Hidden

Ring

Days passed and life was so blissful for the couple. There was never a dull moment and Tom carried the workers along. He organized games for the slaves and farmers. He made the slaves felt important. He organized a bonfire night, where lots of games were played including drama, race, and prizes were won.

But on that fateful Saturday, Rose had gone home for the weekend where she met her mother covering her father with a woolen blanket. He was shivering and looked very pale.

“Oh my God! What is wrong with father?” Rose said and dropped the bag she held.

“He has a high temperature and he says his head aches.” Martha said.

“Father.” Rose sat by his side and touched his head.

“Rose.” Stephen said with a shiver. “Have you heard?”

“Heard about what?”

“Tim who I thought was out go-to man and now in command, and now very responsible had cancelled our allowances.”

Martha exchanged glances with her daughter and pouted.

“I – I heard about it. Is that what is making you fall ill, father?”

“Is that not enough to cause a heart attack? Tell me Rose. Two thousand pounds every month. Two..”

“Father your health is more important.”

“What is health without money? What do you do with your health with you are broke?”

“You are not broke  Father. You have a job, a place to live in and food to eat. Remember what people are going through in Yorkshire.”

“I remember the good man Wellington who put us on that payroll. Why do good men die? Why? He died just a month ago and we are off the payroll and Tim of all people. You think I don’t know that he is your lover? Your mother knows but she keeps it from me. I thought he was responsible.”

“Why do you think Wellington…”

“He was Sir Wellington. Respect the dead. The man who gave me ten thousand pounds. The only time  I touched such an amount was when the village gathered money for tribute.”

“Do you know why he died or how he died?”

“I don’t believe in rumors.”

“There are enough evidences and did you not think he had a motive for the so-called good gestures?”

“A blind man could see that.” Martha said.

“What motive?” Stephen asked.

“He tried to enter my room.”

“He was like a king and deserved more than one wife. You would have had a part of the inheritance now carry his child.”

“Stop it, Stephen. You are losing it.” Martha said.

“The only thing I am loosing is money.”

“Tom did not act alone.”

“Who is Tom?” Stephen asked. His voice quivered as he spoke but he still never relented.

“I meant Tim. It was the decision of a the board.”

“He is the head of it all. Did he reduce yours? No. what about Abel’s ? No. Why mine?”

“I and Abel do not collect that as ex gratia. Yours is even not an ex gratia but like a monthly gift. You do not work for him but Madam. I and Abel work for him and that is what we earn. Tom- Tim as increased it all by fifty percent.”

Stephen turned and sat up.

“What? You mean you earn three thousand pounds now? You did not even like the job. I can cook, Rose. Remember when you were a baby and I made vegetable…” Martha burst into laughter. “You are the worst cook I have ever know my dear and I think you should just sleep, wake up and you will be fine. Your illness is just a shock of being cut out of the payroll and Tim has done enough for us.”

“Sister!” Marcus ran in and embraced his sister.

“My baby brother is growing up fast.” She held him.

“Father is sick because he got a bad news.” He said.

“He will be fine” Rose said and felt more at ease. They knew their father and he always got sick anytime he lost money.

“Father I have two thousand pounds for you.” Said Rose.

Stephen pulled off the cover and sat properly. “I think Jesus heals.” He said.

“Come on Marcus we are going to the farm pitch today.”

“I love that place.” He said. “Did Uncle Tim  invent that game?”

“What game, Marcus?”

“The thief game.”

She raised her eye brows.

‘What game is the thief game?”

“The one they hold a ball and they get chased like a thief.”

“Ohhhh,” she laughed, “he called it football. Yes, he invented it because no one has seen or heard of it before. It a game for the strong.”

“Sister, those black people are strong, whoa!”

“Yes. They are called Africans.”

“I see a lot of them crying. A woman said she was caught on her way to farm with two of her children whom were taken away from her. She does not know where on Earth they are. They were sold off.”

Rose was silent for a while. She did not want to talk about it. She had seen what those slaves go through and the emotional trauma. Some of them cannot even retrace their steps. Lost for life. Some were sexually molested, forced to sleep with other slaves to breed like animals, working for hours with no wage. Most of these slaves were sold with the help of their kings.

“Yes, Marcus. The world is a cauldron of vicissitudes. Come on, I got something for you. Get my bag..”

In the evening, Tom came with his guards and the cart he inherited from Wellington.

He knocked at the door and Rose came out. She smsiled, huggd him and kissed him.

“Good evening Sire.” Martha who was coming from the backyard said and the couple felt embarrassed. She smiled.

“Children have little or no shame now.” She said.

“I am sorry Mrs. Stephen. Please call me Tim.”

“I rather call you Tom-bible so you may act like the Bible says.”

Tim felt embarrassed.

“I want I and Rose to go for the games.”

“I want to go Uncle Tim.” Marcus who overheard him said excitedly.

Stephen sprang up, walked with alacrity to the door and pulled Marcus aside and came out.

“I am glad you are here,Tim.” Stephen said. “I –I am really grateful for all you have done..”

“My dear please stop.” Martha said.

“Let me express my opinion please”

“I am sorry about the cut of gifts but I have a proposal for you, Sire..”

*******

His hair was dark, thick and bushy. He had thick eye brows with white bright eyes. His nose was thin with thick lips.

