Too Late To Claim. EPISODE 2 & 3.

Episode two

Life they say, is full of many twists and turns and you never can tell what will be the outcome of every journey you take except to hope for the best.
My name is Jessica Vincent and this is my story.
From childhood in the village,life has never favoured me.
I lost my dad immediately I came into this world as a result, people referred to me as a bad luck child.
I grew up with my mom taking care of me.
I had no siblings nor external families neither friends because no family allowed their child or children to befriend a witch like me.
School was out of it because we didn’t even have enough to eat not to talk of pursuing education.
At age five,I was already known as the Pure water hawker in the village though most people are afraid of buying from me because of rumours that I killed my dad nevertheless I didn’t mind them as I continued to sell my water.
When business got tough,I trekked to the neighboring villages to sell since no one knew me there.
Rags were my best clothes.
Mother would go to the tailor shop and gather all the pieces together and sew me clothes.
My shoes were peeling and opened under yet I still managed.
Garri was our dialy food and we never tasted anything like meat or fish till I left there.
We had no bed.
At night, mother spread her old smelling wrapper on the cold floor and we sleep, that is if we are lucky with mosquitoes.
During dawn, our bodies ached with pains as a result of sleeping on the floor yet we don’t mind.
We washed our mouths with charcoal since toothpaste and toothbrush were for the rich and I go about selling my water.
It was really hard for a teenager like me.
Seeing other young children smartly dressed in new and expensive clothes.
Seeing other families eating and throwing away.
Seeing my friends going to school and gisting on what they learned in school.
Mine was nothing to write about except sorrows and pains.
Most times,I sat behind the house and cried my eyes and heart out.
You may think I didn’t understand anything because I was a small girl but I did.
Mother cried too but she never showed it instead she encouraged me to focus on God and pray always.
She assured me that God understands everything and it was just a matter of time.
She told me never to leave God’s hands and never to stop trusting him
“He knows the Best Jessy and he will make everything beautiful in his time.” She would often say to me.
But when is that time ever going to come??
.

Episode three.


Mother never stopped praying everyday.
We had a old torn Bible which we found in the dustbin.
Few chapters and verses were missing but we still used it to pray and study everyday.
Mother taught me how to say the psalm 23 and the Lord’s prayer too and I recited them before going to sell and during selling too.
Mother didn’t go to school but how she knew how to read remained a mystery to me.
Did I mention we picked things from the dumpsite?
Oh yes we did!
We went to find things others have thrown away even down to food and we make used of them.
Imagine, people waste product!
Sometimes we go to the neighbors to beg whenever we were hungry and had no food.
And if we were lucky,they gave us the leftovers of one week ago that have gone sour.
Once I attempted stealing but I was caught.
Mother flogged the living hell out of me when she got to know about it.
She was so angry and warned me never to repeat it again.
She told me that God is our source of provisions and he will never forsake us.
Whenever food was little,. Mother would give me to eat and go to bed on empty stomach.
Sometimes, when i woke up to pee in the middle of the night,I saw mother awake sitting by the corner weeping in sorrows.
I saw everything.
I understood everything.
I felt everything even though I was little.
I knew we were suffering beyond words but mother still continued to smile and pray.
I really admired her courage.
At times,I wonder if God is truly seeing our predicaments.
I wonder when he will turn things around.
I wonder why he allowed those who served him diligently to suffer like this.
I doubt if he will ever heard our sorrowful hearts cried out.
In all these, mother never gave up.
Every Sunday,we wore the same clothes and go to church.
We weren’t allowed in because of the way we dressed and smelled so we stand outside and listened.
We were mistaken for mad people due to the rags we were that were so precious to us.
We had no offering to give but we gave our hearts to God.
Once a church member had blessed us with a little amount of money.
We were so happy but mother took all of it to church and donated to the project of building another church.
I was so angry.
For Christ’s sake, we had absolutely nothing.
Why will mother ever do that?
She smiled and hugged me saying
“Nothing is impossible with God and he make everything beautiful in his own time.”
Oh Mother!!!
TBC.

STORY FROM HERE