily as the teenager slowly got herself into a sitting position. But as soon as the soles of her feet were planted on the ground, she darted off the sofa. But Trisha was ready for her: she clamped down on her right ankle and held on tight.

"Where do you think you're going?", she asked, putting the foot on the sofa and sitting on it.

"Aaah! My leg o! Ah, I swear I will not run again. I..."

"I'm sure you won't. Start telling."

"Ma... Trisha, please just let me sit down. I swear I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Okay then." Trisha extracted the foot from under her bottom and held on to it.

Caro hopped on one leg until she could sit on the sofa.

"Ah! My leg."

"I'm waiting."

"Okay. Where did I stop?"

"Are you asking me? Or should I remind you in a very unique manner?"

"No, no, no, I can remember. Ehh... we shared the biscuits and the drinks and then after school, we went home."

"Hope you're not playing games with me?"

"No, no, I'm coming. So... the next day, we had forgotten about everything. It never crossed our minds that Mr. Ugbuefi would go to the Principal to apologize and inform him that he had carried out all the instructions in the letter."

"Oh!"

"Yes. Nobody thought of it. So, during short break, one of our classmates went to the Principal's office to get chalk because we had exhausted all the ones in our packet. The rest of us were busy talking and playing in the class. Then suddenly, this our friend ran back into the class and told us that we were all in hot soup; that Mr. Ugbuefi had just found out that the Principal did not write the letter, but before she could finish talking, somebody raised an alarm that Mr. Ugbuefi was coming. We thought it was a prank, but when we rushed to the window eh... hmm. Oboy come and see Mr. Ugbuefi with red eyes and a very long cane marching towards our class."

"Oh my. So what did you guys do?"

"Ah. The windows were open na. We did not dull ourself o. Come and see diving. Everybody through the window, both boys and girls..."

"He didn't catch anyone?"

"Wait, I'll tell you who he caught. You know, there was this big bush behind our class... that's where everybody faced. We thought the man would go back o..."

"He didn't?!", Trisha exclaimed.

"For where? Hm. Somebody that was half-mad. You know how much he spent on those drinks and biscuits? All those who were not good in sports, they became good that day. If you see running eh... Everybody was on his own o. Everybody faced his own direction. Then suddenly, we heard somebody shout. I thought it was one of our classmates, but when I turned back, I saw Mr. Ugbuefi just few yards behind me. Guess what? He was caught by a hunter's trap."

"Oh! So what did you do?"

"Eh? Do for wetin? I did not do anything o. I just jejely went back to my father's house and told my mother that there was no school that day."

"And she didn't ask any questions?"

"Questions for where? What concern her? I just stayed at home and enjoyed myself."

"Don't tell me that's the end of the story. What happened next? Did you guys quit school just like that?"

"No o. If only we could. They visited all our houses and reported us to our parents."

Trisha whistled.

"Hmm. It was not easy o. Some of my classmates were beaten like maluu... cow."

"Oh Lord. What about you?"

"Me? Ah. Before my father could think of looking for stick, I was already half-way to my grandmother's place."

Trisha burst into laughter.

"It was not funny o. I became a loyal servant to my grandmother by force."

"So you didn't return to your parents?"

"I did. That was after my grandmother begged them. But I was still beaten sha."

"Oh dear. What about the school?"

"That one? They gave us punishment. Every morning before classes and every afternoon after school, we cleared the bush behind our class. It took us almost one month. But we did not mind sha. Mr. Ugbuefi was transferred to another class."

"Aha! Mission completed at last."

"But they dealt with him in that class o."

"Really? How?"

"I still don't know how they did it. They put a pregnant spider inside his pocket. The guy danced Makosa in the class by force."

Trisha burst into laughter again.

"What kind of... devils were you in that school?", she gasped between laughs.

"It was the teachers that brought out the Devil in us," Caro shrugged.

"Oh Lord. You certainly did have more fun in one class than I ever did in my entire schooling career. Anyway, it's very very late. Let's go sleep for real this time," Trisha sighed as she got up to her feet.

"Ma... Sorry! Trisha... can I sleep on the couch?", Caro boldly asked.

"What! Are you kidding? Why would you want to sleep on the couch? What's wrong with your room?"

"Eh? My room?", Caro asked, perplexed.

"Didn't Rennie show you to your room?"

"She took me to a bathroom..."

"Wasn't that bathroom in a room?"

"Um... yes, but..."

"Then that's your room! Or don't you like it?"

"I... Ho... I like it... very much."

"Then go and sleep there. Good night."

Then she walked away. Caro took some seconds to allow the information sink in. Was that little palace going to be her room or was it just a dream? She was startled to reality by the sound of Trisha's heavy footfalls on the stairs.

"Good night, ma. Thank you, ma."

Trisha turned and eyed her angrily.

"Ah! Sorry. Trisha."

******

For the first time in her life, Caro woke up at daylight. She was aroused from her peaceful sleep by the heat of the sun rays on her face. At first, she was startled to find herself on a comfortable bed in a beautiful room, but the events of the previous day soon came into her remembrance. But when her eyes drifted to the clock overhead, she gasped in disbelief. It was 8am!

Quickly pulling aside the covers, she jumped off the bed and found her slippers - the new ones she had met in the room. Then she hurriedly padded off to the sitting room.

