Be Who You Are

Eight year old Adel and his widowed mother lived on a small farm outside the village of Matsbury. They were not well-off and had to do most of the chores in and around the house themselves.

One April holiday, Adel’s aunt invited them to go and stay with her for a week, giving them a chance to see the city and enjoy a change of scenery. Adel’s mother had agreed to it, as her neighbour had offered to keep an eye on their home during this time. In addition, their neighbour suggested that they might find lodgers to stay in their home during that time, so as to support their income a bit. He kindly put an advertisement on the internet, as Adel and his mother did not own a computer. They decided that would-be lodgers could come and view the house on the first Saturday of March. Two couples responded to the advertisement, one agreeing to come to the farm at about 9am and the other at about 10am. Adel and his mother worked hard to make everything look neat and tidy. As the lodgers indicated that they would bring their family and some friends along, they borrowed two sets of bunk beds, which they stacked in Adel’s room. Adel’s mother left her room as it was and just moved his single bed into her room as well.

Their little garden was neat and tidy as usual, and they put some flowers in vases all around the house. Adel’s mother had baked rusks the day before and the sweet aroma of drying rusks in the warm oven filled their home. They were ready for the first visitor.

Suddenly Adel noticed that the big show rooster had managed to get out of his cage and he was about to create havoc in the hennery, where the breeding rooster was. The show rooster didn’t take too kindly to other roosters on the farm and was renowned for attacking them, unless he was safely locked away in his own cage. Adel immediately ran after him, caught him and put him back in his cage. He noticed that there was a hole in the cage and attempted to close the hole while at the same time trying to stop the rooster from escaping. There was no-one around to help him, as his mother had gone back into the kitchen. He was starting to feel desperate, for in the distance he could see the dust of a car approaching and he knew these would be the first people to come and see their house. He also knew that his mother wanted him to be clean and dressed in his best clothes, while right now he was dusty from diving after the rooster and his farm clothes were dirty from the morning chores of taking out eggs, milking the cow, cleaning the horse’s stable and feeding the pigs.

Suddenly he remembered that he had put his table tennis bat in his back pocket. It had been lying on the dinner table where he used to play with his mother, and he had put it in his pocket so that he could go and put it away in his room, when suddenly he had been side-tracked by the escaping rooster. His table tennis bat was very precious to him, as it was his only bat and he was the town’s junior table tennis champion. However, he couldn’t see any planks lying around to fix the hole with and he couldn’t let the rooster escape again, so what to do? Time was running out! The visitors were almost here! He grabbed his table tennis bat and pushed it down into the soil so that the hole in the cage was closed. He winced as he saw his bat in the ground, but knew his responsibility towards the animals on the farm was greater than the state of his bat, so he made sure that the bat was firmly imbedded in the ground so that the rooster couldn’t get out again. He could fix the hole properly after the visitors had gone.

By now his mother was calling to him anxiously, so he ran home to go and get dressed. He went to the back door, for he knew he couldn’t leave dusty foot prints all over the house and called to her to bring his clothes. He quickly got undressed at the back door, used the outside shower to wash, half-dried himself with a towel which they always kept next to the outside shower and jumped into the clothes that his mother had brought. He thanked her and put his dirty clothes in a bucket outside the back door, out of sight of the visitors. Just in time!

The visitors stopped in front of their little house. Their gleaming sports car was covered in a fine layer of dust. Through the window they saw the man and woman look around them. They stepped outside to greet them, smiled warmly and invited them in.

The couple smiled back stiffly and entered the house. “It’s very small,” remarked the woman. “Yes,” said Adel’s mother, “only the two of us live here.” “Can we see the rest of the house please?” asked the woman. “With pleasure,” said Adel’s mother, who was proud of her home, and led them through the passage to the other rooms. “Oh dear,” exclaimed the woman, “bunk beds! That would never do; so little space in this bedroom!” They peered into the main bedroom and the woman shook her head. “No,” she said, “I’m not sharing a room with anyone sleeping on that single bed; you’ll have to remove that bed.” “I’m sorry,” said Adel’s mother, “I can’t do that, as the only other place to put that bed is in the shed, and as it is my son’s bed, I am not prepared to put it there where mice can get to it.”

The woman merely lifted her chin and didn’t answer. They walked back to the lounge. The visitors briefly looked into the bathroom with its antique ball and claw feet bath, but said nothing. “May I offer you some coffee and freshly baked rusks?” Adel’s mother suggested politely. “No thank you,” said the woman, “we’d better be going; this isn’t what we are looking for. We need a get-away house which is much bigger and much more modern.” With that they got into their car and drove away in a cloud of dust.

“The man never even said a word,” remarked Adel. They both stood there and just silently watched the people go. Adel’s mother sighed and turned to go to the kitchen. “Mum,” he said, tugging at her sleeve, “may I ask you something?” “Of course darling,” she smiled at him. “Why did you not leave me in my farm clothes, why was it important to do things that are different to how we usually do them? I even had to sacrifice my table tennis bat just to look neat and tidy for them.” “Sometimes people make decisions based on what things look like on the outside,” she said, “and it is an old belief that we should behave in a way that people who judge us from the outside, will think highly of us. I thought that if we looked our best we might find somebody to rent the house while we are away.”

