The Wife ESCAPED!

The next morning, 6:30am found Caro and her guardian on a vehicle headed for only Madam Mary knew where. She had come to trust the woman so much that it never crossed Caro’s mind to ask or wonder where they were going. She sat obediently beside her as the rickety tricycle sped along in the cool dawn weather.

Once in a while, she would glance at the serious-looking woman and wonder what exactly was going through her mind. Was she reminiscing about her late husband, or was she thinking about her fruit selling business? It was only when she instructed the tricycle driver to ‘drop us for here’ that Caro began to wonder where they were. Still inside the tricycle, she could not see the very unfamiliar environment as clearly as she’d have liked, but she had complete trust in her guardian’s judgement, so there was no reason to worry.

When they had alighted from the little vehicle, Caro found herself standing a few hundred metres away from two large double storey buildings that seemed as old as her. The place looked very much like the headquarters of a government agency or something of the sort, but it was devoid of human activity.

“Come,” Madam Mary instructed and she followed her into the compound.

Caro did not see the badly placed signboard as they went further into the yard; her eyes were more on the building and the road ahead. Madam Mary led her all the way to an open office in the first story of one of the buildings. Caro could see a man scribbling behind a desk and she wondered who on Earth he was. Madam Mary knocked on the open door and he quickly looked up. “Come in,” he said.

“Ah! Mrs. Maxwell, you came on time. How do you do? Please sit. Is this the girl?”

“Yes. My daughter, Carolina.”

“Good Morning, sir,” Caro promptly curtsied.

“Good Morning, young lady. How do you do?”

“Very fine, Sir.”

“Please sit. Like I said, Madam, you came right on time. Like I told you yesterday, I would not have had time to attend to you if you had come during school hours.”

School hours, Caro thought. What exactly was going on here?

“Aha, here they are,” the man said, producing two sheets of paper and a notebook and placing them before Caro. “Fill these forms, young lady. And then write your details here.”

Caro looked to her guardian who gave her approval with an almost imperceptible nod. Then she took up the pen the man had placed on the book and proceeded to fill the forms. Madam Mary looked over her shoulder and watched her as she wrote. As she filled in her date of birth, Caro could not help but thank her stars that she had not lied to her guardian about her age otherwise she would have been exposed today. She knew it was absurd, but she hoped that there was no part of any of the forms that required truthful explanation of how she became homeless.

When she had written all that needed to be written, she handed everything to the man who quickly scanned through it all and nodded satisfaction.

“Good. Good. Um… that’s all. Congratulations, young lady. You are now a bonafide student of this great establishment.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Caro mumbled, trying hard to keep her emotions in check.

“So… no other thing, abi?”, Madam Mary asked.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“No other thing. You have made the payments and she has filled the forms. She can now resume immediately, anytime from tomorrow till next week Monday. Because Monday is when the most important preparations will begin.”

“Okay. She will come tomorrow. Thank you, Principal.”

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Maxwell. See you soon, young lady.”

Caro did not reply. She could not reply. She followed her guardian out of the office and staggered lightheadedly after her as they made for the road. Was it really possible? Was she really going to become a scholar again and possibly sit for her final exams? She had long since ruled out this possibility, thinking that no miracle could make her write the final junior exams, at least not for one more year. It was that helplessness and frustration that had fueled her sometimes harsh behavior towards her playmates back at home. They were all in school and she was the orange and cucumber-selling semi-literate who had no future other than the 3-a-side football they played on dry weekends. She had imagined that they all looked down on her which had made her pre-empt any harsh behavior with a harsh behavior of her own. But looking back now, she felt so ashamed of herself. She really had to make amends, but she was too proud to think of apologizing to them. Instead, she decided that she would make it up to them by giving them free fruits. That would be enough to make them forgive all her sins.

Madam Mary and her ward boarded another tricycle that took them back home. Both maintained complete silence during the journey. Caro was in a semi-trance state while her guardian looked relieved. When they arrived home, they began preparations to head over to the market for the day’s business. It was while they were concluding the preparations that Caro finally found her voice. She simply went to her guardian and knelt down before her.

“God will bless you, ma. Everything you have done for me, God will reward you one million… ten billion… hundred trillion times. I will never disappoint you. I will work very hard. I will make you proud. You will not regret sen…”

“It’s okay, Caro,” she smiled. “I’m already proud of you. The daughter I never had, that is what you are. Keep being a good girl, my dear. Get up, my dear, get up.”

Caro got to her feet and subsequently lost control of her emotions. Mary held her in a tight hug as she babbled more vows and promises amid flowing tears.