Telesa:The Covenant Keeper. Chapter One

Telesa:The Covenant Keeper. Chapter Three

I woke with a startled gasp, sheets a tangled mess around me, my shirt soaked through with sweat. Pulse racing, I tried to calm my ragged breathing but the room was so stifling I needed to get out. Hoping Aunt Matile hadn’t woken with the sounds of my nightmare, I slipped silently through the sleeping house and out into the garden. Sitting on an upturned plastic bucket under the fragrant branches of the frangipani tree, I breathed deeply in the night air.

What did it mean? Where had that dream come from? Was I losing my mind? Was all the pressure of being in this alien land, searching for information about a mother that no-one wanted to talk about finally getting to me? Fluffy chickens roosting in the breadfruit trees rustled and clucked close by and Terminator strolled over to snuffle hopefully against my fingers. It was just a dream, Leila, just a dream. I kept repeating to myself as I quietly crept back to my room. But sleep was a long time coming.

The rest of the week was uneventful. I was slipping into a routine with Matile and Tuala. I didn’t ask any more questions about my mother. They were kind and careful. I was polite and helpful.

 I washed dishes. Matile smiled with startled surprise. I helped Tuala sweep up the cut grass. He brought me an ice cold Diet Coke back from  the corner store. I gave Terminator a much-needed  bath.  Which he hated me for.  And which made Matile laugh.

 I had not given up on my search for information about my mother though. I risked Matile’s wrath and asked Kolio about her when he came to weed the banana patch at the back. He must have been warned by Tuala and Matile not to say anything though – because he only looked uneasy and shook his head,

 “I don’t know anything. I don’t know anyone like that.”

Falute was the same. I went outside to help her hang up the laundry, and in-between pegging up lemon-fresh sheets, I asked,“So, did you know my mother?”

  At first she acted dumb. “Who? I don’t know anything about that subject. No, I know nothing.”

“But you’re part of the family, you’re Matile’s cousin, surely you must have known her? You must have at least heard something about her?”

She only shook her head vehemently. “No. I don’t want to talk about her.”

She turned to walk away and then stopped to look back and consider my crestfallen expression. She sighed, looked around to make sure we were alone and then leaned forward to whisper,   

“Leila, your mother was a bad woman. It was good your father took you away from here. It’s better you don’t ask about her. Better you don’t know about her. I’m sorry, that’s all I can say.”

And with that she bustled back into the house carrying an empty laundry basket on her hip.

I stood there in the yard in disbelief. Your mother was a bad woman. I felt cold in the tropical sun because I could no longer ignore what was glaringly obvious.

Matile and everybody else weren’t being cagey about my mother because she was too sad or emotional a subject for them to handle. It was because the topic of my mother was too unpleasant. Falute even looked afraid just to speak of her.

 But why?

School in Samoa was satisfying.

I was attentive and studious. I smiled at all the right times. And tried hard not be rude with Sinalei when she insisted on keeping me company every interval. I had never had friends before, so wasn’t used to how they occupied one’s space and time. Even when you didn’t want them to. But I was learning.

Simone was still gracing me with his presence and I had to admit that I found myself more relaxed with him than with anyone else. He seemed to have bestowed his approval upon me and regularly called me to sit with him and his group of girl-boys. Flawlessly beautiful, graceful supermodels all of them.  All fiery with confidence, loud and exuberant. I laughed to think what my dad would say about my new ‘clique’ of friends. In fact, everything seemed to be going fine in this new place.