As Long As She Lives (full published version!)

Chapter 6

"Abejide? Abejide!"

Wemusa lurched over the metal sink as his boss thumped him on the back. He'd been living as Abejide for four months but he still wasn't used to the name.

"Yes, Mr Attah?"

"Are you asleep? Ala needs her big pots clean. Now!"

"Yes, boss."

Wemusa put the plate he'd been washing back on the too-tall stack of dirty dishes and hefted one of Ala's enormous cauldrons onto the bench. He had to put his head into the pot to scrub it and the chilli infused steam stung his eyes. The stench of soumbala and tomatoes saturated his clothes and followed him home every night to the grotty room he was forced to rent in Attah's dilapidated block of flats. No amount of scrubbing under the no-pressure, water-saving shower in the shared bathroom would shift it.

He couldn't live like this much longer. But Henri wouldn't have him back until he found the woman and Melbourne was too big a city for Wemusa to wander around asking people if they knew women who had spent time as do-gooders in Umoja. That was what had brought them undone at the hospital in Jo'burg. But Henri knew that. He didn't care that Wemusa had to live in squalor – he probably didn't even expect him to find the bitch. Living here was punishment as much as it was anything else – it had been Wemusa's machete she'd got hold of and used on Henri.

He finished scrubbing the pot, sprayed it cleanand carried it to Ala at the stove. It occurred to him that he could bash theheavy pot on the little woman's head. It wouldn't be the first time he'd killeda woman and he might be sent home – well, to Abejide's home. But he could findhis way from there. At worst, the Australian authorities might send him to oneof their jails, which, he'd heard on the radio, were like hotels, with atelevision in every room. Before he could make up his mind, Ala turned, gavehim a big smile and took the pot, unaware of how close she'd come to death. Hereturned to the sink to suffer more soapy chili steam inside Ala's other bigpot.
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Cheers!
Darcy.