WICKED MAID SPAT INTO BLIND BOSS’S FOOD

 

EPISODE 4

 

It was a rainy Friday afternoon. I had just turned eighteen. I received my letter of admission into the University that morning and was waiting for my father, Mr. James Okoro, to return home, so I could share the good news with him. We lived in Ibadan, while he worked here in Lagos and only visited and spent the weekend with us in Ibadan

 

My father, returned home, that afternoon in that heavy downpour and my mum and I were surprised. We were expecting him to return at night. He slumped into the armchair and stared at the wall.

 

“James! What happened? Why are you home this early and in this heavy downpour? My mother asked curiously”. And then, with a voice so hollow it didn’t sound like him, he said, “They fired me. They said I stole money. That I falsified the financial records. But I didn’t do it. Someone framed me up,”

 

“I tried to explain but they wouldn’t listen. The CEO, Mr. Richard Bayo whom I have worked with for years, didn’t even let me explain. No hearing. No appeal. No severance. Just disgrace.

 

He told me that I was lucky he would not be pressing charges. As we speak, I won’t be getting any salary this month and all my accumulated benefits accruing into millions of naira, will not be paid”, my father explained helplessly.

 

My mum and I tried to console him and to assure him that everything would be alright, but my father was inconsolable

 

The weeks that followed were the hardest. My father completely lost his peace and became terribly ill. He couldn’t even go out to look for another job. So, we survived on the little income from my mother’s petty business and the little savings left in my father’s account.

 

Things became so difficult for us and my father cried like a baby, every day. His sickness became worse but we didn’t have money to take him to the hospital. we started treating him with herbs but there was no improvement. Family members were not willing to help either.

 

My father then called Mr. Bayo and begged him in tears to at least give him some money so he could go to the hospital for proper treatment, but Mr Bayo vehemently refused. My mother collected the company’s address from my father and visited the company all the way from Ibadan.

 

She begged Mr Bayo to help her as she wasn’t ready to lose her husband. He didn’t even pay attention to her. Rather, he ordered the security men to throw my mother out. She returned to Ibadan in tears. I watched my parents helplessly as they struggled but couldn’t do anything to help.

 

Then, exactly six months after my father lost his job, he collapsed in the bathroom and eventually passed on. Before his demise, he was almost unrecognizable. He grew so skinny and malnourished

 

The shock of his demise was too much for my mother. She too became sick afterwards and suffered the same way my father suffered. She went to bed one night, four months after my father’s demise. She didn’t wake up the next day.

 

My mum had always been hypertensive and my father’s demise made her blood pressure spike. And just like that, at eighteen, I was alone. Family members rallied round me for the first few months after which I was left alone.

 

Thankfully, the house was built by my father, so I stayed there rent-free, but a house meant nothing when my belly was empty. I lost my admission as there was no money to pay the fees. I learned to survive. Written by Hilda’s Forum

 

I did so many menial jobs, like washing people’s cars, cleaning and running errands, just so I could feed myself. I even hawked sachet water on weekends, yet there were days I went to bed hungry

 

That was my routine till I turned twenty-three. Then one day, on my way to a small cleaning gig, I passed by an agency office, Royal Touch Domestic Services. I went in, to see if I could get a job. I got to know that they train and send girls to people’s homes to work as maids. I applied and underwent the training.

 

It was that agency that sent me from Ibadan, to come work at Mr. Bayo’s house. I didn’t know who he was until I saw a picture portrait of him and my father. Then I remembered it was the same name my father mentioned. I remembered how he unjustly fired my father which eventually led to his demise. I saw him as the cause of my predicament.

 

If he had given my father a fair hearing or even ordered an investigation, maybe my parents wouldn’t have died and I wouldn’t have suffered so much. I was only trying to avenge my father’s pain and tragic demise. I never planned to hurt him. I acted out of pain. Out of anger. Out of years of silent suffering.” Angela ended her confession.

 

So, Mr Bayo didn’t hurt your father physically and you did all you did? One of the officers asked. Angela shook her head, but said nothing.

 

There was a long, heavy pause in the room after which the officers stepped out quietly. Mr. Bayo was invited to the police station immediately and he was led by his personal assistant and Dorcas to the police station. Angela’s confession which was recorded, was played for him.

 

TO BE CONTINUED