CHAPTER 1
Irreverence was never her strongest quality but what could she had done given the
situation. Any sane person would have never stood for that. The contempt, the obloquy,
the emotional turmoil had gotten the better of her. This was it, it was time. Time to run!
She had to be the strong and resolute, for the sake of her little sister, Mati. Poor Mati. She
was still so innocent. What kind of world was she going to grow up in, what kind of life
was she going to have in the midst of such people? Barbaric people! Ugh! The thought of
them gave her nausea. Nyasha-Grace quickly shoved the thought into the back of her
head and went on to plan for her journey to the unknown. Having grown up without a
mother, Nyasha-Grace had become her own mother. She took it upon herself to take care
of her little sister, to differentiate between right and wrong, to work hard, to be strong and
to be everything that she could be for her little sister, her bundle of joy. Her father had
married another woman picked out for him by the family elders when she was only 10
after her mother had left. Their step mother was completely indifferent towards their
existence. Her only focus was on her husband, whom she pocketed and controlled. Since
she had the support of the elders, she was never wrong. Nyasha-Grace never understood
why such power had been entrusted to a person of that nature, a self-centered, conniving
and heartless person. Nevertheless, very soon, it was no longer going to be her concern.
She went on to start packing. Her plan was to make sure that it took them long enough to
notice that she was gone. She packed a few of her and Mati`s best clothes. Well, they
weren’t exactly best clothes per se but in their eyes, they were gold. She took her
mother`s only photograph. The photograph had survived after the elders had destroyed
all of her mother`s belongings after she had left as a way of showing that she was dead
to them and was never going to be part of the family come what may. Nyasha-Grace had
hidden the photograph in her dress making sure that no one noticed what she was up to.
Ever since that day, she kept the photograph hidden knowing very well that if anyone
found it, all hell would break loose. Above all, she packed her little blue bible. This had
been given to her by some evangelists who had passed through their village preaching
one day. Apparently, they were preaching to walls, trees and animals as not even one
person bothered to listen to them. It was only when they got to Nyasha-Grace`s
homestead that they received some attention. Curiosity had always been one of her
strongest qualities and interacting with those evangelists was an interesting experience
for her. That is when they gave her the bible in as much as they had learnt that she could
not properly read. She had been forced to drop out of school after her mother`s departure
despite her undisputable intelligence. Nyasha-Grace packed a bottle of water, some
mealie meal, salt and two packs of kapenta which were the last in the house. She also
took two boxes of matches, a tiny pot which was mostly used by Mati in her imaginary
house and some newspapers. With all of this her small bag was fully loaded. She hid the
bag in the cabinet beside the mat which they slept on. The cabinet was dilapidated
therefore it was seldom used. Nyasha-Grace knew that her step mother would never open
that cabinet given her strong desire for affluence. After all of this, she sat down and took
a deep breathe. Her plan was slowly shaping up.
“Nyasha! Nyasha! Nyasha! How many times did I call you, you ungrateful imbecile! Do
want my throat to sore just by calling your name? Are you deaf?” MaConnie literally
screamed.
“I`m coming Ma”, Nyasha-Grace responded from the house.
Upon getting to where MaConnie was sat, Nyasha-Grace was welcomed by a blinding
slap which caused her mind to wander to an unknown universe for a moment. When she
got back to her senses she looked straight into MaConnie`s eyes with rage and fear. She
knew there was nothing she could do regarding MaConnie`s actions towards her but at
the same time she was exasperated by her. Five years had passed, and still this woman
continued to ill-treat her as if she had no children of her own.
“Hey wena scumbag! I have been calling you for ages. Chaunenge uri kuita mukatangw
ena ikako chimbori chii?”
Nyasha-Grace decided to keep her words to herself. She did not want to respond to her
step mother as she knew that would stir up more anger. After being shouted at, she was
finally told what she had been called for.
“I want you to take these clothes to Gogo Chomu`s place and tell her that I will be coming
to see her later. After that, pass through the shops and get me some juice from Kudo`s
shop, I will pay him on my way to Gogo Chomu`s house. When you get back, rush to the
stream and get me some bathing water. I don’t want to use the water we have in the
house for bathing. Make sure when you have finished all of this you start up the fire and
bring my sadza water to boil. I will cook on my own. Now rush before I give you another
slap you good for nothing, little….!”
Nyasha-Grace did not wait for her to finish, she was long gone on her way to Gogo
Chomu`s place. She wanted to do all the errands so quickly so that she would have some
time to bath her little sister and rest before her journey. Meanwhile, Mati was busy with
the other kids making mud houses and playing house. She had no idea of the plans her
sister had for them. Gogo`s place was quite far. It was about three hours walk to and from
and she had to make it in less than that otherwise her journey would have to be
postponed. She ran the greater part of the journey. In two hours, she was back and was
on her way to the stream. She drew her strength from knowing that before day break,
MaConnie and the rest of the family will be history to her. The only person whom she was
going to miss was her father, Mdara Soko. His name had been derived from his totem
Soko Murehwa. Back in the day, he was a vibrant young man loved by many. He only
became old and weak after the banishment of his wife. Well that’s a story for another day.
Nyasha-Grace finished all her errands well before MaConnie came back with more harsh
words and more slaps. She found Mati impatiently waiting for her in the house. She was
tired and hungry and angry at her sister for having staying out for so long. Nyasha-Grace
just gave her a big hug and took her for a bath. Afterwards, she made a quick meal and
then sat down to explain what was going to happen that night.
“Mati, I need you to be strong ok. Where we are going is very far but it’s a nice place and
we are going to meet mother there. We will no longer have to stay in an old house like
this and you will be able to go to school. ”
After the heart to heart, Mati fell asleep. Time moved very slowly for Nyasha-Grace that
night. She could hear MaConnie talking and laughing in the main compound. She knew
if she made a move then, she would get caught. So she waited. After the cock`s first crow,
MaConnie went to sleep. Nyasha-Grace saw the light being turned off and the silence in
the main compound was even more evidence that everyone had gone to bed. She waited
till the second crow, then she gently woke Mati up. It was a hustle waking her up but
eventually she was successful. She had to carry her on her back if they were to move fast
and only let her walk on her own later on. Nyasha-Grace did not mind carrying her little
sister on her back as she did this a lot of times especially when running away from
MaConnie`s beatings. She put the bag on her head, a small torchlight in her hand and
headed out of the house. It was so dark outside and she was very scared but there was
no turning back now. She walked briskly without turning back and only stop after about
an hour to rest a bit. Apparently, Mati had become heavier than she imagined. It was then
that she realized that throughout all her planning, she had not figured out where she was
going to go to. At that very moment, her heart skipped a beat and she let out a faint sob.