Chimaobi soon came back from school and
scattered their school uniforms, sandals and
school bags in the sitting room creating
more work for me.
“Where is my food,” Chimaobi asked with an
authority that was much stronger than his
3years of age would suggest.
“And mine too!” Nnenna added.
“Its inside the warmer,” I replied.
“Go and get it for us!” Chimaobi ordered.
I wondered how little Chimaobi and Nnenna
would be ordering me around.
Little children whom I was older than with
nothing less than 10years.
I brought their food from the warmer and
gave to them.
If not for the presence of my madam, those
children would have had it hot with me but
madam’s presence was hell-fire on its own.
Not to talk of when she gets report from any
of her children.
I hadn’t taken anything except the two
slices of bread and mixed water that I took
since morning yet I endured.
I cleared the sitting room and removed the
school uniforms, bags and sandals that the
children scattered there and went to the
bathroom to wash the uniforms.
I had barely started washing the uniforms
when madam woke up from sleep.
“Hope the children have eaten,” she asked
with bulging sleepy eyes.
“Yes ma, they have,” I replied.
Then she went into the toilet to ease herself.
“Adaeze!” She called.
“Yes ma,” I replied.
“Have you washed this toilet today?” She
asked.
“No ma,” I replied.
“If I meet you in that bathroom, I will tear
you into pieces!” she threatened.
I rushed off to the balcony to get the mop
and bucket to wash the toilet.
“Why didn’t you wash it since morning?”
She asked.
“I forgot ma,” I replied.
She gave me a very hard push and I fell
backwards and nearly hit my head on the
wall.
“Silly a-s!” She cursed and went back to her
bedroom.
With tiredness, hunger and exhaustion I
washed the toilet.
When I was done, I went back to the
bathroom to complete the washing of the
children’s school uniforms.
By the time I finished washing the school
uniforms, my stomach was tearing apart
with hunger.
But I couldn’t muster the courage to tell my
madam that I was hungry.
So all I did was to go to one corner of the
kitchen and cry silently.
Madam’s husband came back later in the
evening and observed that my eyes were
red.
“Why are your eyes red?” He asked peering
into my face.
“Nothing sir,” I lied in a bid to avoid trouble.
“Have you been crying?” He asked still
peering into my eyes.
“No sir,” I lied again.
“Ok have this,” he said handing a can of
fruit juice to me.
My face brightened up as he handed the
juice to me.
“Thank you sir,” I greeted and went into the
kitchen with the can of juice.
I gulped down the entire juice in no time and
my stomach calmed a bit.
The family had dinner around 8pm but I
wasn’t given anything till I finished washing
all the plates and pots used for the dinner.
Then madam put one very small leftover of
the food for me, the size of which wasn’t
even going to be enough for a toddler and
went to bed.
I ate the food fast and retired to my small
room to catch some sleep as I was very
tired and exhausted…