A Love That was Housebound

Chapter 4: Part 1

Chapter 4

 

May 16-17, 1848 (4 months passes)

“Lena you have to get this right if you do not want to be beat again” Sarah says frustrated. 

I look up to her with a sharp pain stabbing in my head. “Sarah it is too hard to say these different words. It is easier to speak normal …and my name is Adaeze, who is this Lena?” Sarah shakes her head letting out a small groan. 

“No Adaeze, Lena is your new name. The master gives us a new name so he can remember us and English is not different around here. In this land English is normal and our Twi is the one that is different.”  I huff out air in distress and scooted back on my bed till I could lean my back on the wall. I stare across our small*adanmum at the wall opposite of me.

It has been *abosome ɛnan since I have been taken from my home. After being on that boat, which I thought at first was hell, then the sky people dragging me onto their land and giving me away to their demon leader or who I assume was their leader.

Since then I have been here with Sarah who has taught me how life was lived here and what place we have in it. We are known as what they call slaves. When bought we are to serve our master whenever or however way they see fit with no care or thought from us. So what I called the sky people Sarah calls Europeans or white people, and that demon who I called their leader Sarah calls Master and he is not their leader but a simple neighbor to them. Yet he is supposed to be a leader to us, slaves. 

After that first lesson many others followed, early into the morning Sarah would wake me up and tell me about the house that we have to clean every day before *awia when the demon wakes.

“There are two floors in this burutuwa, ten rooms in all. You have the living room, the parlor, tea room, kitchen, and the slaves’ quarters and their bathroom. Then on the second floor you have five guestrooms with their bathrooms then our master’s room and his bathroom.” This is what Sarah quickly explained to me that next morning after my first night in this demon’s burutuwa.

She would clean the upper floor and I would clean the bottom. I did not understand the words Sarah used to describe the rooms and what type of cleaning I had to do exactly.  After Sarah explained in more detail of where and what rooms I had to clean she left to do her share on the upper floor.

With a bucket filled with water and rag in hand, I looked around the house I could feel nothing but amazement at how the demon lived. His seats and tables were large and crafted out of different colors of wood in many unique designs.  All the tables and large storages that held what Sarah calls photos all took a square shape giving it sharp corners, and painted on them were black swirls that look like currents of water.

I breathed in the air and actually felt relaxed looking at art in the room. The air smelt fresh and wooden with a bit a dust floating around. I cleaned all the rooms by wiping all the floors with the bucket of water, also I wiped all the tables and the *borɔhanne. I did this every morning without complaining even though my feet always cramped along with my wrists and every night Sarah would cook a feast for the demon yet bring only bring scraps for us.