Claiming Love

5

The encounter between father and daughter was a welcome anticlimax especially to the latter. Pastor Jairus Obong’ displayed an unbelievable candor of love and mercy to the teenager. It was a moment like no other. The homecoming ceremony was reminiscent of the biblical prodigal son and actually Reverend Obong’ said as much. During thanksgiving speech time Achieng’ made as if to explain her actions even as unjustifiable as they were but the good pastor wave her down with, “This is a time of celebration and not condemnation, a time to honor our Almighty God and not to lament about the past; so drink, eat and make merry dear brethren,” he told the invited group of congregants.

The event went on well until the late hours of the evening. At dusk the family gathered around the dinner table for a private family meeting. Achieng’ was not sure what was coming but just like  during the party earlier her father was not bothered about the immediate past events but to emphasize on the importance of forgiveness, healing and rebuilding the family legacy that had almost gone to the dogs. His speech delivered in a deliberately measured tone kept on making reference to ‘safeguarding the little that had was left so that Satan does not snatch it,’ Achieng was alive to the fact that this was a softer way of telling her to be more vigilant the next time she decide to engage in any actions that may lead her to harm.

***

“How things change fast? Achieng’ kept intoning. The succeeding days were not very easy for her. In more instances than once she had noticed that whenever her father looked at her, she saw in his eyes hatred, bitterness, regrets and above all and most disturbing forced tolerance of her presence. As much as he was justified to develop and maintain such a negative attitude towards her, she felt it was unfair to her to not being told the truth. There was something else she had come to discover, a secret hidden from her – this was evident because her father’s eyes also betrayed a sense of struggling to tell her something and seemed to change his mind at the last minute. After days of trying to make sense of the happenings in the house Achieng’ felt she could not take it any longer. So two weeks to her discharge from hospital she decided to confront her mother, who by the way seemed to be complicit in the isolation plot against her, to get to the bottom of the matter.

“A fortnight ago mother I felt the most loved and empathized with human being. I do not feel the same today. Why are you and dad pretending that everything is normal while it is not? She did not hide her anger about the changed family scenario.

Neria was taken aback, not by the question parse but the realization that their daughter had been able to read through their demeanor change lately. Sure, Neria loved Achieng’ so much that she had never wanted to say or do anything that would drive her into doing something unthinkable. Her she and her husband had always prided themselves as the perfect religious family and a role model to be emulated by all and sundry. The sudden and unexpected happenings of the recent past had shaken them to the core. They stood to lose everything and more so the character perception they had cut across the board as an epitome of morality in society if the secret she and her husband were determined to keep from Achieng’ got out.

But now the young lady correctly knew that something concerning her was not being revealed to her. This state of affairs put Neria in an awkward position. It presented a dilemma that she wished Obong’ was around to deal with since he seemed not to be running out of the reserve of solutions on such weighty family matters. But she was the one that her daughter had sought answers from. She weighed her options; telling her the truth or not, either way she was damned. She knew Achieng’, she would keep on nagging her until she gave up. She weighed the risks involved if she told her or not and decided to let out the cat from the bag; the consequences would be suffered when they reached that point.

The fascination elicited by this story wiped away any thought of sleep from Gina. Her hostess was a powerful story teller.

Achieng’s steely eyes looked into space as she narrated the devastating tail-end of the story. “My mother told me that the initial medical examination carried out on me after being brought into the hospital by a stranger who had found me abandoned in one of the downtown alleys, had confirmed that I had been r***d several times that most of my uterus had been ruptured,” she controlled the tears that had started welling up in her eyes and continued. “That was enough for me; I did not want to hear any more, for I knew what was coming. In a flash moment I understood my father’s attitude; he was a man under moral siege in the eyes of his trusting congregants and I was responsible. I was sure he was infuriated not by the nefarious act visited on me by the very people I had put my trust and love on but much by my letting down my guard when I most needed it.”

For Gina the good Reverend was not sincere in his assurances to his daughter that implied that he had forgiven her and let life move on if he continued afterwards to display hostility towards her. But she kept these thoughts to herself.

