My Son

Just Doesn't Stop

"We should check Ella's house" I suggest but Tendai wants to wait a while before worrying his new love interest. He already spoke to Ella but intentionally avoided letting her in on Asa's missing status

"She would've told me if our child was with them" he concluded.

Asa better show up from wherever he is lest I end up in prison for playing the disciple role.

T
"Asanda is street smart and clever. Nothing can happen to him. Relax, he'll show up when he's ready" The priest says passively, reminding me of Zanda's phone call days before. Why he's made himself available for my son's upbringing is beyond me. Frustrating even.

I suspect he wants to make up for missing out on raising Zanda and I but I genuinely don't give two sh*ts. It's taking a lot to not divert my emotions from worrying about my son to telling him to get lost. This is a family matter, I wanted to say but we all know Catherin will easily argue that.
I can't help but recall all the times he showed up with mom to our school concerts, games and random special occasions. Back then we loved it, thinking our spiritual father cared about his church people. Felt special even. I can't think about it now without getting pissed off. I hate talking about it, so let's stop here.

A part of me is linking Asanda's disappearance to his outburst at his tenth birthday. A fellow-learner could've bullied or tortured him to running away. I've seen how cruel school kids can be and it's the most disturbing thing to witness. To be fair, most of it is never local. It's commonly American news, stories, films and television shows. But still, I can't help but fear the worst. And as if on cue about the fear part, he starts talking again.

"Naturally, our minds will think of the worst because that's how a human mind is wired. Our brains are designed to give us the worst case scenario because the brain wants to protect you. That's all your mind is doing; protecting you by making you fear so you can run or avoid danger. It's a wonderful but bad human trait that can be traced back to our ancestry"

Does he have an off button?

"Wow Archie that is so insightful. Where'd you learn that?" Catherine's embellished with caramel voice heightens my discomfort. I also catch Zanda's eyes rolling and find solace in having someone who shares my sentiments in this situation.

"I enrolled myself in a lot of trainings in my early years of priesthood. I had bigger dreams of becoming an academic although I knew I had the responsibility of becoming a man of the cloth. The study of human behaviour fascinated me from a very young age so I immersed myself in all classes that touched on the subject...."

"Can I please have a private moment with you, Zanda." I say making my way to the dining room.

"Sure" he responds already on his feet.

"Yes, Archie you were saying you immersed yourself...."

Gosh, Catherine. I can't. I really can't.

*****

Sitting next to Asanda's messy table of puzzles, Zanda and I decide to not waste time talking about Mom and him. I see Asanda has managed to put together two pictures of the puzzle but I'm too worried to pay attention to that. We discuss all possible places a child could be at. We travel back to our early years and discuss what we were involved in at his age. I know it's a long shot seeing as so many things have changed since then but we have to try. Try every possible scenario.

The child already suffered public humiliation on his birthday and spreading his missing status on social media was going to be our last resort. It's been four hours and we'd given each other a five-hour deadline and I could hear my heart beat rate increasing with each minute that passed. He'll be back. He has to. I just found him and his mother and losing them is not an option. Asa's presence is also the bait I'm using to try convince Ella to consider becoming my woman. If anything happens to him...