ANOTHER KIND OF DIAMOND by Gloria Obizu Page A

thinking about it at the time ‘cause all that was in my mind was Silas, Carissa continued. It was all good though until that day he called and said he was breaking up with me but I refused to yield ‘cause I couldn’t picture myself living without him anymore. I remembered I was in tears pleading with him to tell what I did wrong.
    Why? In your place Isabel will hang up on his face right away and forget about him there and then. That’s the best way to deal with that kind of nonsense. He probably was bluffing or something!
    I didn’t think so and needed some kind of explanation.
    And what did he say?
    Nothing that made sense to me at all! Carissa said. But I was saddened by it all that I wasn’t eating nor sleeping much, understand? My Aunt noticed and thought I was not feeling well and began bugging me about it all and stuff but I never told her a damned thing about Silas. She thought may be another baby was on the way and was trying so hard to make me say so, but she was wrong. But just when I thought I was getting over him, Silas called to say he wanted me back and that was how we switched to level two and he began using me in some bad ways. He kind of knew my Aunt was living it off well, so he began asking me to steal money from her and give it to him.
    You bought that shit?
    I mean initially l didn’t wanna do it! But you see, whenever he asked me to do stuff and I refuse, he would start calling me this wired kinda name. Oh Carissa you’re nothing but a Bimbo, he would say to me. And both girls had a good laugh at that. Isabel! Carissa continued, we may be laughing now but I tell you, it wasn’t funny at all then. Now hear him continue; and since I don’t mess with them Bimbos, I’m gonna have to let you go and get me some rich babe.
    Was he that nasty and cheap?
    Yeah! But once he calls me that wired name I would do whatever it takes to prove to him that I’m not one of the so called damned Bimbos, whatever that means. That’s how I began stealing money from my Aunt and taking it to him ‘cause my Aunt could be everything but careful. Probably because she wasn’t used to kids hanging around her, she got careless and used to throw her wallet and stuff around.
    She didn’t discover her money was missing or what? Isabel asked.
    I’m not sure, but even if she did, she didn’t say anything to me about it just then. Actually it took a long time before she confronted me. She called me into her room one day and began talking to me about the evils of stealing and where thieves end up like I’ve never heard the fucking word, jail in my entire life. Eventually she came around and said, Carissa you’ve been taking my money, haven’t you? And I lied to her like I always. I’ve never touched your damned forking money, I snapped, acting like I was really mad. She had to call me in for this sort of conversation a few times and if I could still remember, it was on the third occasion that I pretended I was really mad and started acting out like one hell of a wild cat. Are you accusing me? I screamed at her face. Say you are fed up and want me out of your house and I’ll leave. The best part is you’re never gonna see me again, so what’s this whole thing about accusations and stuff, eh? Carissa continued laughing as she talked. And my Aunt went; “Is like you don’t wanna be here no more”. And I’m like, “not if you continue to accuse me!” So she kept quit and just went about her business and I continued with my stealing but in smaller amounts. For a long time she said nothing anymore so I thought she didn’t mind missing small change, know what I mean? It never crossed my mind that Silas was aiming for a bigger take until the day he convinced me to steal a large sum and I told him I’ve to wait till I find that kind of money. Somehow, the chance came sooner than I imagined and I took it. It was on an evening and I saw my Aunt’s wallet loaded with cash lying right there on the couch in the living