I lighted the stove immediately and put some water into the kettle and placed it on the stove . “ Hope you ’ ve put the water ?” My madam shouted from the sitting room . “ Yes ma,” I replied twisting my fingers in fear . “ Come and wash off these napkins immediately, ” she ordered sending me running into the sitting room . She handed me the soiled napkins and I zoomed off with it into the bathroom to wash it . I had barely soaked the napkin into the water when I heard madam ’s voice dishing out another instruction. “ I will skin you alive if you continue wasting my kerosene in this house !” She bawled. “ Or do you want to tell me that you don ’t know that this hot water is boiling ?” “ Sorry ma,” I replied. “ Sorry for your stupid self !” she fired back . I instantly rinsed my hands and rushed to the kitchen to bring down the hot water . I didn ’t know where the pap I was to prepare was , so I went to the sitting room to ask madam . “ Ma please where is the pap ?” I asked trembling with fear. “ Idiot the pap is there!” She fumed pointing at the fridge. I went to the fridge , brought out the pap, prepared it and took it to her in the sitting room . Then I went to the bathroom to continue with the napkin . The baby ’s cry filled the entire house and I soon heard my madam ’s voice calling me. “ Adaeze !” She called . “ Yes ma,” I replied rinsing my hands once again and running into the sitting room . “ Sing for her , sing for her ,” she urged . “ Fine baby don ’ t cry , fine baby don ’t cry ,” I broke into an unrehearsed song. Fortunately for me, the baby stopped crying and listened to my song as she gulped down the warm pap. When she was done, I carried the plate into the kitchen and washed it off and then went to the bathroom to finish up with the soaked napkin . Soon, baby went to sleep and madam went to sleep too and I had little time to myself… The other two children, Nnenna and Chimaobi soon came back from school and scattered their school uniforms , sandals and school bags in the sitting room creating more work for me. “ Where is my food , ” Chimaobi asked with an authority that was much stronger than his 3 years of age would suggest. “ And mine too!” Nnenna added . “ Its inside the warmer ,” I replied. “ Go and get it for us !” Chimaobi ordered . I wondered how little Chimaobi and Nnenna would be ordering me around. Little children whom I was older than with nothing less than 10 years. I brought their food from the warmer and gave to them. If not for the presence of my madam , those children would have had it hot with me but madam ’s presence was hell - fire on its own . Not to talk of when she gets report from any of her children. I hadn ’t taken anything except the two slices of bread and mixed water that I took since morning yet I endured . I cleared the sitting room and removed the school uniforms , bags and sandals that the children scattered there and went to the bathroom to wash the uniforms . I had barely started washing the uniforms when madam woke up from sleep . “ Hope the children have eaten ,” she asked with bulging sleepy eyes. “ Yes ma, they have ,” I replied. Then she went into the toilet to ease herself. “ Adaeze !” She called . “ Yes ma,” I replied. “ Have you washed this toilet today ?” She asked . “ No ma, ” I replied . “ If I meet you in that bathroom, I will tear you into pieces!” she threatened . I rushed off to the balcony to get the mop and bucket to wash the toilet . “ Why didn ’t you wash it since morning?” She asked . “ I forgot ma,” I replied . She gave me a very hard push and I fell backwards and nearly hit my head on the wall . “ Silly a -s !” She cursed and went back to her bedroom . With tiredness , hunger and exhaustion I washed the toilet. When I was done, I went back to the bathroom to complete the washing of the children ’s school uniforms . By the time I finished washing the school uniforms , my stomach was tearing apart with hunger. But I couldn ’ t muster the courage to tell my madam that I was hungry . So all I did was to go to one corner of the kitchen and cry silently . Madam ’ s husband came back later in the evening and observed that my eyes were red . “ Why are your eyes red ?” He asked peering into my face. “ Nothing sir,” I lied in a bid to avoid trouble. “ Have you been crying ?” He asked still peering into my eyes. “ No sir ,” I lied again. “ Ok have this,” he said handing a can of fruit juice to me. My face brightened up as he handed the juice to me. “ Thank you sir ,” I greeted and went into the kitchen with the can of juice . I gulped down the entire juice in no time and my stomach calmed a bit . The family had dinner around 8 pm but I wasn ’t given anything till I finished washing all the plates and pots used for the dinner. Then madam put one very small leftover of the food for me, the size of which wasn ’ t even going to be enough for a toddler and went to bed . I ate the food fast and retired to my small room to catch some sleep as I was very tired and exhausted…