the TEMPTING WAVE

By: KEN N SPERANZA

she was left alone at 9 yrs in this horrid world

She had already lost hope in life when her parents succumbed to HIV when she was 9 years old.  Generally, they were poor and lived that life that most people in the world can never even imagine. The shimmer of success that had remained in her shredded into thin air.  She did not know the next step to take.  For the first 2 weeks after the demise of her last guardian, Joy Atieno locked herself inside the house crying day and night. She did some cooking for survival using the last grains that had remained. She knew that at some point she would have to go outside and beg for food and money. She also knew some of her girls who had ventured into the prostitution business commonly known as the ‘late-night-ladies’. She did not want to be in such a business herself. Joy respected herself and her wellbeing.

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The 3^rd week had commenced and she did not have any food at her disposal. She had to get outside the house and look for something to feed herself. She was a minor but she had a great vision on survival skills. She started marauding the slum looking for girls like her who had been derelict like her. At every corner she took, scary, imminent eyes were scrolling her from head to feet. All kind of men aged from teenage to married made sure they got a glimpse of her. She walked with that strong confident gait. She did not seem abashed by anything. Some men even went to the extent of sniffing her clothes as she passed through the old thatched ramshackle houses that were closely erected. As she was about to approach the main opening to the local town, a certain teenage boy who seemed gloomy spanked her behind in such a strong blow that she almost fell on the dirty looking flowing sewerage. She abruptly gazed behind her with her face grinned and her teeth clenched. She wanted to retaliate. However, looking at the rabble of ‘hungry’, ‘starved’ and ‘feminine drenched’ men who had formed a small congregation with the boy, she decided to continue walking and assumed the ordeal.

This is the kind of life where she has to dwell in despite the harrowing challenges and impeding threats. She had also heard of rape and ugly nocturnal jobs that her fellow ladies at her age-engaged in. she did not want to be like that. Sexual abuse was not a new thing in the slum. She met with the town ladies. They seemed happy and living well despite having their parents gone long ago. Some were born by street girls and later dumped but by goodwill, they found their way out to where they are now. The street girl’s family had grown. She came across a certain lady who had sat on a certain rock chewing sugarcane she had collected from the city garbage. From the way she had sat, everybody passing in front of her would visualize her in her birth-suit. She had just a white dress that fit her very well. She seemed to love it. Joy sat next to her and tapped her thigh using her middle finger. The lady desisted from chewing the already sugarless cane and slowly turned her head towards Joy.

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‘Who are you?’ she asked.

‘I’m Joy.’ She responded

‘How do I seem to be of need to you?’ she asked Joy

‘I am an orphan and I have come to ask what you do for a living’ she halted and gazed at her feet.

‘What we do for a living?’ the lady asked and laughed sarcastically. ‘We are ladies of the night’

‘What does ladies of the night mean?’ Joy asked.

‘We work at night. We entice men and they pay us. That’s what we do.’ She responded

‘Really? That’s what you all do?’ she asked with surprise and disgust

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Before she could even continue saying of her disgust, the lady got up and slapped her four great blows sending her down on the poodles. She got on her again, held her blouse collars, and slapped her once again. Joy had already started bleeding from her gums. Joy got up and gazed at the lady once more.

‘I’m sorry for behaving like that’ she said and sat beside her once again

‘That’s what that has kept me alive since I was orphaned at 6yrs old. I do that every day at any time. Some even use me and lack to pay me but I thank them for at least giving me some food for the day. Some go ahead and taste my pleasure without protection and they injure you if you resist. Life is hard and there are no well-paying jobs in the streets for people like us. We were cursed for good.’   She paused.

She looked at Joy more closely and whispered to her, ‘never again tell me or show me disgust in what I do. I will kill you and feed your body to those men over there’ she said as she pointed a group of skinny men who were busy constructing a bridge.

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Joy trembled and felt heat running up her spine. She could not try to imagine herself in the situation. Something deep inside her was telling her to get into the business but some other spirits were telling her the opposite. Looking at the lady again, she asked her

‘What’s your name?’

‘My name is Angel and this is my crew’ she responded showing her fellow ladies.

Joy scanned Angel from head to toe and at her crew. She noted the marks on their necks and the faces that seemed to have suffered and seen death before their time. She feared the ‘nocturnal business’ or as they call it, the’ ladies of the night’.

‘If you want to join my crew, you are welcome’ Angel told her as she waved her. She took her sugarcane again and started chewing ravenously.

Joy stood at the scene for a while and started walking through the path she had approached the ladies from. She walked far from the throngs of men and she made sure she avoided the unnecessary spankings and weird habits of silly men. She knew anything uncouth could happen between the places she had met Angel to her home.

she knew she had to face this new world with courage and perseverance

When she got inside the house, she sat on the floor. She knew she had nothing to eat for the night. She did not want to go begging. She knew people would take advantage of her and furthermore, she could not stay begging for her entire life. Many thoughts preoccupied her mind. She did not want to settle for Angel’s crew but she also did not want to stay suffering every day. She lay on the mat at her small room and looked at the roof. From her house, she would here sounds of a couple having copulation on her left and on her right, she could hear the incessant wails of toddlers. She forced her eyes to close to at least get some sleep on a hungry stomach.

CLICK HHERE FOR Part two: TEMPTING WAVE PART TWO

 

 

∇SEE ALSO THE FOLLOWING ∇

PILLOW WET

PONYOKA NA FRESHER

FORBIDDEN PASSIONS

THE CONFESSION

THE FEMALE DISEASE

THE JAWS OF PROMISQUITY