HER GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

Chapter 18: Major setback

Linda exhaled sharply. Readjusted herself in the seat and poured her heart out with concern. Ruth was listening closely. By the time Linda was halfway she had not said anything. Perhaps it was a bad idea just like how English sounds good in other people’s heads and goes mother tongue when they speak it out loud. She identified the risks if her scuffle with Ben to her children and her own mental health and finally closed the pitch with an incognito offer. Ruth went quiet for almost a minute.it could have been two ways. Either she was paying her last respects to Linda for suggesting such an obnoxious idea or the respects were hers at ATHEWI. She took another sip of wine from her glass. Her eyes were glued on the wildlife Channel. An elephant helping her calf stuck in the mud and big black maned hungry lions are approaching ready to tear the young one apart. She related it to her life. Obviously she was the elephant and the calf represented her children. The mud was everything that had happened to her since quitting her job. But what was the danger? Ben of course. Neither of the two could harm their children.

"Do you know elephants can smell water miles away", She broke the silence with something way out of the topic.

"No, enlighten me", Linda played along.

Maybe her pitch was so bad that she decided to ignore it. Either way she was happy she tried. Failure meant had she not tried she could have lost the whole chance anway. Or she couldn't have tried in the first place. If you don't try something new you won't fail it’s that simple just not to her. Linda took life as a trial and error game. You know nothing about it but you try anyway.

"They do. I had anticipated problems since I quit my job and started ATHEWI,"She said confidently, “But also anticipated an oasis in the desert of my problems", She added on.

Linda was confused. How can you anticipate problems and be unable to defeat them? It was wisdom beyond her prestigious degree or she was not thinking outside the box. Yet she kept listening anyway. The young lawyer had never heard of Murphy’s Law of combat. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong and at the most unexpected of times. Hers was Manson’s law; choose your problems wisely. When problems are forced on us am they feel like a heavy burden but when we choose them ourselves they maybe a little lighter. Linda made some choices and the choices solved problems for others but not her. The choices lay eggs to problems and they were hatching into suffering.

"You're that oasis Linda. I’ve thought about giving in to Ben. I'll be lying if I say I haven't and it sounded like a bad idea like I was giving people hope only to shatter theirs", She said looking sad.

"You have given them something they have never had Ruth. You've started a revolution that when taken seriously can change the misleading social norms that are deeply rooted in our society", Linda assured her.

"And yet I still feel like In this few months I haven't done enough and am giving up already"

"Learn to take credit when it's due. You're not giving up on them. You're taking care of yourself so that you can take care of them without you there is no ATHEWI foundation you breathed life into it and it survives on you whether you're in there or not"

"Okay let me think about it maybe a day or two"

"Fine thank you for considering it", Linda Said.

"Goodnight"

"Goodnight"

She couldn't sleep. What was the media going to say? She imagined the headlines, "ATHEWI FOUNDER QUITS A MONTH AFTER ITS LAUNCH" which was fate than "CLOUT CHASING ATHEWI FOUNDER PROMTED TO COO OF TESS INTERNATIONAL" she kept tossing on their king sized bed. Ben was not there to ask her why she was not getting some sleep. But the imaginary newspaper headlines were more bearable than another week without her children way better than her face on all media outlets and criticism on social media.

Everything has a source. And the source of her problems was being asked to fire her department that was comprised of more women than men. From secretaries to cooks and cleaners. She knew what it meant for a woman to have her own money. Good clothes for the children to make them feel better rather than neglected and play with others freely. Better Healthcare and food on their tables. And she took away all that with a signature on a sheet of paper. Ben and Johnson expected her to continue earning a big salary seated while they struggled feeding their families amid the pandemic. The employees who chose to sue Tess international were still struggling in court. They couldn’t even pay their attorney to represent them. Not to mention the fact that Johnson was untouchable.

But what was the source of ATHEWI? No one wakes up one day and quits a well paying job at one of the biggest and most successful companies. begins a non profit organization that aims at reducing gender imbalance and helping to curb gender inequality gender based violence and harrasment. It had to start from somewhere.

*******Flashback*******

She was joining high school back then. Raised in a children’s home since she was young Ruth had never met her parents. All she knew was the church sister and many other children. For some unknown reason the children's home stopped taking in more children. She remembered the headmistress saying something about corruption, bankruptcy and politics but she was too young to understand what the three words really meant. Ruth was then adopted by some middle class couple who took care of her like their own. Settling in was tough but the couple helped her through it. She missed her friends. The headmistress and the Catholic Church sisters but the children’s home was no more. He friends were scattered and the land was bought by some rich investor who build a mall. It was very expensive that even the locals could not afford anything from it. They only enjoyed seeing it there and hoping rich people carry their luggage to their comfy cars.

