I DIDN’T DO IT: Monstrous Experience (PART II)

AT LE MONSTRE

Le Monstre was an old place that lay on top of the Ngong Hills. Nothing about this place looked friendly. As the car weaved through the last ascent and up the hill, Pedro could not help but wonder whether or not he would survive the onslought that this place was famed for.

Life had never really been fair to Pedro. As he thought in solitude, he wondered why good things seem to happen to bad people, while bad things happened to good people. For instance, Mama John, the friendly grocery lady was recently found dead after going missing for some time. Who would want to kill Mama John?

You see, Mama John was not your ordinary grocery lady. She was always ind and helpful to everyone. She was the modern day equivalent of the ‘Dorcas’ of the BIBLE. Was anyone in the neighbourhood sick? She would be there. Did anyone need a helping hand, she would be there. Many times she would allow folks in the neighbourhood to take grocery on credit. She was well loved.

Pedro remembered the time his mother was in her sick bed, Ms. Petero had been the strongest woman Pedro knew. Seeing his mother in bed fighting cancer yet still maintaining a smile was often more than Pedro could handle. Mama John was always there. She would offer all her support to Ms. Petero.  For this, Pedro would always be grateful to her.

As Pedro mind swam in the sea of thoughts and memories, the car came to a sudden stop behind a black gory gate.  The very sight of the gate sent chills down Pedro’s body. It all looked like a Harry Potter scene.

“What are you waiting for, get down!” scolded Maria.

“I thought we…..” stuttered Pedro.

“Thought.? Listen boy….you are never ever to think.  You do what you are told,” said Maria with a serious look on her face. “Here you do what you are told, when you are told and you will be just fine. You are never ever to think, she shouted.

“But my mother always told me that this world is moved by thinkers”, said Pedro defiantly.

“And YOUR …..MOTHER……IS……DEAD” retorted Maria as she held Pedro’s hand, forcefully yanking him out of the car.

The thought of his mother’s death being fresh caused him a lot of pain. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He could not imagine that Maria, a woman paid by the government to take care of children like him, would be so mean to him.

“Go on boy….cry all you want and you will realize that this place will give you plenty of reasons to cry about” mocked Maria.

AT THE RECTOR’S OFFICE

Soon enough, Maria and Pedro arrived at a large office. Pedro did’t like large offices. He thought of them as grandiose and their occupants as pompous. His mother had always taught him the true spirit of success….humility.

“I hear we have new vermin…” snickered a man with his large chair turned facing a wall.

“Come on, they are not really that bad are they?” responded Maria.

The rector was a short elderly man with a protruding belly, bad teeth and a foul smell. He looked anything but child friendly. He was the rector. The overall incharge of Le Monstre. As the great grandson of  Jean-Pierre Le Monstre, he felt it his duty to carry on the family business. He never really liked children. He actually never had any child of his own. He only ran Le Monstre because he had to. Someone had to continue with the family business.

Oh, yes, he also loved the grants. As a charitable institution for children, Le Monstre often benefited from grants from international donors. But Le Monstre was now merely a shadow of its former glory.

When Jean Pierre Le Monstre, the founder of the home first came to Kenya, he had lofty ideas. He came to establish a facility that would cater to indigent children from African homes. He would source for scholarships from different European and American partners and use the funds to create a state of the art institution for the placement and education of children in need of care and protection.

As time passed, Mr. Le Monstre passed away and his institution was subsequently run down by his decendants who believed that the poorer the institution looked, the more money it would fetch in grants, and damn be the children.

ALL ABOUT CHOICES

“What is your name?” asked the Rector

“Pedro”, replied a very shaken Pedro.

“When I ask you any question, you address me as Sir!!” shouted the Rector, almost jumping out of his seat.

“Do you understand me?”

“Yes…I mean yes sir”

” Do you have only one name for yourself vermin?” shouted the Rector

“No sir. My name is Pedro Petero.” replied Pedro.

“And do you know why you are here”?

“No…..I mean.. yes sir. My mother died” said Pedro soflty and almost faintly.

“I didn’t hear you. Say it louder”

” Becayse my mother died”

“Whose mother?”

“My mother…shouted Pedro with tears falling yet again.

” Yes!!!! your mother died” mocked the Rector. ” And guess what, nobody here cares so get that into your tiny head vermin.” he shouted.

“But why are you so cruel to me?” asked Pedro while weeping. ” You don’t even know me!”

” I DON’T WANT TO KNOW YOU!” shouted the Rector, now fully agitated and standing. He walked slowly but surely to where Pedro stood.

“I need you to get something in your small head vermin. You are here because nobody WANTS you. NOBODY needs you. Your family doesn’t want you and heck even the government doesn’t want you. ” he said with a smirk on his face.

Pedro, knew that it was pointless to argue or defend himself. His mother had taught him the precious art of silence. One day his mother had found him arguing with some boys. “Pedro, silence is golden. Remain silent and your enemy will never know what you think. You can’t control what your enemy does but you can control how you react. It’s all about choices,” she had advised. So Pedro stood still.

“Speak up vermin” shouted the Rector.

” I have nothing to say sir”, replied Pedro.

“Good, here you are to be seen and not heard. You only speak while spoken to and you do what you are told. No questions.” said the Rector.

“Any question?” asked the Rector.

“No questions sir” replied Pedro, remembering the “No questions” rule.

“Good….now you wait here. Someone will show you to your cubicle. Remember dinner is served at exactly 18h00. Should you miss out at the dinner roll call, you will miss out on dinner. Do you understand?” growled the Rector.

“Yes sir!” replied Pedro.

As he sat on the bench awaiting the matron, he couldn’t help but seek comfort from his mother’s old BIBLE. Oh what a loving mother she had been to mark all the important BIBLE verses. It’s like she knew that Pedro would one day need that BIBLE.

His eyes fell on an interesting verse. James 1:2 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.“

As a young boy, he could not understand why trials should be counted as joy. He still had many questions. As he waitied he resolved to live moment by moment. He had to be tough to survive the monstrous experience that he now knew as his reality. He knew that more lay ahead. Would he stand or would he break? Only time would tell.

“Vermin !!!!!” he had the shrill sound of a lady coming from down the hall.

“What now?” he sighed in his head.

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TO BE CONTINUED IN PART III

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