A little girl in her pink floral dress skipped around the garden, bare-feet with her little basket picking flowers and fallen ripe fruits, chasing colourful butterflies and playing with her bunny rabbits. On sunny days and rainy days she played in the garden, a child of pure innocence, like a little lamb.Her mother washing clothes at the stand-pipe watched her, a sweet child, dear to her heart. She would often imagine how beautiful she would be when she grew up and the special wedding celebrations she would have for her when it was time for her Beth royal.
That was twenty two years ago to this day, a dark day.
A storm had been brewing for the past few days and tonight it unleashed its fury with screaming winds, deafening thunder and frightening lightning. The roads were desolate except for two black vehicles that drove cautiously along the dark country road to a bungalow, standing almost in isolation. A small, flickering light shone through the windows, like a guide for the four strange men who stepped out in the rain, men with steely looks and stone cold eyes, on a mission commanded by their superior officer in the military, a Major General.
What would the military be doing deep in the countryside in the farming backlands?
What illegal activities gathered by intelligence network merited the presence of army personnel from a neighbouring Spanish country?
A small, farming family in deep slumber as the storm drowned the farmlands were awoken by the armed invaders and forcibly taken away before they knew what was happening.
The abductors drove to a secluded army reserve off the highway and the family was roughly hauled into the deserted base. The mother, father and brother were bound to chairs in one room and the younger ones locked into another room with an armed guard.
They stared at their abductors, terrified beyond their limits. What would foreign soldiers want with a simple, farming people-sure this was all a mistake. The soldiers left the room and returned after a long while, dressed now in black clothes and leather gloves.
They said not a word. The look in their eyes so cold it sent shivers down the spines of the harmless family.
The duct tape was ripped from their mouths and they inhaled deeply, tears welling in the mother’s eyes.
“Why have you brought us here?” The father asked hoarsely, “We have done no wrong.”
A fist hit him so hard it rocked his head back and the mother cried: “Please, why are you doing this? We are farming people.”
One soldier straddled a chair and two stood by-specialists of torture. The soldier sitting said to the father, “Investigations have proved that you are involved in an illegal trade.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
A fist thudded against his jaw, drawing blood from his mouth.
“You have been under surveillance for some time now and tonight you will have to disclose your part in this trade if you value your life and your family’s. Do you understand?”
The father nodded, scared and confused and the soldier continued his questioning.
“How often have you met with mysterious traders in the backlands?”
“Twice.” He answered.
“Did you take any of your children there with you?”
“No.” He said hesitantly.
A thunderous fist hit him, knocking him down with the chair. The mother screamed: “Please don’t!”
“Quiet!” a voice thundered, silencing her.
The question was asked again and the same answer given.
The soldier hit him again and the question line was changed.
“How many children do you have?”
“I have two sons.”
He was hit to the floor now, blood tricking from his mouth and nose. The son unable to witness the torture shouted, “Why do you want to know that?!”
The soldiers turned to him, like angry pitbulls until he was left crumbled on the floor, gasping for breath.
“Why aren’t you asking me?” the mother sobbed.
“Because we can’t hit you, their pain is your suffering.”
Father and son were hauled upright and given a short moment to breathe easy, before the interrogation started again.
“We know of the boats that docked in the ocean and the people who came to the backlands who you did business with.”
The father didn’t answer, afraid now to say anything.
“You have two sons and you’re sure you don’t have another child you sold to be used as a drug mule?”
“No,” the father groaned, “I didn’t do that.”
“We have evidence you did. You wanted to be rich to become powerful.”
“No!” he shouted, his voice cracking, “I did not sell my daughter!”
A sudden hush fell in the room and the soldier in the chair rose to his feet.
“So you have another child, a daughter?”
“Yes,” he sobbed, “I had a daughter.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” he continued to cry, “I gave her away, a long time ago.”
“How old was she?”
“She was six.”
“You gave away your little daughter to be used as a drug mule?
“No I didn’t want her anymore, I couldn’t look at her.”
The soldiers looked at the glass partition beyond where a silent figure watched and listened to every word, the General who had ordered the abduction to find answers from the family in that room.
Twenty two years ago they had done a grave injustice to an innocent child and tonight revenge will be enacted against them.
“Why as a father, would you do such a thing to your own child?”
“She was violated and her impurity became a shame to the family, something I couldn’t live with so I sent her away.”
“On a storm night like this, you wrapped a sleeping child in a blanket, ignoring the mother’s pleas and gave her away, not caring what happened to her because of traditional beliefs?”
He said nothing, his head bent and the soldier said to the son.
“You became the golden child because of your lies. You were supposed to watch her while your parents were away at the market but you were so engrossed in gambling, you didn’t hear her call for you to help to find her bunny and she wandered too far from the house where bad boys saw her. You didn’t hear her scream for you until she found you, much later, her dress torn, her face streaked with tears, her bunny in her arms.”
The mother stared at the son, shocked and angry. “All these years you’ve been living a lie. How could you? Your heartless father took away my baby and you helped with your lies.”
The son was so choked with guilt, he couldn’t answer.
“Would you like to know what happened to your child?” The soldier asked the mother.
“Please, if it’s something bad, I don’t want to know, I can’t bear any more of this.”
A TV screen was turned on and the photograph of a pretty little girl was shown, a sad face. The pictures changed as she grew, step by step into a beautiful young woman, graduating from high school and college and joining the army, just after college. Her intelligence and dedication awarded her medals and higher ranking at a young age until today that she has now attained the position of Major General.
A pin could be heard dropping as the family stared, dumbfounded at their daughter and sister standing proud and dignified in her uniform, her strength and character personified. A child they had rejected over two decades ago, their own blood child.
“Where is she now?” The mother asked, highly emotional, “Can I see her?”
The door slowly swung open….TO BE CONTINUED
Written By Maureen Rampertab