Missteps – Chapter Fifty Four

Thozama Mqikela

@Mightyzama

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Both my husband turned and looked at Koketso, honestly, Koketso can be a bit dramatic, even the poor doctor was surprised by this crazy woman’s reaction, Mthobisi told Tshepang to speak to him wife, Tshepang gave her one very sharp, stinging look and she apologized immediately. The doctor continued and said we need to be prepared for the worst things were not looking good for my mother in-law. I held my husband’s hand and told him we should go find a quiet place to pray, Tshepang was in so much shock he became pale, he said he didn’t realize that his mom was that badly injured, he wanted to know the full story from the beginning. I was blaming my myself for what had happened, if I had not insisted that we go into that stupid jewellery store then none of this would have happened, I told them, Mthobisi said that’s ridiculous if anyone was to blame for this it was those fools who robbed that jewellery store. We all sat there quiet for a few minutes then Koketso said she wants some water, she asked me to walk with her to go buy some, she obviously had something on her mind and could not say it in front of my husband I thought as we were walking, she quickly blurted it out “do you see where this thing of you and Mthobisi playing with guns has now brought us into” I told her not to talk about things that she knew nothing about she asked me what were we doing with those guns and why had we hidden them in their bed? “Koketso, I don’t ask what you and Tshepang do in your spare time, so please don’t ask me personal questions”. She was not giving up she said “for all we know one of those guns used to shoot your son could have been one of the guns in the bag” shit, she was actually making sense, I had no idea where those guns landed after we left them in Bedfordview, what if they had sold them and no, I shook my head, I refused to think like that, not with all that was going on that would drive me insane. Koketso went on “all I’m saying is”, I told her I didn’t want to know what she was saying, this was not the time nor the place, she should be supportive instead of being so damn judgmental, she apologized. Koketso is one of those people that you should never, ever call when you are feeling miserable and depressed instead of trying to cheer you up she would remind you of all the horrible and bad things that were happening in your life then leave you to slit your wrists. I was not going to allow her to get to me, I bought water for her, Koketso won’t cough out a cent when she is around me, I have to cover everything. We went back to our husbands and found them arguing about something, it seemed pretty intense but as soon as they realized we were close they stopped talking, sibling rivalry I knew it from my sister and myself and I was not going to even try and understand. The was a phone ringing so I thought it was either Tshepang’s or Koketso’s phone as I did not recognize the ringtone, they all looked at me and asked if am I not going to answer my phone, then I realized that I was carrying my mother in law’s phone I had taken it during the commotion at the shooting. I took it out from my bag on the phone it was written Katlego (Mthobisi) did she really have to put my husband’s name next to that woman’s name. Tshepang asked who it is, I calmly replied “it’s your brother’s girlfriend” if looks could kill I would be dead from the look I got from my husband. Koketso snorted out, “the perfect husband wajola?” I dropped the call cause the person she was looking for was lying in theatre fighting for her life and I was not going to let my husband talk to her. Wait, what’s going to happen if my mother in law dies? Dammit, I should not think like that, my husband would be buried with his mother if she died, that man loved his mom he would not survive without her, I was praying that she pull through, I needed my husband and without her he would die.

