SILAS Part 1

SILAS 

        By Nzinga Nzinga                                                

Part 1

“What's that you reading, Clara?” the older woman asked.

“A letter from Lizzie, Mama,” the younger replied, while she continued reading.

“Lizzie hardly writes. Two short letters a year is her limit.”

“Well, she has written quite a lengthy one this trip and it is addressed to both of us.”

“You don’t have to read the whole thing to me. Just pick out the message. You know the part that says what she wants this time. Tell me what she wants. I can't imagine Lizzie finding time to write us unless she wants something real bad.”

Clara’s eyes skim over the four A4 pages and then she turns to her mother. “Mama, she says that she wants Silas to stay with us for the long summer vacation…”

“Are you sure about that? Does that mean he would be coming alone, without her?”

“So she says.”

“I have to believe you because you have the evidence right there before your very eyes but I can't imagine that Lizzie would let her Silas leave her management for longer than it takes for him to get through a day at school.”

“Well, Mama, she says he has asked to come and she feels quite confident that we will take care of her boy, her ‘one and only’ as she calls him here.” She laughs.

“Why are you laughing, Clara?” Miss B asked.

“Because of what she says here. Lizzie says that she is sure there will be mutual benefit all around from Silas’ visit.”

The mother screws up her face. “Benefit? Who says? And mutual benefit at that? Lizzie is a lawyer but there is a lot she still has to go and learn. We are not prepared to entertain a little New York boy. And for a whole summer at that? I mean there is no T.V, no video, no modern games and toys and the kerosene fridge breaks down more times than it works and when it does, it’s empty anyway because we can't trust anything much to it. Moreover, he has a very sweet tooth and we don't use sugar anymore.” Miss B sighs.

“It says here that he is bringing all these things with him, T.V, video, cassettes, computer and loads of games and toys so he won't be bored. Says she doesn't want him to be bored,” Clara said as she reviewed the letter.

“She can find money to buy all those things and yet she couldn't find the little money I asked her to lend me to help us put in electricity.” Miss Lizzie reminded her older daughter. “Pappy show! I wonder what he is going to plug all those things into. Since she sending him with all those electrical contrivances, she must be sending generator with them.”

“She hasn't mentioned any generator.”

“Trust Lizzie to overlook the obvious. She can’t see the woods for the trees. Anyway, knowing how Lizzie is, she would want every blessed thing sent back. Clara, she can reconsider it, you know. It costs a lot to travel these days and with all that overweight coming and going…”

“Mama, she has already bought the ticket and arranged with some friends of hers for him to travel with them. Everything is set. It’s only left for us to pick him up at the airport. She is not really asking our permission. She thinks she is doing us a great favour.”

“Favour mi back foot! That is no favour. To foist a young hyperactive boy on two fusty old women! That’s no favour I can tell her.”

“Tchach, Mama. I am not exactly an old woman, even though my last child is 17 years old. However, I really don't want to earn my long deserved summer holidays away from those ebullient boys at school only to be saddled here with one even more buoyant for twenty four hours a day. Lizzie is as unreasonable as ever.”

Clara obviously did not think too highly of her sister.

“A lot of cheek, I'd say. That boy will find fault with everything from the way we speak, the way we cook, the way we look and smell, the whole house, the latrine out back and everything else his eyes happen to light on.”

“I know, Mama. Mama, I want to ask you something.”

“Go on. Ask me.”

“Do you like Silas?”

“Silas? If I like Silas? Why you asking me that? Which Silas you mean though?”

“Mama, there is only one Silas remaining in this family. Lizzie’s little spoilt brat, who is supposed to come to us this summer to bless us with his enchanting company though I can see it only as a curse, is the Silas I mean. Remember him, Mama? Lizzie named him after Uncle Silas thinking he would leave some of his money to her child. Of course he didn't leave him even one red cent in his Will. Uncle Silas hated to be in the same space at the same time with that child, but being a man of few words, he never let his true feelings show to Lizzie. You know very well who Silas is. Don't try to dodge the question, Mama.”

“What question, Clara?”

“Oh, come on, Mama, stop playing games. Do you like Silas?”

“Well. He has a nose…”

“…that pokes into everything.”

“I wasn't going to say that. I was about to say that he has a cute nose.”

“His nose is quite ordinary, Mama, not in the least bit cute. There is nothing cute about that child.”

“His eyes are…”

“…always darting all over the place to see if he can cause some trouble.”

“I was about to say that his eyes are always so shiny, so full of…”

“…mischief, you mean.”

“His feet are…”

“…swift to kick. Do you remember how he kicked every one of those children who came to his birthday party and Lizzie said the children here need to be more aggressive if they want to survive because it’s a jungle out there and only the fittest of the fit can survive?”

“Yes, Clara. I remember that episode and how you never talked to Lizzie for two days. I was only going to say that he has dainty feet. His feet are quite small, you know, for his rather bulky size.”

“Mama, do you like Silas?”

“He’s my grandson, Clara, just like how your four boys are my grandsons. The difference is that your children don't make me feel old, ugly and scared. Remember how Silas tore down the only framed picture we have of your father, broke the glass and tore up the photograph saying that the moustache and beard frightened him and gave him nightmares? I still can't believe that a little boy like that could say that his grandfather was a little too long in the tooth! And his mother telling me that I was too intolerant and fussy over what was only an old worn-out photograph and that she couldn't see what all the excitement was about. She said that she herself had never liked it anyway. Lizzie is my daughter but at times she makes me want to get rough with her.”

“Mama, don’t forget how he locked up the puppy in the old shed down the farm after tying up its mouth with my new scarf and we didn't find the poor creature until late in the night.” Clara couldn't help laughing now that the incident was safely in the past.

“And he was as pleased as punch that he had outsmarted us. Lizzie just laughed and 
said, ‘Boys will be boys.’ I tell you, Clara, that boy never lets you forget him,” the grannie said.

“Ah, Mama, remember how the little rascal threw a packet of blue dye in the water tank saying that he wanted to bring the sea into our yard? And what did his mother say? The besotted girl said, ‘Oh, my son is so creative, so artistic! A budding Picasso!” Clara gritted her teeth at the memory.

“Clara, do you remember the time he emptied the sugar from the sugar bowl and substituted salt? All Lizzie did was tell him that it would have been better if he had done it the other way round because not everyone likes so much salt in their tea or coffee. That is after nearly everybody had spoilt their tea with an abundance of salt.” Granny laughed. Silas was far away so she could see the funny side of it though at the time of that incident she did not feel like laughing.

“Of course I remember. How could I ever forget that episode? Do you think I will ever forget that living nightmare? And the time he put the rubber lizard on the armchair of the headmaster’s wife and she there patting him and telling him what a cute boy he was. That boy was there smiling with Mrs. Brown while he was busy putting the lizard on the arm of her chair so that when she turned around, her hand came in contact with this fearsome looking creature. I can still hear her screams before she fainted.”

To be continued

 All the images were taken from the Internet and I claim no copyright.