Chapter 17.
“Have You Ever Wondered Why Certain Things Don’t Move Along With What We Have Planned, I Was Once Told That We All Can’t Be Romeo And Juliet, Or Julius As Such Never Existed... I Remember I Once Told You Guys That We All Want To Be Loved And Cared For By Someone Special And Now Seventeen Chapters Later Along With A Month And A Half In The World Of Phakade Lami, I Am Beginning To Rethink That Statement, Maybe Some Of Us Were Born To Just... Escort Some People On This Earth... Because As One Challenge Arises And So Does The Other, Unexpected Becomes The Expected”.
In An Uncompleted Building 🏢 Situated Somewhere In The Outskirts Of Johannesburg, A Young Man Slowly Goes Up The Stairs, Whilst Holding An Ak-47 And As He Arrives At The Door, He Opens It And Finds Mulalo Standing In The Room And It Looks He Is Guarding The Old Man On The Wooden Bed, Whom We Can Now See That It’s Infamous Bab’Hlophe That Tried To Rob Bab’Dlamini And He Has A Bandage Around His Hairy Old Chest.
The Man Moves To Where Mulalo Is Standing And Whispers In His Ear, Telling Him To Come Outside, So That They Could Talk Without Interrupting Bab’Hlophe, Who Has Been Heavily Sedated.
As They Move Outside And Slowly Close The Door Behind Them, The Man Tells Him That.
The Unknown Man : Listen My Leader... We Have Been Able To Organise Everything That Needs Organising For... We Just Need Your Go Ahead, To Destabilise The Enemies...
Mulalo : I Hear You But... We Will Have To Wait And Be Patience.... We Need To Attack When Those Idiots Are Not Excepting Anyone Or Anything.... In The Meantime Just Continue With The Building Of The Weapons And Any Necessary Thing That Needs Organising...
The Unknown Man : Okay... My Leader... I Hear...
Mulalo : No Issue... Now Go
As The Man Leaves, He Retires To The Room Where His Uncle Is Perfectly Sleeping.
Meanwhile On The Other Side, Zimele Packs His Car In The Garage With His Brothers, Who Look Equally Shocked And Amazed That Things Never Went Their Way, He Immediately Hits The Staring Wheel In Anger And Tells His Brothers That.
Zimele : Does This Nonsense Make Any Sense... Like According To You Guys... Does This Even Sound Normal... Me... A Whole And A Half... Zimele Dlamini Having Two Partners....
Nkosi : All I Know Is That I Am Tired Of Fighting And Negotiating Things That... Don’t Make Sense... Why Would He Do This... Why Would That Old Man Do This?
Mabutho : I Am Not Sure My Brothers But All I Know Is That... I Am Not Going To Entertain His Drama Again... We Have Finally Found Our Peace And Harmony, After Searching For Him For Years... Like Haven’t We Tortured Him Enough Or Maybe Caused Him... Pain And Heartache...
Nkosi : (He Looks At His Left Side And See That Nganono Is Totally Quiet) Why Are You Quiet.. Nganono...
Nganono : (He Let’s Out A Sigh) I Am Not Going To Allow Ubaba To Do This Again... Let’s Handle This Tomorrow Morning... For Now I Am Sure That Ma Is Waiting For Us... I Need Some Of His Strong Pap (Stiff Porridge) And His Famous Cow Meat... (He Says Rubbing His Belly).
They All Exit The Car With A Smile And Slowly Make Their Way To The Apartment, And Upon Their Arrival, They Find Hector’s Mother And Him, Preparing The Table Along With The Boys, Who Are Helping Their Newly Found Grandmother To Hold The Dishes.
Hector Smiles The Moment That He Sees His “Sons” All Standing, And Looking At Him With Weird Eyes, Quickly Sensing Their Surprise.
He Quickly Motions For Them To Sit Down, Of Which They Do And As He Serves The Food Whilst MmeMoichela Makes Her Way To The Kitchen, Since She Can’t Eat With Them In The Same Place, I Don’t Why But She Just Refused And Said That It’s Against Culture, She Will Eat With The Boys In The Spare Room.
Nganono Can’t Hold In Any Longer And Quickly Asks Hector That.
Nganono : Ma... What Is She Doing Here And.... How Did The Boys Bond With Her So Quickly?
Hector : Bhuti Nono.... All Has Been Settled... That Woman Who Raised Me And Gave Me A Home And A Place Before Everything Went To Hell... Is Back And That’s Why I Wanted To Ask You Guys To Please Forgive Her And Give Her A Second Chance.... They Is More To Yvonne Than Her Stubbornness....