"Hi sleepyhead, how was your night?", Trisha greeted, not taking her eyes from her laptop as Caro almost tiptoed into the room.

"Umm... f... fine. Thank you."

"Sorry we had breakfast without you. Couldn't wait."

Caro did not know what exactly to say in reply, so she quietly shifted from one foot to the other, awaiting her orders for the morning.

"Everything okay?", Trisha asked, now eyeing her curiously. "Something you wanna say?"

"Em... yes. My work. Which work will I do?"

"Excuse me, 'which work' in what sense?"

"As in, the work I'll do in the house like cleaning or washing or..."

"Hey Carol, look here. I didn't bring you home to be my cleaner or a washerwoman. If there's anything to be cleaned or washed, Rennie or the boys will do it whenever they can, okay?"

Caro nodded. "So... what will I... be doing?"

Trisha dropped the computer on the table and sighed. Caro's heart immediately skipped a beat, thinking she was about to be scolded.

"You don't have any family left and nowhere to go, right?"

Caro nodded.

"Okay. Now, like I said before, we're friends and you can live here as long as you can and wish. This is my house and no one else has any claim over it. So... what would you want to 'be doing'?"

"Emm...", Caro hesitated, scratching her head nervously. The first think that came to her mind was to go back to school, but like Trisha had said the previous day, she was not her mother.

"Sell something or... or learn a trade."

"What trade would you like to learn? Don't you wanna go back to school? Or are you done with school?"

"No. I've not written my junior WAEC."

"Wow. A smart woman like you is still not done with junior secondary school at this age? You must have started school pretty late."

Caro simply nodded, not trusting her lips not to betray her by spouting the truth.

"Hmm," her host sighed. "So, we'll need to make sure you get into school in time for the next exams. My worry is that you may not have enough time to adapt and then prepare for the exams..."

"Ah. No o, ma. I... I mean, Trisha. I don't need to go back to school. If I can borrow some textbooks from someone, I will be able to refresh my memory before the exams will begin."

Trisha shook her head in disapproval.

"No, no, I don't think private tutors can do better than schools. I..."

"No o. I don't need a private tutor, I can do it by myself. I was First in my class in both the 1st and 2nd term exams," she said with a touch of pride. And then added as an afterthought, "I know almost everything inside all the textbooks."

"Okay then. Seems you're way out of my league. So I'll give you one week, just one week, to refresh your memory on a math topic of my choice and then I'll get someone to check how well your memory's been refreshed. How 'bout that?"

Caro beamed and nodded happily.

"Great. I'll get you those textbooks tomorrow max and you can start work immediately on Math alone, for now."

Caro nodded again. "Thank you, ma. God will b... I mean, Trisha."

The woman shook her head in exasperation and simply waved her off.

Crossing herself in the Catholic manner, Caro exhaled through her lips and rushed up the stairs to her little paradise of a room to get her teeth and body properly scrubbed. She certainly would try the tub this time!

***

Caro stalked into the enormous kitchen feeling fulfilled and content. Her first bath in a tub and Trisha's concern for her education was making her feel on top of the world.

She calmly surveyed the large kitchen with the air of a builder who had come to see how his creation was serving its users. A sudden chink arrested her attention and she looked in the direction where the sound came from only to see Rennie washing plates in a sink. She had not imagined that a human was present before now; that was how large the place was.

"Good Morning, Rennie," she hailed as she walked toward her.

"Oh. Good Morning - "

"Caro."

"Good Morning, Carol. How was your night?"

"Ca... ro," Caro corrected.

"Carol," Rennie asserted.

"I said, Caro."

"And I said, Carol."

"Come, are you the owner of my name? It's my name and I'm telling you how to call it a..."

"Is that what Madam Trisha calls you?"

"Are you Madam Trisha?", Caro shot back.

"Anytime Madam starts to call you Karoh or whatever you call yourself, then I'll call you the same thing."

"If you call me Carole again, you'll be surprised the kind of name I'll give you. Do I look like Christmas carol?"

"What are you doing?", the girl asked in surprise as Caro joined her and started washing the cutlery in the sink. Caro did not reply, but rather kept on washing with expert hands. "Please leave here. This is not your work. I'm being paid to do this work."

"How much are you being paid?"

"It's not your business. Just go."

But Caro continued what she was doing.

"I said go na. What is your problem sef, this girl?"

"What is your own problem? Are you the only one that's being paid to do work?"

"How much are you being paid?"

"You, how much are you being paid?", Caro retorted.

"Come, I will push you o," Rennie threatened in frustration.

"Push me na. I will break this plate on your head just now."

"What's going on here?"

Like flash, Caro darted away from the sink and hid her wet hands behind her as Trisha walked in.

"What's all the noise about?", Trisha asked again as she opened the fridge and began rummaging around.

"It...," Rennie was about to say, but Caro slyly kicked her and immediately took over the talking.

"Nothing, M... we... we were just discussing."

"With raised voices? Have you had your breakfast yet, Carol?", Trisha asked as she closed the fridge having extracted a pack of juice from it.

"No, M - "

"You better go eat now. It's late morning already."

"Okay. T... thank you," Caro said as the woman walked out with the juice and a glass.

When she was gone, Caro turned to Rennie and fixed her with her fiercest scowl. The girl scowled back until Caro got tired and headed for the door.

"Mfffeeew," they both hissed almost at the same time.