LAKE OF MY HEART – CHAPTER 13

LAKE OF MY HEART – CHAPTER 13

He left home on the pretext of getting a newspaper to read. He normally liked the cross word puzzle especially the target game with creating words not less than four letters in size out of nine jumbled letters which used up his residue of the English language. For someone very social indeed, before he had finished his business he had an unscheduled meeting with friends before reaching the newspaper vendor or the shops.

There was so much to discuss with some neighbours reading his paper while a different version to his was being read by other people. They compared notes complaining about the government centric reporting yet every day they bought various issues of newspapers to read on politics, crime, economy and especially sports.

He let a neighbour he had been with drop him off near his street before he walked home. It was good for exercising. His company truck was locked in the two vehicle carport hence Naomi had not seen it. Naomi had kept phoning to ask where he was. She had not said anything else besides that he should be home before lunch. She had implied that he should also be sober. Three calls within thirty minutes. It didn’t worry him but it just showed him when the caring side of his wife was on, it was on indeed. He knew they should have had visitors. She didn’t want him to be an embarrassment.

“Don’t drink,” she said. “I want to kiss you. I don’t want to make two drunkards in the house.”

“Since when did you start drinking?” he had asked.

“Every time I kiss those wet lips and suck that tongue, I end up with a hangover”, she had sounded good on the phone.

This type of communication made to make a man feel guilty. But then they were just talking about soccer and the latest news in politics, twists and turns in the state of the economy. At times they talked about the one who was caught in the wrong place at a girlfriend/boyfriend’s house. Then they also talked about the latest tricks employed by thieves and fraudsters or pranksters, whatever they were called. Thus they could not be caught in the net of these new tricks.

“I have my cans and yours here,” he had truthfully said. “I am in a superette seeing to a few things. Do you take Bollinger’s?”

“Trevor!”

“I meant Fanta Grape rather?”

“I am waiting honey, before lunch,” she had replied. “Any minerals will do.”

“Last time you vomited after taking a fruit drink. Was that the fruit mix or the beef knuckle bones?”

“It is my constitutional rights to vomit as and when I want to,” she had defended. “I wish not to talk about that before my mid-day meal. That will spoil my appetite for lunch.”

“What’s for lunch? Tripe?” he asked.

“That is my secret,” she had replied.

“Bullfrogs? When did I start eating bullfrogs?” he asked.

“You want me to miss lunch now,” she replied.

“Sausages will do well, especially beef ones roasted over a slow fire doused with beer.”

“Are you drunk already?” she asked.

“The fire place works fine honey,” he replied.

“Trevor!”

“All right I hear you, don’t shout.”

“Not a whiff of beer, spirit or wine,” she replied. “I am going to taste that you haven’t taken a sip. I will sample your tongue or send you for an endoscope.”

“I am coming home Naomi,” he had cut of communication. “The lady I had eloped for threw me out honey.”

If there were things Naomi insisted on never missing, it was lunch, supper, breakfast depending on time and days, if she was in a good mood. If her mind was on it, she was a dutiful wife. On a weekend, breakfast and lunch or supper was a must. If he missed lunch, she made sure they had supper together.

She did not forget birthdays, anniversaries and family events. Neither did he, he always hid under beer when he had not remembered or when he chose not to remember. Blame it on too many drinking buddies with ‘sudden’ loaded wallets. He loved making surprises on birthdays especially for his children. He was amused by children as they grew. They did not understand that birthdays were once a year events. Every birthday were the children’s and if there were no goodies, pain resulted.

He reached the kitchen. He met his eldest daughter. Now she was old enough to know that her mother, father and brother’s birth days were separate from her own. Not the early days before the sun had risen on her horizon. She jumped into his arms hanging onto his neck.

“Hi daddy. What did you bring me, not Hunters’ Gold or CinZano wine?”

“Hello sweet, what a nice hair do. You are growing too big for a bear hug. You should eat less and exercise more otherwise you will be a problem.”

He complained letting her hang on his neck. He had to keep holding her. Her weight was such that he could not let her hang on his neck with support least he tip over. He put her down.

Both her grandmothers were of the tall and slightly slim species. She was growing tall and gangly with the looks of Naomi mixed with his mother at times. From an angle depending on which, his daughter took the resemblance of both parents only that she had not taken the shorter and stubby stature of her mother, just the facial looks. She had shaded the darker complexion for Trevor’s light complexion.

“I got braided today.”

“Oh?” he asked. “That looks ugly.”

“You always have your sense of humour dad.”

“Nobody knows when I am serious in this house. So what’s up?”

Trevor loaded cans of beer and minerals into the double door refrigerator while his daughter held the door. She took away the potato crisps and loose biscuits he had brought including yogurt.

“Just chilling dad.”

He knew the braiding was quality. There was no animal or artificial hair used, it was her own hair braided into pleasant shapes that came together. The braiding party had used just black cotton thread added to which they had used beads to adorn the hair.

“Yes Uncle Mickey did that for me,” she replied.

