Uninvited Guests

Uninvited Guests

Guests are pests, at least so I thought when I saw a large number of guests in our house. Some were known, but some were quite unknown to all of us. We had never seen them, never thought of them. Have you even heard or experienced so many guests at your house, without any notice, letter, telegram or telephones?

It was last Christmas when this happened. We were all invited for lunch at a friend’s house. My mother was unwell but she accompanied us for company’s sake. The man folk had finished their food and the ladies were about to begin when our servant came running to ask for the house keys. He also told us that a large number of guests had arrived. I was very happy because I had no friends to play with but unwell and was not informed by the guests. We had only one servant, so all the load would 

come to her.

When we reached the house, some guests were relaxing with their legs on the house, and some guests were relaxing with their legs on the table and heads on the embroidered cushions. Children were playing the music system. The number of people who had come were so many, that some of them, I was meeting for the first time. My mother asked me to prepare tea and some snacks for them. After having tea they left the cups near the table and chairs and the floor was strewn with pieces of snacks for them. After having tea they left the cups near the table and chairs and the floor was strewn with pieces of snacks left by the children. Instead of helping us in cleaning everything they announced threat they were going to the market for shopping. Furious with anger, I and my mother cleaned the living room. We sent the servant to buy vegetables for dinner. My mother in spite of her illness began to cook the evening meal. I tried to help as much as possible.

The guest returned at dinner time and had a hearty meal. They announced that since it was very late at night, they would be leaving only the next morning. That meant that we had to make arrangement for their night stay. We did not have so many beddings and asked the servant to borrow from some from our neighbors. Now the beds were insufficient for so many people. So my father asked us to vacate the bedroom for the guests and move into the leaving room. We set the beddings on the floor for ourselves and the guests slept on the beds. Late at night our servant informed us that the water tank had become empty and so the next morning we had to take buckets and bring water from the hand pump nearby.

By the time our guests left we were totally exhausted and did not have any strength left. My mother had developed fever and the servant complained of body pain. The uninvited guests had caused so much inconvenience and problem to us. Whenever we go somewhere we should always inform the hosts of our programme in advance so that adequate arrangements can be made and everyone can enjoy the stay.