She lit a torch and began to whisper out into the room,

“Little girl are you still in here?”

“Little girl, little please come out.”

“Little girl, little girl, where are you?”

The little girl neither responded nor came out.

Sister Mabel was hoping that she would find her hiding inside the amphitheatre waiting. But this was not the case. The little girl was not there. Only silence and darkness was found.

She returned to her room and turned in early that night, shaking.

When the crowds were gone the sisters went looking for Sister Mabel and found her sleeping

“She must be tired,” they whispered to each other and retreated to their respective sleeping places.

Morning time came and the Bishop left the missionary early in the morning to go and pray.

He felt heavy and uneasy and needed to go and connect with God outside from the distraction and the interruptions of the mission house. There was no telling when he would be back. He could be gone for a day or two. And times he found his connection quickly and was only gone for some hours.

Sister Mabel awakened and began her chores at the missionary and avoided to greet the Bishop.

She asked the sisters to come and help her tidy up in the missionary and they did so with song and happiness. She realised that the Bishop’s walking stick that hung on the wall in the amphitheatre was not there. She knew he had gone out to pray and she was relieved.

“Has anyone seen the Bishop?” she asked the sisters.

“No sister Mabel, we have not,” they replied.

The sisters cleaned and cleaned until the amphitheatre was immaculate and then returned to attend to their other responsibilities. The Mayor of Kasilami dropped in at the mission house. He asked for the Bishop and Sister Mabel advised he was gone walking.

“We have an appointment soon today,” he said, “I am sure he will make his way back soon.”

Mabel just smiled. “Tea or coffee, Mayor?”

“Coffee please Mabel,” the Mayor replied, “with a biscuit.”

“Of course,” she said under her smile.

“We missed you at dinner last night,” the mayor said, “but it’s understandable, you must have been super tired.”

She nodded. Passed him his coffee and a biscuit and headed out the room.

“Please don’t go, I cannot remember when last we spoke,” the mayor asked.

Mabel knew the Mayor as long back as she knew the Bishop. The mayor was always fond of Mabel. He thought that she would make an awesome wife for the Bishop and he was pleased when she converted and became a nun and the stayed together in the fashion.

The two chatted endlessly about old times and people in their past. Names popped up from their past and they wondered what happened to one person and then the next.

“Those were the good old days,” remarked the Mayor.

“No they were not. They were dark and full of secrets,” she said in response to the mayor, “secrets that refuse to remain hidden,” she muttered out into the room.

At that moment the door of the kitchen opened and the Bishop walked in.

“What secrets?” the Bishop looked at Sister Mabel with anger in his eyes.

“Good morning Bishop,” said Mabel, hoping the question he had posed to her was in passing.

“Morning my good and wise friend,” the Mayor said turning around in the direction the voice of the Bishop.

He saw anger and questions and defeat on the Bishop’s face.

He saw betrayal and fear on Mabel face.

“I think I must leave, we can reschedule this…” said he Mayor

“Stay. This is going be very interest. If you leave I might kill this woman with my bare hands,” said the Bishop.

“Speak!” said the Bishop to Mabel. “Speak and speak only the truth,” he instructed pointing at her face with his finger.

She dropped her body down and took a sit in a chair nearest to her. She began to sob. Sobbing with her head buried inside her arms.

“I have no pity for you Mabel. Tell me everything about this little girl,” and the little girl entered the kitchen.

She lifted up her head and before her stood a little girl. At first glance she knew she was her daughter. She cleaned her face and gained composure immediately. As if she did not want the little girl to see her broken and weak.

Her eyes were fixed on the girl and she had a huge smiled upon her face. She stretched out her arm and asked her, “Can I?”

The little gal nodded and went closer. She touched her. She touched her face. She touched her freckles. She touched her red, curly hair, almost as if she remembered something. She jumped to her hands, checked them and kissed them.

“Look,” she said in a whisper but focusing her eyes on the mayor. Showing the 2 men in the room the birth mark they both have at the exact same place.

The little gal was crying. Receiving healing from her mother’s touches. The mayor was beyond himself with shock.

“How can this be,” he asked but not expecting anyone to answer. “My friend,” the mayor addressed the Bishop.

“Please calm down. All of this can be explained.” He looked at Mabel nodding his head, seeking her consensus.

She nodded back.

“Tea,” the mayor asked the Bishop.

Puzzled at the gesture the Bishop asked, “Do you even know how to make it?”

“I would learn today,” answered the Mayor. “I would have asked you to assist me.”

“To make my own tea that you offered to me?” asked the Bishop smiling at his old friend.

“Something like that,” said the mayor shyly.

“Tea?” asked the Bishop to the Mayor.

“No, strong coffee please,” answered the Mayor.

“With a biscuit,” the 2 men said at once, as the Bishop was mocking the mayor and they both laughed.

The Bishop prepared the coffee and the sweet as promised and passed it onto the Mayor.

The Mayor gestured to the Bishop that perhaps they must leave the room and leave the 2 girls alone who have not taken their eyes and arms off each other ever since.

The men left the room quietly.

***

Tell us: What do you think is the story about the young girl, Mabel’s daughter?