ICON OF THE FIGHT

Chapter 45

Discombobulated, I could not think of what to do with my hands when the big man embraced me. I just stood there, encased in the president's warm hug.

He released me and took a step back, his eyes swimming in unshed tears. "Son, you have no idea how worried we all were."

"Um... Why...what is going on?" I addressed the question to both the president and Chido.

President Saizi looked a question at Chido, who shrugged and said, "The subject did not come up, Mr President."

"What subject!?" I demanded, getting increasingly confused by the minute.

Saizi sighed. "Please, take a seat."

We joined him on the bench, Chido on my left and him on the right. He was silent for a stretch of time, his jaw working and his mouth set. Then he sat back and looked at me.

"Twenty-eight years ago, when I was still rising through the party ranks, I had an affair with one of my secretaries. I was married to my late wife then and I tried to be careful. Our affair was supposed to be just that, an affair. But, we fell in love, hard. Instead of ending our liaison, we kept going on. When she became pregnant, I was ecstatic. My wife and hadn't been able to conceive even after seven years of trying. I planned on divorcing my wife and later marrying LIiosa. But before that could happen, I was nearly killed during an attempted assassination on the then president. I was badly injured, and I spent an entire year out of the country being put back together by American doctors. When I came back, I was promoted and was deployed out of Badara for fifteen years. I came back when I was nominated for vice president. Then my wife passed, leaving me a widower. That's when I started actively looking for LIiosa. I found her, she was no longer in government employ. She was working for an NGO in the capital city."

Saizi paused, running a hand over his bald tome. He stared off into the distance, his thoughts obviously churning.

"She was a shadow of her former self," he continued. "The job she was doing didn't pay much, and she had stopped taking care of herself. It was like she was waiting for something big to happen. And it did. I had never stopped loving her and when I found out where she was I went to see her.

"She told me she had given birth to a baby boy, that she had became a junkie and as a result, the state had taken our son away when he was four.

"While we rekindled our relationship, we began looking for our child. It took us two years to track him down. He had been adopted out of foster care and was being raised by a good, ordinary family. The Kitos had lost their second born child and had adopted you, bringing you up as their own."

I was shaking my head before he finished speaking. I knew my father and mother. And I had had a big brother, who was a soldier. He had died in the early day of the civil war. My parents had died six years ago, leaving me the apartment I stayed in. This...this story by the president was a lie...a

"We had DNA tests done," Saizi said, as if he'd read my mind. "You're my biological son and my wife, Lliosa, is your mother."

"All due respect, sir, she is not!" I retorted.

Saizi looked pained. "I understand, son... Josphat, believe me, I do. As far as you are concerned, we are strangers who happen to give birth to you. Being parents is more than the act of giving birth."

"Damn right!" I said, anger making me raise my voice. "James and Mary Kito were there for me, every time. They didn't treat me any different from Alex. I didn't have any suspicion that I wasn't their biological child. They had a hard life, were extremely poor but they were my parents. What have you ever done for me?" I turned to Chido. "As for you, Chido, I trusted you, believed in you. Now this? I'm disappointed."

I stood up and ran out of the church, tears blinding me. I leaned against the outside wall, trying to catch a breath, trying to ease the pounding of my head and attempting to soothe the ache in my heart. Everything was a lie. Everything I thought I knew about myself was not true. I wasn't sure what I felt exactly but I knew I was hurting.

The only person I trusted was Farai, my son. I loved him more than anything in the world and the thought calmed me down a bit. I could try and run away from this but that would be no solution. The only way to get clarity was to face it and deal with it like a man.

The door opened and Chido stepped out, closing it behind her. With her uncanny senses, she headed in my direction.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Jos," she said softly. "That was one subject I didn't know how to breach."

I took a deep breath and mumbled something.

"You ok?" she asked.

I looked around us. The hilltop was the highest point for miles and had the best views. To the east, lay the silver surface of the Rhizi Dam, stretching all the way to the northern horizon in twists and zigzags, like a piece of broken mirror glass. Atop its wall ran the bridge they had crossed on the way here, seeming like a dark grey ribbon from this elevation and distance. To the west and south was a green sea of crops, dotted with islands of compounds and crisscrossed by spiderwebs of overhead irrigation pipes. A breeze blew westward, bringing with it a melange of smells from maize, wheat and corn crops as well as a variety of legume plants, tubers and vegetables. A chill from the dam rode on the breeze.

"Do you know how crazy this situation is?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. "The president is my father."

"Biological," Chido interjected.

"Real," I countered automatically, then let out a dry laugh.

"Don't think to much about it, Jos," she said. "When he saw you, you saw how happy and relieved he was? I heard it in his voice."

"Yeah, he practically jumped and engulfed me in a hug."

"Do you realize what that means?  He is genuinely concerned about you. When he first gave me that assignment, he wanted me to wrap you up in a bubble and bring you straight here. I convinced him that would not work. You should have heard the First Lady begging me."

"How's she like?"

"Your mother is a good person. Not the strongest, but considerate."

"So when do I meet her? My mother?" It was strange to say those words out loud.

"Your old man will take you to her, after you talk for a bit."

"You're not coming with me?" I asked, suddenly feeling lonely.

"You will be fine, Jos," Chido assured me. "Besides, I have some errands to run."