Martha tried her best to fathom the depth of this situation.
She could do nothing but fathom the unnatural depths of this silence between her parents, for she didn't even know the substance of this meeting or to be precise, trade. Benjamin's and Cindy's minds were almost working in synchronization with each other.
One was experiencing the same emotional pestering just as the other was until both of them decided to take a step ahead and come face to face with their destiny and do the needful.
Almost simultaneously both Cindy and Benjamin raised their head, not to look at the vast mansion in front of them but to look deep into each other's eyes where this time, both of them could witness a hint of determination in each other's eyes, a determination to undertake the task they have set out for when they left their home today in the morning.
Cindy broke eye contact with Benjamin and immediately turned to face Martha who had been waiting for either of her parents to respond to what she said a while ago. "Martha, dear, it is time.
We must go inside that house now" her mother said. Benjamin turned towards Martha after what he heard from Cindy saying to Martha, "No, you won't come with us inside the house.
First, your mother and I will go inside and then after sometime, I will come outside to take you inside with me" said Benjamin. Cindy was perplexed upon hearing this but for some reason, gave an implied impression to Benjamin's suggestion.
Cindy thereby placed her hand on top of Martha's and slowly caressed her daughter's hand. "Martha," – said Cindy – "it's going to be as vicious for us as it is going to be for you.
In the end, everything will be fine and you too would hopefully understand what made us do what we are about to do now.
Just do not have any hard feelings for us. Martha flipped her hand on which Martha had placed her hand upon so as to hold her mother's hand. She held her tight with a firm grip and said,
"Mommy, I cannot say how I would handle the situation since I do not know even the tiniest of the information in the first place. Except that we are not going to go back to our village for a very long time, if not at all.
Moreover, I am comfortable if you two do not feel good enough to share the insights of this trade or whatsoever with me.
I am comfortable mommy, so long as I am with the two of you. I am comfortable with living off at a secluded place, for home is where I can have the presence of both of you" Martha smiled after saying what she felt would comfort her mother and give her strength in undertaking the task at hand.
On the contrary, hearing such mature words from her mother, Cindy got on the brink of collapsing into tears but somehow controlled herself.
She although had gotten teary-eyed but when Benjamin put his hand on Cindy's shoulder; she was signaled to not get drifted along with her emotions and remain strong. Cindy promptly turned to the front to avoid looking at Martha.
Further, she didn't want her to observe the tears in her eyes waiting to roll down her cheeks.
Despite that, Martha had already found her mother teary-eyed which led her mood go off the track as well.
"To what extent the undertaking of this trade can impact our lives? I hope everything goes fine" Martha thought to herself.
"It's time to go now Cindy. We must not make any further due" Benjamin said. Cindy obliged to Benjamin's proposal and began to adjust her dress a bit.
Benjamin too, adjusted himself a bit by tucking in his shirt properly and pulling his hairs back.
Having done so, Cindy reached out for the glove box and extracted some papers from there.
Martha had been keenly observing the activities of the two of them and noticed when her mother drew those papers out.
She began to wonder if she had seen those papers earlier but to no avail of her memory.
She couldn't recall her mother ever making a remark of these papers earlier in the trip.
Then a thought struck her. She indeed had observed something kept in the glove box. "But those weren't papers but a small envelope" Martha thought as she remembered somewhere during the day when she took a glimpse at an envelope in the glove box.
She also vividly remembered there was nothing in that glove box except those envelopes.
"But how come those papers made it to the glove box.
She was bewildered.
Cindy quickly extracted the papers and closed the glove box.
Benjamin set open the door for himself and got out of the car. He shut the door and moved to the other side of the car.
He reached close to the door of the motor car to the side of which sat Cindy.
He opened the door for her and Cindy got out of the car.
As soon as she got out of the car, he shut the door behind her.
The moment both of them left the car, Martha anxiety grew but Martha managed to resort to a composed state of mind.
She had resolved to a practice she could adapt to when there is no sort of resource available with her and she is all by herself.
She just needs to take a deep breath.
Deeply breathing – she had discovered – seem to help her gain consciousness and be attentive of the surroundings around her.
"Deep breathing is the key" she thought.
Not even Cindy and Benjamin have taken even a couple of steps away from the car that Martha called out for her in a low tone, "Mommy Daddy" Both of them turned behind them to face Martha.
"Please come fast and take me along with you.
I do not know how long I will be able to bear this silence without the presence of the two of you" Cindy advanced slowly towards Martha, bent forward a bit and brought her own face closer to Martha's.