Phakade Lami (My Forever)

Chapter 5

Zimele Is Sitting Alone In His Apartment That Looks Like A Big But With The Strangest Curtains As Everything Is Black And White.
He Sits Down On The Sofa And Remembers The Way, Hector Was Crying Nonstop Yesterday After Hearing The Lose Of His Father, And That’s When His Door Quickly Opens Leaving Him Startled And When The Person Comes To The Living Room, It Is Nganono.

Zimele : (He Let’s Out A Sharp Sigh, Holding The Centre Of His Huge Chest As He Is Only Wearing A White Vest And Shorts) I Always Tell You To Either Knock Or Call To Inform That You Are Coming Because One Of These Days, You Will Find Someone Walking Naked In This House.

Nganono : Fine!!, No Need To Go All Full Beast Mode On Me But I Have An Ask (He Moves To Sit Next To Him, Looking At His Brother With An Examining Eye) What’s Eating You Up And Please Don’t Lie To Me, After All I Have Been Doing Weird Stuff For You... So Tell Me... Talk To Me.

Zimele : I Am Tired Of Ubaba Using Me To Satisfy His Own Goals, I Mean... I Am His Son But Nonetheless Should He Use Me To Destroy Other People, You Should Have Seen How Hector Cried For His Own Father, How He Spoke To Me With So Much Pain And I Could Not Do Anything... I Couldn’t Tell Him That My Own Father Killed His Father Without Mercy, All Because Of A Stupid Document.... That We Don’t Know Pertains To What.

Nganono : You Know What My Baby Brother, I Can See That Truly You Are Hurt But It’s Not Because You Hate Ubaba, It’s Because You Have Fallen For The Boy And You Have Fallen Very Hard, And This Is Shocking Because You Never Mix Business With Pleasure, You Always  Have That Playboy Look, You Get Them To Love You Without You Loving Them Back But Somehow This Boy Has Gotten You To Love Him Before You Can Make Him Love You.

Zimele : (He Let’s Out A Sigh) I Feel He Is The One, The One I Was Promised For, The One I Was Told That Is Going To Grow Old With Me...

Nganono : Alright... And If He Is The One, You Will Know When He Gets The Special Visit.

Zimele : (He Let’s Out A Sigh) I Hope So Because Apart From His Brown Eyes That Can Make Any Person Lose Their Mind, He Looks Exactly Like Mom, It’s As If He Is Her Male Version.

Nganono : (He Looks Like He Is Just To Clear The Confusion) Well I Hate To Break It To You But What Ubaba, What Do You Think About Him, Will He Allow You To Marry The Son Of A Man He Killed, Will He Allow You Have The “Animated Happily Ever After”.

Zimele Looks Straight To The Television And Tells His Brother That “I Don’t Know”, Ending Their Conversation In Silence.

Meanwhile Hector Is Sitting On The Chair, Whilst Some Of The Church Women Sit On The Mattress And Hum To Their “Church Songs”.
As He Sits Quiet, He Remembers The State He Found His Father’s Body In At The Mortuary And How He Was Shedding Tears Like Water.
Suddenly He Is Brought Out Of His Space, When He Hears A Familiar Voice, He Quickly Runs To Check It And To His Amaze, It’s MmeMoichela And His Step Older Sister, Phuti.

MmeMoichela : (As She Balances Her Hand On Her Daughter, With Her Eyes Directly On Him, She Tells Him That) So You Decided To Host The Funeral And Everything In My Absence, So That Whatever Amount Given To You By The Church Or People, You Keep It And Eat It Yourself.

Hector : (He Let’s Out A Sigh) That’s Not True, We Only Found The Hospital That You Were In Yesterday At Night And As We Wanted To Come And See You Today... That’s When We Got The News That Papa Passed Away.

Phuti : (She Let’s Out A Laugh) Shame, So What Do You Want Us To Do, Cry For Your Shameless Father That Was Probably Killed Because He Owed Some Mashonisa (Loaner) Money..

Kedibone : (She Slowly Moves From The Back Of Hector, Leaving Her Siblings Behind And Immediately Her Eyes Fall On Her Mother And Sister) That’s Enough... You Didn’t Escape The Bushes Of Limpopo To Come And Deprive Us Of Joy... Okay (Phuti Looks At Her In Shock And Quickly Turns To Their Mother) No Need To Look At Her, We Are Here For Dad’s Funeral... If You Guys Have A Problem... Don’t Involve My Brother Or Us, Because Unlike Both Of You... Papi No... Ma (Hector Looks At Her In Shock) Is Much Better Than Both Of You.. Now Let’s Go In.