Nkosi : (He Smiles Showing Off His Cute Dimples) Well He Without Sin Should Be The First To Cast The Stone... I Forgive Her And I Am Pretty Sure That We All Must Do The Same (He Looks At His Brothers, Who Are All Smiling) Right... Brothers..
Zimele : (He Smiles As He Dips His Hand In His Delicacy) Without A Doubt....
Mabutho : I Am So Happy For You Ma... But Now I Want To Eat... As You Can See Zimele Is Not Even Waiting For Someone To Pray For The Food (Everyone Turns To Face Zimele, Who Has Already Started To Stuff The Meat In His Mouth And Immediately They All Erupt Into A Huge Laughter)
Hector Quickly Leaves For The Kitchen To Prepare Their Lunch Boxes, Meanwhile Harriet Is In A Meeting With Her Father Over The Matter Of Her Marriage To Zimele.
Harriet: Baba (Father) I Am Really Not In The Mood Of Getting Married Right Now Baba... Yes I Love Zimele With All My Heart But I Don’t Want To Build My Future Around Him... He Already Has A Partner, That Clearly Loves Him And One Who Looks Like They Want To Build Their Entire Existence Around Him.
Bab’Khanyile : (He Slowly Brings Down The Newspaper And Tells Her That) You’re My Daughter And My Only Source Of Happiness Amongst Your Brothers And As You Know.. The Dlaminis’ Have Already Paid For Your Lobola.... Which Means That You Are His Wife... Whether He Likes It Or Not... You Are The One That Was Chosen By His Father For Him... I Mean The Real Benjamin Dlamini Himself.... (She Looks Down In Disappointed, Knowing Fully Well That She Isn’t The Chosen One But Hector Is) Don’t Be Disappointed... You Are Free To Do As You Wish...
Harriet : But Father... He Clearly Told Me That He Doesn’t Want Me... And What’s Worse He Loves Him More Than Me... Me Baba...
Bab’Khanyile : (He Smiles) Do You Why I Want You To Get Married Into The Dlaminis’... It’s Because Of Their Enormous Power Within The World Of Taxis’... Do You Know That Their Sitting On A Potential Multimillion Rand Empire, That Could Be Of Great Beneficial To All Of Us... Zimele Is His Favourite Son And The One Closest To His Heart... Everything That He Owns Will Automatically Become His Own... Upon His Death... We All Know That Boy From Limpopo Can’t Give Birth... Because He Is A Boy But You Are A Woman With A Womb... The Moment You Give Him A Child... Then We Are Sorted, Not For Today Only But Forever...
Harriet : So You Are Telling Me That... I Should Get Pregnant... To Secure A Place In The Dlamini Family...
Bab’Khanyile : Exactly... Hence You Will Be Moving In... Sooner Than Expected...
As Their Conversation Comes To An End With Harriet Staring At The Bead That She Hasn’t Shown Her Father Yet, Hector Is In The Bedroom Sleeping Along With His Zimele, Who Is Snoring Like A Tractor, Due To The Amount Of Work And The Less Sleeping Hours.
Hector Then Wakes Up And Goes To The Kitchen To Drink Some Water And That’s When He Finds Nganono In The Kitchen And It’s Only 02:00 In The Morning And He Is Not Alone, He Is With Mabutho, And They Have Documents Scattered Over The Kitchen Counter, Which Is Highly Unusual Since He Has Noticed That Mabutho Is Always Clean, Like To Him And Only Him, Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness, Hence How His House Is So Beautiful And Clean, Yet Cold.
He Moves Towards Them And Quickly Makes For Them, Coffee And Replaces The Mugs That Were On The Table.
Hector : I Know That You Are Trying To Work But They Won’t Be Enough Energy Left In You Guys... If You Don’t Sleep... I Can Bring Some Blankets From The Bedroom.
Nganono : No Need To Worry Ma... We Are Fine... In Fact We Just Need Your Help Regarding Something...
Hector : What Do You Need My Help With, Big Brother?
Mabutho : (Nganono Looks At Mabutho, Who Smiles Whilst Handing Over An Envelope To Nganono, And Drinking His Coffee ☕ And Mabutho Quickly Tells Him As He Puts His Coffee Down That) We Are Trying To Register The Business Within The SARS... But They Have Closed For The December Holidays And Will Open In Something Like A Week Or Two... But We Wanted To Be Prepared...
