CHAPTER 5

As they prepared to leave in the morning, Michael, the son of their neighbor arrived from the city and having heard what the Simmons family had gone through, he came to help.

Michael's father was among the founder members of EPSOM CONSTRUCTION but with time they had sold their shares to Mr Edwards, but they hadn't moved from the compound because unlike the workers, they owned the house where they lived. Michael's father had since died, leaving the house to his mother. Since Michael was their only child and he had moved away, she invited her sister to live with her for fear of loneliness.

Across the town, about twenty minutes drive, was a man who supplied the whole town with groceries and assorted goods. He had a daughter who had been betrothed to Michael since when they were children and everyone in the small town knew about it. Michael didn't stay away for long before coming back to see her, and obviously his presence today had something to do with her.

He parked his truck near the Simmons house and approached the two ladies as they moved in and out of the house, carrying out some items.

“Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked.

“Oh yes." Grandma said. Amelia was coming out of the house, carrying some cutlery and saw him laying his jacket neatly on his truck. When he started rolling his shirt she said, “But you're not going to....... "

He replied with a laugh, “well, do you think I'm going to stand here and watch you doing all the work?" He was holding her gaze.

She could not return the look in his eyes and she turned away, saying, “It's kind of you."

He said nothing to this but asked, “where are you moving to?"

“The company wants back their house, Mr Edwards does. We're moving in with grandma." She said as she joined her grandma inside the house.

“Hey Amelia, you have grown so big, and beautiful. I'm sorry for what happened to you....." He said.

The heat that swept over her body brought her heart pumping strongly under her ribcage, it brought with it a joy that made her want to run as she had sometimes done when they played as children in the compound. Michael was around two years older than her and sometimes they would play together when they were kids. She knew that Michael liked her and she also liked him, only that she couldn't tell him. The sight of him always filled her with joy, and this time was no exception, even as she faced these difficult times.

But then the joy seeped away swiftly to leave her cold as she remembered the woman in the shop across town Diana Brown, who was known to everyone as Michael's betrothed. He was lucky to be loved by the daughter of the wealthy merchant, so why was he admiring her?

“I'll drive you there," he said as she turned away, knowing his eyes were tight on her, and she made her way to the house where her grandma was removing the remaining items.

Michael had put on back his jacket and having loaded everything they owned into his truck, he sat by the steering wheel as he waited for the ladies to board.

Amelia had gone to fetch her brother from where he'd gone to play while her grandma handed back the house to the incoming family. Mr Jackson took away the keys and disappeared again, shame written all over his face.

Michael really pitied them, watching by the side mirror as the old woman held the infant in her frail arms. He wished there was something he could do to help. But wait, he remembered something....

“We can go now," Amelia was back, with the young man in tow. Her grandma too was through with the handover ceremony and they all boarded the truck and drove away.

Amelia was wordless, and she only glanced back once, to bid farewell to the compound where they called home for years.

Minutes later they were unpacking the items and taking them inside grandma's single room. The house stood alone by the edge of the public park, an illegal structure that had survived demolition plans by the council only because they pitied the elderly occupant.

Michael remained in the truck, thinking hard.

When Amelia came to thank him he had decided on something. “That school where your brother goes to, I can pull a few strings and he'll get a scholarship. How about that?" He asked her.

“Really?" She asked quite surprised. This was the first time she was getting to hear something positive since her parents died.

“Yes. Mr Brown owns the school and I can sweet talk him to take him in. Just leave it to me." He said.

Without asking, she already knew that Mr Brown was the wealthy merchant with a string of businesses around town and whose daughter Michael had been betrothed to.

“Thanks Michael. I have no words to express my gratitude." She said.

They talked for a long time before he excused himself and drove away.

She went back into their new house and continued packing their items.

The house was so small she wondered how they were going to fit in. Only a single room, it had a small bed by one corner and only one threadbare coach. At one corner were grandma's cooking stuff, which had now multiplied after the new additions.

“I'll be sleeping on the bed with the child. You can sleep on the couch while Willis can sleep on the floor as we look for a solution. You have to find a job, this is only a temporary arrangement." Grandma said, as if she had read her mind as she had wondered how they were going to put up.

When evening came she was so tired but she spared a thought to Michael and his generosity. And when she slept, she dreamt of the big gray house, but it was so enveloped in light that she couldn't make out any part of it.