Chapter Five

Her next challenge was to upset the man she would have sacrificed anything for before this, and to completely separate herself from him: her father, Samuel Isaacs. It took Maya six months to actually figure out a plan to make her way into becoming a true ALC member. She planned to stage a fight with him, one that would be bad enough that it would give her an excuse to leave the house forever.

            Samuel never knew what would come at him. He was busy making complaints to the police and school authorities concerning her abrupt disappearance from home. They weren’t able to trace her because of how distant Craig’s abode was. Being a less-troubled, low crime Durban outskirt, this afforded Maya the time to think about what she would do to separate from her ‘first love’.

During this six month period, Maya was at Craig’s place, with the intention of staying with him for a long time. She knew the time had come to unleash what she had been planning--to slap her father without reason. Doing this, she believed, would cause her dad to beat the living daylights out of her. And this would afford her the very opportunity to call Ms. Diana’s cell phone number. The rest would be history! She would have her freedom to live the Alternative Lifestyle in order to reach her destiny.

“I am beginning to sense I’m on the right track to fulfilling my destiny,” Maya thought, lying down on the sofa in her father’s living room. “It’s about time this young girl grew up and took her destiny into her own hands. Now I see that my dad is nothing but a liar. He has been deceiving me all this time!” She frowned as she thought of how sheltered she had been all of her life, and the anger grew.

Along with the anger came the formulation of a plan. “I know—I’ll stage a quarrel that will get him to throw me out of the house. This way, I’ll gain the freedom to pursue my destiny.”

She jumped up off the sofa and paced the room, muttering to herself. “In the first place, my dad is keeping me in the dark, not telling me the truth about myself and caging me in the name of moral training.” She stood with her hands on her hips and raged at a spot on the wall, pretending that her dad was in front of her. “To be candid, I am sick and tired of your crap! If not for the ALC’s influence, I’d still be in this bondage called morality!

She shook her head wildly. “Oh my God, I’ve been imprisoned! But one thing I know for sure is that my freedom has come! I’m free! Free! Following Ms. Diana’s instructions, I will have to wait till my dad comes home so that I can take the fight to him.” Maya chuckled humorlessly. “First, I’ll ‘welcome’ him with a couple of slaps to his cheeks. And I know he will repay me….But the results will be in my power, and I will call Ms. Diana afterward!”

 Indeed, the time came. Samuel eventually came home…but was greeted by a couple of slaps to his face. He staggered back in alarm.

“What the hell has come over you, Maya?” Samuel asked angrily, rubbing his face where she’d slapped him.

“Get lost, Dad!” Maya retorted.

His face turned red, and he roared, “Maya, you’re telling your dad to get lost? I’ll teach you how to get lost instead!” He came at her with fists raised.

After he was through with her, Maya found herself bleeding profusely from the head down. At a bitter price, Maya had gotten what she wanted. She ran to her room and dialed Ms. Diana to come to her house to see what had happened.

 Just as Samuel was about to take his daughter to the nearby Johnson and Mark Hospital, Ms. Diana, in the company of Craig, her lawyers and some policemen, came to arrest Samuel on grounds of child abuse. Maya was rushed to the hospital, where she was admitted for several days and to receive preferential treatment, courtesy of Ms. Diana’s influence.

While Maya was in the hospital, Samuel was accused of child abuse at the Durban Magistrate Court. He was charged with a fine of 10,000 Rands, and in addition he had to give her the freedom to choose who she wanted to live with, until she deemed it appropriate to return to living with him.

This was the very first time that Samuel’s lawyer, Tracy Brooks, had ever lost a case in a court of law. She was left with no options, other than to throw in the towel of defeat. Samuel pleaded guilty to the charge, agreed to pay the fine, and accepted the condition. His life would never be the same.

But for Maya, it was the start of a new life. The road to her destiny was at her fingertips.

The money paid for the fine was designated to Ms. Diana’s ALC for Juveniles of Broken Homes, through her connections. The ALC was able to use the money to fund Maya’s final year of secondary school studies, her exams, and other academic activities she was involved in. Maya officially moved in with Craig on the outskirts of Durban, with the approval of the courts. There, she was able to finish her secondary school education. She passed her Cambridge General Certificate Examinations in the month of January 2000. However, the certificate didn’t matter to her at the time, and going further in education was of no importance to her. In her opinion,  “The ALC will give me what I crave for in life, which is to find my destiny by living the alternative lifestyle as a juvenile…It has the answer to who I am, really…Strange it is but it’s nothing but the TRUTH.