TAMAR, Episode 3
“You can’t do this to me, this is not fair mother…I thought you love me, no mother…I can’t accept this…I can’t…
“We want the best for you princess, you know we love you right…
“then this is not the right way to prove it, this is just not fair, you said you want the best for me but you are giving me the worst, she doesn’t even have any hair on her head, Zain, my friend, she has a beautiful maids attending to her, they are the Tivi girls with long hair and round waist, her father make sure he buys beautiful slaves for her, she boast with her personal maid to me, and I have told her that mine will be far more beautiful than hers, now she will laugh at me when she sees this, she will mock me if she sees the kind of slave that my parents gave me…I don’t care what you say but I just don’t want her…I don’t
As we went inside that day, Abel has asked me to wait till
tomorrow before going to meet the Lord and Lady of the house, he took me
to the out house, a big house within the compound built for all the
slaves, I stayed in one room, with two other girls, who never said a
word to me because Abel has asked them not to bother me, they were big
and beautiful and can be mistaken for a royalty with the way they act
and dress, I was given cloths to wear and good food to eat that night
and I slept all through the night till the following morning, when Abel
later came to fetch me, it was time to present me to the master, I
cleaned up and dress with the cloth I was given, and wrapped my head up,
Abel has told me not to be afraid or worried, that even if Zity
doesn’t want me and her parents agreed to it he will put me in the
kitchen, as one of the assistant cook or in the garden.
Zity was very beautiful, she was far bigger than her age, maybe because her parents were very tall, her brother Vim was also handsome, he has his father’s structure, the house was big and beautiful, different shapes of animals and images carved and positioned at every corner of the house, there was a water fall and a large garden, lots of beautiful slave girls doing different thing, I watch as one brought a tray of gizzard liver, well spiced and decorated, she brought it to Lord Reese and Lady Phin, the master and madam of the house, she knelt down and served them, while they picked from the tray of meat, and another brought red win, I watch as Vim looked at the girl with the gizzard tray, and when she brought the tray of meat to him, she knelt down and without fear looked fully to his face, and I was told slaves are not allowed to look at their master’s face while serving them, but the girl did, Vim smile and lady Phin who noticed quickly dismissed the maid from Vim, the girl quickly stood up and walked seductively, and Vim was looking at her behind as she whine her waist, she went to Zity but she was very angry and threw the tray of meat off her hand and it all scattered all over the place, lady Phin spoke
“you can be angry from now till tomorrow Zity, is all fine, but me and your father will not change our mind on this, I feel comfortable with this one, I don’t know where Abel got her from but she makes me feel at peace, I know I can trust her with you, your friend Zain may have all the beautiful maid tending to her need she still feels empty and sad, and with time she will also get jealous of your maid if you treat the innocent girl well,, but is all your choice when it comes to her and is my choice to make sure you are in safe hands, forget about the hair, it will grow back, and with food on her she will grow fat, stop worrying,
“Zity, please listen to your mother, and take her…
The master of the house, Lord Reese spoke calmly and collected, he looked up at me and I bent my head then he spoke to me
“child, Abel said you are fourteen, and you are very devoted, I trust Abel and I know whatever comes from him is good, so if he picked you for my daughter then I have no worries, Abel spoke greatly of you, what is your name and where do you come from, what of your parents, what god do you believe in
“my name is Tamar, my Lord, we live close to the Abkhazia , across the black sea with my parents and siblings before the war broke out and they are all dead now, I was captured and sold off, and was later shipped down to this place, I serve…I ser..
Denying my faith has seem normal, hating God has seem normal until I met
Abel, and I began to feel ashamed of myself, Abel displayed God’s kind
of love to me and has told me I was special and God must have sent him
to pass that road and meet the merchant who sold me to him, he said he
doesn’t like passing there because it was too broad but there must be a
hand that guided him to pass there and he met me, he asked me not to
give up on God because God has never given up on me, he has kept me for a
purpose and I will find out what the purpose is soon.
