Missteps – Chapter Thirty Eight

Thozama Mqikela

@Mightyzama

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I was caught between a rock and a hard place, I wanted my bed, I wanted my mother, I wanted my son, and the thought of never seeing them again was more than terrifying. This was the worst situation that my husband had ever put me in, what the hell is wrong with this man? This was a ride or die situation, I had 2 choice, ride or die because jail would definitely kill me, I looked at the traffic cop outside the window, put the car on Drive and speed off, I looked in my review mirror and saw the cop running back to his car, I changed the gear from D to Sport and hit the accelerate paddle to the maximum, I was shit scared, I have never ever done anything like that in my entire life. I drove like a demon, there was no way in hell I was going to prison, I was not going to lose everything that I have worked so damn hard for, no bloody way. Mthobisi was sitting laughing his ass off, he said he had no idea I had such guts and kept shouting “that’s my woman, that’s my baby” I ignored him and continued driving. My husband’s Golf 7 is super-fast; I could hear the police sirens from a distance but couldn’t see them, I was driving between 180 and 220, luckily there were not a lot of cars on the road. Mthobisi kept directing me which way to go and where to turn, I made so many turns that even I was confused of where we were now, there was no way these cops could catch us now. We arrived in Bedfordview, I had no idea why Mthobisi would bring us here but I didn’t care I just wanted to be away from the cops, my husband was making calls and talking on the phone, I was just focusing on the road, he instructed me to stop in front of a big looking house, no scrap that the house was a mansion, as I was about to stop outside, the gate opened Mthobisi told me to drive in, we drove in and the gate closed behind us, the garage door opened and Mthobisi said I should drive through to the garage, I did as I was told. Waiting at the garage for us was Thomas, I was feeling soo sick, I wanted to throw up. I asked Thomas for a bathroom, he directed me, from the garage there was a door that leads into the house, I passed a few doors and saw the bathroom. I went inside the bathroom ready to throw up, that crazy ride had turned my stomach upside and the fact that I had been drinking didn’t make things any easy, but nothing would come out no puke, not that I was complaining, throwing up disgusts me. I sat on the floor and started crying, I could not believe that I had just escaped from going to prison. I wanted to scream but remembered we were not at our house, so I sat there sobbing, then heard the door opening, it was my husband, and he came and sat next to me. He held me in his arms and told me that he was so proud to have me as his wife; I had stood by him when most women would have walked out. He told me how much he loved and appreciated me, begged me to stop crying. He started kissing the tears off my face, and telling me how sorry he was and would never put me through that again, I told him I want to go home, he said we will use one of Thomas’s car in case the cops were looking for us, I honestly didn’t care how we got home as long as we got home. We got out the bathroom to say the house was big would be an understatement, it was humongous, there were stairs going up, damn this man was living large. Mthobisi directed me to the kitchen we found Thomas and his supermodel wife in the kitchen joking around, they told us to join them for super, I declined and told them we’ve eaten, Mthobisi gave me a sharp look I didn’t care of what he thought or of the fact that he must be hungry, I was too tired and angry to care. Thomas was not too pleased with us declining his dinner offer but said he understood that I must be tired after that “Fast and Furious” drive, they all laughed, to them this was all a bloody joke, we had almost gotten arrested and they bloody think it’s funny. I told Mthobisi we should get going I have a headache, Thomas gave him car keys and we went out to the garage, next to Mthobisi’s car was an AMG Mercedes Benz and this is the car we were to use, I opened my husband’s boot and removed my bag, the last thing I wanted was to misplace the money in the bag again, the bag with the guns was no longer in the boot, I had no intentions of asking where it was, I was fast learning that maybe not knowing everything is the best option, they say curiosity killed the cat and I didn’t want to end up like the curious cat. We said our goodbyes to Thomas and his wife and left

We drove off in the Merc in silence, I was as mad as hell, I wanted to go home to my mother’s house but I had no car and Mthobisi would not be driving me there and I had left the other car at Andiswa’s place in other words I was screwed. We arrived home and I went straight to bed and locked the door behind me, I didn’t want to talk to this man that called himself my husband. A few minutes later he came and knocked at the door, I told him to go away, he said we should talk, I told him I was tired of talking coz I was the only one who talked while he gave me blank stares and short answers, he told me he would sit by the door till I opened it, I told him that he will sit there till tomorrow then. I wanted to call Andiswa to tell me to come and pick me up but when you fighting with your husband the last thing you should do is get your friends involved this is one thing that every elder warns you about when you get married, they say if the fights get too big for you go to the elders in the family. Was I supposed to take this matter to our families, report Mthobisi and his thugy lifestyle? What could our families do? These family reporting things never work all a person does is apologize. Besides I didn’t want my mother worrying about me thinking my life is in danger, I am an adult and should take care of myself, my mother worried about me for over 25 years now that I was married I was no longer her responsibility and she truly deserved the break. I closed my eyes and we to sleep, I had a horrible nightmare I was being chased by cops and I was carrying Mthobisi’s bag on my shoulders with guns and running with them, the cops were shooting at me, I woke up as they were about to blow my head out in a cold sweat, I got up and decided to go drink some water as I opened the door Mthobisi fell inside the bedroom he had fallen asleep at the door, idiot, he looked up and asked if I was okay, I ignored him and jumped over him to go to the kitchen, he followed and again went on apologizing, I ignored him flat out, drank water went back to the bedroom as he was about to walk in I closed the door and locked it and went back to sleep.

