Deborah - Season 1 - Episode 5

5 years ago

Deborah - Season 1 - Episode 5

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after narrating her tale carefully not leaving out details, the neighbors gathered and prayed for her. The landlord promised to give her some cash to make up for what was stolen from her, she was the heroine for the day.

The neighbours were grateful she wasn’t harmed in any way, ‘ do not worry about your money, what is money compared to your virtue you would’ve lost, or your life’? one had advised her while others concurred, each dispersing to their normal routines with whispers of ‘Abasi Sosongo’.

Back to their little room, Deborah knelt on the floor and thanked God once again for her miracle. As usual her sister, Eno was nowhere to be found. She hugged her mother again while the woman kept on sobbing and saying that if only their father hadn’t abandoned them, her children wouldn’t be exposed to the dangers that lurked around in the streets.

‘ you are bleeding’

her mother noticed, she quickly brought their old rechargeable lamp and examined Deborah closely, she breathed a sigh of relief
‘ it’s just a deep scratch thank God its not a crack in your head, mkpo ndok uke? With our current financial situation’,

Deborah picked her little mirror and saw the scratch that ran from the side of her forehead to her left chin, she winced, it was gonna give her a temporary look.

‘ stand up and undress, let me boil some hot water for your bath and get some drugs to dress that wound from Mma Nurse, I will be back’ said her mum.

Suddenly the door barged open causing Deborah to startle, her sister had come back home after her threats the other day, she stormed in and packed some clothes, Deborah was about to say something when their mother came in, watching her other daughter closely, she chose to face this one,
‘ come, my child, the water is ready’ and they both walked out ,

‘ you two think am joking right’? Eno questioned rudely,

her mother looked at her intently and spoke as calmly as possible, ‘ I sometimes don’t understand where I went wrong in bringing you up, you just barged in here, you saw your sister in this position and you couldn’t even acknowledge me with greetings, Eno you will have a child one day and God will surely reward you’.

Knowing the situation would soon get out of hand and produce another episode of family feud, Deborah gently dragged her mother away

‘ Mama it’s okay, I have always told you to ignore Eno, it’s youthful exuberance, one day she will come to her senses’,
the woman’s eyes shone in pride of her daughter, this girl gave her hope that her situations could actually change, the woman smiled ‘ I pray that day comes Sweet Choco’.

‘Yes, send in the money into my other account, when will the yellow gold arrive’? Ekanem Briggas paced around with the phone to her ear, she was already dressed, today was going to be a busy day for her, her son would be engaged to the most beautiful daughter in-law any woman could dream of having.

Morganna Briggas, she mused, what a lovely combination, she liked the girl too much, she actually reminded her of her younger version, ambitious, smart and classy, that was all she needed for her only son. She checked her phone again, her husband had not been picking his calls, she wished he could be present for this big step but he had always put his needs ahead of his family’s.

‘come in’ she called in response to the knock on her door, she was quite sure it was her children she usuallly didn’t allow her servants the privilege of coming close to her inner chambers as she called it, she hated lowlifes, they deserved to be treated just that way, lowly.

She had tried trainning her children to toe her line of thought on the assumption that it made them more respected and feared but she hadn’t totally succeeded; only Seline took after her. Sadly, Clarabella and Aniebiet took after her husband.

Their father was a very soft hearted person, a character she saw as weakness opposed to her strong domineering and discriminatory attitude. Well it was too late to change them, she was just happy, Ani had agreed to marry Morganna, for once he hadn’t argued with her decision.

‘Mum good morning’ Ani greeted as he came into the room. She responded with a big smile; her baby was now a grown man and today he was going to be a bigger man.

‘Are you ready to leave’? she asked adjusting his badly placed tie.

‘ yes mother, I will be paying the jeweler a visit’,

she frowned a bit, ‘ I thought you could’ve imported the ring, you know, from the Chris Rock Gold collections instead of these local Uyo jewellers’.

Aniebiet shrugged and wondered when his mother would change, the woman loved luxury and class, but the Jeweller’s shop in Itam Street Uyo, wasn’t a local shop,

‘mum it’s called Blue mountains, it’s a new shop in town and has quite a few branches in the country with their head office at Dubai’,

she looked at him suspiciously, knowing her son well, he could cook up stories just to confuse or please her,

‘ what’? he asked wondering why she looked at him that way,

‘nothing. Go on, tell Seline to invite our family friends, we have to make this big, we are the elite, always remember that’
she patted him on the back while he left smiling. His mother was funny, she believed so much in their wealth and how it had carved a niche for them in the high echelons of the society. She called him and his sisters ‘ blue blood’.

He shook his head as he approached the dining, his philosophy was quite different from his mother’s, he believed everyone deserved to be treated equally regardless of their class and that was why his workers admired him, of all his siblings, the servants loved him best.

‘Can I come with you guys’? Clarabella asked her older cousin graciously,

Andy rolled his eyes and tongues at her, ‘a big fat no girl’,

He turned to Ani ‘man what’s up and why the funny face’,

Just then Seline walked in to catch the trio as Ani was speaking

‘It’s mother and her rich versus poor story’,

Seline glared at her brother wondering why he often disagreed with their mother when it came to that class issue

‘and what’s wrong with you hanging with people from your same class’?

she grabbed the teapot helping herself,

‘everything is wrong’ Clarabella offered, she hated the way Seline and mother reasoned,

Seline paused and gave her a warning look, like don’t test me , the girl ignored her and continued

‘see it this way, we don’t get to choose the family we’re born into, so if you’re privileged, I feel you should help others to make this world a happier place’, the table was quiet for a while,

‘D--n!’ Seline gasped as she spat out the French fries she had just eaten, ‘ what kind of salty meal is this’? she called to the maid nearby. The other three were perplexed, because the meal had tasted nothing but nice, the maid ran quickly into the dining, spotting her lover of the other night, Andy, she looked away shyly, Aniebiet smiled knowing well what had transpired between the two, but the resounding slap the poor girl received brought him to his feet,

‘what the hell is wrong with you’! he yelled angrily at his sister while dismissing the maid, Andy stood up and followed her,

‘ and what is that supposed to mean?’ she asked wondering what had come upon her brother, ‘ how dare you raise your voice at me, oh, because of a maid’,

she made to leave but paused angrily, ‘you deserved it and more’ Clarabella added, she walked towards the girl to give her a dose of that resounding slap but she was too late, Ani blocked her causing her to land on the floor.

‘ I see, you two are against me, mum would hear about this’, Andy returned and took in what happened, ‘guys your sister really needs to chill, what’s with the attitude’, Clara nodded ‘ it’s too late for that, she ain’t never going to change’.

‘let’s get out of here’ Ani ordered, ‘ can I come’? Clarabella asked again politely, he smiled and winked at his lovely sister, ‘how much will you pay me’? as he held her hand and they left the dining room hurriedly, it was going to be a busy day.