A Tale Of Queens

Rwawa

Rwawa had always been one for violence.

It came with the territory, having grown up with an abusive father and an absentee mother who ran away, leaving her children behind when he was twelve. At that age, he became both father and mother to his only brother, Lheita who was only eight at the time.

He had had to grow up fast because there was simply no room for irresponsibility.

Since their father spent all his money on alcohol, Rwawa had to find work to take care of himself and his brother. He subsequently found some odd jobs at the Central Market.

While there were other boys like him who worked there, they were much older than he was. This meant that they found an easy target in him to bully for free money. So besides having to convince shop owners that he could lift objects three times his size, he also had to fight to keep the little he earned. Years of living with that bastard of a father had taught Rwawa. He attacked fiercely and ferociously, unleashing all his pent up anger on his opponents and it did not take long for the boys to steer clear of him.

However, his troubles were far from over.

After defeating his adversaries at the market each day, he would come back to a drunken father demanding that he surrender his earnings. If he refused, he would be mercilessly thrashed by the older man. This went on for over a year, forcing him and Lheita to live off of the charity of kind neighbors on most days.

On one particularly bad day, an exhausted and frustrated Rwawa came back home to meet his father taking out his anger on his brother. For a moment, the thirteen year old was frozen, as if doubting his eyes. He and his father had an unspoken agreement that Lheita was off limits. Many times, he had taken countless beatings in his stead.

His body suddenly caught up to his brain and he saw red.

All he remembered was grabbing his father from behind.

By the time he finally came back to his senses, he discovered himself sitting atop the man with his clothes and fists bloodied. His fathers face was swollen beyond recognition and though he was breathing, he was barely alive.

Poor Lheita was in tears as he begged him to stop. He obliged and stood up, though not without one last hard kick to his father's side.

They slept in a neighbor's house that night.

Their father survived miraculously. And that was the last time he ever tried to lay a finger on any of them.

Rwawa was sixteen when his father went out drinking one night and never returned. He did not know where he was nor did he care. Although Lheita was a bit worried, he dared not raise his concerns with his brother but resolved himself to the reality that he might never see him again.

At the age of twenty one, Rwawa managed to buy a small piece of land on which he began to cultivate some crops. His efforts were not in vain and by the end of that year, he was able to rent a shop at the Central Market for his brother to sell what they could not eat. Lheita had a keen eye for business and he trusted him to make the most of it while he focused on the expansion of the farm, employing more farm hands and building proper storage units.

Lheita was a handsome, kind and soft-spoken young man, very different from his older sibling. He also had the persuasiveness of a seasoned sales person. He was tactful and resourceful. It was no secret as to why he managed to attract so many loyal customers in a short time.

In line with Rwawa's expectations, their business boomed under his care and for the first time in their lives, they were both comfortable and genuinely happy.