The girl’s words cut deep. I pressed my lips together silently. I did not see a point in rebuking her. Initially, I was confused as to why Brandon would bring us here. But now, I was starting to see the light.
After a while, the girl looked at me and continued, “I know my sister can save your daughter. So, let’s make a deal. I want you to promise me something.”
I knitted my brow and replied, “I’ll consider it if it’s reasonable. Otherwise, I’ll have to refuse.”
“Take me along with my sister. I can’t wait for my death here. My mother wants to marry me off to a moron and I don’t want to live a life like that. I don’t need you to do anything for me. As long as you take me to the city, I’ll leave you alone and you won’t have to see me ever again. I just want to get out of here. I don’t want to spend my life here.”
There was ambition and earnestness in the girl’s eyes. I could tell that she was truly desperate. My younger self would have pitied her and immediately agreed.
But, I hesitated. After all, this place was utterly alien to me, and so was this girl. I had no idea what went on between she and her parents. Before I could figure out why they were keeping her prisoner, I could not interfere recklessly as an outsider. The consequences could be dire.
I looked at her and said calmly, “I can take you. But, I have to know why do you want to leave this place and why are you being locked inside here? One more thing, will your parent allow you to go off like this. Without your parents’ permission, I could be causing trouble for myself by taking you with me. If you really care for your sister, you shouldn’t use her as a bargaining chip. You know that we’ll pay for your sister’s sacrifice. This is a fair transaction. However, you have requested my help and my moral side would likely oblige. If everything is in check, I’ll agree to that!”
She hugged her bony body and smiled coldly as she scoffed. “You city folk sure know how to extol morals. You disregarded a life once you ascertained that it’ll be able to save your daughter. How cruel is that! Fine, drawing the lines clearly shows that you’re a rational person. I’ll tell you everything.”
I was not an unreasonable person. However, once I finished hearing what the girl had to say, I was rather shocked. Her name was Ann and she was the eldest daughter in her family.
In this remote mountain village, there were not many other ways to earn money other than tending to the fields. However, four or five years ago, the country’s plan to increase led the villagers to come up with a new way to earn money. They would pad their pockets by having more children.
At some point in time, a few outsiders came to take some children away. In return, they paid the parents tens of thousands in living expenses. Since they were all village children, many did not have identification documents. However, some children were sent back, while others were not.
Those that came back were considered lucky. Even though their health had deteriorated, at least they were back. The families of those that did not return would receive a few hundred thousand. It was as though they were paying for the life of that child, but the fate of that child remained a mystery.
Every family had about seven or eight children. Hence, the loss of one or two did not make much of an impact because they could always give birth to more. As such, no one cared about the children if they returned and fell sick or found out from them about what they had been through.
Several families moved away from the village after they made more money from this trade. The families that stayed either had not met a generous buyer or the wives could no longer give birth anymore and they did not have the heart to trade in their healthy children for money. Thus, it was easier to spend their days tending the field.
As I listened to her explanation, my heart went out to her. She sneered at me and derided, “Don’t you think those people are ridiculous? You saw for yourself. My mother had nine children and I’m the oldest of the lot. The older ones like me are of no use for the trade, which is why she wants to marry me off and gain a small sum of dowry. She served me up to a moron for a measly amount of money. If I hadn’t gone to school and seen how children from other places lived, I might have resigned myself to my fate. But, I have seen how the other children of my age live, and the kind of families they have. I can’t stand it. It’s not fair that she gets to decide how the rest of my life goes and seal my fate by sending me to my doom. I want to leave this place and never come back.”