As if reading her guest’s thoughts, Achieng’ continued. “Yes, I also thought so; but he had every right to be annoyed even after those assurances. He is a mortal being and the realization that all his spiritual teachings and emphasis on the adherence to the commands of the Lord had gone to waste was not something to wish away. Anyway after my mother’s divulgence of the dirty secret my life changed for good. I lost self esteem. I felt defeated and unwanted. That is when I made a decision to be gone from home for ever. To cut a long story short after much help from good Samaritans I arrived in this city and got the waitress job at the Jackpot. I swore an oath. Never will I trust the male species and you know what that ultimately means is that I will never get married.”

“But not all men are bad,” Gina felt it was the right moment to contribute to the discussion.

“Ottopen was a man I trusted with my heart. If he could do this to me, what of one whom I meet out here  out of the blue and decide to forge a relationship? I prefer to leave that debate for another day and place. Let us turn to you. What are your plans from here?

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know. May be keep on walking to wherever fate will take me,” Gina said in a-matter-of-fact way.

“I will make a preposition to you and if you are agreeable you can start to rebuild your life from there.”

“I am all ears,” Gina wondered what the preposition was.

“Tomorrow you and I will go together to the Jackpot and I will talk to  mama Lovelady to see if she can hire you on a three months contract,” Achieng’ smiled at the prospect of having such a fine companion by her side.

“I don’t have much choice, do I? But I have never been employed before how do I delve into these unchartered waters?

“That should present no problem. I will be your guardian angel,” she said jokingly as she joined Gina in laughing off to bed.

***

That night Gina hardly slept. There was a lot to think about, so many questions that needed answers. Who was this Lovelady woman? From the look of things she was the lady at the cash counter who kept on issuing instruction to the waitresses. What kind of joint was the Jackpot? This question was salient because of the staff makeup of the place – all women. What happens to her university education that now she was about to enter a new dispensation? She would take time when the opportunity arose to discuss it with Achieng’ who had earlier also intimated to her that she did her exams one year earlier and failed short of joining the university.

The first day at the Jackpot went on well. The eatery was a hive of activities for the better part of the day. Lovelady was an amiable employer who interestingly treated her staff as partners in the business. When Achieng’ presented Gina to her that morning Lovelady took an immediate liking for her. She saw in the young lady’s eyes a determination to succeed and this was not out of necessity but to right a wrong that had been meted on her. The introductions were short and precise. Gina was assigned day duties as a waitress in the executive lounge; this was an exclusive section of the eatery where Lovelady’s special guests took their meals. Being assigned duties at the EL was a clear sign that Lovelady was impressed by the concerned staff. Achieng’ was tasked with helping Gina around as part of the induction.

“I know we have a lot to discuss and know about each other,” Lovelady told Gina she was setting her off to begin the day. “But that one for later and as I have always said, work first, talk later.” 

True to her word after Gina finished her first day at work around four in the evening, Lovelady summoned her to her office for a chit chat. Gina thought that this was the opportune time to know all about the Jackpot and its suave owner. The office was located at the back of the hotel. A large room neatly furnished and served as her personal office and a boardroom where she would regularly hold meetings with staff.

Gina was mesmerized at what she was seeing. Lovelady noticed it and immediately went on to calm her anxiety.

“The Jackpot has a long and interesting story about it,” Lovelady started without prompting. “It all started at the Starry Cosmos.”

***

Residents of Starry Cosmos were used to bright lights; at night. The fear of daylight was not by accident but by choice. Their sorrows and regrets, grudges and miseries were better expressed in the confines of brightly lit streets, brothels and entertainment establishments. The rhythmic gyrations of the fashionable but skimpily dressed damsels to the sounds of heavy metal instruments from the resident band on every Friday night were the recipes that defined and made Cosmos place renowned in night club spheres.