“You look great. Did you pay him?”

“Dad!”

“I wanted to know if I owe him or the reverse. I like the latter.”

Two more children ran to grace his arms. He struggled to hold both up. One was his son and the other was Rosetta’s first born. That meant they had visitors.

“Hi people. If I had all of you for my children and we had a large house, I would die of your hugs.”

“Hello dad, how are you?”

“I am fine and you two?”

“Uncle, you promised to take us fishing last time”, was the response.

“I still remember that. If I make time we will all go fishing”, he negotiated his way past the two in his arms by putting them down. “Would it help it if we fished in a fish pond?”

“Uncle!”

“Dad that won’t do! We need a log fire, bait and our tackle in a forest with a large river or lake nearby,” suggested his son.

“One of these days I will phone Uncle Mickey and tell him we are going fishing at Lake Chivero, alright?”

“Are there no fish in Bindura?” asked a small voice.

“Maybe at Mazowe dam when the rains have stopped for some while,” he replied. “The types of fish differ.”

“Will we catch those red and yellow ones we saw in a shop in town?”

“Those are difficult to catch,” he thought for a while. “They are the cousins of those in our lounge aquarium which are different colours.”

“Maybe they are sharks.”

“Yah, maybe. Who knows we could catch a tiger fish in a very small pond near Mazowe.”

When ceasefire had been declared, he proceeded into the lounge. He greeted Rosetta, her husband Michael, their toddler and Naomi. Trevor shook each person’s hands. He ended up as the fall guy holding the toddler. In turn the toddler started pulling at Trevor’s beard.

After pleasantries lunch was served. They had their food in the dining room as a large family. Lunch was opened by Madeira wine.

“Don’t give Trevor the whole bottle,” Rosetta had said when wine was being poured.

“Trevor, everyone is having a joke on your expense,” Michael replied.

“I am listening.”

“He is my husband, believe you me, wine opens his tongue to a tirade of bone cracking and rib damaging jokes,” Naomi was in good spirits as she talked.

“I know how true it is,” Rosetta replied. “Last time he had a crate f wine, those jokes made you pregnant.”

“Rosetta!” Naomi couldn’t help but be the fall guy as everyone laughed including her.

Wine was followed by commercial soup from South Africa after which they had Italian pasta, mixed vegetable salad and roasted chicken. Naomi asked him to curve the chicken. Later, they sat outside enjoying visages of the winter sun.

They had had some family get together events. Naomi had thrown him a surprise birthday party at Lake Manyame where he had been driven in by an ex-classmate on the prospects of fishing only to find fifty something people wishing him well. He had enjoyed the party and forgotten about the fishing roads in a Nissan hard body truck.

“Who did my girl’s hair?” Trevor asked.

“I did, it didn’t take forty minutes,” Michael had replied.

“He was talking a lot otherwise it was a ten minute job,” Rosetta added.

“Rose, it should have taken an hour,” complained Michael.

”Maiguru was trying to get hold of you. I was afraid you would be needing to walk holding on rails. Or you would start trying to cross tarred roads using a dipping stick to check for water depth.”

“It’s good,” Trevor commented. “Rails for what?”

“After drinking.”

“Good one,” Trevor cracked with laughter. “You people really find me funny when drunk don’t you?”

“I could do yours,” Michael offered with a wink.

Michael was dry, he didn’t drink. He however played very good golf only that he didn’t avail himself on Sunday. He would be in a church listening to a preacher. Besides that his baritone voice would be belting out the hymns which the preacher would be calling out. Or, where these called out by the church ministers?

“Not in a thousand years,” Trevor refused. “My pastor would baulk at that.”

“Pastor?” asked Naomi. ”Since when?”

“We have ministers who drink too,” Trevor had them laughing. He liked his hair growing wide but subservient to the comb. When it began to rebel against the comb, when it suited him, he trimmed it without going bald.

“Trevor,” Rosetta reminded. “Last time someone was pregnant you had a shouting match.”

“When was that?” Trevor asked. “And whom did Naomi shout at?”

“Six years ago,” Naomi replied. “And it was me you were shouting at not the reverse for three months.”

“Are you accusing me?” Trevor asked.

“History,” Naomi said.

“Was I intoxicated for three months?” Trevor asked. “Which mental institution was I in?”

“You were sober,” Michael replied.

“I guess that was when we were still at the flat and the huge tummy got in my way in the passage. I had to be the one to reverse into the lounge or kitchen every time we met in the passage. One time I ended up in a cupboard. You see why these huge tummies need to be avoided, once in six years three times in a marriage is enough,” Trevor was complaining.

“Trevor,” Naomi said. “If these people believe what you say they will go nuts.”

“That will make four of us. Besides monkeys eat nuts however I see no monkeys around.”

“That’s my totem,” Michael pleaded.

Naomi’s hair was being braided by the husband and wife team. Her huge belly was protruding from within her large oversize t-shirt and loose fitting khaki looking cargo skirts.

