Sapphire Blue [The Grim Reaper Chronicles, #1] (Editing)

chapter twenty two

December 18, 1999, west Georgia.

Calliope Hadassah stood her ground firmly and pointed her finger in disgust at her old maid, Rosario Williams who was on her knees begging, cursing under her breath as her husband stood beside her, pacifying her like a child. She'd always hated the Rosario because she thought the woman got on her nerves way too much than she could handle and what really sparked her hatred for the old maid was that, she was too old and simply unfit for a maid.

Young people needed people of their age and time to help them in everything. That was calliope's motto.

She'd always wanted a young woman who would do everything she was asked without complaining but this old woman was such a whim who sucked at everything. And she, calliope who just had a baby a few weeks ago would not let the woman touch her new baby neither prepare anything pertaining the baby's food. Her belief about the old maid was that she was a witch who'd come to end her baby's life. Although the woman had never done anything that warranted her suspicions, she just believed she was into sorcery and wanted her out of the house as soon as possible.

Her husband, chester Hadassah had brought in Rosario months ago when she was out shopping for the baby's groceries with a big baby bump, fully expectant and had persuaded her to accept the woman with a full heart because they were the ones who needed her the most at the moment. She was going to be having her first baby in a few months and it'd only be a waste of time if she started getting picky about choosing a maid. That was Chester's excuse that evening and calliope had hesitantly agreed to it with the mind of sending the woman away immediately she put to bed.

Now that she already had her baby and there wasn't much work left to do, calliope thought they didn't need the old woman in the house anymore and she tried to find an excuse to send Rosario away.

That morning, when chester was still wide asleep, calliope snuck out of bed to the kitchen to make the baby's cereal which was usually sorted out by Rosario every morning before they woke up, with a steamy hot water that could scald an adult's tongue to a burning point and render it useless. She carried the overly hot bowl of baby cereal with the tip of her fingers and sauntered to the baby's room where Rosario was already changing the offspring's diapers into fresh ones and placed the food on the pink shelf with a look of disdain.

Calliope folded her arms and ignored the greeting that came after, ordering Rosario to put the baby back into her crib with a stern voice. After watching the woman slowly tuck the baby back in her bed with a confused expression, calliope increased her pitch volume and rounded off into yelling and hitting her legs on the floor with a dramatic charisma that looked like it'd been well practiced. She gritted her teeth and pointed at the hot bowl of cereal, sizing the woman up with her big sharp eyes while fuming visibly and much to Rosario's confusion.

"Are you trying to kill my baby just because you don't have one of your own?" She yelled, averting her gaze to the bowl on the shelf in reference to what she was saying. "Don't you know the hotness of the cereal could kill the baby? If you don't know how to take care of a child, you could have just told me!"

Rosario furrowed her brows and blinked a hundred times in a second, trying to comprehend what she'd just heard. It didn't matter if calliope was a bit apprehensive that morning, she was already used to it but the accusations of her trying to kill the baby were totally miscalculated because she literally hadn't even prepared anything for the baby, yet. What was she talking about? Didn't she bring in the bowl of cereal into the room herself?

Raising a questioning eyebrow, Rosario pressed her lips together and said. "I don't have an idea of what you're talking about, calliope. You met me changing the baby's diapers when you came in and you know I do that every morning before preparing her breakfast."

Calliope scoffed and tilted her head. "You old wench, how could you not understand what this is unless you're trying to put up a pretence? Didn't I meet the cereal here?"

Rosario mounted some words under her breath and broke out in sweats, placing her palm on the other to justify her innocence. She pursed her lips in bewilderment as she stared at the thick vapour oozing from the cereal and wondered if she was capable of doing something as this. She understood calliope was only trying to find a way to lace her a bad person in front of her husband so he could send her away but wasn't framing her against the baby a bit too unprofessional? She was a up in taking care of babies and toddlers and would not even make a mistake in the preparation of their meals.

"Calliope, please stop. You brought in the bowl yourself just now and placed it on the shelf. It has nothing to do with me and you know it." Rosario pledged pleadingly, hoping the young woman would stop playing games on her and admit her own fault.

Unfortunately, her hopes were immediately bashed as calliope automatically flared up the more after hearing her speak, raising her voice a pitch higher than the previous one. "Are you calling me a liar now? You tried to feed my baby with that hot cereal and now you're calling a liar. Pathetic!"

It was indeed pathetic because chester arrived into the room at that moment with a demanding look on his face, trying to catch the cause of his wife's yells. He'd heard them talking in loud voices for some time while he was still in the room, sleeping and had thought they were just discussing some women stuff happily. But the moment he heard his wife hurl an insulting statement against the old woman, he immediately knew something was wrong and had rushed to the direction where the noises where coming from in a celerity.

It was an eyesore seeing his wife shout angrily at the calm old woman who was already up to take care of the baby, not until he heard the allegations labeled against her. He carefully listened to his wife talk and rested his gaze on the bowl when calliope talked about it.

"I caught her just in time. She was about feeding the baby with it when I came in. She didn't even intend to let it rest for a while." Calliope lied and rolled her eyes. She unfolded her arms and pointed at the bowl, again." Go take a look at it, honey. She really tried to kill our baby."

Chester did as he was asked and walked over to the shelf to take a look at the bowl of cereal. He howled in shock when he felt the hotness of the food against his fingers and quickly released his hold on it, compressing the urge to scream out loud in pain. The cereal was awfully hot and would still burn even if it was carried with a napkin.

Rosario was the only one who could have prepared the cereal because it was her normal routine and she was the one who fed the baby every morning. He trusted the old woman and would not disrespect her even at a point like this but he believed his wife and really thought the woman was trying to hurt the baby. It might be unthoughtful of him to do so, especially when the woman was staring at him with pleading eyes, but he had to fire her this time around, to make his wife happy.

The evidences were standing against Rosario and there was nothing he could do to help her. He had to be cautious about his pity mind because it involved his baby's health, now.

Lowering his gaze to avoid meeting her eyes. Chester swallowed and bit his lower lip in frustration. "I'm sorry, Rosario but you need to leave. I can't risk my baby's life because of you." He said sharply and left the room immediately to Rosario's dismay and calliope's victory.

Rosario stood there in shock and shivered helplessly, pushing back the tears that were threatening to fall. Her source of income had just been cut off without consideration over something she didn't do. First, she'd been insulted for not having a child of her own even though she badly wanted to have and now she was fired. Was she really inconveniencing calliope that much?

Dejectedly, Rosario packed her bags and left the house that morning in shame and tears, leaving behind the money she was paid off with. If home was the only place she had to go to now, she had to.