Raising Tasha

Trouble

Claire

I knew it! I knew this was going to happen, that was the main reason why I had not wanted Jerry to drive us home. Of course our shitty living situation was also a factor but my nosy neighbours take the cake. Imagine telling your landlady that you cannot afford to pay your rent and 2 days later you're driven home in a luxury vehicle even I wouldn't believe that you are poor. The old lady had given me a discount on rent and a side job but now all that had been f****d up. I knew that even though she wasn't present when I got home she will still hear the news from everyone else that was standing outside gossiping. Thank God for neighbors right? Wrong!

I heard learnt pretty early that neighbours were your worst enemy, neighbours are people who are capable of making your life a living hell even though you're both living in the same compound and paying the same amount of rent. Somehow they always managed to barg into your life and make it worse than it had to be in the first place.

I could almost hear the rumours going around, ‘Claire was a kept woman! Claire is a mistress! Claire has found someone to post her bastard daughter on'

I have lived in so many poor neighbourhoods that I knew what to expect, once again my baby and I were going to be alienated. This time it will be because I am a promiscuous woman previously it had been out of prejudice against single mothers. Apparently we go around stealing people's husbands.

The reason why women in my country would rather stay in abusive marriages instead of becoming single parents.

I decide to go ‘practice' cooking as Jerry had ordered me to. I knew he was feeling bad for us and bought us food but because he knew I would refuse he had made up some lie about me brushing up on my skills. He had provided me with an out, a way to preserve my pride so I accept the kind gesture.

Once again we would get a hot meal thanks to Jerry. While cooking I had thought up of various explanations to give to my landlady, I was not at fault but I was scared of getting asked to vacate. We had barely lived in our new room but Jerry had unintentionally made me look like a liar.

My body was still in a little bit of pain, I had been hit by a car after all. A full stomach and medication later I fell asleep rather peacefully but not before I had warned Tasha about going outside to play. Children in the slums often got kidnapped, people had got to earn money. It did not matter whether the process they earned it through was legal or not. It was probably the effects of the prescription but I had been totally knocked out I had not felt Tasha lay beside me.

Rapid knocks, followed by fast banging. I could tell whether the were hitting the walls or the door, this s**t hole was all made of the same material.

“Open up!" a voice urgently called out from the other side. The voice sounded really familiar and noone knew where we had moved to.

Dragging my tired self towards the door to check who had graced us oh so rudely with their presence. Just as I had suspected, my landlady, looking mighty pissed off.

I had thought that I could get to her before everyone else but here we were at a standstill, none of us spoke.

“Would like some tea?" I asked slowly trying to break the awkward silence.

“Tea? Did your rich boyfriend buy that for you? I don't want to impose."

I find the question really hillarious that I could stop myself from laughing.

“Ma'am! If I had a rich boyfriend, I would not be living in such terrible condition!" was that not the most outrageous thing ever?

“Claire the first thing I heard when I got home, was the topic of your supposed relationship. So, are you two dating,?" the seriousness in her face did not match the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

“No ma'am, there is nothing going on between us. The man had accidentally hit me with his car yesterday at the market" I try to explain as calmly and as clearly a possible, “I got discharged this morning and he volunteered to bring Tasha and I home.

It did not bother me much on people spoke badly about me but I could not let them slander Jerry like that. The man had helped me when I had no one else to turn to, he was my saviour and even though he would not know what my neighbours had said about him I felt obligated to protect his image.

My landlady had not looked convinced by my explanations but somehow she let me go, she probably figured out there is no way a rich man would be interested in a single mum like I. The society would turn a blind to things that were out of the norm.

“You will pay your rent in full like all tenants starting next month." there it was! I had known it was coming, my grace period had ended even before ot officially even began.

“Do I still need to help you clean the compound?" I need to be sure before I got blamed for something else.

“No, our rich missy should not do such dirty chores." she answered sacarstically. I had struggled so hard to control myself from begging her to reconsider her decision but I knew she was not going to give in. It seems this time around even the big boss was going to hate me. When had I become a rich missy? I did not even a cent to my name.

I had lost every thing when I had been hit yesterday but at least a got a job out of it. That was my silver lining, maybe soon we'd have enough money saved up to move to a different house. I could tell that life was not going to be peaceful where we currently were.

Things were finally looking better. I was looking foward to reporting to work, even though I had not gone to the university to become a house help at least it was a decent job and it would put food on the table for my daughter.

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