I was woken up by my phone ringing it was She Rocks, she said she was calling to tell me that church starts at 10:00 and I should not wear pants as their church does not allow women to wear pants at church, with all that was going on I had completely forgotten about Mthobisi’s church promise to Siyabonga, damn I was really hoping I could sleep-in. I told her I was up already preparing for church, she laughed and sarcastically said, “Yeah, that’s why you sound so fresh and upbeat” we both laughed and hung up. She Rocks is such a nag bag, it was only 07:10 couldn’t she wait till 08:30 before waking me up? I got out of bed opened the door to find my poor, silly husband sleeping outside the door, now I felt really bad for making him sleep on the floor all night, he fell inside the bedroom as I opened the door and that woke him up, he asked if I’m still angry at him, I told him I don’t have time to be angry we need to get ready to go to church, he looked at me with a confused face and said “church?” I reminded him that he had promised Siyabonga that he’d come to church today, he said “shit, I can’t, I have important things to take care of today” I gave him one look and he knew what was coming, he raised his hands up and said “okay, okay, no need to shout I will cancel my plans”, I had not said anything. I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, Mthobisi joined me he was in a chatty mood, he said “I’ve been thinking, how about a weekend getaway this coming weekend to get She Rocks mind off her parents death’s anniversary”, Shit I had forgotten that it’s She Rocks parents death anniversary this coming weekend and I was planning on staying in Cape Town and coming back on Sunday I would have to scrap that idea out. She Rocks parents died when she was 14 years old and was only in grade 8, her mom and dad had been traveling from KZN and her dad lost control of the car, they both died a few days later in hospital. At the time we were all in High School, yes we grew up together we meet in High School, She Rock, Cleo and myself and we meet Andiswa when we were in tertiary. She has 1 sister and 2 brothers and are all extremely close, they put themselves and She Rocks through school, those kids are the bravest and strongest people I know. She Rocks was practically raised by her siblings, she grew up with no parents and didn’t have much but not once had we ever heard her complain about anything, her aunts and uncles turned their backs on them, they didn’t help them with anything, She Rocks sister was in tertiary when the parents died, she found a part time job and the brothers opened a tuck-shop to make money. Looking at them now you will never say they went through so much suffering, there were times when they would go to bed without food and She Rock would not even tell us that things were bad at home, only now when we were older did she tell us how they struggled. The sister got married and moved out of the parent’s home but the boys still stayed there. So ever since her parents died as her friends we had a tradition that we keep her company on the day of her parents death anniversary, on these days She Rocks would become extremely depressed, we would sit with her, cry with her, eat with her do whatever she felt like doing, as we become older it became increasingly difficult to keep these days open especially now that we were working but we made sure that she was never alone. Now hubby is offering us a weekend away, the girls would certainly love that, we hadn’t done a gate away since Kruger National Park, that was before my life turned upside down, I told Mthobisi I appreciated him trying to make things better between us but I will run it with the girls and get back to him, women and gifts, you can never go wrong with that. We got ready for church, Mthobisi wore Black Armani suite, damn my husband looked hot, I changed my outfits a few times to my husband’s annoyance I moaned and said the first skirt makes my butt look big, the second dress made my boobs look small, I sat on the bed and told Mthobisi I want to wear pants he laughed and said whatever I choose to wear I will look sexy in it, I didn’t want to look sexy we were going to a conservative church and the last thing I wanted was the women there saying their young pastor’s soon-to-be wife’s friends are ungodly, I went to the wardrobe and there was a call on Mthobisi’s phone, he said Ausi Maria is at the gate a few minutes later there was a knock in the door Mthobisi went to go open while I searched my wardrobe for a skirt, I found a dress which was knee high, white with black stripes so I decided to put that on and a black blazer and pearls, I put on black high heels and got out to get hubby so we could do this church business. As I got to the lounge, sitting in my couch was a girl that looked very familiar, I turned and look at Mthobisi “what the hell is she doing here” Mthobisi looked at me and shrugged his shoulders, I asked him accusingly “do you know this girl” he shook his head and pointed at Aus Maria, the girl stood up and said “I remember you, you the woman that bumped my car”, just my luck the stupid girl is going to be my baby’s nanny, it was none other than Nomzamo Dlamini. I told Maria we were off to church and I’m not too sure about her niece looking after my baby but we’ll discuss it when we get back. I grabbed my bag and Mthobisi took his car keys and we left.

On the way to Soweto I called Cleo to find out if she will be coming to church with us she gave me her usual answer “Lee, my ancestors were not born-again, they don’t like it when I go to church, lets hook-up for lunch after church” this girl will use any excuse not to go to church. We arrived at church and She Rocks was already there and was very happy to see us, she told us Siyabonga would be leading the service today I actually didn’t remember how Siyabonga looked, I had been out of it when I meet him and the few minutes when I saw him in the morning my husband was trying to kill I didn’t really get a close look at him. We sat close to the back in case it got too boring so we could escape easily without drawing attention to ourselves, we didn’t tell She Rocks that though, she was all over the church, welcoming people and handing out Bibles. The church eventually started, Andiswa arrived a few minutes after the service started and came and sat next to me, I switched off my phone, I knew Cleo would be sending sms’s asking how it’s going I wasn’t having none of that I wanted to focus, choir sang but not as good as my sisters church choir then Siyabonga started preaching, damn the guy was too damn sexy, 90% of the woman there were drooling over him and I am ashamed to say this but so was I, the other 10% that was not were grannies, he was a good preacher too, just don’t ask me what he preached about because I was not paying much attention to what he was saying. Mthobisi received a call went outside to take it then came back and said we should go, this man has no chill I told him we will leave when the service is over, his thugs need to respect Jesus. He said “that was the Police calling, they tried your phone but it’s off, something happened to your sister”. I grabbed my bag and told Andiswa we were leaving.

***The End****

Mikeatdiary
Michael Nkululeko Maphoto
@diaryofazulugal