HER GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

Chapter 14: First cut is the deepest

Ben's phone was not going through. Gideon was busy in an elders meeting and veronica hated her for making his son go to the kitchen. Ruth was worried, there was a chance no one was in her corner. She was happy ATHEWI was just starting off. She missed her daughter that Monday morning when a twenty your old female high school student walked into their office. She started crying the moment she asked her why she was there. Ruth had to send her to their psychiatrist Mrs. Dunlop. She imagine Mary walking through the same doors looking helpless. She tried to call Ben again. His secretary picked up and said he was in a board meeting.

"You got a minute?" Linda asked peeking through her office door.

"Yeah what’s up" Ruth said getting up from her chair.

"Mrs. Dunlop has cracked her case we have an uncle to chase"

"Sad and motivating at the same time let's go", She said leading the way.

The young girls was Lisa. Her uncle was sexually assaulting her. It started with s****l compliments. She told Ruth, Linda and Mrs. Dunlop how her uncle started by complementing her body wherever she wore tight clothes. Slapping her on the bum_s******g but she didn't know it. For her she thought it was punishment. Then it escalated to touching her breasts. Lisa decided to tell her parents but instead of helping she got punition for trying to tarnish her uncle's name.

He was a rich respected village leader and church elder with a big heart. He had amassed wealth and build his brother’s good houses took their children to school after all his were already through with school. Things got out of hand when the day before while she was strolling home back from the market. Walking all alone on the road enjoying what nature had to offer and texting on her phone. Admiring birds and cars. Good houses with swimming pools promising herself the same future. Humming and indistinctive tune. The uncle pulled over the walking lane and offered to give her a ride back home. She didn't want to but her parents had already made it clear they were not going to tolerate disrespect so she hopped in with him.

Nervous and quiet not to make him angry. He even took the wrong route home and she didn't question. An ordeal closely similar to Linda and Williams. He parked the car in the nearby forest and pretend to go take a piss. Instead he was taking a survey. To make sure there was no life around. Even trees and birds had ears. He forgot to look if God was seeing him too. A church elder

"He started touching me indecently and inserted his fingers in my...” She stopped to weep. There was no need to continue the women already understood.

"Then what?" Linda asked curiously.

"He had his way with me, it was painful...am...I was a virgin", she said sobbing.

Ruth was boiling up with anger she almost burst. Linda was reciting the laws Lisa's uncle had broken like they were a pledge of allegiance. And Mrs. Dunlop. She was old and sophisticated. She had seen all the worst the world had to offer. But she had not met a case like that. The expected protectors of children manipulating them. Relatives and family was supposed to look after each other but Lisa’s uncle was harvesting his own niece. A promising young girl. She had started going to school late and forced to repeat some classes because her parents were not able, and also they preferred to educate the boys first.

"Linda get her something to Eat Tania call Dr. Hannigton to do the test”, Ruth ordered.

They were all looking sad like someone close to them had just given up to the ghost. A catastrophic event had just happened. For a minute she forgot about her own children and focused on Lisa. Young and innocent. Untapped potential that was at the verge of being ruined by one mistake. Ignorance. Protecting the image of old men who couldn't keep it in their pants. Just because it was a norm. Their sisters and aunties, daughters and nieces were r***d in the past. The wind had not changed direction. The flat world attitude. They believe it's true and right based on what they heard and went through.

"What if he forced her to take a shower?" Tania asked picking Lisa from a coach she was seating on in Mrs. Dunlop office.

"Lisa dear did your uncle force you to take a shower?" Ruth asked.

"Yes in the nearby river before we went home", she said struggling to keep it together.

Tania gave Ruth that "We've hit a dead end look". The perpetrator was smarter than expected which meant he was not a rookie. He had done it before or the wind had already whispered to him on how to cover his dirty tracks.

“The male sperm survives in the women organs for five days before getting expelled, all hope is not lost”, Assured Ruth.

She was good at reading articles that pinpointed some knowledge that was subtle, only understood by a few individuals. It could not be easily landed on since it required one’s own effort and willingness to learn something that they are not sure when or where they would have used it. Just like wasting ones tie but in an educative way.

"And how did you know we are located here", Dave joined in the conversation.

"I saw it on TV yesterday I just took a vehicle and told them to drop me at ATHEWI foundation"

"You're very smart. Don't worry you're safe now", Ruth said signaling Tania to take her away.