Hector : (He Opens It And Begins To Look At The Documents, Within The Envelope) I Am No Business Man Yet But I Think That Almost Everything Is In Order But One Thing, If Not Two... Are Missing And I Am Certainly Sure That It’s A Letter From Your Business Lawyer Accompanied With The Document Pertaining To The Ownership Of The Taxis’....
Immediately It’s Like Someone Has Placed Mabutho And Nganono In The Hot Lava Charcoal, That Could Even See Them Burning Up Completely, Well Not Literally But You Know What.
Luckily To Their Rescue, Comes Zimele And Nkosi, Who Were Standing Behind Them, The Whole Time And They Tell Hector That.
Nkosi : We Do Have A Family Lawyer.... His Name Is Pravin Naidoo, An Afro-Asian Man And He Handles Most Of Our Legal Matters...
Hector : I Know But I Feel Like It’s Best If You Were To Separate The Entire Thing, Let Mr Naidoo Handle The Legal Matters, While We Find Someone Else To Handle The Business, In That Way... We Won’t Have To Spend Too Much On One Person, Giving Them All The Power To Your Wealth... Because I Believe That You Guys Are All Going To Be Big... Just Have Faith In Your Work And Submit All The Necessary Documents... And Before I Forget... Make Sure That You Open Up A Business Account... Where Every Money Made From Your Taxi Business Will Be Kept... And You Can Invest The Money And Get Double On Your Return But For Now... I Need To Sleep... I Have A Busy Day Ahead... Good Night...
They All Say Good Night Ma, Like Some Soweto Choir And As Hector Enters The Room And Closes It, Leaving The Dlamini Brothers In A Tense Mood.
In The Morning, Bab’Dlamini Finds Himself In A Meeting With Bab’Khanyile, And He Is Not Happy With How His Daughter Is Being Treated By The Dlaminis’, Forcing Bab’Dlamini To Tell Him That.
Bab’Dlamini : I Am Not Happy Either But My Children Are Proving To Be Stubborn, Most Especially Zimele... Ever Since He Met With That Thing Called Hector Masilo, He Has Changed Including His Brothers But That’s Not My Concern Anymore, Because I Have A Plan And A Very Dangerous One...
Bab’Khanyile : Will You Kill Him ?
Bab’Dlamini : No... Obviously I Can’t But Apart From The Fact That He Has The Bead, We Can’t Ignore That Your Daughter... Is A Wife Of This Home And So In A Way... She Must Stay With Her Husband...
Bab’Khanyile : What Do You Mean By That Benjamin...
Bab’Dlamini : I Mean Why Wait For The Official Ceremony To Commence, When Everything That Needed To Be Done... Has Been Done... (Bab’Khanyile Looks At Him With Confusion) Muzi My Children Want To Bully Me Into A Corner... They Want To Destroy Me... But I Will Show Them That They Were Nothing But Sperm Cells In My Testicles.... Mukuna!!!! (As He Shouts Mukuna’s Name, He Quickly Comes In And He Tells Him That) Mukuna... Do Me A Favour And Please Tell The Driver To Get The Car Ready... We Are Going To Fetch Our Daughter In-Law... The First And Only Wife Of The Dlaminis’...
As Mukuna Leaves To Go And Tell The Driver, Hector On The Side, Is Busy Washing Clothes And Trying To Cook At The Same Time, Since He Prefers To Hand Wash Some Clothes As The Washing Machine Can’t Make Them Clean.
He Then Moves To The Living Room, Upon Hearing A Knock, Only For Him To Meet With The Colourful Troublemaker, Who Goes By The Name Of Ziyanda.
Ziyanda Strolls In And Quickly Finds Herself A Seat And That’s When Hector Asks Her That.
Hector : Sorry I Don’t Believe That We Have Met Before, And You Don’t Have Any Right To Just Enter Without Greeting... It’s Rude...
Ziyanda : Well I Was Born Rude And Besides That, I Am Looking For My Husband... Nkosi Dlamini... Do You Know Him By Any Chance Or Have You Seen Him?
Hector : (He Chuckles, As It Hits To Him That He Has Officially Met With Infamous Ziyanda, The One Closely Related To His Stepsister, The Pimp) I Know Him But I Don’t Believe That I Have Seen A Wedding Ring On His Finger... Last Time I Checked Bhuti Koko Wasn’t Married... So I Ask Again Who Are You..
