THE WHITE STONE
Aida returned home from school. She put down her bag, changed out of her uniform and went into the dining room. She looked around to see if her parents were home but as she guessed they were nowhere to be seen.
Leaving by the kitchen door, Aida walked slowly. The path behind the house led to a large garden which belonged to her neighbour. The garden contained some shady trees which stood sturdily. Aida then noticed her classmate, Marni, she was walking along singing and had collected some dried branches from the other garden. Aida called to Marni who stopped, allowing Aida to approach her.
"Marni, you have gathered many dried branches, do you need anymore?"
"No," replied Marni, "I have enough. My Mother promised to give me enough money to buy some snacks for myself for collecting the wood." She seemed proud of her afternoons work. Aida's face, showed disappointment. "I will help you take these branches back to your house but promise you will play with me afterwards?"
"Okay" answered Marni. So soon the two little girls had arrived at Marni's house. The house was a very humble dwelling, more like a hut. Marni's Mother was sweeping the floor at the front of the house.
"Hello Aida, is your Mother home?" Asked Marni's Mother.
"Hello Mrs Dinah, my Mother is out, I could not see her in the house when I came home from school."
"Didn't she tell you she would not be home or where she would be?" Asked Marni's Mother. Aida responded by shaking her head, the sadness in her face was clear to see. She missed her Mom. During the past month, she had rarely seen her at home, when dusk came her beloved Mother would return home, however, Aida would have liked her to greet her at the door when she arrived home after the long walk from school. Marni's Mother left the broom on the floor and went inside the house with Marni. The simple woman invited Aida into the house but Aida declined, preferring to wait outside.
Marni, eventually stepped out from the house looking cheerful. Aida was pleased to see her friend looking so happy, she realised that her Mother must have paid her for collecting the wood. Soon the two girls were sitting together on the sturdy branch of a coffee tree in the garden. Marni was eating the snacks she had bought with the money she had earned, whilst Aida was picking the coffee flowers on the twigs of the branch. She picked them carefully, she did not want to lose her balance and fall off the branch to the ground and get hurt. When she had enough flowers in her hand, she stepped down from the tree, whilst Marni remained on the branch, happily eating her snacks. The flowers from the coffee tree were very pretty, they were white and fragrant. The petals of the flowers were oval, about 2 centimeters long, resembling jasmine but wider. Aida felt content as she held the fresh fragrant flowers.
"Look Marni, I have made a beautiful neckless with the flowers I picked." Aida had arranged the flowers nicely with a string from the banana tree.
"Nice, Aida." Said Marni, although she only glanced at the neckless and then continued eating her snacks. Aida was disappointed with Marni's apparant lack of interest in what she had made. She felt her friend did not appreciate anything beautiful, no wonder she had only managed to get a 'C' in her painting class.
Aida placed the flowered necklace around her neck, imagining herself to be like her favourite singer she had seen on T.V. singing and dancing in the beautiful flower garden. Aida sang a song moving her hands and feet at the same time, trying to create a harmony between the singing and her movement. Marni, still sitting on the branch, laughed at her friend performing. Aida did not look up at Marni but felt glad to hear her laughter, she sang louder and moved more surely, then suddenly she heard a hard thump on the ground followed by loud screaming. Aida turned and was shocked to see that Marni had fallen from the coffee tree!
"Oh God, Marni, what happened? Are you hurt?"
Marni was sitting on the ground with her feet forward and her hands covering her head. Aida was in panic to see her friend like this. She touched her arms. "Marni! Are you hurt? Where is the pain?" Marni remained silent her face still covered by the palms of her hands. Aida became very worried, she placed her hand on Marni's shoulder, her hand was trembling. "Marni, please say something." Marni, removed her hands from her face, looked up and saw the concern in Aida's face and burst out laughing.
"What? You are crazy! You had me so worried. I was afraid you were badly hurt. I would have run all the way back to your home to get your Mom." Aida uttered this whole sentence without taking a breath. She was annoyed with her friend for play acting, although she was relieved to know she was not as hurt as she first thought.