We all went back to my parents and sat with them, they had already seen my husband’s brother and wife they were the ones who told them where we were. We all sat in silence not really knowing what to say or do, these are the most uncomfortable situations that you never want to find yourself in. Tshepang had called Nkululeko who is my husband’s friend who also happened to be the biggest player I know, he arrived with flowers, how I hate flowers, I know most woman love them and think flowers are the most romantic and sweetest thing, for me they remind me of funerals, I never even know what to do with flowers or even where to put them, I think the dustbin is the best place for flowers these things die in 2-3 days and they bloody expensive. I smiled and thank him, he said I should put them in my mother in law’s ward; thank goodness they were not for me. The nurse came out and said our son’s operation was a success they will be moving him from theatre to a children’s ward and we should be able to see him a bit later. I breathed a sigh of relief and said “thank God” she said they will have to monitor him closely he was not completely cleared and since he’d lost a lot of blood they will put him on a blood drip. We couldn’t exactly celebrate as we still had another person who was in theatre so it was back to waiting.
I decided to call the office to let them know what had happened and that I won’t be coming back to work anytime soon, my boss Andile was not there so I asked to be transferred to Cindy she can pass on the message, I told her that my son had been shot and I am with him in hospital l and I won’t be coming to work she was genuinely concerned and I just couldn’t give her more details because the minute I start explaining tears just come rolling down, I told her I will call her later to give her an update, she said Mfundo was at our office cause we had scheduled a meeting with him, I had completely forgotten about it, I told her to deal with him, she told me not to worry about work she will take care of things and I should focus on taking care of my son, she asked which hospital we were in because the people at work will want to send flowers, there we go again with this flowers nonsense I couldn’t be rude I told her Clinton hospital, I thanked her and hung up. A few minutes later an sms came through on my phone from Mfundo it read “Lee, did your husband shoot your son? Was he trying to shoot you and accidentally shot his own child?” I read the sms and deleted it immediately. A few minutes later another sms from Mfundo “ Your husband is a very dangerous man, please promise me you will be careful” I again read and deleted, literally a few seconds later “I’m worried about you, please tell me you okay” I was now realising these stupid sms’s are not going to stop so the best way to shut him up was to send a quick response, I quickly typed “I’m okay, please stop smsing”. Mthobisi asked who I was chatting to, I lied and said my friends, he said he was surprised that they not here, shit I had not told them, I said they were on the way and told him I needed to go get some fresh air and to call Jessica cause I forgot to tell her, he said he would walk out with me, eish I didn’t see that one coming. We both walked out, and went and stood outside, I decided to call Jessica, I told her what happened she was shocked, she said she would leave work immediately and come to the hospital she asked if I needed anything I told her to bring me Xanax, that is the best drug that most white people cannot live without I needed one, it calms you down and make you feel at peace. Mthobisi looked at me and said “you not taking that shit, I’m not gonna have you dependant on drugs” and walked back in the hospital I didn’t have the strength to argue so I followed behind him like an obedient kid whose just been told to eat his veggies and shut up. As we were walking in my phone rang, shit it was Mfundo and my husband heard it so I could not exactly ignore it as that would look very suspicious but luckily he was walking in front of me so he could not see who was calling so I answered “Hey Doll” my husband knows that’s how I answer my phone when talking to one of my friends. Mfundo on the other end of the line was completely pleased with himself thinking I’m calling him darling, he asked how I was feeling I said I will be fine once I know that everything will be okay, he wanted to know what happened and if my husband shot my son, this man was ridiculous I said no “it’s a long story I will tell you when you girls are all here” he asked if I wanted him to come and I said “no” but wanted to know what I meant by I will him when he’s here, was this fool deaf, couldn’t he hear the girls part and pick up this was a cover-up. The fool honestly did not get me, for a smart person that he was he could really be stupid at times. I endured that painful awkward conversation for 5 minutes, the more I tried covering up the more confused Mfundo got, in the end I said “I will see you later then” and hung. Him being confused now had gotten me all tangled up in confusion, even my husband was a bit confused by that call, he asked if I had been speaking to Cleo, I said yes, he said it makes sense she’s the only one who has the ability to turn a simple conversation into a conversation about alien and astronauts, we both laughed, this was the first time laughing since the whole incident of the shooting. He pulled me closer and hugged me and told me, “I love you so much honey and I appreciate you being here for me, you mean everything to me” he let go and gave me a passionate kiss. I was feeling like such a snake lying to my husband like that.
We went back to everyone, my mom and Victor looked exhausted we said they should go home and rest and we will call them if there were any new developments, they hugged us and left, Nkululeko also said he would be leaving and will come back tomorrow. My sister said she would stay; we had supported her when she was going through hell and she was going to be here for us. Tshepang said he was not going anywhere till his mom got up; I didn’t want to sound negative so I kept my mouth shut even though I knew how badly she looked when she was taken to hospital. The nurse came and said we could come in and see our son but we can’t all go in at the same time so Koketso and Tshepang said they would sit at the waiting room and wait in case a nurse or doctor comes looking for us about their mother that made sense, so my husband myself and my sister went in. oh Lord he looked soo small and fragile in that bed and had all these drips running all over him, I wanted to grab him and take him home, as we walked in tears were running down my husband’s face, he was so relieved that his son was alive. We were all so happy, he was still unconscious so we gathered around his bed and held his little hands. Mthobisi said he was going to call his family and tell them about our son he went out to make the call. A different nurse came in to come and fix my son’s drips and check if he’s okay. She looked at me and said “I think you are absolutely amazing, not many black people adopt kids and love them the way you do” my sister and I both looked her at her with confused looks, she continued “so do you know Neo’s biological parents?”, I was now getting irritated with this woman, I shouted “I am his biological mother and that man who just stepped out is his biological father, what rubbish is this?” my phone rang it was Jessica I told the nurse to hold on I was not done with her. Jessica said she was at the entrance “you know how you always say white people look the same, well so do black people, I just walked in and the guy who was walking a few steps ahead of me, I’m not sure but I think it’s the dude you banged in Cape Town” “Holy Shit, Mfundo?” I screamed, she calmly replied “yeah him” I was now in total panic “shit Jess, get rid of him fast” she whispered in panic “ohhh shit Lee, your husband has just appeared”.

**********THE END********

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