Ziyanda : (She Slowly Smiles And Stands Up To Look Him In The Eye, As They Both Stand At The Entrance) I Know Your Type... You Are One Of Those “String Less Prostitutes” That Belong To The After 9 Club... (Hector Grinds His Teeth As He Looks Sideways, Trying To Maintain The Anger) You Think That Just Because He Told You That He Loves You And Cares For You... That He Will Be With You Forever... Why Don’t You Ask That Tall, Crossed Legged Big Brother Of Theirs, About His White Wife Or Ask Nganono, About The Congolese Foreigner That He Wanted To Marry... (She Immediately Smiles As She Senses Hector’s Confusion) We Are All Stuck In The Same Boat Of Unhappiness... These Men Are Incapable Of Love And It Started From Their Father... Benjamin Dlamini...(As She Is About To Leave, Her Eyes Fall On The Table And Immediately She Sees The Picture Of Hector Along With His Siblings, Including Phuti, Making Her Scared) Do You Know This People...
Hector : (He Let’s Out A Sharp Sigh As He Roles His Eyes Sideways, Obviously Sensing The Recognition That Comes When She Sees Phuti’s Face) That’s My Family... Now Get Out, Before I Call The Security And They Have You Thrown Out With Your Fake Weave...
Ziyanda Quickly Leaves With Shock, Clearly Written In Her Eyes And As Hector Quickly Shuts The Door Behind Her, He Let’s Out A Sharp Sigh And Looks At His Watch And Tells Himself That.
Hector : I Am Sure That Mama Has Already Gotten Her Bus Ticket From The Bus Station Or ShopRite And Is On Her Way... Home.
Meanwhile Zimele Is Alone In His Office, With The Document Pertaining To The Ownership Of The Taxi In His Hand. ’s Eyes, Break Nkosi’s Heart As He Has Never Seen His Brother In This State, It’s Like He Is A Shadow Of Himself.
Later In The Day, MmeMoichela Is Applying Lotion To The Boys Body And One Can See The Change That Has Finally Dawned On Her, Despite The Fact She Was Used To Walking Around With Her Long, Yet Beautiful Dreadlocks, She Now Covers Her Head With A Blue Cloth, And As For Alcohol, Well That Spirit Or Desire For The Bottle Jumped Out Of Her.
Her Bags Have Been Prepared As She Is Set To Leave For Limpopo In The Morning And Spend Some Time With Her Husband’s Family, And Her Children, And Possibly Recreate Something New And Strong With Her Children.
You Know The Moment You Lose Something Important, You Will Begin To Treasure That Which You Are Left With.
Meanwhile In A Police Station Based Somewhere In Pretoria, A Man Walks Down The Corridor With A Huge And Fat, Brown Envelope In His Left Arm And Immediately Knocks On The Door, And That’s When He Gets Told To Come In By Someone, Who Happens To Be None Other Than The Ruthless And Gruesome, Detective Jamie Hugo.
He Receives The Envelope From The Man, Who Tells Him That Within The Envelope, They Is Certain Information Pertaining To The Heist That Brought Gauteng To A Standstill.
He Immediately Dismisses Him By Telling That.
Jamie : I Guess That Will Be All For Now... (As The Man That Brought The Envelope, Leaves The Office, The Detective Immediately Brings Out A CD 💿 And Plays It On The Computer In His Office And As The CD Plays, He Comes Across The Most Shocking Revelation That Leaves His White Face With A Smile, As He Says That) Bingo... We Are One Step Closer To Closing This Ugly Movie (And On The Screen Of The Computer, It Shows Nkosi Removing His Mask, Whilst At The Bank Where They Robbed The 45 Million). We Just Need To Find... Who You Are... Negro..
Meanwhile It’s Already Evening And Zimele Is With Nkosi In His Car, And As They Talk About What Took Place Earlier On, That Nearly Made Him Break Into Sixteen Pieces.
Nkosi : We Have Been Close, Since Childhood... When Something Would Bother You... You Would Tell Me Everything... Including The Girls That Used To Break Your Heart...
Zimele : (He Smiles Showing Off His Cute Dimples, With His Tiny Eyes) Please Don’t Start... I’m Seriously Not In The Mood Of Laughing... I Just Want To Forget Everything About Being A Dlamini’.... Like Start Fresh... Away From Pain... Torture And Humiliation... With Nothing But My Brothers And Ma...
Nkosi : (He Looks At His Brother With Great Concern) I Know But Let Me Tell You Something... You Can’t Pick Family Members Neither Can You Swipe Siblings Or Parents... We Are Stuck Forever... Moreover When The Necessary Preparation Of The Business Being Registered Is Completed Then You Should Know That... We Are Already Up Coming Billionaires... After All Ma.. Said That We Are Going To Be Big And Nothing Is Going Stop Us...
