Chapter 8: The trip to Africa 2
Dave's mouth was wide open as he fully dressed for her mission.
"And what are you wearing? " he asked bursting out into laughter. She wore a scarf all over her head covering her mouth and nose leaving only her eyes but she wore black shades too."
I'm going on an important mission" he explained and she grabbed her handbag.
"You and Stella...wait the library?" Dave asked if he was right about her mission.
" Yes dear, it is about the history books Stella spoke about to me. I need those books, I might find valuable information in them" she said sounding enthusiastic.
" The stealing of books, my dear wife, perhaps the most selfish of all forms of theft, has a history that goes back to the history of libraries.." he was going to advise Page against her actions by lecturing her but she pointed at her watch.
" Thank you, I've to go," she said as she walked to Nicodemus holding her bag as if she was already at the school's premises.
" But Page!" he screamed her name as she left but she didn't bother to respond.
School segregation ended in California in June 1947 before the Medez appeals court decision. Page worked as the teaching assistant ( TA) in one of the elementary schools, Old Rosedale School located on Pomona Avenue, and her friend Stella Smith was the librarian. She had arranged with her to come for some books for her studies which were against the school's regulations.
As planned, she got to the school when it was lunchtime. She went to the security post and the man having something to do with the plan, allowed her to enter.
"Where's Stella? " Page whispered lowering her voice and looking here and there.
" Oh, she gave me the books" he whispered back.
" Thank you" she quickly grabbed the books and hid them in her bag.
" Hurry, the principal is emerging from the grade three classroom" he warned her and she hide behind the shrubs. The principal was busy talking to the grade three teacher sir Mark, she could also see some of the kids coming towards the shrubs to play and she quickly hid somewhere else. Later that afternoon, she returned home with the books which were huge like law books. Dave, who was on leave was resting dosing off in the hall when she slammed the books on the center table.
" What happened?" he woke up suddenly and saw Page removing her scarf and spectacles.
" Mission accomplished sir" she announced with a broad smile and he rolled his eyes back to slumber. She spent the afternoon on the books that Dave had to prepare dinner and feed her since she was so engrossed in the books.
" Ma'am, investigator Page please take a bite," he said persuading her to eat.
" There's nothing in these books," she said disappointedly.
" Let me see," he said after looking at her and then at the books scattered on the table.
" It says here that, more than twelve million people crossed from Africa to the new world as slaves. Historians know a good deal about the African parts where they embarked the slave. Ships that carried them across the ocean, and the destinations of these enslaved peoples. But they know surprisingly, little about where in Africa these masses of people originally came from" he stopped when he heard someone snoring. Page was in the arms of Morpheus.
" Poor Page perhaps I should contact my Dad, I know he would be happy to hear from me. He is the only one I knew will know where these enslaved people had come from in Africa." He thought as he gathered the books and carried her to the bedroom. He went back to the books and started reading from pages fforty-fiveto forty-six where he found out that the slaves who might have traveled on the same ship were ma ix of ethnicities likingly speaking mutually intelligible languages. As he moved to the next page, forty- seven, he hear a voice whispering to him "page fifty-eight". Due to his experience about how accurate this voice could be, he rushed to page fifty-eight.
" The west African countries.." as he continued to read, he had a flashback to when he first saw the mark on the lower back of his wife. The book stated that after the slave trade ended, the slave masters who smuggled the slaves into the state changed their trading strategy. The slave mark which had been at the back of their shoulder or their neck was now hidden in their clothes. This was to make smuggling and working with them easier in the state without the state's authorities finding out. Page's mark was similar to the marks on these people in the book, they looked like scars. Again, something triggered him, there was this shiny stones ' gold' with a thread tied around it in the form of a necklace around some of the slaves. It had been stated that they were smuggled from a land full of gold. Their land was blessed with precious stones and page's mother had a similar necklace.
" I have to call home, maybe contact my sister," he said. He read from a newspaper that she was in town, she is on record as the youngest lawyer in LA and every lawyer was afraid of her. They could not stand a chance with her. She's his father's daddy's girl and he was sure his father used to and talked to her a lot. With that thought, he called Ramirez, the butler at home. The phone runged for a good two minutes before he picked up. Ramirez never liked picking up calls when he was busy.
" Hello, Ramirez how are you doing?" he asked smiling to himself on the phone. It has been four years since he left home and up to now, and no one knows his whereabouts except Miles and now his twin sister Isabella.
" My goodness, master David!" He exclaimed and Dave turned his back to check on Page who was turning on the left in bed still sleeping. He walked quickly to the bedroom with the intention of not waking his wife up.
" How's my mother? How's her health now?" Dave asked impatiently waiting for an answer.
" Unfortunately, it is not getting any better master," he said with a crack in his voice.
" I think, she should change her environment and she misses you a lot. She could stare at your portrait in the hallway for hours crying like a child" he said causing Dave to weep.
" Oh master Dave, she needs you so badly," he said also weeping.
" What has my sister done about it?" He asked
" Oh haven't you heard, she left for the U.S.A for the past few years and returned three days ago". he revealed what wasn't stated in the newspaper about her. Ramirez was an American slave his father bought. He had been working there even before Dave was born. Even though the state laws had given the right to freedom to the slaves after the end of the slave trade, his dad made it difficult for him to be free. Stating " he knows too much" It took him about two hours before he fell asleep that night.
" Tell my sister to reach me on this line" he ordered.
" Sure, sir. I'll inform her as soon as she reaches home" he assured him.
" Thank you.." he said politely.
He woke up around 4 am and still found her sleeping. He took his phone but felt guilty when he remembered Page has been scorning him to talk to God first before checking on his phone when he woke up in the morning.
" Meet me at the Bonbon 99 am prompt, stalker." Was the message sent by an unknown number but he knew it was from his sister. She had given him that name when his father asked him to spy on her ffifth-gradesister as she was allerge of having a boyfriend. He did his job diligently for almost a term. In the end, his father agreed that the boy could come home for dinner and after dinner, they were in the field a bit away from the swimming pool and as a protective senior brother, he decided to spy on them. Not only had he fallen into the pool but was caught by his sister. His sister cried and complained about him embarrassing her in front of her visitor.
Around 7:30 am, he was ready to leave the house and Page had to beg him to have his breakfast. He knew she was wondering where he was going and when she asked he gave her no clear answer. He had decided to surprise her.
" I'm going somewhere important," he said abruptly.
" At least take a bit of the sandwich before you go" Page persuaded and standing on her toes, she made him take a bite by force.
" It's okay...I'm gonna be late you know" he said mouthful. He knew his sister was very serious with time.
" You gonna meet Miles for some discussion right?" She asked looking at his face for an honest answer but he lied and she frowned.
" Yeah.. sure Miles." he lied.
He left home 7: at 45 am and spent one hour in traffic due to rush hour before getting to the Bonbon.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sandra_Antwi_3288
Sandra_Antwi_3288 Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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