FORSAKEN

“GOOD NEWS !" I shouted, enthusiastically, moving towards my sister, Betty who was slightly overstretched at the moment doing some house chores.

“What is it?" She asked raising a quizzical eyebrow.

" I heard father saying that we're moving away from here tomorrow, we are going to live in Wingston City!" I said with a loud voice, bouncing from foot to foot. " Not only that, I heard him saying that we're going to rent a large mansion!" I exaggerated, to be honest, father had only said that we were moving to the city. I was used to lying a little bit in everything I said, as it is said, a habit is like a disease, I clearly understood that it was not good, but I couldn't help, I would always find myself lying.

" Listen Lav, if you have nothing to do, just find something to tie you up!" She said, with an exaggerated eye roll and an ugly twist on her mouth . "I'm fed up with your lies! “she added . Betty was very sceptic, she could hardly believe anything, and also, she was very vulnerable at getting angry. She was completely an antithesis of me, I was generally positive and never in a bad mood, it took me a big deal to get upset even if you scold me a hundred times a day, I would still be happy, but one bad thing about me is that I was kind of puffed up. She was introverted and kind of a taciturn, she talked less, I was an extrovert and damn talkative, I was tall, slender and I had a dark chocolate skin, she was plump, remarkably short and she had an attractive light brown skin. I even sometimes doubted the fact that we are born of the same mother.

" It's Ok big sister, father just said we are moving to Wingston City, believe me."

" Was it a must for you to lie? You're fond of adding a little salt in everything you say Lav, do you really understand that is a sin?" She said, Betty was a staunch Christian she loathed hearing people lying.

" Come on big sister, it's sometimes good to exaggerate erm.. my English teacher said so, you know... life can tedious without exaggerating." I said, smiling sheepishly trying to convince her it wasn't a big deal.

" Nope! Just practice being honest." She said sternly.

By then, Betty was in grade five, I was in grade two, she was three years older than me, we had another little sister called Jamila, she was nine months old by then.

That night, I could hardly sleep, I kept on looking at the watch, my mind was unable to think about anything else, I couldn't believe we were eventually moving away from the boring village we were living in, Changaya. I was finally going to get rid of my paternal grandparents who lived still in Changaya, few kilometres away from our home who frequently visited us and also father used to tell us to go and visit them almost everyday to help them with farm activities. The problem was not even helping them, the problem was that they never loved me because I was not named after any of my paternal family member, since I was the second born in the family, according to our culture, I was called after my maternal grandmother and therefore this made them not to love me.

This made me loath this naming culture of ours, the Aithanga culture, and I vowed that I will never ever in my life practice this culture , what was now wrong with me? What was the difference between Betty and I ? Just merely names? How does names make a difference now?

We were all their grandchildren. My grandparents favoured Betty and Jamila than me, because

Betty was called after my paternal granny, Wangu and Jamila after My father’s Big sister, Wara. I hated anything to do with Aithanga culture.

“ Don’t give me such a look Wandi! for heavens sake!” Grandpa would always shout at me every time I would mistakenly look at him, I feared my paternal grandparents, because of how harsh they were to me, especially my grandpa, he was always aggressive. They used to call me in my ‘tribal’ name, of which I really abhorred, the name Wandi . Even at school, people knew me as Lavender Helmer, Helmer is my father’s first name, it is a part and parcel of our culture for one to have a tribal name.

“ You look at me with eyes so beautiful my dear, should I get you something to eat my only wife? He would tell Betty whenever she looked at him, he usually called her his wife since she is called after his wife.

“ Yeah please Grampa” she would reply.

“ Indeed you are Wangu! You are Mine alone, I can never let you suffer.” He would say. I would then go and coil myself under the tree that was located just behind my granny’s kitchen, trying to figure out the meaning of this. Trying to figure out the different between Betty and I . Trying to figure out the purpose of hating such an innocent small child like I was, a child, who doesn’t even understand why that name was given to her. I was just trying to fathom where I had wronged, that they had to treat me this way. I never told my parents about this, though I was too small, I knew how to keep things for myself, they never even noticed that themselves.

Anyway , this was finally going to be over, Father has just made the best decision! I thought.

However, I was a little bit worried because of this person who was really good to us uncle Mark ( father’s twin brother) and their two lovely children ( my cousins) Sarah and Jayden, leave alone his wife auntie Melissa, who was nothing but a jealous creature. Uncle Mark also lived in Changaya, very near to our home, his children would come to visit us, and they would spend most of their time with us, we lived like siblings, I actually enjoyed the camaraderie that was among us, where we loved and cared about each other deeply. I would also miss my English teacher Mr Francis, who inspired me a lot, I wished I could go with them, but it wasn't possible.

My father had just got a nice fat job from a very lucrative animals feeds company in the city. He had owned a big supermarket there in Changaya before, it was the biggest in the village but he decided to sell it to uncle Mark, who also lived in Changaya, after getting a job with more handsome payments than the supermarket’s income. He had found an opportunity of being a manager in the company at the city.

The next morning, we were bee- busy packing, making certain we had carried every good clothing, we left all the other house furniture and appliances for uncle Mark. Father claimed that he would buy a fully furnished house once we get to the city.

" Mommy, don't forget to pack my brown jacket please." I said, moving up and down from excitement, that jacket was my best clothe.

" No worries sweetie, already packed." She said.

Mom was very kind, soft, strong, affectionate and ebullient, I never saw her irate, I sometimes wondered whether she was a human being like us or an Angel sent down from heaven, I by no means want to insinuate that my mother was perfect cause she was a just human being like all of us, but she was excessively good.

It was now a time to bid Changaya farewell. I had cladded in my best habiliments, and so do Betty. I felt I had dressed to kill, having tied my long black hair with a pink bandana that had a beautiful flower on the side, a pink blouse, a white tiered skirt that reached just above my knees and a black stocking. Just then, I brought my hands together, raised one foot touching the knee of the other foot and performed double pirouettes, then I turned to Betty.

“How do I look Betty?”

" I'll miss this place." She said, ignoring my question, I bet she found it not significant.

" I too, but I'm still happy we're moving to a new place you know..” I said, but I didn’t really mean it, inside my heart, I was feeling over the moon, I wasn’t going to see my grandparents anytime soon.

Uncle mark, Sarah and Jayden had came to tell us goodbye that morning. I hugged them tightly, probably looked like I was listening for their heartbeats, but I was just saying goodbye to them, I’d really miss them.

" We'll still be coming to visit uncle Mark, no need to worry girls." Father said, opening his car door for us to enter. He studied our faces and realized how much we wished we could go with them.

We boarded, and we were off to Wingston city, the biggest city in Marualand.