STORY TIME “THE DIM LIGHT ON HER CROWN… ” BY Amantle Kobe, Gaborone Botswana
She shut her eyes tightly pretending to sleep, praying and pleading the Almighty that this would soon be over. The whispers’ from her bedroom door made a flood of tears flow down her beautiful marble black skin. “What have I done to deserve this?” she questioned her petite brain. “Feel free to do anything you want to her, but each extra minute comes with an extra cost. Rip her skin, scratch her face and bite her belly, “her evil Aunt Rosalina uttered. It had been a family norm that Lelentle had turned to a means of gathering ends meet for her family. A couple of men; young, old, rich and mediocre were her regular abusers. They would tear up her clothes, scratch her face and bite her body. Her throat was raw from screaming when the next entered. Luckily it was the last encounter for the day. “Stop it! Stop it!” Lelentle exclaimed, he slapped her face and let out an evil laugh. “You filthy rat! You think you are pretty? Who do you think is going to love you looking at your ugly face? ”Thabang, her Uncle mocked. It was only at the day of Lelentle’s birth that she encountered her first encounter with fate begun. Only three hours after the little bundle of joy’s entrance to this world, her mother Lorato passed on to paradise. Lelentle-Lorato they named her in memory of her late mother. Left to live with her drunkard father, Lelentle had no option because she suffered the consequences of her mother’s decision of deciding to marry Tumelo Lamorena, a famous business man in the great city of Gaborone. His arrivals late home for the past week had bothered Lelentle-Lorato; he did not even touch his food for the past week. What was up with him she thought to herself? Continuous coughing woke her up from her almost sleep, and she quickly dashed for her father’s bedroom. “Daddy! Daddy! What’s wrong?” she hurriedly tried to speak out. “Should I call the ambulance? “Lelentle panted in fear. With attempt to open up Tumelo’s airway with her tiny twelve year old hands, unending foam continued to erupt like a furious volcano from his mouth. “Be like your mother my love,” were the last words she ever heard from her father before letting out the last cough and closing his eyes. A week after Lelentle’s father, Tumelo was laid to rest, she found a note written to her under fathers bedroom lamp “LELENTLE-LORATO LAMORENA My life turned out to be a blessing after you were born, I couldn’t endure the love I had for you My love, my pride, My Joy where ever life will lead you never forget the LORD. Your mother and I will be your guardians from above. Stay strong My Love and raise the family name up high.You are a true Queen. I LOVE YOU.”A tear streaked down her cheek but she held the letter close to her heart. Where will she start from? “What’s the nature of the relationship between Miss.Peolwane Bontle and Mr.Thabo Kwena?” “Mr. Kwena is Ms.Bontle’s legal guardian, of which he was authorized of her care when she was only six years of age Your Honor.’ “Can you tell the court more about these violent altercations Ms.Bontle has shared with you?” “Once she came to my house with a bloody dress, her tears mixed up with her blood, when asking her what had occurred she mentioned that her Uncle, Mr.Thabo Kwena had brought over three of his drunk friends over for the night, who then invaded her room while she was asleep and then used her. She showed me one of the scars they had made on her belly and the whipping Mr. Kwena had given her for her stubbornness during the previous night. She moved further to her neck where she showed me the marks she had received earlier that morning, with a threat to be killed if she ever spoke of the events that occurred the night before, after which she quickly dashed to my house for help while Mr. Kwena was asleep,Your Honor. “Anything else?” “No your Honor.”
9 EAST AFRICA KIDS FASHION MAGAZINE
9
Issue 3
