CHAPTER TEN
Z
Tendai's television ad idea is airing tonight and as expected, mom has invited us all to see it together. It's a week day, I'm tired and over worked at my job but I push on. Push on because we were trained early to do so lest we expose hidden things. We had no choice but to complete school and work like ordinary citizens with money problems. I anticipated no problems because I didn't know how exhausting it will be to complain about gas prices going up when I actually didn't care. We're never affected by such.
*****
I can't believe the progress Asa has made on the puzzle. Yes, I'm avoiding the fact that he got assistance from you know who. I thought this would be one huge picture but now I see Asa has completed four picture and there are still over a hundred pieces to be put together. The beautiful picture of nature depicts overgrown grass with cows grazing from afar. There's also an old structure of a broken down face brick house on the top right corner. Nothing special but naturally beautiful.
Cookie placed mouth watering snacks and drinks on the huge coffee table in the TV room and I get hungry from just seeing it. Her famous choc-cookies are also featured on the table and Notho has already received one because she's cute, I think. 'Father' arrives next and gets an excited greeting from Cookie, an look-warm one from me and a apathetic one from Tendai, who I'm seeing for the first time tonight. He and Ella also just arrived but clearly came in through the kitchen door.
"Hi, Zanda" Ella says to me in the sweetest voice that makes me uncomfortable. I coolly smile and nod first before instructing my mind to verbalise the greeting too. "How are you" I finally manage to say and with a wide smile, she says, "I'm still freaked out by your resemblance to Tendai, otherwise all is good". Kelly laughs and only then do I realise, it's also a joke then chuckle a bit. I'm not a chuckler so even that is strange.
The ad is scheduled to play for the first time in an hour and eleven minutes so mom is somewhere in the house making herself look fabulous for it. I know, she's special. Asa and Notho are already having their snacks and I can't help but envy them. As to why we need to wait for mom, pray then wait for the ad while eating, is beyond me. Why do we even have a program for this?
"Hellooo family and welcome"
Wonderful. She's here.
Kelly hugs and complements her designer dress. I must admit, the dress is stunning on mom. Still inappropriate and over the top for a television advert at home but then again, this is Catherine. You all look beautiful she says hugging Tendai and whispering something in his ear. When she's properly greeted everyone, including 'Archie' she has us all join hands and sing a short church song then 'Father' says a short prayer.
Then finally, I get to eat and I waste no time getting to the front of the que. There isn't one really but I'm the first to dig in. Tendai didn't even get to the front of the que because mom pulled him to the kitchen while fake smiling. I wonder what that's about but devour myself in eating while stealing looks at Ella. I completely get why my brother's got the hearts for her. She is a natural beauty. I should be feeling lucky I got with her once but I can't for two reasons. She doesn't know we ever got together and she wasn't on this level ten years ago. She's developed curves in all the right places now and I refuse to admit that I wish Tendai and I had gotten into that shenanigan at this age. I definitely would have enjoyed it now. Back then, all I could think about was if I'm performing at my brother's level or less.
"But no one's judging you for being with him!"
We all stop what we're doing and focus on Tendai's loud statement.
"No! No mom, we're leaving"
I know exactly what just happened but the food's too good so I reach for more hake and calamari while I watch Tendai kiss Notho and Asa goodbye then leading Ella out. Mom walks straight to her bedroom, followed by 'Father' and Cookie. "Do you think we should leave?" Kelly asks me while settling next to me and refilling her plate with more pineapple pieces.
"I don't know? Do you wanna see the ad?" I ask with my mouth fool.
"Oh yeah" she responds chewing and leaning back for comfort.
One of the reasons I love about Kelly is she fits into this family without being crazy and messed up like everybody. I too lean back and together we watch Notho and Asa bond over something on the tablet. This is perfect. My woman and my kids under the same roof. I could've stayed like that forever but the ad played and we had to dash soon after that. And no, we didn't look for the elders to say goodbye. The night had ended well for us and I wasn't about to spoil it for no reason.
