Interrupted Washing

The car bumped and rattled down the rough dirt road. The noise and chaos of the city fading behind me, replaced by fields, grass, trees, and bushes. Finally, I arrived at Mama Z's house. I saw her sitting on the edge of her cement porch with basins and buckets on the dirt in front of her.

Ducking under some clothes hanging on the line, I sat down near her. She took a piece of clothing from the first basin of dirty, soapy water and rubbed it between her two hands, releasing the dirt. She transferred it to the next basin of less dirty water and then greeted me.

"Mama Z, I brought that audio Bible you wanted," I said after the greetings were finished. This was only my third time visiting Mama Z. During my second visit, I had mentioned having audio Bibles in Kimwani and she had said she wanted one. 

Mama Z stopped her washing, dried her hands, received the audio Bible with joy, and immediately pressed play. It went through the introduction before starting in Genesis. A neighbor came over as the audio spoke of God creating light and darkness on day one of creation. We greeted her and she sat down to listen with us.

I kept expecting Mama Z to go back to her washing, but she grasped the audio Bible with both hands as she listened to chapter after chapter. Her washing forgotten. She and her neighbor murmured in surprise at the ages listed in the genealogies.

I shifted uncomfortably on the cement. My mind sometimes wandered away from the Kimwani words to listen to the birds chirping around us or the children playing in the background. An hour and a half later, when Abraham had successfully rescued his nephew Lot, Mama Z's neighbor stood up and said she needed to go home. Mama Z realized she needed to finish her washing and paused the audio.

Mama Z thanked me for the audio Bible. I told her I also needed to go home but promised to return another day. I drove back down the bumpy road, my heart rejoicing. I thanked God for connecting me to this family by means of a mutual friend.