Meanwhile In Zimele’s Apartment, Everyone Is Joyful Mood And One Can Easily See The Happiness That Is On Mabutho And Nganono, As They Talk Through Business Whilst Waiting For Food.
When Their Other Brothers (Zimele And Nkosi) Join In On The Conversation, As They Enter The Apartment, It Becomes So Loud And Thanks To The Music And The Whisky, It Surely Does A Strong Combo.
Food Is Quickly Dished Out By Hector, And Before You Know It, All Of The Dlamini Brothers Are All Enjoying Themselves, Whilst The Boys Eat With MmeMoichela And Hector Quickly Prepares The Lunch Boxes.
As Hector Begins To Clean The Kitchen, Not Minding The Noise That Is Coming From The Living Room, Nkosi Enters With His Plate And Tells Him That.
Nkosi : I Am Done Eating... The Food Was Delicious... Like Always... (He Hands Over The Plate To Hector And Who Puts It In The Sink) Thank You So Much For Being Here Ma... You Have Managed To Change Me And My Brothers... Something That I Always Thought Was Meant For Women Since We Were Told That They Were Created To Build...
Hector : (He Smiles As He Moves Near Him But Remains At A Respectable Distant) You See, With Your Hands... You Have The Power To Build And Make Something That Will Change The World And Society... It’s Not A Gender Thing.. We All Have To Play Our Respective Roles To Ensure Peace And Harmony In This World... Women Are More Than Just Builders Of Homes... Their...
His Sentence Stops Midway As He Hears Noise Coming From The Living Room, Forcing Him And Nkosi To Go Check, On The Way To The Living Room, Hector Tells His Mother Not To Come Out With The Kids And That She Must Lock Herself In, Of Which She Quickly Does.
Hector Moves To The Living Room And Finally Meets With Bab’Dlamini And He Is Not Alone But With Harriet And Her Father, Bab’Khanyile.
Hector Immediately Hides Behind Zimele, Who Is Watching Nganono Shout At The Top Of His Voice, Whilst Being Stopped By Nkosi And Mabutho.
Nganono : Tell This Good For Nothing Man, Along With His Unwanted Minions That Resemble His Evil And Dark Heart, That This Is No Place For Him Or Them... We Don’t Want You Here!!!
Bab’Dlamini : Can You Stop Shouting!!! Wena Nganono, And Listen To What... I... Your Father Has To Say... After All You Owe Me That Much...
They All Remain Quiet, Just By The Firm Tone That Can Easily Send Shivers Down A Man’s Spin.
Bab’Dlamini : I Am Fully Aware That You Want To Have This One (Pointing To Hector)... But Let’s Not Forget That We Have Paid Dowry For Harriet And She Is By Tradition... Your First Wife And The Mother Of This Family.
The News Immediately Makes Hector Lose Balance As He Breathes Heavily Whilst Trying Not To Release The Tears That Are About To Stream Down His Face.
Bab’Dlamini Looks To His Back, And Motions To A Young Man, Who Was Stranding Outside To Bring The Bags In, Of Which He Does And Before You Know It, Harriet’s Bags Are In And That’s When Bab’Dlamini Tells Harriet That
Bab’Dlamini : You Are Free To Enter And Enjoy The Benefits Of Being The First Known Makoti Of The Family...
He Immediately Let’s Out A Laugh, Along With Bab’Khanyile, Who Laughs Out Loud, Making Hector Suspicious.
Meanwhile Due To The Voice Coming From The Living Room, MmeMoichela Tells The Boys That They Must Lock Themselves In And Not Come Out, Until They Hear Their Father’s Voice Or Hector’s, Or Any Of Their Uncles.
Nathi And Prince Lock The Door After She Has Left, She Makes Way To The Living Room, Trying To Remember The Last Time, She Heard The Voice.
She Enters The Living Room And That’s When Her Eyes Meet With BabDlamini’s Own, Making Him To Say.
Bab’Dlamini : Yvonne...
MmeMoichela : We Meet Again... You Thief...
Immediately The Atmosphere Within The Living Room Changes Forcing Zimele To Look At His Brothers In Shock, With Underlying Sign Of Fear, As Today... Their Worst Nightmares Come To Life.
©All Rights Reserved By George Osumba
2022
Hi Family 💜 Thanks For The Support... It's All About To Go To The Nearest Hell And Be Ready It's Going To Be A Bumpy Ride...
Yours Truly 😘