“Well, Mum,” said Adel, “you have always taught me to challenge beliefs which don’t feel right to me, and I would like to challenge this belief, if I may. How about we don’t do anything out of the ordinary for our next visitors, and they can just judge us as we are? What do we have to lose? I know we need the money, but I would rather you didn’t rent our home out to people who judge others by their outer appearances. It seems contrary to what you always teach me to believe, that all people are equal and that I should never judge a book by its cover.”

Adel’s mother nodded in agreement. “You are right, my son, you have the wisdom of the innocent. Let us do it your way and see what happens.”

She went to the kitchen, put her apron on and started taking the rusks out of the drying oven. Adel went to his room, hung his clean clothes in his cupboard and went out the backdoor. He put on his dusty farm clothes and muttered to himself…”nothing wrong with a bit of dust, I’m still working! What nonsense that I have to fix a cage with my table tennis bat...” He went to the shed, selected some planks and nails, and went back to the rooster’s cage. He carefully pulled his bat from the ground, dusted it and put it in his back pocket. He then proceeded to skillfully fix the cage with the new planks and some nails, all the time chatting to the rooster as if it they were the best of friends. As he put the hammer and pliers back in the shed, he saw the next visitors arriving.

These people were driving a station wagon, and as they got out, both of them stretched and smiled. “Isn’t this just lovely,” exclaimed the woman. “Wonderful!” said the man, sniffing deeply, “clean, pure air.” Adel saw his mother step out of the house and shake hands with them. He walked over and paused in the doorway. The visitors noticed him immediately and greeted him warmly. “Hi,” said Adel, “welcome to our farm. “My apologies for my ‘dusty looks’!” He kicked his shoes off and left them just outside the door, as was his habit and his way of keeping the carpet clean. “Oops,” said the couple, were we supposed to take our shoes off? We are so sorry; did we make a mess on your carpet?” Adel and his mother laughed. “No,” they said, “you are welcome to keep your shoes on; it’s just a good habit that Adel has learnt so that he doesn’t bring mud and dirt into the house when he has been working outside.” “Good habit,” smiled the man in agreement and nodded at Adel.

“Your home is lovely,” remarked the woman, “and it smells gorgeous.” “Thank you,” said Adel’s mother, “would you like to see the rest of the house?” “Yes please,” they agreed and proceeded to look at the bedrooms and the bathroom. “Oh, how quaint,” exclaimed the woman when she saw the bath, “I have always wanted to use a bathroom with real old ball and claw feet!” “Perfect,” said the man when he saw the bunk beds, “just what we need for the older children and their friends. Good thing about the single bed in the main bedroom too,” he said, “our youngest can sleep here.”

Adel and his mother smiled at each other and walked back to the lounge. “May I offer you some coffee and rusks?” invited Adel’s mother. “Unfortunately we can’t stay,” said the man, “as we have another appointment, but your rusks smell so good, I wonder if we could buy some from you.” “You may have a packet to take with you,” said Adel’s mother, fetching a brown paper packet with some rusks for them. “There is no need to pay for it, your enjoyment is my payment,” she smiled.

“Thank you,” said the couple. “Your home is the perfect get-away place for us in April; it is exactly what we need. In fact, we have looked at a couple of homes, and yours was the only one that looked and felt authentically farm-like. At all the other homes we felt as if people were dressed up just as we dress up in the city, the houses were replicas of city homes and no-where but here, did we see anyone dressed in their everyday clothes, with a home which feels as if it belongs here in the mountain. Because of that, and because we believe in exchanging value for value, we would like to double your payment for the week. You have no idea how much your natural behaviour means to us, and how valuable it is to find someone who is not trying to impress us with external grandeur.”

He peeped at Adel. “You look familiar,” he said, “I’m sure I’ve seen your picture somewhere.” Adel smiled shyly. He knew his picture had been in the newspaper when he won the table tennis championship, but he was too modest to say so. “Look,” said the woman, “there it is on the mantelpiece!” They all looked towards the mantelpiece where they saw Adel’s picture. His mother had had the picture framed of when he received his trophy and proudly displayed it on the mantelpiece. “Ah”, said the man, “that’s who you are. I was there on that day and I noticed you, not just because you won, but because of the way you won the competition. You played your game with a focus and attention seldom seen in young players, and when it was announced that you had won the competition you just smiled and accepted your trophy with a modesty and sense of gratitude that was very touching.”

With that, the couple smiled at each other, greeted Adel and his mother, and left. Again, Adel and his mother just stood there and looked at the departing car.

“I am so proud of you my son,” said Adel’s mother and kissed him on the top of his head, “I am so proud of you. You have re-taught me what I have taught you, to just be who we are, that who we are is good enough.”


Copyright © 2010 Susan Bellingan Fourie

Acknowledgement:
photo: Shani Grove
http://www.blazelightaround.co.uk/pages/dreamblazer.php