Mahalia in Cape Town

SIGNOR BERRUTI

CHAPTER 7

SIGNOR BERRUTI

“What’s up with you today Ali?”

Mahalia looks over to her side and finds Belinda, a Cape Town local who is a homeless 56-year-old woman abandoned by her daughter after she left her for Dubai. She had met Belinda when she was having her lunch in the park and had given her half of her food since she knew the old woman needed it more than she did. Belinda becomes a good friend of Mahalia’s and comes around the park to give her food that comes from the leftovers of HA-IN. Belinda is thankful that she has met Mahalia since no one really talks to her since she is a homeless old woman who rarely takes a shower but Mahalia is at the same time thankful for their friendship since she feels like she is not judged by Belinda with whatever she tells her.

“Hey.” Mahalia smiles and finds relief as soon as she sees Belinda. She knows that the cops roam around the park every night and imprison the homeless who are caught sleeping around. “This is for you.” She handed the leftovers from the HA-IN.

Belinda happily accepts and inspects the bag that is filled with so much food, “Oh thank you so much! I have something to eat until dinner.” She smiles gladly.

Mahalia feels glad hearing, “I made sure I added your favorite in there.”

“Ah, kare-kare.”

Mahalia smiles and feels happy seeing Belinda happy too. She is reminded so much of her mom upon staring at Belinda and she has such a soft heart for old people who are homeless because it must have been so hard especially now that they are old. Mahalia feels sympathy for her and wishes that whatever good things she does to Belinda, other people will try to do so.

“How are you?” Belinda asks as they begin to eat together their respective lunch, like they were having a picnic on the park bench.

“I feel good. I have just been busy working a lot lately.”

“Life’s hard.” She commented and smiled ruefully.

“Yeah it is. Anyways, how are you?”

“I have been really good. Trying to live on the streets as much as I could.”

“You do know you can stay in my place right? It is not so big but--”

“Oh dear.” She cuts off Mahalia with a happy laugh. “You’re already giving me too much food and it is more than enough for me.”

Mahalia smiles weakly, “You just remind me so much of my mom and it… it makes me sad thinking about how cold you must feel sleeping along the streets of Cape Town.”

“Don’t worry about me my dear. I am already old, gonna die soon anyways.” She chuckles and continues to laugh but it pains Mahalia’s heart hearing those words coming from an old woman abandoned by her own daughter.

Mahalia cannot grasp her hands onto the thought that Belinda’s own daughter had abandoned her for her own selfish reasons without even thinking of the debt she owes to her mother when she was growing up. She cannot think how rotten and ill-mannered that woman is without even considering taking her own mother with her to Dubai.

“Have you contacted your daughter?” Mahalia asks innocently.

“No. I think she doesn't even want me to know where she lives and how she is.” Belinda stares at her food and loses appetite as soon as she thinks about the pain that her daughter had caused her.

“I am so sorry to hear that.” Mahalia answers with a sad tone. “I just can’t believe how selfish she is for selling your own house without even asking you about it and how selfish she has gotten to the extent that she got rid of you just like that.” She shakes her head sideways and does not even want to think more about it because it is already making her feel even sadder. “How can a daughter do that to her own mother?”

Belinda raised her hand and placed it over Mahalia’s as they stared into each other’s eyes, “You are a very good daughter. Your mother must be so proud to be doing all these for her.”

Mahalia smiles weakly and recalls the lies she has said to her mother and siblings the moment she was fired from her job. She doesn't even have any courage to tell her mother about her current situation because she is far too embarrassed to say it. Her mother has always been proud about her to their neighbor and relatives that she has a decent job in another country. She couldn’t afford to hurt her ill mother with the sad truth about her reality in Cape Town.

“I try to be.” She finally answers in a weak voice. “I can’t even tell her the truth about my job here. How am I a good daughter?” She forces a laugh as she looks over her food.

Belinda holds Mahalia’s hand which causes her to look back at the old woman’s earnest eyes while she consoles the confused young woman, “You are already a good and a very strong daughter. Flying here in a foreign land to work for your mother and your siblings, that alone makes you one.”

Mahalia smiles weakly, “Thank you.”

“I am sure that even if you tell your mother the truth, she will still accept you. She will still be proud of you.” Belinda smiles wider. “You work your ass off hours just to send money for them and you don't even save for yourself. That’s a selfless daughter’s love and a great sacrifice.”

