Nubia's Destiny Awaits

"Nubia, Nubia! I've been calling you for ages."

I turned to face my best friend, Maria. A smile broke out on my face as I saw her bouncing towards me, a large basket in hand. She was practically glowing with excitement, her eyes bright and her skin flushed pink.

"What is it?" I asked. "You're here awfully early today." It was only midday, but she never showed up before the afternoon. Something must have happened.

She smiled even wider, if that was possible, and held the basket out to me. "This," she said. "Is for you." Her words were barely audible now as she whispered them against my ear; her next words were louder and more clear. "It's a surprise!"

I took the basket from her hands and pulled on the cloth draped over it so I could peek inside. In the basket was a loaf of bread wrapped in a cloth, some cheese, a jug filled with water, and what looked like a small jar of honey. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't eaten today - yesterday had been one of those rare days when my adoptive mother had been able to afford to buy food to feed us all (she usually left me to fend for myself), and since then I'd been too busy worrying about how I would get food for tomorrow that I'd forgotten to eat anything at all today. "Thank you so much," I said happily. "That's just what I wanted."

Maria was staring at me expectantly now; when she spoke again her voice was sharp with impatience. "Why don't you open it? Go on!"

My gaze drifted from the basket back to Maria; she was standing there with an expectant look on her face as if waiting for something big to happen. Her eyes were wide again as they stared up into mine and her lips were parted slightly in anticipation. Did she want me to open the basket? Why? What would be different between opening it now or later? The longer we stood there staring at each other - my gaze drifting back again and again to the basket - the more uncomfortable she became; finally she reached forward suddenly and tore away the cloth covering whatever lay inside the basket so quickly that it surprised me into jumping back in fright. A grin broke out across her face once more when she saw my reaction; this time however, she didn't say anything else; instead she took a step back and watched as I approached the basket cautiously to see what lay within it this time.

What lay within it made my heart soar with joy and brought tears of happiness to my eyes: two loaves of bread! Two little loaves of bread! Because of course we needed more than one loaf of bread in order to survive for another day...but...two loaves?! And cheese? Cheese too?! Where had Maria got all these things from? There wasn't enough food in our house for all three of us - my adoptive father barely ate anything anyway - let alone enough food for Maria too! How could Maria have afforded all this? But no matter where all this food came from, two loaves instead of one meant that there would be enough food not just for me but also for Maria! This meant not only did Maria give me a lot of food today but also that there would be enough food tomorrow too! More importantly however, this meant that there might be enough food every day after this! Maria would never give away a gift like this unless she knew there would be enough food! This meant that someone else must have given her this food! But who? Who could afford such generosity!? Could they be rich? Maybe they lived nearby? No matter how hard I tried though - how many times Maria reminded me not to drop my gift - I couldn't stop myself from tearing off that cloth yet again and peering down into the basket so see what else was inside hidden behind an extra bit of cloth...and found exactly what I'd expected: a jar filled with honey! Honey too! Were these people rich then? Rich enough not only to give away these things but also rich enough to buy things like honey too!? Sugar too!? And maybe even milk!? Who could afford these things?! Who could afford these luxuries?! None of our neighbours could afford luxuries like these! None of them even owned their own houses anymore! They were lucky if they owned pieces of land they lived on! And yet...how had anyone managed such generosity!? Even if they weren't rich themselves, who had given this away then!? Who had given people who couldn't afford luxuries like these luxuries like these!? How could someone do that!? How could someone give away luxuries like these without being rich themselves!? Only...only...only one person had ever done something like this before: Nubia's mother! Nubia's biological mother who'd died giving birth to her because her foster father hadn't known when is wife was due back home until it was too late...yes...yes...it must have been Nubia's mother doing this somehow! It wasn't possible for anyone else alive today to do something like this! Only Nubia's mother could have done something like this!! After all, no one ever gave Nubia anything good ever before: why should they start doing so now after everything Nubia had done?! Not after Nubia had betrayed everyone closest to them by stealing from them and making fun of them behind their backs!! Everyone hated Nubia now!! Everyone wanted nothing more than for Nubia to die!! Everyone wanted nothing more than for Nubia's problems - which were their problems too now - to end!! So how dare anyone do something nice for fucking NUBIA!!! And how dare anyone do something nice without expecting compensation in return?! Things were much easier when people didn't do things like this without expecting compensation in return: things were much easier when people did things because they wanted something in return!! If people didn't think about getting something nice in return then other people wouldn't think about giving them something nice either: everything would stay terrible forever!! That was why everyone hated Nubia: because everyone knew that no good would ever come out of helping them!!! Without good willed intentions people wouldn't help others or give them gifts or loans or whatever else might help them get through life better: oh no!!! Instead they'd take advantage of others whenever they could!! They'd steal from others whenever they could!! They'd pretend they liked others whenever they could so that other people wouldn't accuse them of disliking those same people!! They'd pretend they liked other people so that other people wouldn't accuse them of liking those same people behind their backs!! They'd pretend they trusted other people so that other people couldn't accuse them of not trusting those same people behind their backs!! People couldn't trust anyone anymore: especially after everything everyone knew about each other already!!! That's why everyone hated Nubia: because everyone knew everything about everyone already!!! That's why everyone hated everyone else already besides themselves: because everyone hated everyone else already besides themselves already as well!!! That's why everything stayed terrible forever: because everything stayed terrible forever already already already already already already already already already already already already already!!!!!