Brilliant advert, by the way.
T
Thanks to mom's outrageous behaviour the other night, Ella and I are now official. I didn't need to explain what happened to cause me to cut our night home short and Ella's tears started to spill the moment I drove out of mom's house. With her hand covering her face and her whole body facing the window; regret started setting in. No one would've known what was happening had I not lost it.
There was no way I could separate from her in the state she was in so I took advantage of her shut eyes and drove straight to my house. She still knew we weren't at her place when we stopped because as soon as I cut the engine, she asked, "where are we?"
She slowly revealed her puffy eyes after hearing we're at my place.
"Your water brand television ideas pay you enough to live in this kind of place?" she asked to which I laughed at first before telling her I once inherited money from a relative. It's complicated because the 'relative' is still alive and I don't like talking about it so I don't add that last part.
Her curiosity worked in my favor and she easily followed me inside. What I didn't expect was to find someone at my door, waiting for me?
"Who the hell are you?" I asked then quickly remembered the face. Shit!
She stepped forward and exposed her bruised eye. "It's me. I didn't know where else to go".
I looked at Ella, not knowing how to explain the situation.
"Why are you here?" I ask the unexpected, unwelcomed guest and sounding real mad.
"A new client wouldn't use protection..."
"You're into prostitutes?" Ella asks looking me dead in the eye.
I rushed after her because she didn't give me an opportunity to respond before walking away and grabbed her by her arm.
"Leave me!" she shouted.
"That's what you'll think forever if you don't go back to her with me" my voice full of desperation.
We start walking back after she took two long breaths and folding her arms.
The girl looked a mess and I was kicking myself for ever letting my emotions about Zacky land me in hot water. I was so pissed, I didn't know what to say to her so I simply looked at her with my eyebrows raised and she got the question which I was now repeating without using words.
"I need help again. I haven't worked in days because of some injuries but my boss wants the money I've missed making"
"Listen, I helped you out then because I felt sorry for you and it was extremely cold"
"I know, I know. You can save me from a beating by pretending to have bought me again"
At this Ella finds my eyes and I look back at her shocked stare. "Pretend to buy? You're into saving prostitutes?" I stifle the desire of wanting to tell her to say 'sex worker' instead of prostitute.
"Only her. She looks like a child" I say in almost a whisper. Not sure why because the girl is standing right next to me. I pull out five hundred from my wallet and tell her to pay her boss then go back home. She says thank you then starts walking but stops after a few steps. "And, I'm sorry about your side bed radio. I needed it for a friend's child"
Shit!
"Yes, I need an explanation about that too" Ella says, her facial expression grave serious.
After giving her a brief nod, I open the door fuming with anger for the girl whose name I don't even know.
"Wow" Ella exclaims as soon as we're inside. My house is no mansion but it's beautiful. That's why it's mine. I let her walk around taking in everything that's in it and try to recall how I felt seeing it for the first time.
"Coffee?"
"Juice"
I walk to the mini bar and she continues to explore the house room by room. My heart is starting to return to its normal beat and getting replaced by nerves. Ella agreed to go on dates then take it from there. Look at how the first date after that agreement went, though.
*****
I know my house is spacious but it doesn't take a whole ten minutes to view it all so when that much time passes and she hasn't returned, I check my room, then the two smaller rooms. Nothing.
She's in my nothing room. The only time I've come in here was when it got too dusty and I had to clean up. The dust has obviously piled up again since sixteen months ago and I can even smell it.
I don't think I'll get used to how hot Ella has become. Her legs truly did justice to the stilettos she's wearing. I'm getting warmer and warmer from just looking at her.
"Are you sure, you're Tendai?" she asks, bringing me back from my filthy reveries.
"Huh?"
"Which school did we meet in"
"Havenview, why?"
"What was my worst subject?
"Mathematics.
