MATHONGA

Chapter 48

MATHONGA
Forty-eight

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KHOTHAMA-

He is going to be a father soon, nothing else matters at this moment but that. It’s really nothing new because word has it that he has fathered many kids in Umlazi and neighbouring towns, ask him about it and he will deny it and swear on his mother whose face is nothing but a distant memory.
He doesn’t have a steady job, but he is the definition of a hustler. Going to bed with an empty stomach is foreign to him, poverty is something he does not like. Fake it till you make it, that’s the moto he lives by.
You’d never find him in washed out clothes or hand-me-downs. Life outside his father’s premises is what he mostly dreams of, he’d leave if his father were strong enough to bear his absence.
Bopha means the world to him, that’s why he abandoned his girlfriend Zilile at her mother’s house after receiving a message from Ntaba telling him to check on his father. He walks around without protection, although he has Ongezwa Sangweni's blood on his hands. His raised eyebrow and poker face daring anyone to touch him.
He’s driving Muphumuzi’s old Nissan Langely, friends who borrow each other’s cars die together.
Bopha is usually sitting on the veranda reading a paper or just watching people passing by, not today. Khothama’s heart does a high jump, he doesn’t want to think the worst. He shuts the door and runs through the gate shouting his father’s name. Yeah, disrespectful.
Ringo and Cynthia must have heard the commotion because they come running and barking at their master. Thethelela scurries out of the house dressed in nothing but a silky robe. Shock is very much evident on her face.

“Khothama, what… what are you doing here?” Her words run together, crashing between her lips.
“Where is my father?” He’s not the cheerful Khothama she knows, but a beast that would rip her head off if she makes one stupid mistakes.
Tears! Women learned this technique from the devil himself. Look at her wailing like she’s going to dress like a widow all her life.
“Thethelela, where is my father?” He barks because really, she’s wasting his time with her cries. He’d roll his eyes, but that’s too much work for a man like him.
Thethelela flinches and points towards the house, he doesn’t ask anymore questions but runs into the house. Mrs. Khanyile is left alone, checking the gate for any expensive SUV driven by a giant whose surname is also Khanyile. Where is that idiot? She was sure he was going to come.
Inside the house, Bopha is laying on the kitchen floor, eyes closed and mouth ajar—he resembles a dead pig. Khothama discontinues his escapades, heart wanting to stop pumping.

“Baba!” Is first whispered, he takes a step closer— the second one makes him brave. He’s kneeling before his father, checking his pulse point. There’s a little pulse, weak but it’s there, a sigh of relief plunges from his chest. Thethelela walks in while he’s talking to the paramedics. She keeps her eyes on Bopha, biting her lower lip in anticipation.
“Is he dead?” The question comes after Khothama’s call, he frowns at her. Why would she ask like she’s expecting it? 
“What happened here?” Now here’s a thing about Khothama Khanyile, he’s like the Mexican Chilli Simba chips, tasty but cuts your tongue like a razor. He’s not the right person to have on your bad side.
“I don’t know,” the tears return with a mission to impress, they brought snort this time. “We were talking and he suddenly fell, I thought he was having a heart attack.”
Meanwhile, he is as strong as a horse. Khothama stands, scrutinising her under his dark gaze.
“I’m going to ask you again,” there is something sinister about the eyes that are watching her. Thethelela is standing in silence, body shuddering, it must be the way Khothama is glaring at her. 
“What happened to my father?” He asks again, treading closer to her. With every step she takes away from him, he takes one towards her. Before she knows it, he’s standing so intimidatingly close. Caging her with his heated eyes.
“Khothama… I… my husband is…” She’s a good crier, this one.
“Your husband is not dead, now tell me what happened to him.”
“I told you, I don’t know. We were talking and the next thing he was on the floor unable to breathe.
A cold smirk stretches on Khothama’s mouth, he gives her space by stepping back. A loud whistle from him and Cynthia and Ringo hurtle into the house. Khothama bends as he grabs their collars, his gaze engrossed on Thethelela who is now trembling with fear.
“Do you want me to do this the easy way or the hard way?” He continues patting the dogs.
There is a threat in his eyes and it has Thethelela crying out loud. Khothama can easily turn the dogs against her.
“Ple… please. I swear I don’t know what happened.”
“You know, Cynthia hasn’t had any meat this week. I’m sure she would love to taste some.” That’s it, it’s time to send the Khanyile brothers back to where they came from. The moon or something because wow…
Thethelela is good at this crying thing, more tears mean a salty meal for Cynthia. Who wants steak without salt anyway?
Khothama is not buying it, he waits for her to finish crying. It’s not happening, she will cry until Jesus knocks at her door.
Saved by the ambulance siren, she runs out of the house to welcome the paramedics. Khothama can’t imagine what could’ve happened to his father, he sets his dogs free and checks on his father once again. Good, he’s still alive—barely.