The Sponsor

Olivia

She loved the fan now. It understood her. It did not talk back to her like her mother did. It did not hurt her like her boyfriend, Larry, It did not pain her like her doctor. She watched it go round and round and round.

"Whats, your name, " she asked.

The fan stared down at her and made it's rounds.

"I'm Olivia, my friends call me Viah, what about your friends?"

The fan made its rounds, wheezing like an asthmatic.

"Oh, you don't have any friends? Let me come and give you a hug."

Olivia got up from the couch and walked three steps to the coffee table and climbed up. She could not reach it.

She climbed up the stairs and leaned from the rails. She was now closer to it. She leaned some more and tumbled down. She did not hear herself hit the ground. The world went dark before she did.

Her daughter was a big girl now, every bit like her mother, sharp and intelligent. She had just finished Primary school and she was asking those questions Olivia found uncomfortable.

"Where is daddy, what is his name, how does he look like?"

Initially Olivia had started by telling her that she did not have a father. Then she moved to telling her that he had enrolled into the army and gotten killed fighting valiantly in Afghanistan. But she was too smart for such tales. She saw right through them.

The truth is Larry had moved on to another woman who could give him sons and they now lived happily in Donholm with two sons and a girl. Today was the day she would take her to see him.

Zawadi dressed up excitedly. She was every bit like her mother; beautiful, jovial, colorful.

They knocked on Larry's door but no one answered. They were almost giving up when the door creaked open. The other side was Larry armed with a smile.

"Come in. I was expecting you, how is my daughter doing?" he asked proudly. Olivia flashed a smile and Zawadi's cheeks turned pink her words caught in her throat.

"Come to the kitchen, Zawadi I have made your favorite dish."

When they got to the kitchen there was no food, there was no Larry only her doctor holding a large, sharp knife. He charged towards Zawadi, one stab, two stabs, three stabs, countless stabs. Olivia screamed and woke up. She was in her bed nicely tucked in.