MVUTO

chapter 37 - reverse harems are only a fantasy

A phone call from Elixir informed Mvuto of his arrival in town. The collection of plans for the vacant properties were in his hands. Elixir wished to see Mvuto in person and gave him temporary accommodation details for his stay. Of course, nothing but the best for Elixir, the penthouse suite, which he promptly filled with air purifiers. "ah, that's better! What was that awful smell? A poorly cleaned up drug bust? That's the picture the smell invoked in my head!"

Ignoring Elixir's rant, James turned the kettle on and prepared filtered water for their tea.

"what backward country is this, that I can't have all the ingredients for my tea?!" Elixir continued whinging, watching James pour a b-grade tea. They would have arrived sooner instead of enduring an intrusive cavity and bag search if the sniffer dog hadn't sat next to Elixir. James had abstained from drinking their special tea, but Elixir had difficulty all week prior to their cross-continent flight.

"ugh! It may as well just be boiled water!" Elixir put his teacup back on the saucer, "James, I need a distraction immediately!"

"you may just need rest instead, you could be suffering jet-lag."

"don't argue with me, darling bottoms up", he purred.

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a quick step into the future -

the tendering process for design and construction was finalised between Elixir and Mvuto. The job was awarded to Mvuto's uncle without him truly knowing for whom he was designing the architectural plans. Demolition and construction began immediately after council approval of the plans. The bottom floor of the carpark will be Mvuto's contact with the grid to recharge and link with the ethereal ley lines. A unique service doorway for the elevator doubled as the secret entrance. A fake door was in the stairwell of the fire escape for that level. These specs weren't in the original plans. They were added after the keys were handed over a year later. During construction, Elixir established his own business in the countryside, with a branch office eventually opening in the new building. The private business of fertility and IVF specifically fashioned for gender selection adjoined a branch of a subsidiary company dedicated to holistic well-being and anti-ageing. Collectively the company name "Abstergent Laboratory" was selected and voted on mainly due to Elixir not owning the rights to his own name for use as a business logo, much to his displeasure. - end of the quick step.

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Many students, primarily public high schoolers, picked up casual jobs during the holidays. Which meant a few locals walked home from work, especially weekends after the last mode of public transport had already rolled past their stop. Mvuto had his duty roster for the weekends planned out, quietly stalking the stalker and surveying points of interest the police often cruised by. Mvuto kept a low profile while on the street. There were a few weird reports to police about stalkers suddenly being afraid of their own shadows but not much else besides for the police to go on or link to priors. Women were remarking on social media about how much safer they felt, although baffled by the odd behaviour of strange men on the streets at night. It's all fun and games for Mvuto until someone directs his attention to a weapon. Removing the weapon with a sleight of hand along with wallets, Mvuto converted the items into tree decorations using a little piece of jute string hung from an old tall tree in the local park. A red ribbon was attached to the things tied with the word 'stalker' burned onto a finger-length slice of bamboo. On various other branches hung the same little sign swinging alone in the wind. A week passed before anyone noticed the decorated tree due to the height of the branches and only because an irate twitcher with binoculars looked up to see a rare bird scared off by the strange fruit.

Some local police assembled at the base of the tree to assess the fluttering chimes. A cherry picker was brought in, and the items were bagged. Remaining were the signs in awkward locations too risky to reach for. In due process, the wallet's contents were itemised, and the owners brought in for questioning. Asked of their whereabouts on the date and time, handwritten on the slip of paper conveniently slipped into the wallet by Mvuto. They all gave a similar answer – 'dropped on the way home from work' and when asked, no one knew how their wallets ended up a tree attached to a 'stalker' pendant. Those whose wallet was all that was retrieved were released from custody. The weaponised wallet owners were detained a little longer.

"Any evidence on the tree as to how the monkey got up there?" the chief asked a subordinate.

"nothing recent, just old wounds from climbing spikes when dead branches were pruned last year"

"hmmm, so you're saying it was really a monkey who wrote those notes and decorated the tree for the holiday season?"

"I'll check the handwriting, sir."

"you do that."

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During the week, Brian acquired a position beside his bro and Jake on the assembly line at their factory.

"so, what are you gonna buy with your first paycheck?" Jake asked at the canteen table.

"a bucket of condoms", came the terse reply.

"what!" Rowan and Jake exclaimed in unison.

"My honeymoon was interrupted. I'm now a man on a mission," declared the determined Brian.

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"so this is one of the boys from your harem?" Mariana's boss rudely acknowledged Juan. They had met before. Whenever school holidays were on, Juan would help out with cleaning, mixing chemicals and prepping rooms. The beauty salon provided various services to its clients ranging from waxing, manicuring, pedicuring, hair styling and makeup, even spray-tanning during summer. All these services required practice to perfect and often on themselves, but during the school holidays... well, it can only be said that poor Juan knows from experience at least some of the pain women endure. The establishment was women-only. As soon as Juan entered the premises, he was pounced on for beauty rehab. After a day of resting at home, on the second day of the working week, Juan was transformed into Juanita in a wig, makeup, clinician uniform and ...padding.

"don't bother Brian!" Mariana chastised, "you'll chase him off if you're too clingy!"

The sullen Juanita put his phone back in his pocket.

"Let him call you when he has the time", Mariana consoled.

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Not long into the day, Brian did call for a quick chat. Mariana suggested Juan take a pic of them both to send and asked which one was Juanita.

The look on Brian's face was priceless, according to Rowan, who was sneaking a sideways glance at him and the phone.

Seated in a random chair outside, Brian dropped his head and folded his arms on his lap.

"what's suddenly wrong with you?" Rowan asked.

"I've got a stiffy!" Brian whispered.

"well, at your age, it's expected. Even the littlest thing will do that..." Rowan chuckled, annoying Brian with his nonchalant attitude to this dire predicament.

"you could have warned me!" Brian roused at his bro.

"your coat will cover it... you're not going commando, are ya?"

Brian shook his head.

"good ... straighten up and get back to work inside, breaks over", Rowan gestured to the service door through which they had escaped the noisy grind. Not permitted to have a phone in their pockets even while on the factory floor, employees kept them in their lockers. Closing time was the last chance during the day for Brian to respond with a pic of himself in a hairnet and lab coat back to his sweethearts.

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"so that's the other member of your harem", the boss lady confirmed.

Shana too peeked at the pic, "tsk, I used to think reverse harems were only a whimsical fantasy".