Hurdles - Cindy (Book 2)

After beating my head on the way forward; I decided to call one of my friends who picked me up and took me to her home, she gave me a bed and asked me to rest but how could I knowing the kids were at a place I didn’t know about.

I waited for it to be 11:00hrs before I could leave the house fully aware that Elias couldn’t have taken the kids from school. I got in a bus and went there, waiting for 12:00hrs - that’s the time they knocked off.

For the first time in my life I felt like time wasn’t moving; I kept looking at my watch just for it to be 12PM. And after waiting forever I finally heard voices in the corridor.

‘Mummy! Mummy!’ Screamed my eldest son

I ran towards him and knelt down so that we could embrace, he was only in grade two and seven years of age at the time but very inquisitive and intelligent.

‘Do you know we have shifted?’ He asked when I finally let him go

‘You have?’ I asked feigning surprise as if I wasn’t aware

‘Yes mummy we have, let me take you I know the place.’

And that is how we got on the school bus, I wasn’t sure if he really knew the place but I was praying inwardly that he did.

‘Mummy are you and daddy getting divorced?’ He asked with his innocent eyes looking through me

I didn’t know what to say because honestly I couldn’t understand at what point we got here, when did he become this boy? This grown up? This mature little being?

‘Don’t worry mummy, whatever happens I am never leaving you.’ He had told me when I didn’t respond, I felt a tag at my heart because no child should ever go through anything like that.

We reached the house and I was surprised to find the girl who had been brought in by Elias as our new maid whilst I was in Lusaka standing by the door, immediately she saw me, she called my youngest son who was inside to come outside. I couldn’t hold back the tears, it’s like my boy had not bathed in a week. I could clearly tell that he had not even been eating well because he had lost some weight.

I just carried my youngest and held his elder brother in my hands, I was determined to get my children out of this place no matter what.

I asked her where Hope the eldest was and she just said she was inside sleeping, now as a mother we all know our children. And I know Hope is not the type of child to sleep during the day, I knew right there and then that something was totally wrong.

I rushed into the house and I found her sitting on the sofa helplessly, apparently she was having one of her gas episodes. She told me she had not eaten after asking her, and when I asked the house help I was told Hope didn’t just want to eat.

I straight away went to the kitchen and prepared some porridge which I gave. That day I couldn’t get them, even if I did where would I take them? I was staying with my friend and I only had an empty house that I was locked out of.

Luckily the house help gave me the keys to my matrimonial home before I left but I promised myself that I would work extra hard just so I could get my kids.

I organized some money and bought sofas with a few beddings, I then waited for my pay day so that I could get my children.

It was only a few days after leaving Elias’ new place that he called me, he was yelling at me for going to his house. He called me a gold digger and I would never be anything like his new woman. Now remember when I said he had started an affair and the girl was using charms? Little did I know that the girl he had brought into our home pretending to be the maid was actually the girlfriend. Well he said she was better than me in more ways than one, I couldn’t hear more so I just cut the line and left work. I withdrew all the money I had in my account and got on a cab to his new place. I carried my niece along to come with me.

I found his girlfriend at the door talking on phone and I just pushed her aside without a word, I commanded my niece to pack up for the youngest kids and Hope to pack her clothes and take the things to the car.

As they did that I went to the kitchen and started packing all the food in the freezer, I packed everything I could find. I included salt, sugar, juice cooking oil, vegetables, onion and all the other toiletries. I was mad at Elias. Really mad.

His girlfriend couldn’t do anything, she just wordlessly stood there watching me.

After parking all the foods and groceries; I collected my kids and went back to Chililabombwe where I was staying in our matrimonial home and that's how I started staying and surviving as a single mum.

But what was funny was he was telling his friends and relatives that the lady he was staying with was a maid, Elias didn’t want people to look at him as a black sheep when in actual sense he was.

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