She immediately called Dr. Hannigton a retired surgeon who had a private clinic in the city. He had personally called Ruth to let her know he was willing to help even without being around to be seen. Hannigton explained it all to her or rather he just repeated what she already knew but in a complex way. All hope was not lost. He thought they all somehow did not know that a motile sperm can stay in the female body for at least five days before they die or get pushed out. It was a relief. Ruth offered to drop Lisa to Hannigton’s clinic on her way to pick her kids. The rest of the crew kept digging up some snakes they couldn't kill. The uncle was no one to mess with. He had influence all over the city. Friends in high places who could get him out of any mess. But of course they didn't know that. Blinded by the quest to bring justice to the vulnerable and weak in the society they also dug their own graves. The case was their first and it shook some foundations of really untouchable people, it was the first cut through barriers of antiquated moronic behavior of the well off. And trust me it was deep. Deeper than the oceans and seas of the land. It was this cut that put them out there, the cut that send a message; we were not joking when we launched this venture, we are not on vacation we are here to bring change and give hope to the hopeless, power to the powerless and teach a lesson to the ruthless.

She checked Lisa in and left the doctor to do what he did best. She drove past her former office and joined the road that led to Winston hills where her children were. The two little angels were her heartbeat. Had she known what was waiting for her at Winston hills she could have asked Dr. Hannigton to give her a CPR kit just in case.

******

"I want security beefed up my wife doesn't step her feet in this building you get me?" Ben ordered his chief of security.

The urdinof men followed orders no questions asked. They were all former Special Forces. Discipline was the core of their training. The kind of guys who would die following an order from their superior or commanding officer

"Consider it done sir", Kennedy said.

"And I want tight security around my children ensure they are dropped and picked up everyday"

"Copy that sir"

"Stop calling me sir go get it done" He ordered.

The reality was dawning on him. He remembered the surprise and sadness in his children’s eyes when he lied to them their mum had caught the virus and was in isolation for fourteen days. They believed him and even made get well soon cards which he dumped in his dustbin. He hoped that, just like he did with their mother, one day if they grew old enough they would have understood what he did was for the good of their family. Then there was the superstition. What if she actually go sick because he wished for it? Doesn't God always hear our wishes? No it couldn't happen to him. That's what we all convince ourselves. Until it happens.

That day his office felt a hot oven despite the sophisticated cooling system. He was waiting for her call to drop his end of the bargain. In the bright side he was finally going to enact his control. To rule like he was supposed to in the first place. He was ruling but it was not enough. It's never enough for a man controlled by the wind. Swirled in it even the high class education could not save him. And all for what? To make his longtime friend happy? To nourish his ego? His phone rang. The ring tone was her favorite song. The one they danced during their glamorous wedding. It sounded louder than usual his heart was pounding. It was strange. Fear was a strange feeling for a man like him. His hands were shaking while he picked up the phone.

"Where did you take our children Ben?" Ruth asked.

"Morning too honey how nice of you to call me", Ben teased.

"Where are our children Ben?" She asked again this time with novel anger.

"Safe with me... FYI key word is our children not your children that means I have a right to choose where they go", Ben shouted.

"Don't I have a right to know?"

"You'll have it when you do what I asked you to do a few weeks ago", Ben said with finality.

The employees could see their boss talking his head off in his office. Pacing up and down like an angry lion. They knew what was to follow next. Barking orders to everyone threatening to fire them. Reminding them their families could be starving if it were not for him. He asked them to call him their savior. Ben was the kind of a man just like Henry in “The billionaire’s baby mama” and its sequel, “The richest woman in fort canon” h did not believe in earning respect. He demanded respect.

"Are we still on this Ben you are acting weird. After all the support you shown me with ATHEWI groundbreaking this is how you turn to be??" She asked rhetorically.

"This discussion is over am hanging up"

"I called I should hung up. You broke the rules of engagement. Broke the sacred promise of all. No driving children in our arguments", she said sobbing.

"That tells you how serious I am with this tomorrow report to work. You will be promoted as the new COO of Tess international and remember to act surprised", Ben said and hung up.

She couldn't take it so she called again. He was feeling generous that day. Giving in.

"What? I thought we were square?"

"Am going to court you know the law. Children under the age of eighteen..."

"Go to court and you lose something you've come love the most than our family", Ben threatened interrupting her.

"Are you threatening me Ben? Your wife the mother of your children?? Ben are you dam sick please check yourself into the nearest mental hospital for both our sakes", She said sounding surprised.

"Sure am. Don't push my buttons Ruth you'll regret it and I will too we don't want that for our children"

"You listen to me son of a b***tch. You pushed the wrong buttons let's dance", She said and hang up.

It was a declaration of war. And in any war there is always casualties. Who were they going to be? The children were already caught up in their mess. Unknowingly swimming in their sticky mud. But who was next on their list of casualties? Or should we call them collateral damage? To What lengths were they both willing to go to win the war? Father time was watching. The wind was blowing but not in its usual direction. It had changed its course. And mother nature. The mother of all brought to our attention by Charles Darwin was waiting to reward whoever survived the brutality of war. It was the first time Ben had made her regret marrying him and the pain was intense, truly; the first cut is the deepest.