The President's son

Chapter 1 "Argh! It's morning already?" Angela groans at the blaring sound from her alarm clock as if her own hands didn't set it the night before. It's a Saturday morning and she has all the reasons to sleep in, but being jobless makes her feel like she hasn't earned that privilege yet. "Sleeping in on a Saturday is for those who spent the entire week slaving away," she reminds herself while pressing the button of the gadget she's chosen to remind her of that bitter truth. The thought in itself is unfair to her but it's the truth, one she has no power to change even if she wanted to. Waiting is her only option. She turns to her side, looking out the window of her small bedroom and sighs. The dawn of a new day should make her smile, but with her hopes of getting a job diminishing, the bright rays of the morning sun bring nothing but depressing thoughts. She has been strong through it all, but lately, she doesn't feel like getting up to face her life. She feels stuck with no means of bettering it. "Two years and I'm still stuck in my teenager bed." Since graduation from nursing school, it has been a long wait for her to get offered a job despite having those brilliant results at graduation. Not what she had envisioned at all. Loving her future profession, she had worked extra hard to graduate at the top of her class, hoping to end up at the top of the list too once the ministry of health began recruiting more health personnel. It's been two long years however, with her getting excited about a new list each time one is printed in the national newspaper, only to get disappointed. In the past year she had also been making applications to private hospitals as she waited to get into a government one, but she had no luck there either. Waiting is getting harder and having to give her mother the same answer each time she asks is becoming unbearable. Of course her mother understands her predicament but it still does not make it any easier for Angela to keep faking at keeping the faith. Even when her mother tells her not to give up, she always searches the older woman's face for any hints of disappointment. There is always none, only the usual pride her mother has shone since she graduated, but not even that is enough to wash away Angela's own feelings of disappointment. "Well, being cooped up in this room won't help me either." She mumbles to herself before kicking her beddings off and opening her bedroom window.. A cold winter breeze greets her and it does little to encourage her to face her day too. Slipping into her worn out bedroom slippers to avoid the cold floor, she makes her bed quickly. The neatly folded hospital corners she makes on the sheets remind her of what she could have been doing. "Soon." She tries to cheer herself up and get a move on before her mother comes in. A speech about how a woman should wake up early in a home will be a guaranteed part of her mother's morning greeting. And before she knows it, that conversation will swiftly turn into a talk about when Angela intends to get married and give her mother some grandchildren. Hearing her mother's bedroom door squeaking open, she dashes to their only bathroom to take that much needed shower. "Oh damn!" She jumps when the cold water hits her skin, another reminder of how badly she needs a salary. It's been a while since she's had a warm shower. That is just something they can't afford at the moment. But thanks to biology, her skin adapts quickly and the rest of her shower goes on just fine. Once done, she dries herself and heads back to her room to dress up. She opts for a track bottom and comfortable Tee with her feet still in her bedroom slippers. Angela might not allow herself the pleasure of sleeping in on a Saturday morning but dressing comfortably is an exception. After all she will be spending her time home so no need to go all fancy or formal. Their tiny kitchen smells heavenly. Her mother is making breakfast as usual. "Hi mom." Angela greets her mother cheerfully, hoping the older woman doesn't see through her mask. "Well good morning to you too baby." Her mother's angelic voice soothes Angela's troubled heart like magic, followed by a warm hug that Angela relishes before her mother pulls back. "Tea?" A mug gets handed to her, making her smile. "Even in my next life, you should be my mother." Angela moans when she sips her hot beverage. It has the right amount of sweetness. Just the way she likes it. "I could never ask for a better daughter." Those words get stuck in Angela's throat and not even her beverage can wash them down. Florence, her mother, is her everything. Since the dreadful day Angela woke up to her mother's wails, mourning her father, it's been just the two of them. Angela was only ten when she was told her father would never be coming back home and since then her mother had been both a mother and father to her. Shouldering all the responsibilities of their little home. Florence did her all for that ten year old girl to be the young lady Angela had turned out to be. "I could never ask for a better mother." Angela croaks out, her mind slipping back into her past thinking of some of her mother's sacrifices. A few years after her father's death, her mother dated. But after her future step father tried to force himself on Angela on a day her mother was not around, Florence decided to remain single and just focus on safely raising her. That and many more sacrifices have made Angela to make some non-negotiable decisions. Even though her mother is always pestering her about when she will get married, Angela already decided that that won't happen until she has given her mother the life she deserves. She has vowed to give her mother all that she missed out on when she sacrificed everything for her and her education. So she already decided boys can wait. "Not that am even dating anyone." she mutters to herself. "What was that dear?" Her mother asks, taking her out of her deep thoughts. "Uh..nothing mom." she replies, thankful that her mother didn't hear a thing. "So what's the latest news in our little land of hope these days?" Angela asks, talking of their small compound that is always full of drama and lots and lots of stories to gossip about. "That is not proper behavior for a lady, let alone a graduate." Her mother scolds her, making a wave of embarrassment wash over her. It doesn't matter how juicy the gossip is, her mother hates being swallowed up in it. Angela lifts her hands up signaling her surrender. Instead, she asks her mother about any positive things happening around. At that her mother's face lights up. "There is going to be a rally on Monday at the town's square." Angela frowns. Wondering what is so special about an upcoming political rally that has got her mother excited. Well, apart from the fact that anything government related is her mother's fascination. "What's so special about those liars coming to our town?" Angela clearly doesn't share her mother's fascination with politics. To her, politicians are just a bunch of liars out to enrich themselves at the common citizen's expense. "They say that this time around they will be answering people's questions." Angela scoffs at that. "Not that that will change people's lives here anyway." Her compound has seen no change year in, year out and yet those wretched politicians still came and shamelessly made promises they had no intentions of keeping. "At least they will get to hear what the people that vote for them have to say and what they want." Florence says, sounding hopeful. "You should attend it." "Me?" Angela's eyes widen like saucers at that. "I don't even like politics." "You are our graduate, aren't you? A nurse at that. You of all people would be able to ask the most sensible questions on our behalf right?" "But…" "Angela baby, you know a lot of our people here have never been to school and it makes being lied to easier. Someone like you, who can understand those politician's big words would really help our community. Besides, if there is someone who can hold them to their word, it's my scary daughter." Angela knows she has just been conned into attending the rally. "I'm not that scary," she huffs. "Ask your difficult patients." "Your friends would be dead and gone if I didn't scare them into taking their medications." Angela rolls her eyes, thinking about those old women with their ailments, who had chosen to make her their personal nurse. She thinks her mother is right though. More than half of the town's people are not educated indeed and politicians have been taking advantage of that. They have offered people very little to nothing in exchange for their votes. It is one of the reasons she hates politics. She feels every politician's interest is just about making money off of the poor people who always remain poor even after voting them into their offices. She usually sees those rallys on T.V too but never bothered to attend one before. "Maybe it's time I did." "So?" Her mother looks at her expectantly. "I guess my schedule is full come Monday, as I will be representing the good people of our town while I face the big bad wolves."