CHAPTER 7

Cara's Home

El Deols, Anthanna.

Henry heard the knock on his door a second time, and it was accompanied by her voice this time. He rolled out of the bed quickly and ran to the door like a kid was going to welcome his mother.

He opened the door and saw her smiling with a tray in her hands. He opened the door wide enough to let her come in. He closed it as soon as she got in and followed her. She dropped the tray on a footstool and sat at the edge of the bed.

"Good morning, Henry," she said to him with a smile.

He smiled back, "Good morning."

He noticed she was well dressed and knew she must be heading out somewhere. He suddenly felt bad because he might not get to enjoy her company for that day. Most times, when she went out, she always returned late.

It was only fifteen days after he left the hospital and nineteen days in total since he had come out of coma, but he was already so used to her company. Whenever she was in the house, she made sure he never felt lonely and spoke to him even when he wanted to keep to himself.

"I see you just woke up," Cara said, judging from his appearance. He was still putting on his pyjamas, and his eyes still looked sleepy.

"Yes, I woke up a few minutes ago, but I've been too lazy to get out of bed." He replied and sat at the other edge of the bed.

"I'm about to leave the house, so I brought your breakfast," she said. She took a closer look at his face and noticed that the scar on his face had begun its process of fading away after he began to apply some skin therapy that was recommended for him. "How are your wounds now?"

"Better, I don't feel any pain this morning. It has been like that for three days," he said and stretched his body in demonstration to her. He also stretched his legs and shook his ankles.

"It's okay, stop!" she said with a hand gesture to emphasise her word. "You should remember that the bones aren't strong enough yet, and you're not supposed to stress them yet."

"I remember," Henry said and stopped making the body movements. "When are you returning today?"

"Ermm… I'm not so sure, but I'm sure I would return late." She replied. "Everything you need would be taken care of by Lesedi, and she would keep you company."

Henry let out a breath. Lesedi was one of the maids in the house. They were two, and the other one was called Esther. Lesedi was a young woman of partial South African descent and Athannaian. Already thirty-one years old, she looked busty and had a round face and chubby cheeks. One would be the mother of several children even though she was yet to have any. Henry wasn't sure that he would enjoy Lesedi's company like he did Cara's, it wasn't his first time of being left alone in the house but it was Cara's first time of promising him of Lesedi's company. He, however, decided to take it in good faith, acknowledging that Cara had her life to live and was only being kind to him. He was not supposed to take it for granted.

Cara left, and he was left all alone in the room. He stood to take his bath and wash his mouth before having breakfast. After breakfast, he took his plates back to the kitchen and met Lesedi on his way.

"Good morning sir, you should have called me to come for the plates," she said as she collected the tray and entered the kitchen with it. He followed her and stopped halfway. He stared around the kitchen for a while. He could tell it was well kept. Even though he wasn't sure he knew how clean a kitchen was supposed to be, it still looked good to him. Lesedi and her partner were doing a great job, he thought to himself.

"Good morning, sir," someone greeted from behind. He turned back and saw Esther walking in. She was dressed just like Lesedi, in their uniform and a kitchen apron.

"Good…" Morning," he answered slowly. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No sir, please, you don't have to bother about helping us with anything." Lesedi replied to him quickly, turning back with a smile.

He nodded gently and turned back. He walked out of the kitchen and found himself at the back verandah of the house where he leaned his back against the balcony rails, admiring the beauty of the structure of the house and the environment in which it was built. Random thoughts came flying through his mind.

He was alone for close to an hour before someone joined him there.

"Sir…" he heard Lesedi's voice and turned back. Here she was , the company Lesedi promised him.

He saw the look on Lesedi's face but couldn't tell what it meant. He watched in silence as she joined him, leaning against the balcony rails, giving a little space between. "You've been in this same position for close to an hour, and you haven't moved," she stopped to look at his face, her eyebrows gathering together to form a curious look. "Or did you change position when I wasn't watching?"

Her questions revealed two things to Henry; the first was that she had been watching him, which he believed was probably on the instructions of Cara. The second was the fact that he had truly been standing in the same position without moving any part of his body until she joined him. He had his bum leaning against the concrete rails, making his waist down to his feet slightly slant. His arms were folded across his chest, and his feet were crossed over each other. That was how he had positioned himself since he got there, and he hadn't moved any other part of his body except for his neck, when he turned to look at Lesedi.

He folded his arms and uncrossed his legs. He stared at Lesedi with a questioning look. "Yes, I've been standing like that since I came here. Am I supposed to have changed my posture? Is there something wrong with my posture?"

"No, no, no," she replied with a smile. "It's just the way you stood rigidly without shaking. It looked so firm, like somebody who had undergone military training. A normal person should have moved or changed position"

"Military training?" He chuckled. "Well, I don't know about that. I just found myself standing like that."

Lesedi also chuckled. She knew she could be right, with the man's physical features and the way he had been caught moving and standing on various occasions, he could have been in the military at a time in his life. She knew a little about him and how he had lost his memory. She had heard it from Cara and Tom while they were arguing about him once in the house. Apart from that, she knew nothing else about the man except that he was Cara's guest.

"So Lesedi, tell me about yourself." Henry broke the silence.

Lesedi smiled and looked at his face. She rarely found anyone asking to know more about her.

"Well… I'm Lesedi Zuma, born of a man from Pretoria, South Africa and a woman from El Deols in this country…" She began and went ahead to talk about how she was left to be on her own from an early age and how she survived up till when she met Cara. She added some details, which he was yet to know about Cara.

"So Cara is nice to everyone," Henry said thoughtfully.

"Yes, she is a really good woman." Lesedi replied pleasantly.

"And do you know that man that came home with her some days ago?" Henry asked.

The smile on her face vanished immediately and was replaced by a frown. She knew he was referring to Tom. She preferred not to talk about him.