Occasionally Ruth could go there sit alone imagining what the place meant to her. Its fresh memories flowing through her brain until one day she met her headmistress. She took Ruth for lunch in the malls bakery.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I miss my friends", she said sounding nostalgic.

"Am sorry I miss them too but we can't do anything although I'll keep fighting but maybe one day you'll build a children’s home of your own or hell people too"

"But my friends will be old enough some even married".

"Sure but there will be other young friends who'll need your help don't hesitate to help them when you can will you?" the headmistress asked stretching her arm for a handshake to seal the covenant.

"I promise", Ruth says happily

The talk made her feel better. A few weeks later the headmistress was shot dead on her way home. Ruth’s world crumbled under her feet and she got mangled in anger and sorrow. It took weeks of therapy to get her life back on track. From then she worked hard to fulfill the promise she once made while fifteen. But along the way dreams and perspectives change depending on the ups and downs of life. The people we meet and relationships we form impact our judgment and ambitions. Power and control also matters when you want to get things done. She forgot her promise as she grew older but it was lying latent in her subconscious waiting to be reignited. The promise was patient enough to stay that long. Until it was the right time it seeped back into her conscious at the right time

*****End of flashback******

The chiming of her phone woke her up. It was the security personnel of ATHEWI calling. A fairly middle aged man in his early fifties who resided just around where the offices were located. He had volunteered to keep watch. Late in the middle of the night Ruth was forced to wake up when she was just starting to catch some sleep. There was no other way. She rubbed sleep from her eyes stretching her arms in the dark to reach the bedside lamp. The call got send to voice mail by the time she got to lamp.

"What is it Jefferson?" Ruth asked politely.

"We've been attacked but don't worry nothing has been stolen they just vandalized the whole place", He said breathing heavily.

"Are you hurt?" She asked with concern.

"No am okay they just blinded me and tied me up to a post", He said.

"Any idea who they could be?"

"No idea mum you get some sleep I will take care of everything", He assured.

“And how are you planning to do that?” she asked almost angrily.

She respected him but at the end of the day he was just a mere guard with no links he could pull whatsoever. To deal with an assault of that magnitude one needed tall relatives.

“I notified the police they will be here any minute”, said Jefferson eagerly.

“Ooh that’s good, keep me posted if anything else happens”

It turned out he was smarter than she thought calling the cops before calling her was a good idea. “Okay goodnight”

Sleep avoided her like a plague. Her heart was racing and tears were blocking her eyesight. She had an idea. Ben was stooping even lower than she expected. To hell with the quitting idea they had just woken up the she-dragon. Her eyes were wide open and fire was building up in her throat ready to turn everything on her path into ash. She was going to show Ben a side of her he never knew existed. The consequences of war were starting to come out clear. But first she had to find out where her children were. It was the only thing that was holding her back. She did not care what happened to Ben more than she did what happened to her children.

“Son of a b***h! How could he?” she cursed out loud walking to their wardrobe.

She was not sure what she was looking for but she would have been glad if she landed on a gun and Ben’s location. The ferocity she was keeping inside needed to be dealt with. She went through every drawer including the secret one that usually kept the gun. She was indeed looking for the gun but it was not there. He had it.

“Multiple ways to kill a rat they say” she said leaving her room.

On her way to the garage she took a detour at the bar. Maybe a hard drink could help. She took out a bottle of whiskey and poured in her glass. She drank it empty in one gulp then poured another after screaming out loud. The door was knocked.

“Who is it?” she asked in the typical drunkard tone.

“It’s me mum” a male voice said. “You who? Do you think I know everyone go away!” she ordered.

“I heard you scream mum is everything okay?” the guard asked trying to scan the room through the keyhole.

“It is okay in here go, get out of there” Ruth did no hear from him again.

He followed his orders and went away. She was left drinking at the bar attempting to knock herself out of her misery. Problems were inevitable. Setbacks too but she had not prepared for the kind of setbacks that she was going through. Her mouth became soar, her throat was dry. She had gotten to a point where the whiskey did not have much effect on her. She collapsed right where she was seated and snored off. Maybe the next day was going to be a good day. She was going to try again.