My maid stole her compatriot's mobile phone.

I have always believed that people are generally good and I normally give a person the benefit of the doubt unless I have reason to doubt his honesty or integrity. Therefore I was quite incredulous when my next-door neighbour's maid Vicky accused my maid Satikihen of stealing her mobile phone. I thought the two were such good friends and saw nothing sinister about two maids being on friendly terms with each other. As it turned out, they were from the same province. I did not even think about one visiting the other when we employers and our children were out. Until recently, that is.

When my neighbour Vicky's employer Jean reported to me what Vicky had said about her mobile and how sure she was that Satikihen had stolen it, I at first dismissed the accusation as some baseless nonsense, for how could Satikihen sneak next door to steal something without being found out. If there was no one home, surely the apartment would be locked! And if Vicky was home, how could she not detect Satikihen stealing her mobile phone?

Nevertheless, as Jean has always been very nice and friendly, I thought there was no harm in letting Vicky come in to take a look! That would satisfy her that I was not harbouring a thief.

So I sent Satikihen out on an errand that would keep her away for at least an hour and soon Vicky was searching for her mobile. I thought that she would want to look in Satikihen's room first, which prompted me to send the latter on an errand in the first place. But no, she went straight to the kitchen and began to look in the most unlikely places - under the kitchen sink, in the kitchen cabinet and, of all places, my rice bin. It took all of five minutes, maybe, and soon she took out a fairly new mobile phone out of the rice bin where it had been buried! It was really uncanny! Apparently where these two women came from, people do indeed hide things in the rice.

I was shocked! When Satikihen returned, I confronted her, but she denied it all. She sounded so convincing that had I not known better I would have believed her. Then I realised for the first time that my innocent and charming Satikihen was an accomplished liar. Then it dawned on me, that she might have stolen from me too.

Unsuspecting