I love her : Part 2
Story By Thiyam Ningol, Africa

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In the evening when Samuel reached home, everybody was waiting for him.

"He was begging in the streets"-his younger brother commented. Others joined the young brother and gave their disgusting impressions about what Samuel did. They demanded an explanation from Samuel. The young brother repeated what Samuel told him "The hands which push food in the mouth will also look for food". Another brother said "To have a cripple brother is enough shame by itself and now you go to beg also, shaming us more."

His knees were bleeding from crawling. He wanted to use the piece of cloth which he used to wrap all the coins he received. Everybody looked at the amount of the coins rolled out from the piece of cloth. Together they counted and recounted the money-five thousand six hundred and fifty Shillings. Nobody in the family had earned that much money in a day, that too without working. "He had already spent some money, I saw him eating chips"-the young brother complained.

From that time onwards nobody objected Samuel from going to beg, they rather waited for him to come back with bigger amounts. Some of his siblings even begged for some money from Samuel, the beggar.

Slowly things started moving in the wrong direction. Samuel became the main bread earner. Most of his other siblings had finished primary school but nobody managed to go to secondary schools. The number of family members was also increasing. One of the sisters had 2 children already, not married yet and one brother brought a wife. Another brother had been sent to jail for getting involved in a robbery. Samuel went on with his life.

He found a girl ready to marry him. After the marriage, he moved out of their house with his wife and rented a room near a roadside. They got married because each of them needed a companion, a partner to share all the ups and downs of life, not necessarily for sex. Samuel –cripple from the waist downwards and Mary with ambiguous sex organ.

They understood and loved each other well. Mary worked as a house helper; she earned enough to support herself. Samuel loved watching Mary getting dressed with the newest fashion, he always bought cloths for her. Once in a while they would visit disco halls.

From their savings, they managed to buy a small second hand TV set and a pocket radio. Life was peaceful.

But their peaceful life disturbed the minds of their relatives. Samuel's younger brother came to stay with them. He saw the luxurious cloths Mary was wearing. News was conveyed to other relatives that Mary was reaping all the money Samuel earned; while Samuel was begging on the road in the rain and sun, Mary was enjoying the company of other people; she did not like to cook and serve Samuel's relatives......endless stories. The sister dumped her children on Samuel and disappeared from their sight- she had found a new boy friend. Mary could not tolerate anymore. She left Samuel and went back to her parents. Samuel did not stop her; he wanted her to be free from the insults and burdens. It was becoming too much for her.

One day Samuel requested all his relatives and friends to gather and hear an important announcement. He informed everybody that whosoever would be present, would be receiving a bonus prize. Not surprisingly everybody except Mary came.

"Thank you all for coming. I want to show you a magic. I am going to be a normal person now like any one of you. When my body starts wriggling and twisting, do not touch me otherwise the magic spell will disappear. You should watch me till the end in silence."

He raised the cup high in the air, then drank and emptied all the contents which he had prepared since the day Mary left him. He had bought 90 Chloroquine tablets from different pharmacies in the past one week, crushed to make powder and stored for that day.

"I have lost the only one person who truly loved and cared for me. I really love her. I l....o...."

All his relatives waited in silence for the magic spell to take place and get their bonuses.

Samuel relieved himself forever from the unfair world.

Concluded...