"Where did we first have sex?"
"The garage at your parent's house.
"Mmmm...." She says looking back at what she's holding and only then do I realise she's going through an old photo album.
"Why the twenty questions?"
She motions for me to come closer then shows me a picture of Zanda and I in our teenage years. We're in school uniform and casually sitting on a bench outside our house on one picture. The next photo is of us sitting by the pool, still in our uniform. And the last one was taken on our last day at high school. We weren't happy because we had just discovered the truth about him a week prior.
"Had you not been wearing different school uniforms; I would've sworn Zanda was my baby daddy in all these pictures"
"Oh yeah?" I ask leaning in for a kiss. I know I'm taking a chance but I can't help it. It pays off because we end up on my day couch inside my study; naked and breathing heavy.
Grinning.
Z
With the cost of living sky rocketing for most, my employer saw it necessary to bring in an intervention in a form of laughing therapy for all staff members. I was scheduled to go in with the 1pm group and I truly wasn't looking forward to it. Besides the fact that I know not what financial struggle is, I lost interest from merely watching the after effects of the first two groups.
As to why anyone thought it a good idea to therapeutically make people laugh their lungs out subsequently making them appear like psychotic fools for hours to follow, is beyond me.
The big boss was very pleased with himself when he announced his contribution to alleviating our struggles in life before knock off time yesterday.
"Laughter decreases hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease" he said pompously.
I googled this form of therapy and came accross his explanation in the exact wording.
Roll eyes.
I couldn't get anything done. Everyone was laughing at any and everything. Most enjoyed the foolishness but I'm not most. I'm never in the most group. Seeing as everyone was in such high spirits, including the boss, I ducked out quickly to the shops. My usual but new parking spot was taken but I chose a very close one to it.
I found my shake, bought my baby girl and her mother some chocolate then headed to the counter. The dodgy-looking man in front of me was in such a foul mood, his telephone conversation moved most to a different pay point. Not me. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not most people in almost every situation. Besides, the que is shorter here now.
Somebody messed up something and that's what the scary looking man is trying to communicate. He throws an 'F' bomb then tells the person on his line that the location and times need to remain the same. He and I get called to two different pay tills at the same time and I proceed with my business then leave.
When I reach the exit point of the shop, I hear someone say 'tell the other comrades the new plan' and immediately think of Asa's stories. I look back to see the frowned face man still on the phone and heading out too. To allow him time to pass me, I slow my pace and put on my listening ears. All I get afterwards is him saying 'sure' to everything that the comrade on the other line was saying.
Pretending to be searching for my car, I follow the dude till he reaches a car too beautiful to be owned by the likes of him. I'm not judgmental but the truth is, a car is mostly a reflection of its owner. I start browsing nothing on my phone as he places a plastic shopping bag inside the car trunk then approaches the driver's door. With his one foot in, I hear him say, "sure, we procured in that area with no hassles".
Remembering that my therapy session in an hour, I rushed back to my car but as soon as I was sitting, I found myself watching the mean-looking comrade from a distance.
A minute later, the white hammer starts moving so I too bring my car to life and follow his exit. There are three cars between us which works just perfect. I don't know where he's headed to or why I'm tailing him but I just do, hoping he'll reach his destination soon. He disappoints me when he stops right in the middle of nowhere. First, I thought he needed to pee. Why else is he parked on the gravel on the side of the road. If I had stopped with him, he would've notice me, so instead I scouted the area while moving, hoping to pick something out or spot someone he might be linked to but nothing.
I speed up till I've disappeared from him then turn my car around and start driving back on the other side slowly. He's standing outside talking on the phone while looking in the direction of the maize farm which stands a little further inside the fenced farm. There's also a broken down bus which seems to have been abandoned for a decade. I refuse to believe that a rough neck like him and his cronies procure maize meal for a living so I head back thinking, 'he's probably waiting for someone before travelling to another job'
Unbidden, I recall 'Father' telling us Asa saw a former comrade and wonder if that's him. I couldn't ask Asa about it when I finally went to see him because he opened up to 'Father' in private. Can't have the child think he can't trust anyone in the house. But I do need to know what's happening in that child's mind and how much effect the comrades have on him. It's too early to call him on his phone so I simply text; requesting to come over for some puzzle time.