Mahalia lowers her head and feels her warm tears building against her eyelids but she did not want to cry. She mutters the words, “Ay’g hilak” (TRANSLATION: Don’t cry.) in the back of her head as a mantra before she takes a deep breath and pulls her head back up. She forces a smile and wipes her eyes off, “Thank you Belinda.”

Belinda smiles happily at Mahalia, “No, I should thank you. You make me feel as if I am a mother again.”

Mahalia smiles back wider.

A day passed and Mahalia was on her day off. The entire morning she thinks of nothing else but the bothering thought about the job opportunity that Mickey offered her. It was no doubt that she was having a hard time ignoring the offer because it sounded too good to be true. She would want to have a high paying job for her mother and siblings back in Cebu but at the same time, she is having doubts about taking the risk and stepping out of her comfort zone.

She does not even see herself as a secretary knowing that she does not have any secretarial skills but she knows she is willing to learn anything new as long as it is for her family.

She will do anything for them as long as it is legal.

Aside from the job offer, she is also bothered about the fact that Mickey had given emphasis on the words “have patience”. In the back of her head, she thinks that there is something more superficial than that. It sounded more like a demand. She thinks that it could potentially mean something, like a warning, because it seemed as if that quality is one of the most important characteristics that was needed for the job.

She keeps tossing and turning on her small bed as she continues to think about it until she has eventually fallen asleep in the afternoon. She eventually woke up on her bed because of hunger and as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw from the window that it was already dark outside. She checked the time and it was eight in the evening but immediately felt a sudden rush as soon as she saw several missed calls on messenger and a few chats from her mother’s account which were sent by her younger brother.

She felt her heart sink to the bottom of the sea and her hands were instantly shaking in fear as soon as her eyes saw the messages.

6:12 PM Ate, si mama… (TRANSLATION: Big sis, mom is…)

6:14 PM Tubaga ang tawag please!! (TRANSLATION: Please answer the call!!)

6:15 PM Ate tabang!! (TRANSLATION: Big sis please help!)

6:17 PM Ate si mama dili kabarog. Naghilak sa kasakit. (TRANSLATION: Big sis, mom cannot stand on her feet. She is crying because of the pain.)

6:32 PM Ate tubaga ang tawag please, si mama gi dali-dali og adto’g ospital kay wala na kabarog sa kasakit sa iyang tiyan.” (TRANSLATION: Big sis, please answer the call. Mom was rushed to the hospital because she could no longer stand on her feet due to the pain in her stomach.)

7:18 PM Ate, kinahanglan najud kunu a chemotherapy si mama ingon ang iyang doctor kay ang iyang cancer cells ni katag na sa liver. (TRANSLATION: Big sis, the doctor said mom badly needs chemotherapy because her cancer cells are spreading to her liver.)

Mahalia lowers her head and cries in silence while her hands are shaking harder as she feels her heart thumping so fast while it feels like it is being ripped into pieces that she was not able to answer to her 10-year-old’s desperate messages and calls for help. She continues to cry a little louder now before she finally takes the courage and deep breaths in and out as she reads the last message which crushed her entire heart as it reads: 7:19 PM Ate please tabangi si mama. Nahadlok ming Maya mawala si mama nga naa kas layo namo. (TRANSLATION: Big sis please help mom. Maya and I are scared that we might lose mom while you are away from us.)

She placed her phone close to her heart as she felt the indescribable pain of guilt and sorrow mixed inside her chest. Her tears weren’t stopping as she began to dial her mother’s messenger account, in hopes that her younger siblings would answer.

Finally, they did and they had a sad conversation as she listened to her siblings cry for help. They are begging her to save their mother but she doesn't even know where she would find such an amount of money for their mom’s survival.

She is having a hard time listening to how her siblings were crying on the phone but it breaks her heart even more that she could no longer send any money because she does not have anything left. She pities herself for the very difficult situation she is in but she pities her twin siblings as she listens to how frightened they were when their mother was crying. It tears her heart that she was not there for them when they needed someone and it hurts her so much listening to how frightened they were calling out for help from their neighbors.

She feels bad that she was fast asleep while her siblings and mother were going through something frightening back home.

When the call ends, she cries all by herself as she hugs her knees with her arms while her heart is hurting so much that she cannot explain it. She blames herself for not being there for her siblings, especially for their ill-mother. She blames herself for being far away in a foreign land while her family is in need of her, yet she was not there at all. She wants to go home right away but then she does not even have any money in her wallet. She wants to go home to be with them but then if she does, she won’t have any money to pay for her mother’s treatment, medicine and now sessions for her chemotherapy.

