TO BE CONTINUED…… CHAPTER 12 THE PREACHER AND THE FALLEN WOMAN Six year old Candice sat on the bed while her mum lay heavily sick on the bed. Her job was to describe to her the beauty of the outside world. The doctor had diagnosed her with leukemia and thus she had a few days to live. There are things money can’t buy and one of them is health. Candice’s parents were very rich, extremely so. Her dad was the regional director of Lonrho. He was a powerful man one who doted exceedingly on his family. His wife’s deteriorating health was a cause of concern for him and he was visibly graying. The Mpofus as they were surnamed had been blessed with one child, Candice and they couldn’t have asked for anyone better. She was a joy to have,so charming and intelliegent. Now she was six and that rent her father’s heart because chances were so high that by 8 at most she would be without a mother. “Mum, Mrs Stone is watering her flowers again” little Candice spoke to her mum. “What is she wearing?” her mum quizzed. “She has an orange hat on, a floral dress and yellow gloves” “Is she using a hosepipe or a watering can?” “She has a can Mama” “Typical of her, she thinks pipes waste water” her mother said and at that juncture fits of coughing got hold of her so violently. Little Candice looked at her ever so worried. The pain of watching someone you love in pain yet you can’t help them. “Will you be alright mum?” she asked concerned “I will be my love, I will be “ she replied hurt at her own confession. She needed to be strong for the little girl yet she was so weak herself. “Don’t ever leave me Mama” “I won’t” she said punctuated by fits of blood curdling coughing. “Come here” Candice obliged and her mum hugged her tightly. Though young, Candice sensed that her mum was physically weak. “I love you Mum” “I love you more Candice” She was only seven and a half when she stood wearing a dinky black dress at her mother’s graveside. Her dad had his firm hand on her shoulder. She looked at it and saw evident pallor. He was a shaken man. He wouldn’t have been where he was if not for the woman who now lay dead in the casket in front of them. He loved her so much but she was gone and he had no idea how he would survive without her. There is a difference between finished and complete. When you get married to the wrong woman, you are finished but the right woman completes you. Mr Mpofu was complete. The little girl he held further worried her, she was too young and would need a mother figure in her life. But she wondered if any woman would be able to be as caring and doting as his wife had been to Candice. Candice at times was a handful he mused, it was very easy to mistake her intelligence, outspokenness and curiosity as obstinacy. His musing were cut short by his sister in law who had walked to them. Denise was his wife’s older sister. Truth be told, he didn’t like her that much for in her she saw an insatiable thirst for power and unbridled greed. She was married to one Robert Tivafire, a kindly lawyer who unfortunately because of his quiet demeanor had been run over with a monotonous regularity by his wife’s bossiness. He remembered a time when he was still struggling to make ends meet how he and his late wife were Mrs Tivafire’s least favorite couple. But somehow money makes you adorable to many people. When he had been promoted suddenly, they became his favorites. To give her her due, she had done much during his wife’s sickness. “Babamunini” she said addressing her in the traditional way “I am sorry for your loss,she is in a better place now” “Thank you maiguru” he replied “I don’t know how I can live without your sister” “I been thinking about that. Candice is too young to be without a female figure in her life” “You are right,will look for a nanny for her” She touched her chest feigning much hurt. “Look for a nanny?So you have concluded that I can’t take care of my niece?” “I didn’t say that maiguru but I didn’t want to burden you” “Do not our fathers say ‘No elephant says my tusk is too heavy for me’….Candice is like my own daughter, I can take care of her” “Thank you maiguru” “I am just doing what’s expected of me as a Christian aunt.” So the Tivafires had come to live at the Mpofu mansion and it not take long for Mrs Tvafire or Aunt Denise as Candice called her to exert her influence. The house helps all spoke in hushed tones nostalgic of the time past when Candice’s mum was alive. The new mistress was hard and sadly she always used the Bible to justify her horrendous deeds. It’s a shame whenever folk lack revelation and they use the Bible to justify their deeds. She was a hypocrite top notch, a femme fatale! A woman who touted holiness out there yet gave her husband and kids a torrid time. Where was Mr Mpofu when all this was happening? It seemed as if when they buried his wife, they also buried his zeal to live. As escapism, he buried himself in work. Candice saw little and little of him. He woke up early and came back late. Candice sadly had lost both parents and was left at the mercies of Mrs Tivafire. Mrs Tivafire or Denise had been born with only one sibling, Jane who became Mrs Mpofu who was Candice’s mother. From infancy she had showed a ruthless and ambitious streak,it was either her way or the highway. Jane on the other hand was a quiet and gentle soul, full of love and