I stammered
as I was about to say the god I serve, I didn’t want to lie neither do I
want to expose myself to another danger, Abel has warned me to be
careful so that none will find out the kind of God I serve, as I
stammered, Lady Phin spoke.
“is fine Tarmar, you can choose any god here, your master worship Jupiter, the god of strength and success, he also worship tiwail, the god of thunder, I worship Venus the goddess of love and protection, my children serve whatever god they like, and every slave in the house choose a god for themselves, so feel free to choose any god, we are not gods, don’t be afraid, Abel must have told you that we are good people, and that’s the truth, serve us with your hard work and obedient, you are dedicated to my daughter Zity, make sure you serve her well, don’t see us as gods. we give out one shelling to every slaves here every day, you can do whatever you want with the money, I told Abel to get me a little slave girl, between Zity’s age… and it has taking him time to do that, because I asked him not to buy ordinary slave girl, beauty are all in vain, I’m not counting on that. I guess Abel prayed to his god who directed him to buy you, be a good girl and you will always find favor before us, serve your mistress Zity like is required of you, I know my daughter can be difficult to please but just do your job dutifully, don’t do eye service like most of the slaves here does, I’m feeling at peace with you already, you got some special thing in you Tamar, be of good behavior…
Lady Phin spoke with compassion in her voice, my head was bent in respect as she spoke, the master of the house, Lord Reese stood up and left, he was being called upon to an important issue. Zity cried out again
“I said I don’t want her mother, why will you and father team up against me, why can’t you listen to me, I don’t want her, just take a look at her, bare head, tiny body as if she has sickness, do you see her big eyes, I wonder how she makes you feel at peace mother, she is too strange, I can’t even boast to Zain about her, Zain will make a shame of me to everyone, I will rather allow other slaves to serve me, this is not just fair… Vim, say something, your friends will laugh at me if they see the kind of slave mother gave me, everybody will find reason to mock me now, try to convince mother that I don’t want this slave girl…please..
I watched as Vim started laughing, but suddenly stop when the sister’s cry turned into whimper..
“okay…is okay Zity, sorry that I have to laugh, I know you are sad, don’t be, non of my friends will dare try to mock you with your maid, i will break their teeth if they tries it, Zity, the girl is not that bad, her hair will grow back, and she will add up with time, if anyone say anything bad just tell them that she can…can sing, I don’t know if she can actually sing… but just tell them she got a good voice and she can sing very well more than Zain’s maids all put together, I know Zain is jealous of you because you are far too beautiful than her, don’t allow her to intimidate you with all those her fine maid, intimidate her with yours instead. but mother, you could aswell allow Zity to make her choice, since she said she doesn’t want this one, then get like three beautiful slaves and let her make her choice, this slave girl looks like she won’t be able to do much work, she look worn out and malnourished, she look like she was cursed by the gods, I want my sister to have good things of life, she is royalty and her personal maid should be as beautiful as the sun, Abel could have brought one of the tivi girls, I know the tivi girls can be very lazy but they are very beautiful…
Lady Phin spoke up, hushing Vim to be quiet,
“you mean like Obia, yes, I know what has being going on… Vim, I saw the way you looked at her when she came to serve the gizzard, I swear by Venus that I will sell that girl, she act all seductive, whenever she sees you, and you look at her hungrily, I have told you to take your pleasure outside, if the girlfriends you have is not enough then get more and leave the household servants alone, Obia is displaying arrogance and bad attitude because you are climbing her…
“mother…that’s not true, i only admired her beauty, I’m a man mother, and I get girls dying for me outside here, I’m not always allowed to bring them home, only April, I respect you and father’s policy, Obia is trying her best like every maiden in this house, I have not touched her, who told you that, why will I stoop so low to have anything with the household maidens, I have a woman, mother, if April hears this she will not find it funny, please I have nothing with Obia, you can sell her if you want, that’s none of my business
Zity who has stopped crying spoke
