Page 18 - DAPHNE HART - MY MAMA STORY (AUDIO VERSION)

CHAPTER FIVE

M
y Mother cleaned the big house of some people we called
Busha & Misses. He had a horse and a buggy. My

brother had to go and brush the horse every morning.

That house was huge, the verandah stretched to three sides of the house.
I was mesmerised by it.

I went with her most of the time. I loved going with her as I looked
forward to a glass of real cow's milk and bulla cake for lunch. The house

seemed so big to me. I was fascinated by how many drawers there were
and how many rooms. Every piece of furniture seems to have drawers.

They had a cook, a gardener, and my mother went and cleaned two
times a week.

This couple had no children of their own, and my wish was to live with

them in that big house, but it didn't happen. Sometimes during the year,
three teenagers would come and stay with them for a week or two, then

disappear. They were always so nice to me, I wish they would stay
forever, but it was like they were there overnight and gone the next

morning—without saying goodbye.

My mother worked really hard. Always sad and sometimes crying. On
Saturdays, she would carry a huge basket of ground provisions on her

head to the market far, far away. She would leave in the wee hours of

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