Two Years of Wonder - A Memoir

Chapter 9: Ivy & Mama Seraphina

Usually on Sundays women came over to Susan's house. They would eat, drink tea, and visit late into the afternoon.

But nobody came that Sunday. The house was much more silent than usual. Ivy asked Ruth if she should pack her things and Maurice's things together in case someone came for them that afternoon. Ruth told her yes.

But no one came except Father David.

A week passed. Another Sunday came around. This Sunday, Ivy, Susan, and the other children sat in their usual spot at church next to the window. They did not have to get up again, even though Father David mentioned them again.

Still no one wanted them.

Ivy tried to imagine what the trouble could be. She had been on her best behavior and although she had had to threaten a few children, she had not been in any fights since moving in with Susan. She wondered if it had something to do with ukimwi, the word she had heard the nurses and doctors saying in the low, hushed tones that adults used when they were being serious and did not necessarily want children to listen. She remembered when she had heard of ukimwi before. It was when a house down their street had been burned down. She had heard her mother talking to her friends about the cause. She thought ukimwi was something that started fires.

She was afraid to ask Susan about it. Instead she asked Ruth if the reason nobody wanted them was because of ukimwi.

Ruth would not answer.

One afternoon a man in a suit appeared at the gate. Susan greeted him respectfully. He was bald and had a narrow face and he was very nice to Ivy. Susan introduced him as Harvey. There was another woman named Christabell with Harvey. She was very pretty and was wearing an orange and blue skirt. They were dressed like important people. Harvey said that he and Christabell were there to take her on a picnic. She asked if Maurice could come. They said he could come on the next picnic.

Susan told her that she could go, so she followed them to their van, a red one, and climbed in.

Christabell was very nice. She asked a lot of questions about Ivy, where she went to school, how often she went. She seemed very interested in how often Ivy was sick. She also asked if she missed her parents. Ivy said yes.

They rode for a long time. They drove past many tall buildings and many matatus. They made a few stops at hospitals. Harvey would go inside with fat brown envelopes and come back with thin white ones. Ivy was hungry and was wondering when they would be stopping for the picnic but she did not want to be rude, even though the long car ride on an empty stomach was making her ill.

Finally, when they were driving on a road with lots of trees and grass along it, they came to a black gate. There were Maasai opening it. They smiled and waved at her and Christabell. Christabell told her she could wave back. Ivy asked if they were real Maasai. She said they were.

They drove down a driveway with lots of flowers and trees then stopped outside a two-story building. Ivy was led into an office with a big desk. Harvey sat down behind it.

Finally Ivy asked when they were going on a picnic.

Harvey said there was no picnic today. This was her new home, called Rainbow, where she would be living from now on.

Ivy asked where her brother would be. Harvey said that he would be at another home not far away called Malaika run by a woman named Mama Seraphina and her family. Harvey promised she and her brother would be happy in their new homes.

She cried that he was a liar. She said she and her brother had to stay together. She went to the door and Harvey got up to stop her, but she turned on him and started to punch him. She could tell by the way his eyes bulged and he crumpled that he was surprised at how hard she could hit. He had no idea how much practice she had. When he tried to restrain her again, she bit his hand and kicked him.

Then she started to cough. She had her hand on the door. She opened it and went out, but the exertion of fighting Harvey had made her so tired she could only take a few steps before she collapsed on a couch outside the office. She kept coughing, suddenly ashamed that she had grown so weak and lost her fighting edge. She looked to the door that led outside. There were three children staring at her. She wanted to tell them to go away, but she was coughing now too hard.

She lay down on the couch and cried. She heard Harvey pick up a phone and call for a nurse.

☼

In time, Ivy learned that her new home was not terrible. She lived in a cottage with eleven other children and a new mother. Her mother's name was Agnes. She was strict but could be very nice too. Ivy was one of the older children so she got to take care of some of the younger children, although she would rather have been taking care of Maurice.

They gave her medicines that made her feel better than she had in a very long time. Soon she was playing outside with the other girls. She could even play football with the boys. She got in a fight with one boy, Rashid, when he cheated at football. She punched him in the face. He ran away crying and when Mum Agnes found out, she told Ivy she would have to go to bed early that night. Harvey also spoke to her the next day and told her that if she misbehaved she would not be allowed to see her brother.

With this threat looming, Ivy made an effort to be as well-behaved as possible. She helped Mum Agnes clean the cottage. She made sure the children got showered and changed before dinner and she cleaned dishes afterwards.

Ivy was healthy enough to go to school. All the children above grade 3 went to an off-site private school that had green skirts for the girls, gray trousers for the boys, and red sweaters for both. Ivy was in standard four for the third time, but nobody except the teachers knew she was repeating. When people asked her how old she was she just lied.

One day when they came home from school, Ivy saw a white pickup truck parked outside the main building. On its side it said "Malaika's Children's Home." Ivy ran inside, hoping that they had brought Maurice to come and visit.

Harvey was in his office. When he saw Ivy, he called her inside and closed the door. There was a fat woman with a scratchy voice sitting across from him. She was very large, her thighs pressed against the chair's arms and the skirt wrapped around her was the size of a bed sheet. Harvey said her name was Mama Seraphina. She spat a great deal as she talked. She took Ivy's hands. She was crying and saying she was so sorry. Ivy was wondering if she meant she was sorry that her parents had died. But then she said that Maurice was now in heaven with the Lord. He had been helping with the wash and he had slipped, hit his head, and passed out with his face in a full wash basin. He had drowned.

Ivy slapped Mama Seraphina. Then she punched her. She heard Harvey yell but she was healthy now and quick. She was out the door and running to the gate before he could get around his desk to catch her.

All she knew just then was that she wanted to run. But halfway down the driveway, she saw the Maasai guards moving to close the gate. She realized she could not escape. Although she was a fighter, she was no match for the Maasai with their spears and swords. She did not care. She decided she would fight them. They killed lions when they were still children. She would make them kill her.

It was an old Maasai with gray hair that tried to stop her. She kicked and punched him but now she was crying uncontrollably. He did not fight back even though she wished he would. He held her still and spoke to her gently. A younger, fat Maasai grabbed her hands. She screamed at them to just kill her. She begged them to. The young one looked to the old one. The old man laughed a bit. She had never been so close to a Maasai before. This close she could tell they smelled of smoke and ash and meat. The old man wrapped his arms around her to hold her, and she felt the fight leaving her, felt herself folding into him, surrendering.

"Sorry," the old man said. "So sorry."