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"What is your name?" The eldest amongst them asked in contempt studying the young unkempt lady dressed in shabby loose fitting blouse and a faded jeans.
"Tabitha" She answered reluctantly, obviously worried her name was needed for a negative reason. She kept on biting on her lower lips and tapping her feet on the floor while the three women engaged themselves in different files, flipping through pages and scanning over the leaflets. The room was silent except for the noise of the feet and the sounds of pages being opened.
"Am sorry madam, we can't find your name on the visitor's list" The third woman at the desk said looking at her colleagues who all nodded in confirmation. Deep down, Tabitha had knew it couldn't be that easy but her determination to see him had pushed her forward.
"That could have been an omission from his parents, like I said earlier am his aunt and was told to pick him up from school" She said defiantly looking into the eyes of the women before her.
"Am sorry madam there's nothing we can do about the situation, we don't allow strangers to take our pupils home, so sorry for the inconvenience miss, you can try contacting his parents to get in touch with the school, that's our policy here." The youngest amongst them replied dismissively.
Not wanting to raise any further suspicion, Tabitha stood dejectedly and walked out of the office and out of her illusive hope of getting back all that was stolen from her.
************
"Was told you closed early today. What errands were you attending to?" My mother asked looking at me with her usual condescending expression. Most times I wonder if it was my fault that my father lost his job and became an helpless drunk. I was twelve years when this life changing incident opened a new phase to our life and brought out the dark side of my parents. The loving and ever cheerful parent I knew turned in to a harsh and inconsiderate stranger who were always at each other's neck and never got tired of venting the anger on my brother and I. My brother who couldn't withstand the harsh treatment anylonger ran away from home when he was 17 and never returned home and I became the recipient of all the pent-up anger but didn't suffer too much as my aunt came to my rescue and I left my parents at 16 but back now as the escape wasn't any better but worse.
"Personal errands!" I retorted sharply averting my gaze from her penetrating gaze. Most times I felt she knew more than she revealed because she never for once sat me down to ask why I came back from my aunt's after eight years without any intent of returning back.
Things hadn't changed much at home except my mum's recent opening of a fruit stall , the house was still a room apartment and we still shared the same kitchen and restroom with other tenants. My dad was still a drunk who hardly returns home except for rare occasions when he needed money for his drinks and which he most times steals from my mother's earnings. Ours was a serious case of poverty caused by one man's depression and lack of will to overcome life challenges.
"Tabitha my dear! let this be the last time you would close my shop before 9:00pm, if this should repeat itself, I will stop catering for you, after all, you are an adult now. Your useless father hasn't been of any help and the only source of livelihood of this family is what you want to ruin with your laziness and non-challant attitude" She accused. As usual, I kept looking above her head into space as this was one of my coping skills. I was a few inches taller than her and already fleshy in the right parts. Though beautiful in my own way,my beauty wasn't one of the things I was ready to showcase, I possess few good clothes since there was only one source of income for the family. Most times I look tattered as a result of hawking around the streets in the morning before taking the remnant of the fruits to the shop to continue sales.
" Go and prepare dinner, that's the beans over there " She pointed to the only table in the middle of our small living room. Grateful for the escape, I dashed outside to the kitchen which was at the backyard. As usual, there were four tenants already cooking in their different spaces and gossipping. Silently I went to our kitchen corner thinking of my failure as a woman.