Best to catch him at his most relaxed moment.
*****
I make it back to the organised therapy just in time to find the clown looking white man greeting every one with his 'very good' song. Why is this my life right now? All I want to do is go home since no one's in the mood to work today. Besides, if this dude has money to pay a therapist for all five hundred stuff members then he could've used the very money to buy everyone some groceries for a month. That makes better sense to me but then again, there seems to be a different kind of common sense that only my employer understands. Not the one that applies to everyone I know, including me.
Like how he would've noticed my disappearing earlier if it was a normal work day - 'my time is money' he likes to say. And yet, on days like these, when he's organised a counterproductive activity for all, he won't even notice if people leave early.
With that, I excuse myself to the bathroom ten minutes into the laughter therapy then head home.
I didn't laugh, not even once. Like I said, I'm never in the most group.
T
I feel like a celebrity with everyone blowing my phone up with congratulatory messages. Samantha, the 'boody-call' also asked when she should come to help me 'celebrate'.
who the hell told her?
Even he texted a 'well done, Tendai' message with a motivational quote I stopped reading after the first five words. Something along the lines of hard work yieldi...never mind.
I only responded to my manager, thanking him for giving me the opportunity to show case my talent. Ella was still in my house, making it feel like a home with the smell of white porridge with rama and white sugar. The last time mom made that for us was when she was still Cynthia. I don't recall much about that life but I know we were located in a rural kinda setting. I had a best friend named Joel whom I bumped into at a school trip at a different province at age twelve. We recognised each other the moment we walked into Happy Valley performance theatre and he came running to me like we were still friends. To be honest I loved seeing him and listening to stories about people he thought I still remembered from our old home. We were having a lovely time up until he asked how life has been like without my mother.
*****
Ella and I had our morning cereal outside on the veranda and spoke about the possibility of cohabiting in the near future. I know she wants to but her mother is the centre of her life now and she doesn't have the financial muscle to take care of herself without Ella. I can easily take over everything that requires money but that would draw even more attention to my already admired lifestyle.
The rule is that we are to live comfortably but to never make spectacles of ourselves. And because of that, I let Ella talk me out of convincing her to quit her job. "Asa's school is already expensive. Let me cover the cost of all my basics" she suggested clearly thinking that taking care of everything will strain me financially.
Fearing, I'll expose myself; I accepted her suggestion then got ready for work. Another thing that's mean to keep us looking ordinary. And after dropping my new bae off, I started organizing a real celebration for my ad with Gugu, Musa and Andrew. I was still on a conference call with them when I reached work and Andrew suggested we invite Zanda, Kelly and Khumo. "Okay, what I am missing?" I asked knowing full well there's something sinister about the extended invitation to Kelly and Khumo. Khumo to be precise. "Who's got the hearts for her?" I blatantly ask but all I get is laughter. I can't believe these bastards but I agree to the plan seeing as it also works in my favour. I want Ella present too.
Friday night it is. It's perfect as it will encourage another sleep over from baby mama and another opportunity for her to get familiar with my place. I still don't have her mother's situation figured but the goal is to get Ella living with me soon. She's the first woman I want staying with me and the only woman I've been with who didn't suggest it first. I'm usually the one providing excuses as to why moving in together should be postponed so this is very much out of character like mom said the other night. Only she doesn't comprehend my genuine interest this time.
Ella will move in with me, come hell or high waters. I have no clue as to how that's going to happen yet but I'm confident. Maybe an unplanned second pregnancy will do it seeing as we never used protection on both times.
Somebody say clever.