Chapter 1: The Servant Son-in-law

Blake Walker

The bright light hit my eyes. I was awake already but I was used to his rusty hinge voice yelling which came seconds after the powerful rays from his torch. So I waited for it. Counting in my head with my eyes shut from five...four...three...two...one.

"Get up you moron who will milk the cows?"

There it was. My annoying alarm clock. I sprung out of bed hoping he was not carrying a bucket full of freezing cold water again. The last time I kept him waiting, believe me it was a couple seconds after the bright light, he poured ice cold water on me. I had to pick ice cubes from my squeaky metallic bed with a mattress thin as rail and mop the entire potholed floor of my crib the size of a pig pen.

"Good morning sir" I said bowing in respect, my arms behind my back.

"There is nothing good about this morning, get out!" He shouted showing me the way.

I grabbed my cowboy hut and coat. The milking bucket and a spotlight were hanging on the Wall at the entrance where I also slid into my torn smelly gumboots and led the way outside. So, who was this man? Let me introduce you to my father-in-law Gerald Wallace. Calm down, I will soon explain why I was milking my in-law's cows. Anyway, the corral was a few meters away from my crib in the servant’s quarter. While I opened the makeshift gate to the cows he used the tarmacked access road with a gate that separated the main compound from the SQ to walk back to his magnificent manor but before he left he gave further instructions. A Warning to be exact which also coupled as an ultimatum and a threat.

"When I come back I want the cows milked and out of the cowshed, you have thirty minutes, if you're not done you better have somewhere else you will live" he said before walking away.

I did not hesitate to start off. For company, I switched on my small music player. Kenny Rodgers hits back to back would bring that mood and also...this was a secret...the cows would be willing to give me more than enough although Gerald wouldn't notice it, he never noticed my achievements easily.

The cows were always aligned in the order which I was supposed to milk them. I washed my hands and started with Genesis. I named her Genesis because she was the first cow I ever milked and I always enjoyed milking her for no apparent reason but maybe because whenever I started with another, my day would be full of being yelled at and being despised more than the daily average. Trust me am so skeptical and less superstitious but this was among the few things I also couldn't explain.

"Come on girl, you can do better than this" I said going back to the udder for the second round.

By the time l was done with genesis there was roughly twenty minutes on the clock before Gerald came back, I had to divide the twenty minutes among the three remaining cows. My job was fun as much as Gerald and his family tried to make my life miserable and my wife Tessa could only do little to help. I didn't want her to help me really, I just wished she would tell her parents that I was once someone very special to her so that they would treat me with some dignity equivalent to what they offered their dogs.

I used to be the beloved son-in-law until I lost the little I had, courtesy of the street gang wars that ended in random fires in all my business ventures and having nowhere to go I found myself living with my in-laws. The first few months were great. I had my own room in the main house, shared a table with them, maids and servants respected me and till today I believe it was because I was still showing some signs of ever getting back on my feet and having a sense of direction again. The last bit of appreciation and importance left went straight to the gutter when the state attorney handed me a series of law suits from my former business associates and employees that nibbled my meagre savings like a denomination of ants. By the time I was halfway through the court visits I had nothing that's when the Wallace's started showing their true colours. They suddenly developed an allergy to poverty. From being served I was asked to help with a few things in the house and before I knew it I was asked to live in the servant’s quarter.

Enough of the flashback. I checked my watch and gladly I had five minutes tops. I switched off the music player and carried the milking bucket to the kitchen where the cooks would take it up from there. Since I couldn't go back to sleep again I decided to stay updated on the recent gang wars that had ran me out of business. I would live to regret that choice.

Tessa Wallace

A loud knock on my door brought me from slumber land. I groaned softly and slid out of my bed. Stretched my arms yawning loudly and rubbing sleep from my heavy eyes.

"Coming mum!" I said after the second knock.

Every morning my mum and I went jogging in the Wallace family twenty four acre piece of land. It was our tradition among the few things we did together if we were not at each other's throats making dad chose who was right.

"Come on Tessa we will be late" she shouted going for the third knock but I opened the door.

"You scream a lot" I said leading the way through the well-lit alley.

We were both wearing black vest tops and matching black tights. There was a slight difference between us, I was like her younger version but we both looked in shape. From the staircase I could see Blake was shyly seated on the edge of the couch, looking comfortable in the living room his eyes glued on the TV.

"What are you doing here this early?" I asked.

I could already feel my mum seething with rage behind me and this time I wasn't sure if my intervention could save him from what was going to happen next.

"Am just watching news sorry if my presence did cause any inconvenience" he said quickly getting on his feet when he saw mum.

"You know what your problem is Blake?" She asked pushing me aside.

There she went, I was really hoping he was ready for an early morning verbal diarrhea that mum had in store for him. After all, he brought it on himself.

