It was time for me to resume school, and I planned on going to my uncle's house to inform him and receive his goodwill like he always did.
"My brother is going through a tough time now. Don't stay long and don't expect any cash assistance like you used to receive from him," my mom says to me before taking my leave.
Uncle Fred had lost his job six months earlier. He kept it from the hearing of the family members. My mom got to know when his wife came to report that their landlord had given them quit notice to leave the house they were staying in.
"I am the only one taking responsibility for the bills for the past five months. This rent is beyond my power," Stella, Fred's wife, explained with teary eyes.
Their only child, four-year-old Mike, was sitting on her lap.
"If we are unable to pay this rent and we are evicted from the house, where are we going next, especially with this innocent child?" She asked my mom.
"You won't get evicted. We shall get over this period and see you emerge stronger," my mom assured her.
Days before the expiration of the quit notice, my mom was able to raise a substantial portion of the rent for them. Stella completed the payment, and they escaped being evicted from their apartment.
With the knowledge of this development that happened a few weeks before the time for my resumption of school, without being told, I knew that it wasn't a good time to expect anything from Uncle Fred.
"He derives emotional support from people coming to visit him and make him positive about life," I told mom. "If not, I wouldn't have contemplated visiting him at this period."
"Yeah, I think you are right," my mom cuts in. "Deserting him at this time may be understood differently by him. It's great that he has been given the needed support."
I picked up my bag and embarked on the one-hour trip to my uncle's house.
Immediately I entered, and I was, as usual, welcomed by the barking of Jack, their security dog. Though the dog was in its kennel, he could view the premises through the section of it made of iron net.
"Jack, how are you?" I started a conversation for him to recognize my voice, which he did. He stopped barking, and he was moving around the space to welcome me. Jack has been there for three years, and we were best friends.
I was with Jack when Stella opene I'md the door to welcome me.
"How are you, John?" She asked.
"I am fine, ma'am," I responded as we walked into the living room, where Mike's favorite cartoon network was displaying on the television. His sight was fixated on the television that he didn't know I entered.
"Mike, how are you?" I tapped him from behind.
He turned and jumped over me for a hug.
Stella took my bag inside the guest room while I joined Mike to watch a cartoon.
"Where is Daddy? I asked Mike.
"He is in the backyard."
I stood up immediately and went to the backyard to inform him that I was around.
I doubted my sight initially when I met Uncle Fred with a heap of clothes that he was washing. I couldn't process what was happening immediately. If there was anything that my uncle was lazy about when he was staying with my parents before he got married, it was laundry.
His wife once complained that they needed a maid when they got married.
"The housework is too much for me. Please help me beg your brother to get us a maid," she told my mom.
My uncle's complaint then was about accommodating domestic staff on his meager salary. Stella was unemployed.
"Just find a way to employ a maid, please. I wouldn't mind paying the employee," my mom begged his brother to concede to his wife's demand.
The maid was hired, and my uncle managed to accommodate her salary into his income without burdening my mom with it. Stella got a job shortly after.
I stood for a few seconds, looking at my uncle pitifully, before I could open my mouth to greet him. The reggae songs playing on his phone prevented him from hearing me the first time I greeted him. He accepted his fate and was trying to be happy, one attribute of his that I admired.
"Good afternoon, uncle," I said again, this time with a loud voice.
"John, you are here," he said, raising his head while rinsing his hands in clean water.
I took a closer look at the heap of clothes, and I sighted different clothes and underwear for his wife.
"Let's go inside, John," he beckoned at me.
I couldn't take my eyes off him. He has become a shadow of himself. When he is stressed, it is always written over him.
Stella joined us in the sitting room.
The juice I was served couldn't expressly move through my esophagus. The situation in which I met my uncle was bitter, and so is the juice too.
Uncle Fred asked about my parents and everyone else back home, mixing his speech with humor in his characteristic manner. I forced laughter throughout.
Stella went inside the room, and on his return to the sitting room, she informed her husband that she was going to the market to get groceries.
She told her husband; "Please attend to the kitchen before I return so that I can start cooking immediately."
I concentrated my attention on the television to feign deafness to the conversation.
Stella left with their son, Mike.
"Uncle, what is happening? Where is your maid? I mean, why are you the one washing the heap of clothes that I saw in the backyard?" I bombarded him with questions immediately after Stella left the house.
Uncle Fred bowed his head for a few seconds before answering.
"I lost my job."
"Yes, Uncle, I know, and everyone around you knows. Why are you the one now doing this? Where is your maid?
"I lost my job," he repeated again in response.
At this stage, I battle the tears that were building up in my eyes from falling freely on my cheeks.
"You asked for my maid, right? My uncle asked me, to which I nodded.
"After losing my job, I had no means to pay the maid again, and I asked her to quit the job.
"My wife is working, and I needed to assist her with housework. Don't feel too bad about what you see. Love conquers everything."
"Why is your wife not paying the maid? I asked him.
Stella was working for an oil firm, and she was being paid better than her husband when her husband was working. I was very certain that the salary of the maid could be taken care of if she was willing to.
"John, the shoe is on the other foot," he responded.
He spent a few seconds scrolling through his phone. Then a song titled "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bob Marley played on his phone.
The lyrics were all about making oneself happy in the face of adversity.
It became clear to me that my uncle was going through a tough period of his life.
I remembered that Stella told him to do some work in the kitchen, so I went to the kitchen to check. I found a messed-up kitchen with dirty plates and pots in the sink. I embarked on washing and cleaning immediately.
I was happy that Stella hadn't returned when I finished cleaning the kitchen. I picked up my bag and returned home. He insisted I wait for his wife to return from the market to cook so that I could eat, but my mind was made up.
"When are you returning to school?"
"Very soon, but no date for my traveling back to school yet," I responded to him.
Telling him that I would be returning to school in two days would make him feel bad if he couldn't give me money like he used to do. I need to avoid that, so I didn't reveal the specific day to him.
I couldn't just reveal what I saw to my mom when I got home. I only told her that Uncle Fred and his family were doing fine.
Two days later, I traveled back to school.
My mom called me a few weeks later to inform me that Uncle Fred had gotten another job, bigger than the one that he lost earlier.
Uncle Fred was full of joy and excitement the next time we talked on the phone.
"I got a better job, and my self-esteem is back. Thank you for your support," he told me on the phone.
I look forward to visiting him when I have a holiday from school.