Hector Slowly Carries Thato Who Was Behind Him And Moves To The Living Room With His Siblings, Leaving His Mother And Sister Behind At The Entrance And As They Sit Down On The Chairs, MmeMoichela Quickly Enters With Her Daughter And Tells The Women In Anger To Move From Her Mattress And This Causes A Small Chaos In The Living Room As She Rains Insults On Them, Making Some Of The Women To Leave.
It Quickly Soon Dawn’s On Hector That He Has A Long Day Ahead Of Him In This Family.

On The Other Side Of Town, At The Dlamini Home, All Of Bab’Dlamini’s Children Are Seated Around The Table And One Can See The Big Black Bags In Front Of Them.
All Of Them Stare Each Other In Suspense But One Can See That Nkosi Has Anger, Pain And Hatred In His Eyes As He Thinks About What Bab’Hlophe Told Him Whilst Drinking Whiskey At The Place Where They Were Keeping Eden.

Bab’Hlophe : Don’t Expose Anything To Your Father Or Any Of Your Brothers, Until Zimele Is Soon Taken To Prison With Your Brothers Following Him Soon After.

Nkosi : I Will Do Exactly That Sir And Now That Mulalo Has Gone Forth To Place The Seed In That Detective’s Head, I Believe That The Plan Is Finally Coming Together, I Will Get My Revenge And You Will Get Yours Too.

They Both Smile And Hit Their Glasses In Agreement, And That’s When Nkosi Comes Out Of His Thoughts And Sees His Father Entering With Mukuna Behind Him, Making All Of Them To Stand Up.
Bab’Dlamini Slowly Sits Down At The Helm Of The Table, With Mukuna Standing Behind Him  And As Zimele’s Eyes Meet With His Eyes, Mukuna Quickly Looks The Other Way, Making Nganono To Notice The Stare.

Bab’Dlamini : (He Then Clearly His Throat) You May All Sit Down (They All Sit Down) I Wanted To Hand Over The Share Of The Heist To Everyone Equally Without Any Favouritism (He Looks At Nkosi Who Is Slowly Scratching His Face That Has Marks With His Left Hand, Making Nkosi To Look At Him Dead In The Face) How You Wish To Spend It... Spend It Wisely... It’s Exactly 10 Million.

They All Open Their Bags But When Nkosi Opens His Own Bag, He Finds A Paper And A Note Written As “Fooled You Twice Bastard”, He Looks At His Father, Who Looks At Him With A Smile.

Bab’Dlamini : So You Think That I Was Going To Give You All Of That Money... When You Almost Ruined The Heist, And Sent Your Brothers To Jail, All Because Of Jealousy... You Ungrateful Bastard.

Nkosi : (He Let’s Out A Chuckle And Mimics His Father’s Deep Voice, Shocking His Father And Brothers) “All Because Of Jealousy” But Didn’t I Apologize, Or Didn’t I Get Enough Marks On My Face For That?

Bab’Dlamini : Well Your Sense Of Disrespect Is In It’s Own Class But That’s Not Enough, I Shared Your Own Share Amongst Your Making Their Accumulated Total..30 Million (Nkosi Looks At Him And His Brothers) And One More Thing I Am Handing Over The Leadership Of The Taxi Business To Zimele (This Announcement Leaves Zimele And Nkosi Shocked But Not Mabutho Or Nganono).

Nkosi : Now That’s Pure Rubbish... First Of All You Keep My Share Away From Me, Now You Put This Young Boy To Lead Me, To Lead (He Looks Around) Us And You Both Agreed To This (Looking At Nganono And Mabutho)... Wow What A Load Of Kak, I’m Out Of Here.

As He Leaves, Bab’Dlamini Stands Up And Tells His Sons To Enjoy The Benefits Of Their Work.
Zimele Looks At Him, Breathing Heavily With So Much Load In His Heart, As He Goes Out Of The Room With Mukuna Behind.

Bab’Dlamini Arrives In His Study And Quickly Asks Mukuna As He Moves To Sit Down, That.

Bab’Dlamini : Ever Since You Came Back From What I Sent You To Do, You Haven’t Told Me What Happened Yet (Mukuna Looks The Other Way) So What Happened At The Hospital, Did You Do What I Said You Should Do (He Shakes His Head, Bab’Dlamini Then Asks Him In A Stern Voice) Then What Happened.

Mukuna : Apparently She Was Transferred To Another Hospital, Due To The Injuries That She Sustained And From There She Was Discharged This Morning.

