Windy Valley Secondary – Trials of the Young and Restlesss
31.JULY.08
Last week Miriam was left in quandary as to whether or not to tell Ras about her secret. How would Ras react?
Ras was upset when Miriam still refused to tell him what had upset her so much. {{more}}
âIf Sharpie so much as touch herâ, he thought, but Miriam did say it wasnât Sharpie at fault. If it wasnât Sharpie then who was it? Miriam kept herself to herself, rarely would she talk to anyone else except for himself and Susan. Ras wished that Miriam was not so shy, but it was that same trait that attracted him to her, she wasnât loud like the other girls. She has the potential to be bright, thought Ras, if only she would concentrate, instead of letting her mind wonder elsewhere.
âRas?â a childâs voice interrupted his thoughts. It was his youngest sister, âMe hungryâ.
Ras felt ashamed, he hadnât worked for the last two days because of the demands of schoolwork. No work, meant no money, and no money meant that he had to let his family go hungry for the second night. Now he was going to have to tell his sister that dinner was not available. âAlecia, Iâll try and get something tonightâ.
âChicken and chips?â she beamed.
âWe nah go have enough to spend on chicken and chips for the whole family.â Ras was worried that he wouldnât have enough food for tonight, there were nine of them to feed, and being the eldest child, Ras felt that it was his responsibility.
Alecia threw her empty bowl to the floor.
âMe hungry! Me canât understand why God make us poorâ.
âItâs not Godâs fault, itâs no-oneâs fault.â Secretly Ras blamed himself. If only there were enough hours in the day to go to school and work. With both his parents dead, it was left to his grandmother to look after them, but now she was an invalid and blind, the responsibility rested on Rasâ shoulders. His grandmother sometimes suggested that Ras should give up school and find work; but Ras knew deep in his heart that was not the answer. He needed to stay in school, he needed to fulfil his dreams of becoming a doctor. It was the only way to help the family. Ras had hoped that his grandmother would understand. She never pressurized him to give up school. His grandmother would always insist that she would trust whatever decision he made, and whatever he decided, she would be proud of him regardless.
âGo get ready for Sunday Schoolâ said Ras as he picked up the empty bowl. He never told anyone at school of his poverty, neither did he invite anyone home to his two bedroom wooden shack. It was a tight squeeze with nine of them, but lucky for him he had a good close knit family to count on, and everyone would always find the humorous side of the situation. That is, everyone apart from his brother Sel. Ras thought he had done well to keep him on the straight and narrow, but now at the age of fourteen, Sel was getting headstrong, and he looked like he was going to slip off the rails.
âHereâ, said Sel as he thrust a letter in Rasâ hand.
âWhat no food, again!â said Sel annoyed.
âJust make do for one more day, just until ah get a little workâ.
âSo why canât we just …!â suggested Sel.
âNo we are not going to sell drugs,â replied Ras.
âSharpie doing it, everybody doing it, all we have to do is…â
âNo!, All you have to do is go to school and make sure you get good grades so you can get a good jobâ.
âA good job, look around Ras, there are no jobs!â Sel stormed off.
He watched his brother leave the house. He will calm down Ras thought.
Ras looked at the letter in his hand, he opened it and recognised Miriamâs handwriting, asking him to meet her outside the gate of Botantic Gardens. Ras pondered at Miriamâs letter, maybe sheâs ready to tell me her secret, he thought…
The Windy Valley Secondary series is fictional. Any resemblance to real events, places or persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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