He was of moderate height, sturdy and brawny. He wore his new clothes, holding a small sack and over sized shoes which he tied with a lace.

His shoes were dusty, after a long walk from the farm into the city. He stood beneath a tree and watched a cabin which was a few hundred yards away.

He saw her come out and he felt his heart racing. He put his fingers in his mouth and blew a soft whistle. She recognized the sound and turned with a smile.

She was eighteen years old. Her hair was red, and allowed it sprawl freely over her shoulder. She was slim and pretty. She half ran towards him and hugged him.

“Come on, let’s leave this place. My brothers will come out soon. They are going for fishing.”

They ran away and stopped before a stream. She was breathing hard just like he was doing.

They looked at each other and laughed.

“I got something for you.” He said with an Africa accent.

She looked at him surprised.

He gave her the sack and she opened it. She saw baked wheat, meat, a pair of shoes and fifty ponds.

“Gumba! Where did you get these?”

He smiled.

“I got paid.” He said excitedly. “I now earn just like you.”

She felt her eyes filled with tears.

“But you need the money more than I do. I can’t accept these.”

He shook his head.

‘I have always dreamt of this my love.  I know it is meager but accept these from a poor slave.”

“No Gumba.” Tears cascaded down her cheeks.” You are not a slave. You are a soldier. You are my master.” She hugged him and cried.

“Please  don’t cry. I am happy and we should be happy. together.” But he also had tears in his eyes.

“You look so handsome.” She said.

He smiled, exposing his strong white teeth.

“Thank you. You look dazzling, Gwen.”

“We will eat this together.”

Gwen worked in Wellington’s farm and Gumba was a slave there. He said he came from a town called Kabunda in Africa. He was living with his parents and one day, he was on his way to hunt when he was caught by some men and sold off. They travelled for months before he was sold to Wellington.

She noticed that he was always alone, crying sometimes and subjected to hardships. She would get him food, and the day he told her what he had being through, she cried all day. He did not know how his family was feeling or if he would ever see them again. He had given up hopes on seeing them and wished he could die.

Gradually, thy fell in love and began a secret love affair which she kept from everyone. When she asked him of his age, he said he was born on the day King Ramunda died. She did not know who King Ramunda was so she could not calculate his age.

But he was probably between twenty and twenty two. They sat down by the stream and ate the food. She wore the shoes and liked it.

“I gave Mrs. Dorothy the money and she bought it for me.”

“You should not have risked coming here. Do you remember the first time you came?”

He laughed.

“I do. I followed you and your mother by tracing the horse tracks without your knowledge and missed the roll call.”

“And that got you sixty whips.”

“I am used to whips. I received more whips than the African donkey.”

“Please don’t talk about that.”

“We are all happy. Master Timothy is the nicest master we had ever had. He does not let them whip us again.”

“He is sent by God.”

“Yes Gwen and God Sent Master Wellington away.”

“Yes. How long did it take you to get here?”

“Just three hours. Sometimes I run, sometimes I walk.”

“That is a hard  task. I feel bad that we were sacked and can’t see you every day.”

“That broke me. But master Tim can get you back.”

“I can’t reach him. He is the overall master and always with guards. My mother is also jobless and my father does nothing other than drink wine.”

Gumba hesitated.

“I wish we could go to the farm now.”

“Why?”

“There is going to be games and it would be fun. Life is good now.”

“I really want to be with you.”

“It is a long walk and the games would be over before we get there. Plus, I can’t let you walk all the way to the farm. I am used to that.”

“Why did you stay behind and enjoy the games.”

“Because everything is dark without you.”

She paused and looked at him.

“I love you Gumba.”

“I love you too, Gwen.”

“I have an idea. I will get my father’s horse and we go for the games.”

Excitement splashed on his face.

“That is splendid.”

She got on her feet.

“Just wait for a while.” She ran away.

He watched her as she ran away. This girl was the only reason he stopped crying and had hopes to live again.

A few minutes later, She came back with a horse. He got up and mounted it, sitting behind her.

“Let’s go.” As the horse began to move, she heard a loud voice, “Gwen!”

She turned to see Pius coming. He was a soldier who worked in the palace of the king and the man she was betrothed to.

She felt her heart racing. She could not let him come and see Gumba.

He was a slave and Pius was a very jealous man who was violent. She did not know what he would do to him.

She moved the horse and stared running.

“Gwen! Gwen!!”

She did not stop and was not ready to stop. He began to chase them. This incident would change their lives forever.

******

Tom held her hand as they walked slowly on the Salvar pitch in Wellington’s villa. The moon was and the powerful; lamps that lit the compound were made of different colors and the place looked so beautiful.

“It was a beautiful match.” Rose said. “The workers are all happy. That is what you do, make people happy.”

“I am happy myself because I have the greatest element of happiness.”

She blushed.

“I have been thinking about what your mother said the other day.”

“What did she say?”

“She called me Tom-bible and asked me to act like it.”

“Meaning what?”

“Do the right thing.” He said. “And it has been resonating with me.”

“I am lost, Tom.”

He stopped walking, gave a few seconds of look which was filled with love and care.

He knelt down before her and removed a box from his pocket, opened it and produced a ring.

“Rose, will you marry me?”

She had not expected this.

*****