Bab’Dlamini : Fine But I Don’t Want A Repetition Of This Nonsense Again, When You Get A Job, You Do It Despite The Challenges And Always Aim For A Clean Job.

Mukuna : (He Slowly Nods His Head) Understood Sir.

Bab’Dlamini Dlamini : The Plan Is Already Working Well... Very Well, Zimele Will Spend More Time On The Taxi Business And Trying To Grow It, Whilst You Focus More On Your Mission To Get Those Documents (Mukuna Slowly Nods) Finally Everything Is Coming Together... (He Immediately Smiles That “Devious Smile”).

Meanwhile Mulalo Is On The Computer And Is Busy Typing And Typing, And Immediately He Stands Up And Goes To The Door Of His Small Office, And Slowly Locks His Doors.
He Quickly Brings Out Another Piece Of Paper, That Has All Of Zimele’s Information And He Begins To Type All Of Zimele’s Details, When He Completes It, He Quickly Sends It To Detective’s Nkosana Via email.

Detective Nkosana Receives The Email And Quickly Reads It, After Which He Prints It And Immediately Takes The Paper To The Station Commander And Opens The Door, Startling Her.

Dineo : What Is It That Made You Not To Knock?

Detective : Apologies Ma’am, But I Have Something For You.

Dineo : Well On With It.

Detective : I Believe We Have Found Our Man And Thanks To Mulalo And His Brilliant Tracking Skills, Now The Only Thing That We Need To Do, Is To Get A Warrant.

Dineo : Good, Go For It.

As Detective Nkosana Leaves The Office And Goes Off To Get The Warrant Ready, Mulalo Comes Out Of A Corner That He Was Hiding And Quickly Makes A Call.
He Enters His Office And Quickly Makes A Call To Nkosi, Who Is On The Road Driving And Tells Him That.

Mulalo : I Have Already Set The Plan In Motion, Nkosana Is On His Way To Get The Warrant...Before The End Of Today... Zimele Will Be In Jail.

Nkosi : Very Good, Now Let’s Move To The Second Phase Of The Plan...

Mulalo : Before We Move To The Second Phase, Can We Meet Somewhere Else, I Will Send You The Address... (Nkosi Quickly Agrees Without Hesitation And As Mulalo Cuts The Call, He Shortly Sends Him The Address And When Nkosi Gets It, He Quickly Takes Another Route)

Later On As The Day Moves Closer To The Evening, Zimele Is In His Apartment And He Is Busy Trying To Warm Up The Food That Hector Made, After He Had Carefully Hidden The Money In His Room Under The Bed.
After Warming Up The Food, Zimele Looks At The Food With Such Admiration And Quickly Takes His Phone, After Which He Dials Hector’s Number And Calls Him.

Hector : Hello... Whose This?

Zimele : It’s Me, Ma.....Your Husband...

Hector : Zimele (Immediately Zimele’s Facial Expression Changes And One Can See That Zimele Is On Cloud 9 With The Way Hector Calls His Name, To Him It’s Like An Angel).

Zimele : Yes... I Am Here Ma.

Hector : How Did You Get My Number... And Besides What Do You Want, I’m A Bit Busy... With The Funeral Stuff.

Zimele : I Got Your Number Via My Brother In-laws, They Were Very Helpful And Besides I Want Food And Also You. (Hector Let’s Out A Chuckle), I Am Sorry For Not Coming... I Was Busy At Work.

Hector : It’s No Problems, Anyways I Am Not Cooking Yet, The Kitchen Area Is Pretty Occupied (Zimele Let’s Out A Sigh) But You Can Come... I Will Make Sure They Prepare Something For You, Upon Your Arrival.

Zimele : Really Ma... (He Smiles Like A Young Boy That Has Just Been Promised A Lollipop, And When Hector Agreed To His “Really... Ma”, He Tells Him That) I Will Be On My Way... Thanks Ma.

He Cuts The Call And Turns To The Food That He Had Just Warmed Up, Was Eating Slowly And Quickly Dismisses It.
He Puts On His Clothes And Makes It To The Door After Switching Off All The Unnecessary Lights In His House Except The One In The Doorway/Corridor.
He Opens The Door And Locks It Whilst Standing Outside, And Makes His Way Downstairs, Only For Him To Meet With The Police Officers In The Company Of Detective Nkosana, They Quickly Approach Him And That’s When Zimele Asks Them That.

Zimele : Excuse Me, I Am On My Way To Somewhere, How Can I Help You...