“I thought I would be called to a conference concerning someone whose tummy keeps growing and doesn’t stop,” Rosetta suggested. “This time there has been silence. The stomach seems bigger than the last time.”

“Michael, Rosetta requires another baby.” Trevor offered. “After the new one, another one again.”

“Not that,” Rosetta was sly. “Maybe in five years to come.”

“The first baby wasn’t two then. Your two children are four years apart Rosetta, not two,” Trevor defended. “She knocked at my professional standings then. That song about family planning was singing about me and her. The watering holes were talking about their age differences. It was always why Trevor?”

“Then I was a professional too,” Naomi replied. “I also heard the same song without it referring to me. I wasn’t the talk of the office. The girls then and now liked touching my tummy.”

“I haven’t asked any of the boys in town to touch mine ____,” Trevor suggested.

“Did she consult you then and now?” Rosetta asked.

“No I am seeing the pregnancy right now. Naomi honey, who did that to you?” Trevor asked sending them laughing. “Can we terminate that, consult and start afresh?”

“The question is, Trevor, are we holding a council of war over this?” Naomi touched her huge belly. The two braided her hair.

“I will be chairing,” Trevor replied. “Another round of drinks people.”

“Not me,” Naomi said.

“I wasn’t referring to you honey. Last time you threw up ______ ouch, was that for revealing family or familiar secrets?”

Two months later, the second girl and the last of his three children was born at Avenues Clinic.

__________________________________________

He had a hangover when he woke up. The house warming party had been great. The husband had created the event right down to the last T in it. He had completely and utterly surprised his wife when at the end he had explained that the house was a surprise for his family. How had the man enquired from his wife’s family, their church and friends and his own family and friends without letting out the goose? How had people kept the secret? There were about a hundred people at the house warming party with vehicles parked everywhere they could find space. The marshals had made sure there was a way in case any vehicle needed leave the property. Trevor of Dayton Realtors had come in because one of his friends with Knight Frank Real Estate had sold the property as a blank canvas.

Like an artist, the family head had engaged a civil engineering draughtsman to come up with an appropriate plan which the builder had used to come up with a master piece. First he had taken the draughtsman to the virgin site in Colne Valley to survey what a site plan may not show. The beauty of the woman is in the eyes of her husband. A man with a dream looks past what others object to. Trevor had come to inspect this site with his rival estate agent but friend all the same. He had seen no sense in trying to sell a hilly stand that measured two thousand square metres. His friend had sold it.

The owner had drawn his plans looking at the rough and tumble of a stand where to enter one drove up a hilly road the owner had had curved out and created a tarred road. At the apex of the hill, the road came to the entrance gate. The owner had created with rocks embankments outside the main gate to help park vehicles and to preserve his property by preventing rock fall and mud slides. The gate opened onto a declining hillside whereupon motorists had to travel in neutral gear before reaching a car park.

Near this car park the house had been designed climbing up the hill in stages. The carports, fitting three vehicles were the first stage. The man tasked with a design had walked up and down inspecting the ground and rock nodding that the foundations would be firm. Then together in perfect consultation they had come up with a radical design. Most modern houses looked like offices with their concrete and glass finish. The owner had insisted on brick being superimposed over concrete and glass relegated to its French window status.

A quantity surveyor had come in handy to help with calculations and statistics right down to the wire. The man had four daughters and a son. The son, the youngest at eight had known and kept quiet. He had been with his father who supervised the contractor. He had been conditioned to be dad’s boy after all he was the only one. He was used to coming to a gold game after Sunday school. He would watch his father playing with the likes of Trevor. He in turn played mini golf with other children. The competition was friendly and fierce in both instances. He went fishing with his father at Lake Darwendale, Chivero, Manyame, Harava, Seke, Prince Edward and others. Secrets, he had learnt to keep.

Trevor remembered the family mobbing and hugging their father except the youngest who was eating a cream bun. Emotions, Trevor guessed were for the fainted hearted females.

Trevor could imagine the family moving from Houghton Park to their new and more modern bigger house in Colne valley. Here, the main ensuite was upstairs with its own balcony. There was a public balcony, a cubicle of a fitted kitchen and a lounge too. Then downstairs there was another bedroom with ensuite facilities, three medium bedrooms all with built in wardrobes and ceiling fans sharing a toilet and shower with bathroom. Then there was a fitted kitchen with 4-plate hob, scullery, pantry, separate dining room, a television and a visitors’ lounge and triple carport all on 1084m² of land. There was a cottage that had a slanting look because it had been built on slanting ground. It had its own carport. From here the driver would climb up within or outside to the lounge, fitted kitchen, toilet and veranda before going upstairs to three bedrooms with the main being ensuite. There was a shared balcony. The two other bedroom s had built in cupboards.

“Tinaye,” the mother had said. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“I knew it was a secret,” the little fellow had said to laughter from the assembled guests. “You promised me a toy car with a real engine dad.”

Two of the girls were at boarding school at Nigel House while the rest were at Borrowdale Junior.

© Copyright tmagorimbo 2014