Marni shook her head. "I am okay, Aida, I felt hurt for a moment but I am strong like Tarzan, so falling from that tree was no big thing for me. Look how strong I am." Marni flexed her arms posing like a weight lifter. Aida, hit Marni's arm with her hand twice and was satisfied. She was amazed at Marni's strength and that she was unhurt after falling from a height of about 2 meters.. Marni stood up. Aida kept staring at her, concerned that her friend might have difficulty standing. Marni stepped forward and then started to run around the garden. Seeing this, Aida ran after her. They ran around trying to reach out to each other whilst running. Then Aida's foot stepped on a hard object hidden beneath some dried leaves, beyond one of the palm trees. She stopped and bent down to remove the leaves and discovered a pale stone, the colour of it resembled a skull. This was what she had stepped on. Marni, approached Aida, curious to see what she had found.
Aida lifted the stone her eyes analyzing the skull like object as an Archaeologist, might examine some ancient relic.
"It is an unusual stone, Marni, look, the form is like a human skull or the bone of an ancient creature." Marni, looked a little nervous. She had often watched the Scooby Doo cartoons on T.V. which told about the horror adventures of Scooby and his friends. Then her thoughts were interuppted by hearing her Mother calling her, she then came back to reality realizing that the object was just an unusual stone. "I am going now Aida, my Mother just called me to stop playing and return home." Aida nodded and watched as Marni left her, getting further away as she ran back to her house. Suddenly Aida felt lonely but realized that she had to return home too, or else she would be trapped by the darkness. She hurried home at a fast pace, taking the unique white stone with her. She decided she would place the stone in the cupboard in her bedroom. She imagined that the stone might have magical powers and perhaps produce the miracle that might change her life, from fear to peace of mind. When she arrived home, her Father was standing, waiting in the doorway, looking sternly at her. Aida's heart was beating fast, as usual she feared her Father's anger. Seeing him holding a stick in his right hand made Aida even more frightened, however, she tried to disguise her fear and be strong. She prepared herself to be hit with the stick by counting to ten, which she knew was pointless. As she entered the the house her Father greeted her by striking her several times on her legs with the stick. Aida sobbed but made the effort to be strong whilst he struck her. What hurt her more than the blows of the stick, were the nasty words he used when shouting at her.
"You are a devil! You are naughty, all you can do is just play around. Can't you make yourself useful? Damn you!"
Her Mother then appeared from the front yard. She had just returned from the local store where she went to buy food for their dinner. She asked her husband to stop hitting Aida and he stopped for a moment. Aida used this as an opportunity to get to the safety of her room, so she ran away from them, unaware that she had left behind the unique white stone she had intended to hide in her room.
Aida felt safe in her room. Her heart beat stronger, she heard her Mother and Father quarrelling but this was nothing new to her, although she always hoped they would stop their constant rowing. Aida lifted her hands to pray, yet she did not know what to ask God. Her mouth made the gestures but uttered no sound, she prayed in her heart whilst her eyes filled with tears. "God please....." Suddenly she heard the sound of a hard object hitting the wall, followed by the sound of her Mother's voice moaning as if in pain. Then there was the sound of the door closing.. Aida's mind worked swiftly, she guessed her Father must have hit her Mother and then left the house, closing the front door behind him but what was the sound of the hard object hitting the wall? Aida now realized she had left the unique stone behind when she had fled to the safety of her room, Could this be the hard object she had heard hit the wall?
Aida rushed out of her room looking for her Mother, whom she found standing by the door, her hand was holding a hankerchief against her head.
"Mama! Are you hurt?" Asked Aida, slowly feeling concerned and helpless at the same time. Her Mother looked at her and all she answered was, "I'm okay." and left Aida alone. It was then that Aida saw an object lying on the floor about a meter away from her. She walked over to it and saw that it was the unique white stone she had found. Aida picked it up from the floor and noticed that it had three spots of blood on it.