charity. Growing up, both had been brilliant students yet Jane was the better one. Naturally, it would have been given that a sister would celebrate the achievements of another but not Denise. She had no problem with anyone making it, they just didn’t have to outshine her so every term they came from boarding school and she saw her parents shower Jane with more praise than her she grew to dislike her. Bitterness is an evil root that produces evil actions from those who carry it. If unchecked, it drives the carrier to be satanic. The girls grew and went to University. As the eldest Denise (Mrs Tivafire) graduated first with an upper second degree and for a while she gloated as her parents eulogized her for her achievements. When its was Jane’s (Candice’s mother) time to graduate, she graduated magna cum laude. The citation had touted her as one “…who can go all the way to the very top echelons of power. A rare gift, an awesome intellect” among a plethora of other praises. It was a far cry from her own citation which had merely read “A bright young lady,she has the potential to be great” . That stung her, they saw potential for greatness in her yet they already saw greatness in Jane. The week after the graduation, a strange fire had gutted Jane’s bedroom burning her academic gown and papers. The fire had been blamed on faulty electrical lines. It may have been the tears in her eyes obscuring his vision but Jane could swear that on her sister’s face was a look of glee. Yet the fault had been electrical. By the way, Denise had taken Electrical Engineering at University. Along came time for marriage,Denise had spurned suitor after because they all according to her didn’t match her standards. On the other hand , Jane her sister though being a top litigator had found herself an intern at Coca Cola Zimbabwe. The man had proposed and she accepted. They were so in love and so in debt. Their plight was further exacerbated by the fact that Jane had problems bearing kids. For a while, the single engineer Denise seemed on top of her sister. She loved it whenever she called asking for a bit of money for mortgage. Life was good then. However, her gloating was short lived for Jane made partner and her husband became regional head of Coca Cola Zimbabwe. Life became so good for them, the borrowers became lenders. Reader, be careful about those whom you solicit help from because when you are on top some will move around claiming they made you great. Exactly what Denise did. With the biological clock rushing, she had to settle down. Sadly there are sick minds in our midst, they don’t settle down because they have found someone to love who loves them too. They settle down because they have found some weak soul to manipulate for the rest of their life. Robert Tivafire fell into Denise’s clutches and he was shocked to find himself two months later standing in front of the church saying “I do”. This Robert was a weak and quiet fellow who lived and breathed his wife’s demands. And she loved it. “Robert, a word please” Mrs Tivafire called her husband. She stood in the great lounge that was her late sister’s house. “My sister lived pretty well don’t you think?” she told her husband. “Very pretty” he replied monotonously. “Good thing all this will be min….ours I mean” she said correcting herself. “Has Mr Mpofu ceded the house to you Denise?” he asked. Denise looked at him with such loathe. She hated weakness and stupidity yet sadly the man she was married to seemed to embody all of the above. She sighed sorrowfully. “Ceded? Where have you seen in this life anyone ceding anything you fool. You take things. Survival of the fittest! Weak species should be eliminated. It’s a good thing the LORD made us one flesh otherwise you will be eliminated because you are weak Robert and so naïve” “I am sorry” he replied yet his fists were clenched. The woman whom he called wife knew how to kill a man’s spirit. He was a dead man walking. “Save your sorry for someone else. I want you to come up with some legal framework that pins Mpofu and he transfers all that he has to us. Now is the time when he is a bundle of sorrow like this. I need the plan soon. No better time to attack and conquer a man than when he is grieving” “Is this right Denise?” he asked so weakly that Denise grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt. “Right?” she screamed “Don’t tell me about right, was it right that for all my life I played second fiddle to my young sister? Is it even right that someone like me is married to an ignoramus like you? Is it right that someone so stupid like you is a lawyer? Whats right in this world tell me?You are a fool Robert, a big one. We have two kids and you want to condemn them to a life of poverty. Look at this opulence Robert. This is life and we should make it ours. I want this house and everything Mpofu has.” “What about him and Candice? What are you going to do them. Candice is only 8 now remember?” Robert spoke cowered into evil. “I will deal with them particularly that little girl. I see so much of her mother in her and I am not going to let Sarah play second fiddle to her as I did to her mother” she spewed those words with such venom and vitriol. TO BE CONTINUED…..
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:24:06 +0000
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