Detective Nkosana : Are You Mr Zimele Dlamini (He Nods With A Yes) Well Then You Under Arrest For The Bank Robbery, (He Motions For The Police To Put The Handcuffs On Him And As They Say His Rights, Whilst Putting The Handcuffs On Him, He Doesn’t Try To Fight Them Or Defend Himself But One Can See The Disbelief On His Face And With That He Is Taken To The Police Van.
They Push Him Inside And Shut The Door Behind Him.

Meanwhile Nkosi Arrives At The Location That Mulalo Sent To Him And Enters This Warehouse That Has Blood All Over The Place, He Looks Around And Tries To Call Mulalo But He Doesn’t Answer.
He Then Turns Around And That’s When Someone Hits Him With A Bottle On His Hand, Making Him To Fail To The Ground Instantly With Blood Flowing From His Fresh Wound That Has Been Created On His Head.
His Body Gets Dragged Away By None Other Than Mulalo Mulaudzi.

Bab’Hlophe Arrives At The Dlamini Family Home And Requests A Meeting With Bab’Dlamini, Of Which He Is Granted By Mukuna.
Mukuna Takes Him From The Gate And Leads Him Inside, All The Way To The Study Of Bab’Dlamini And Upon Their Arrival, Mukuna Shows Him The Seat And As He Takes The Seat.
Bab’Dlamini Enters And Asks Him That.

Bab’Dlamini : To What Do I Owe This Late Invitation, Shouldn’t You Be At Home With Your Numerous Wives.

Bab’Hlophe : (He Stands Up And Gives Him A Hand Shake, After Which They Both Sit Down) Well I Believed You Owed Me, For A Certain Particular Task, (Bab’Dlamini Looks At Him Confusion) After All One Must Never Use Something That Doesn’t Belong To Them, Without Asking.

Bab’Dlamini : (He Looks At Mukuna, Who Is Standing Behind Bab’Hlophe And Then To Him) What Do You Mean... I Need You To Be Very Specific Bab’Hlophe.

Bab’Hlophe : You See.. You Rich People Think That Just Because You Are Rich, You Are Untouchable... Like You Can’t Fail Or Flop...

Bab’Dlamini Immediately Looks At Mukuna And Nods His Head, Mukuna Quickly Holds Bab’Hlophe In The Air And Tells Him That.

Mukuna : Listen Here, You Old Man... You Must Never In Your Life, Never... Talk To The Boss Like That.

Bab’Hlophe : I Understand But It Would Do You Good To Let Go Of Me, Or Else I Will Tell Everyone What Happened To Jerry Masilo And My Taxis.

Mukuna Looks At Bab’Dlamini, And Slowly Puts Him Down, And As Bab’Hlophe Fixes Himself, He Takes The Seat Once Again And Tells Bab’Dlamini That.

Bab’Hlophe : I Know What Happened To Jerry Masilo And Why You Killed Him For A Certain Document Pertaining To The Ownership Of Your Taxis’ (Bab’Dlamini Looks At Mukuna With Shock) I Also Know That You Were Behind My Missing Passengers.

Bab’Dlamini : What Is Your Proof?

Bab’Hlophe : If It’s Not The Identical Bullets That Were Both On Jerry And The Heist, That Belonged To You, Then It Would Be Your Son, Nkosi Dlamini (Bab’Dlamini Slowly Swallows His Spite Painfully) He Told Me Everything Regarding The Heist And The Death Of Jerry Masilo, Of Which I Had Recorded.

Bab’Dlamini : Your Bluffing, They Is Nothing Substantial To Your Accusations..

Bab’Hlophe : Well If This Is Substantial, Zimele Has Been Arrested By The Police For His Involvement In The Heist And Nkosi Is In My Custody... So Unless You Cooperate, I Will Link Up Something Else To Your Other Two Children Pertaining The Murder Of Jerry Masilo, Unless You Give Me What I Want

Bab’Dlamini : What Do You Want?

Bab’Hlophe : I Want Half Of The Money That Your Got From The Heist And By That I Mean 69% Of Everything.... After All You Destroyed My Business’s Reputation Within The Taxi Industry.

Bab’Dlamini Looks At Him With Anger And Hatred And Then Looks At Mukuna, Who Let’s Out A Sharp Sigh, And That’s When Bab’Hlophe Tells Bab’Dlamini That.

Bab’Hlophe : It Very Hard To Eat An Elephant But Very Easy To Eat A Deer/Springbok.... So What Is It Going To Be.... My Way Or The Highway.

©All Rights Reserved By George Osumba.

2022

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