“vim, I have seen Obia sneaking into your chamber at night and sneaking out too, but I did not tell mother anything I swear by the gods, I’m only saying it now because you are lying to mother, you lied of not having anything with her, Obia throws herself around you every time you are around, she act seductively because you are having something with her, don’t you know you empower her when you admire her or lays with her, if she dares act disrespectful to me any day I will break her neck, Vim you have a woman outside and also have one inside, I have lost count of how many women are flocking around you, definitely is not just April, April is beautiful and I want to be like her when I grow up but you are not satisfied with her, and I really like April, her father is wealthy too and she is the only child of her parents, do you see her personal slave girls, she has two and they are so beautiful…
I listened as Vim stood up and spoke angrily to the sister,
“I’m glad that mother got you this kind of slave girl as your personal maid, is your good reward for not shutting up and minding your business, what I do with my personal life is nobody’s business, and I was even trying to convince mother to get you another slaves, now I see that with this one that look like a little witch you will learn to mind your business, yes, keep crying, I don’t care, mother if you want to sell Obia, please go ahead so that I can have peace in this house, I’m going out to the port, to foresee things for father, I will be back after twenty nine days, I need to breath in the sea fresh air, before I get choked from everybody meddling in my affairs.
Vim stomped out while Zity cried and ran to her chamber, Lady Phin dismissed me.
Abel smiled on seeing me back to the out house, he reassured me that everything will be fine, and I believed him, the next day Zity did not ask for me, even on the third day when her friend, Zain visited, I did not go near, as her friend who was not as beautiful as Zity was boasting loudly with the beautiful maid she came with who was even more beautiful than her, but Zity never answered, she changed the topic to something else and they eat and laugh together.
Abel put me in the kitchen as one of the assistant cook when Zity did not send for me after five days. Another slave girl was attending to her, I was already feeling comfortable with my new job in the kitchen when I was told that Zity is asking of me, I quickly ran to her chamber
“Where have you being since how many days now, you are meant to serve me now you can not even do your job, I was told you are in the kitchen, is that where you are suppose to be
“No my lady, my apologies, I was waiting for the right time when you will send for me, I’m here to serve you my lady,
“good, then serve me here not in the kitchen, I’m bored, no slave have any good story for me, do you have any story, I like romantic story and stories of handsome men fighting the war, I love to listen to those love stories, that is why I pray to Venus, the goddess of love to give me a handsome prince who I will love so well when the time comes, or when father thinks is time for me to start a romantic journey, so do you have any interesting story tell me.
I thought of stories I could tell, I remembered all the bible stories that mother and father use to tell me and my sisters back then, so I started telling her the story of Sampson and Delilah, but I never told her it was from the bible, Abel is teaching me wisdom, and being careful with my kind of faith, by the time I finish the story, Zity was happy and she said she was going to tell Zain, that I may not have long hair or fat like other slaves are but I can tell good stories, she laughed and clapped her hands, she couldn’t wait for Zain to visit so that she can tell Zain that I can tell good stories.
After that day Zity never complained of changing me or wanting another maid again, she became comfortable with me around her, sometime I will tell her stories until she sleeps off, I have a space in her chamber where I sleep at night, I hardly leave her sight except if she ask me to,
My coyly hair started forming again on my head, a rare gene I inherited from my mother, i was gradually adding up.
Abel looks at me one day and said, “you are more beautiful than anyone I have ever seen, inside and out, Don’t allow anybody to tell you otherwise, God didn’t make a mistake when he created you, after God created you he smile and said my daughter is beautiful, so believe what he says about you not what the world said.
Abel gives me hope everyday, he makes me believe again, and my faith is being restored. I know hard days are coming but I’m not afraid anymore, nothing surprises me, I am where God want me to be, I’m glad Abel found me.
