Be my Val.

I was a battered stuff toy who was left torn, just tell me, how can i forgive her? What the hell did she do for me? Nursing me in her womb? So what’s the big deal about it? She owed the apology anyway and so shall it be. My Mother is miserable as far as i am concerned.

I was 12years old when she died and i didn’t shed no tears, i did not fucking cry because to me, it was like another bite on the dust. I did not feel like if my mother had died, honestly, i was there at her funeral but inside me, i was not there. All i wanted was to see her coffin lower down into the grave and see the closure of the worst nightmare of my childhood.

Elizabeth Brooks was unable to tell me who my father was until her death, she stabbed me a dozen times and every time, she could not afford to purchase drugs to satisfy her addiction, i will become her drum as she will beat me with all kinds of stick or metal. So her death was one step ahead of all my miseries. Do you know what it feels like to have your own mother put a knife by your pennies and threaten to cut it off?

Financial predicaments forced me out of school though i wasn’t even frequent in school when she was alive but surviving alone had a different impact on my welfare, there was no help and no one out there was even ready to listen to me, all her relatives deserted us when she was alive, i knew no aunt, uncle or cousin. It was just me and my miserable mother, a mother who hits me to take all my hard earned money each time i come home after hustling as a bus conductor.

All i could remember about my childhood is how much flogs i used to get. One day, after getting so high on cocaine and dozing off and on the sofa, she grabbed the kitchen knife and bounced on me, she stabbed me all over until she got tired and then left me to die. My cry and scream attracted the neighbors who intervened and rescued me then rushed me to the hospital where i was treated. Returning to that same house where the Jezebel herself lived was my last choice.

“That was how i found myself in the street.”

I got my daily bread hustling as a bus conductor and from helping the bigger boys in the garage washing cars. Life in the street made me strong and more focused so i was kind of heart hardened before her death. I had always wanted to be a medical doctor but guess it is just a dare dream. Poor me!

I grew up in the street and at 21yrs, i have made my name known among the entire cat and harry that loomed in the street, though i wasn’t involved in any kind of crime, i kept positive but lost faith in God. The God i knew were the people that i see, those that smiled or gestured at me. They were the God i believe in, not the one i could not even see and doesn’t even hear prayers anyway. Surviving in the street was a clash of TITANS because there were always oppressors and bullies.

It was the eve of Feb 14th 1993 and one of my favorite customers drove into the garage for a wash and vacuum, i washed and vacuumed her car so well that it looked like a brand new vehicle, one could see the sun and rainbows from the body of the car and afterward i told her not to pay.

“My gift for you today” I told her.

She smiled and simply said “Thank you”, i felt the appreciation in her voice though i didn’t do it for any favor in return, she was one of my major customers and always gave me tips, i don’t even know her name but all i can say is that she must be one of those under graduates  whose parents spoiled with money, she should be about 20years.

The next day, she drove into the garage, i knew that it wasn’t for a wash or whatsoever, she called me over to where she parked and as i approached, she got out of her car and we had a little chat, that was the day she told me her name. “Victoria”.

“Be my val” she told me. “Let me spoil you today, so just jump into the
car and hit the street with me.”

I was tattered, my short was like that of a local palm wine tapper and my T-Shirt was even stinking. That was anyway, the most pleasant day of my life and was the last day i ever worked in the garage or hustle as a bus conductor. Should i live you to imagine what happened between us that day? No. Let me tell you more.

I should have known all this while that she is the daughter of Mike Foreman, the richest man in the island, a philanthropist and a real estate mogul. Victoria introduced me to her father who in turn took me like a son and as you have heard part of my story today, i wish to let you know that i got my specialty in gynecology and recently opened my own private hospital.

I and Victoria will be getting married in Jan 2010 though a date has not yet been fixed but all modalities has been set in place, we jointly own a foundation which helps street kids and serves as an orphanage too.I give God glory for everything and do dedicate this story to the sweet and evergreen memory of my lovely mother Elizabeth Brooks, without whom, i wouldn’t have been what i am today.

I later found out that my father raped my mother when she was just 14yrears and impregnated her, she refused to abort the pregnancy so she was thrown out of her family house, and she passed through a lot of emotional and psychological problems before giving birth to me. She resorted to drugs to help her fight depression. Her fears were all her nightmares thus the whole abuse on me then.

Victoria showed me what love is all about and through her, i have realized how much my mother loved me. I miss her dearly and don’t mind if she will just be standing next to me on our wedding day, i don’t mind a stab that day anyway but whatever be the case.

God is an awesome God.