Maid For Marriage

40

They left the table and I was happy to spend some time with Chumisa until we made our way back to the homestead. We were called into the main hut and MaKhumalo and I took our seat at Baba's feet while the kids went off to play.

"Where exactly have you all been?!" Gogo shouted. "We went to eat because your daughter refused to serve us food. She claimed it was finished." Ma replied. "What do you mean? There was more than enough. Everyone went back for seconds." I knew it! I knew I cooked enough food.

"The ladies did a really good job. The food was delicious. We even gave some away. It was over enough." MaKhumalo scoffed. "Wow. These woman don't want peace. They insist on torturing the Dlamini wives. We keep getting asked why we don't visit. All of you wonder why your son's are leaving you. The way this family treets their wives is disgusting." MaKhumalo said shaking her head.

"MaKhumalo what does this have to do with breakfast?" Gogo asked and MaKhumalo tapped my arm. "Speak MaBhengu. Speak or they'll turn you into a doormat." Why was she doing this?

"MaBhengu?"
"Gogo."
"MaBhengu, speak." Senzo insisted. I played with my fingers nervous. "Yebo, Baba. Gogo I made breakfast... By myself..." I said with a shaky voice. "Excuse me?" I cleared my throat. "I was told to make breakfast. So I made it." Gogo say in disbelief. "And they refused to feed you?" I nodded.

"I'll reprimand my daughter and make sure it never happens again. MaRadebe. You finally show your face here after burying my son as far away from me as possible."

"Oh? Now he's your son? After months of him pleading with you to come and visit him and you refusing did you really think he would want to be buried here?"

"I'm his mother. He could've come here." So is this why they didn't get along. I didn't see her at the funeral either. "My husband was unfit to travel. He couldn't even stand being moved from one room to the next and I told you this countless times. Days leading up to his death we called you numerous times and you said you can't make it. The day he died he tried calling you himself but you wouldn't answer. You're lucky you didn't come to his funeral because on his death bed he made me promise to throw you out. Your son needed you and you were to busy telling him how the hierarchy of the family works."

We sat in silence until one of the uncles cleared his throat. They kept quiet up until now. "Ma we have a lot to discuss. Can we move on?" She nodded. "I was there when the lobola was paid. I explained to Ma that we were put under a lot of pressure in the moment. Also, MaBhengu's father threatened to keep her away. At the time we didn't know that he actually hurt her. Senzo being Senzo paid the lobola in full and we were lucky we did otherwise MaBhengu might not be here with us today."

I was forever going to live with this incident over my head. I really wanted everyone to get over it. "The elders however have decided that since none of the customs were done properly we will have to do it again."

"What?" Senzo asked and he sounded just as shocked as I was. "My boy." His grandmother started with her rough voice. "Lobola, is a lot more than just the money. It's about uniting two families. Now I know you've paid a lot in lobola but that wasn't right. According to our culture no lobola was paid that day. You paid a ransom. We will have to do it again. This time we must do it properly."

"Maybe we can go through the processes and you won't have to pay since you already paid one million rand to her father." He what? "We just need to do everything right so the ancestors acknowledge the marriage."

"You paid my father how much?" I was in shock. From the amount he paid to the fact that he's not actually my husband. "Mamakhe the amount doesn't matter. Your life was more important." I took a deep breath because if I didn't I was going to lose my shit.

My father had one million rand at his disposal. That's why the damn police can't find him. What more is there that I don't know about my own life?

"So we'll do things how they're supposed to be done. It all starts with a letter. We'll send the letter when you return. But for now you'll see more family arriving because we're having a small ceremony this weekend just to thank and appease the ancestors. MaKhumalo, I know you don't like cooking and cleaning but I do have a job for you. I'll talk to you later. MaBhengu will be in the kitchen with the others."

I could tell gogo was excited about the weekend but they just dropped several bombs. "After what happened this morning my wife won't be found in the kitchen unless it's at our house. I've learned my lesson with you and your daughters. You won't abuse my wife. She'll join MaKhumalo on whatever her task is. She won't be a slave to your daughters."

I get what he was doing but right now I was still in shock. How did we just move past what was said so quickly. "I'm very excited for this weekend. We haven't seen the whole family together in forever. Senzo, I hope you've gotten your wives in order. It won't look good if they're not all here. I've sent an open invitation to the whole village. Their families included." Now why would she go and do that?

We left and I walked to where we were staying. I know I was going to seem dramatic but I started packing my things. I did not need to be here and everyone was eventually going to find out what my father did and how he scammed Senzo out of a million rand. I did not want to be here when that happened. I was leaving and I was leaving now.

"What are you doing?" He grabbed my suitcase away from me. "Senzo please. I don't have the energy for this." I called him by his name. It just slipped out. "So you're leaving me? Really? What's the reason!? We've been through so much to get to this point and you want to throw it away!?" I didn't know what to say so I kept quiet.

"What's going on in here? We heard shouting." It was MaRadebe and MaKhumalo. "Speak to her.  She wants to leave." He said and threw my suitcase at a wall before storming off. "MaBhengu." She took a seat on the bed. "What's the matter?" I was over it. "I want to go home." Was all I said. "Why? If you can give me a valid reason I'll help you pack your bags."

"Ma! You're supposed to be helping! I'm going to get Gogo." MaKhumalo ran out. "Mm? Why do you want to go home?" I didn't want to answer. "Ma, I'm nobody's wife. I don't belong here and expecting Senzo to go through the lobola process again is ridiculous. Especially after my father made him pay a million rand. Ever since I joined your family I've brought chaos with and if I'm tired of it I can't imagine how tired you are. For the sake of peace I should leave."

"I'm here! What's going on?" It's been three days and I still wasn't used to that raspy voice. "Can I go now?" I asked Ma. "No. You're running. You're running away from problems with easy solutions. You sat in a room full of elders who gave you the solutions to your problems on a silver platter and all you heard was that you're not technically Senzo's wife."

"Really!? Is this what it's about!? This is ridiculous! All we said was that the marriage wasn't recognized by the ancestors and that we needed to fix it! Do you not have ears! Nobody here treated you any different! You're Senzo's wife and that's that! Did you hear me!?"

I flinched as she shouted. "Yebo, Gogo." I said softly but it didn't matter how much she shouted I felt what I felt. "You young people like to make issues where there's no issues! Stop being difficult and listen to your elders!" She said starting to walk out. "Oh, and you know where to get wood right?" I nodded. "Yebo, Gogo."

"The ladies are running out and they're very busy. The ones who aren't busy are useless. There's only you left. I know your husband said you won't participate in chores but I'm the matriarch of this family and I don't take orders from children. So go and get wood please." She said and walked out.

Ma and MaKhumalo wanted to say something but I put on my pinafore and left to go do as I was told.