She looks up to the ceiling as her tears are still falling over her cheeks while she prays whole-kindheartedly, “God please help me. I am getting so tired of living.”

She gasps as soon as she is reminded about Mickey’s offer and without any doubt, she grabs her worn-out sneakers and heads straight to his restaurant.

As soon as she reached there, she was not allowed to enter since she did not have any reservation. She begged the restaurant’s staff that she needed to talk to Mickey because it was something very urgent yet they told her that he was not there.

“But he told me that I can come see him here if I have decided on his offer. Please, I need to talk to him.” Mahalia pleads.

“I am sorry ma’am but if you have not made any reservation then we will not be able to allow you inside. Mr. Berruti would scold us if we don’t follow his restaurant’s protocols.” The hostess says with a sad tone.

“Please, I need to talk to him.” Mahalia pleads again.

“Ma’am if you wont leave then I’m afraid we have to call the cops on you.” The manager butts in with full authority.

“Please sir, I just need to talk to him. Please tell him that I am here, it’s very urgent please.” Mahalia pleads as her tears begin to form behind her eyelids.

“Ma’am we can’t just order the owner of the restaurant to come here. He told us not to disturb him tonight because he has a very important appointment.”

Appointment? Mahalia worries as she is still being pushed away from the restaurant for not wearing any formal clothes which were necessary to get in.

She decided to sit outside of the restaurant as she tug onto her thin fabric of clothes while the cold breeze of Cape Town brushed against her skin. She keeps looking through the glass windows of the restaurant in search of Mickey but she could not find him. Her eyes meet with a waiter who she remembers clearly, named Paul, because he was the one who took their orders the other day but he just ignored her as soon as the manager scolded him.

Minutes turned to one hour, until three hours passed but there was no Mickey that appeared. Mahalia is still sitting outside the restaurant as she feels her skin slightly cold and her stomach is empty. She’s thirsty too but she had no money to buy even just a drink or a bottle of water.

Her eyes squint as the light from a car blinds her at the same time it stops right in front of her. She is sitting on the cold ground, rubbing her palms against each other while her eyes are staring at the tall man who steps out from the backseat and she was surprised to see Mickey rushing towards her.

“Mahalia, I am so sorry for this.” Mickey says, feeling embarrassed for how his employees treated her, as she helps her stand. “Are you alright?” He questions while he rubs his palms against her arms.

“I am fine.” She lies and forces a smile.

“You must have felt cold out here.” He speaks before eyeing the hostess who was standing outside.

She stiffened as soon as she saw her strict boss as he scolds her, “Why didn’t anyone let her in and offer her some meal or even a drink?”

“Mr. George told us not to.” She responds.

“Preparate il mio pasto e la mia bevanda preferiti, subito o sarete licenziati. Se Paul non mi avesse detto che questa donna era qui fuori al freddo, nessuno avrebbe osato informarmi. Siete un branco di inutili stronzi.” He says authoritatively which surprises Mahalia to hear her speak in a different language. (TRANSLATION: Make my favorite meal and drink right now or you'll be fired. If Paul hadn't told me this woman was out here in the cold, no one would have dared to inform me. You are a bunch of useless assholes.)

He faces Mahalia right away, “Are you tired?” He questions worriedly.

“No one has ever asked me that since I got here.” Mahalia answers.

“I am sorry for this.” He answers while he takes Mahalia’s hand and walks her to the entrance of the restaurant right in front of his employees as he commands. “Prepara la sala VIP. Casey è qui e assicurati di fare una stanza nell'uscita della porta sul retro. Assicurati che nessuno lo veda entrare.” (TRANSLATION: Prepare the VIP lounge. Casey is here and be sure to make a room in the back door exit. Make sure no one sees him come in.)

“Si, Signor Berruti.” His employees responded.

Mickey intently stops in front of George who is frozen in fear as he strictly reprimands, “E devo parlarti di quello che hai fatto dopo che mi sono preso cura di mio cugino.” (TRANSLATION: And I need to talk to you about what you did after I took care of my cousin.)

George swallows hard.

“Capito George?” Mickey barks with his evil eyes.

“Si Signor.” George responds. (TRANSLATION: Yes, sir.)

Mickey smiles at Mahalia, “Let’s go Ali.”