"No mum, sorry...Mrs. Wallace"

"Your problem is you act so humble and innocent when indeed you are so rude and inconsiderate, what are you doing in the living room? Have you ever seen the employees watching TV from here?"

Blake shook his head.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Mum..."

"Shh! Stay out of this Tessa!" She bellowed turning around angrily, wearing pure rage for make up on her face, "The biggest mistake of your life was marrying this loser here and it pains me seeing you stand up for him"

"Am sorry Mrs. Wallace it won't happen again" Blake said leaving.

It was a lot to take in and I bet my mum was just getting started

"Don't you dare walk out on me!" Mum shouted on top of her lungs.

Any minute from then dad was going to come downstairs and I didn't want that for him. A Blend of dad and mum was worse than death as the two could strip a person naked of any confidence and self-worth they had left by word of mouth!

"Enough mum let him go" I tried to intervene but she went ahead and grabbed his hand, slapped him so hard I think he lost a tooth that day.

He stood still, his shoulders drooped and his head hanging in shame he did not look like he was slapped in fact it was mum who was massaging her hand. I did not pity him. He was my husband but he was also exceptionally lazy and contented with his pauper status.

"If you walk out on me again I will throw you out of this house you hear me?"

Blake nodded avoiding eye contact.

"Talk!"

"I hear you Mrs. Wallace" He mumbled

"Good now get your dirty self out of my sight!"

As Blake walked out back to the SQ mum and I started jogging towards the gate, behind us was her personal guard and driver, Tom with another guard. We ran side by side our pony’s swinging to the movement of our bodies.

"The slap was unnecessary" I said as we crossed the main gate.

Mum ignored me. She knew how much I hated being ignored and yet she gladly gave me the cold shoulder wherever I really needed her to admit that she was wrong.

"Am talking to you mum" I insisted.

"And I have nothing to say to you if you think he will ever man up and get back on his feet"

"He is still my husband"

She scoffed.

"On paper, why are you both under my roof?”

There was no confidence to answer that one. All of it was happening because I did not listen to her in the first place. She warned me against marrying anyone with no solid background of effluence yet I wanted to do something different. Unlike her who found dad when he had everything I decided to build something with Blake. Everything happened so fast. His electronics retail business was doing great and I might have bragged to my mum on how wrong she was about him. We got married and we were actually planning to have kids then the unexpected happened. A street gang war erupted, others were blaming the mafia and the political class. A number of shops were targeted including ours. They were mercilessly razed down to ashes, others were looted and stock worth millions destroyed.

"Where is the chatty Tessa?" Mum mocked, "divorce him and marry someone else, Gideon is good for you"

The foresaid was my childhood boyfriend. Mum brought him up because he was rich as Croesus with no wife. He was also a tech nerd and his family was among the richest in fort canon city.

"I don't like the way he snorts like a pig" I gave a lame excuse.

"You’re better off with a pig with money than Blake with nothing"

"You don't understand mum" I said slagging behind. I stopped supporting my hands on my knees. The guards also reduced their pace and Tom offered me a bottle of cold water.

Mum walked back for a bottle too.

"There is nothing to understand here dear, you don't love him anymore. You were just using him to prove a point to me and you failed terribly there is nothing wrong with that"

"Nothing wrong with what?" I asked picking up the pace, mum was on my shoulder.

"Losing to your mother, you should be proud you tried just say the word and I will get Gideon to take you, a colorful wedding, bright kids and they lived happily ever after will cease to be a mere dream to you"

"No" I said confidently.

"You need to get out of your father's house Tessa your ovaries are not going to be prolific for life you know"

"Mum am twenty five menopause is roughly a couple of decades away"

"That's my point twenty five and living in your father's house with a broke husband, I got married when I was eighteen"

"Times have changed, that was a long time ago at the dawn of civilization" I argued as we approached the second gate.

It was our finishing point where we did some yoga, had the girl talk and sometimes danced then ran or walked all the way back home. My family owned the entire piece of land, most of which was forest with hills and streams. With a good for nothing brother and a husband who had no idea about what he wanted in life I might as well have stayed at home waiting to inherit all that.

"Okay am just saying when you need my help just say it, if you can't because of Blake then I must have to convince Gerald to send him away. Haven't we done enough charity?"

"Don't do that mum he is doing just fine here, besides he has nowhere to go and no one to go to"

"It all comes down to a lazy contented pauper. He isn't doing fine dear, he can do better but anyway am just your antiquated mother, let's go back!" She said to the guards.

That came out as a joke until they started running back. The sun was starting to come out from behind the cloud it was hiding, its yellowish glints were giving the green surrounding a golden tinge. Beautiful to watch and bask in it.

"No yoga and dancing today?" I asked sauntering away after them.

Mum was mad at me. She was mad since I met Blake. He ruined my life and that morning I started to believe that my biggest flaw was getting married to him. Maybe it was time I changed that.