On Mondays and Wednesdays these girls, who had formed a closely compacted sisterhood going by the pseudonym Ladies of Broken Hopes would retreat to the Grit Chamber. Here, Lovelady, the proprietor of the facility would listen to their experiences before bombarding them with long lectures about her own. The message was always almost the same – all men are an unreliable lot, highly egoistical and maniacal creatures who always prided themselves with mainly juvenile libido and penile theatrics and if and when the opportunity arose they should be hit where it hurt most, the ingredients of their conceit. Lovelady spoke from experience. After escaping from an abusive prearranged marriage to the son of an oil tycoon through an acrimonious long-drawn divorce she had gone back to her equally rich father and begged him to lend her some money with the promise of repaying it big. Being the only child of the wealth family it was not difficult to assent to the request. Ten million was the settled bargain. With the kind of money safely in her bank account, Lovelady was ready to launch her revenge operations.

The Cosmos looked ideal for the kind of business she was about to embark on. Her plan was as intricate as they come. She acquired the facility at a princely sum of two million and immediately went to work on it repairs and refurbishment to suit the purposes she had in mind. This was her mission: hunt for young and beautiful ladies who at one time or other had fallen afoul of men folk give them an abode from where they would launch their attacks on these masculine packs that never seemed to learn any lessons. During their time at the Cosmos they were required to work as a close-knit, efficient and lethal unit. In the confines of the Grit Chamber souls would be hardened, hatred and spite for the opposite gender heightened and above all the strive for acceptable results emphasized.

The irresistible beauty of the members of the Sisterhood made it easier for the girls to lure their prey into the dark dungeons of moments of trance and erotic pleasure. First experience for the guests – mainly wealthy married men - was not enough; they continued with the covert escapades beyond the boundaries of the Cosmos. The Sisterhood encouraged it; Lovelady liked it because in there was the catch. Smitten men would be seen rendezvousing with the C beauties in high-end eateries on weekend nights; shopping at up market facilities was not uncommon; in fact the men insisted to take out the Daughters of Eve and splash their money on them. One thing would lead to another and sooner than later the demand for the goodies and cash will move to the other side. Big cheques will be written and issued to the girls on the flimsiest of reasons. Property will be bought without flinching and given out as birthday presents. Not long after this pressure on the preys’ resources will be felt and the urge to go an extra mile to provide for the maintenance of the newfound lifestyle will grow even higher. The end result: engaging in unscrupulous acts of theft and graft. when this spirals out of control and the predator feels that the fleecing graph has reached its optimal they take a walk never to be seen again; not at the Cosmos or at any previous meeting dens, they simply vanish. Then Lovelady strikes. Unknown to these men was the fact that the lady of the house was capturing every episode of these ‘sexploitations’ on video using highly sophisticated gadgets supplied by highly placed accomplices within the national security agencies.

Anonymous telephone calls will be placed to the men with threats of exposure unless some tidy sum of money is paid. Left with no option the victims ascent to the blackmail and wire the monies as demanded. That will be the end of any further whiling away at the Cosmos. The predators, sure that their victims will never show their faces again at the former’s abode, they make a beeline back to the C to continue their business as usual.

One morning Lovelady received an unexpected call from her father. He wanted her to come home as soon as she possibly could; he sounded brusque on the line and didn’t entertain any protestations. What she heard one hour later sitting with her father in the large living room in the family’s main house melted her heart away. Her ex-father in-law had been a long time business partner of her father – in fact, according to her father; the other family had majority interest in the joint ventures they held together. This was not at this time the issue but the fact that her father had not divulged this information before. Then the bombshell; the partners had agreed to settle accounts and move their separate ways. Lovelady was required by this new development to repay the ten million she had borrowed. Interestingly the old duo had mutually agreed to nominate her and her ex to execute the separation. She had no option but to meet the ex hubby and try to talk him into granting a moratorium on the repayment of the loan until she could reorganize herself.

When they sat down for the first time since their separation to embark on the business at hand, each felt a unique kind of atmosphere engulfing them; nostalgic, mutual respect for each other and paradoxically, regrets for their past mistakes. Lovelady looked at his eyes and what she saw was a man who had quietly suffered the ignominy of an overbearing family and had projected the anger on her. It was all there. The eyes are the window to the human soul. She felt sorry and embarrassed with herself. In that fleeting moment she saw and knew that in those eyes was true love. Caution thrown to the wind she found herself embraced in his arms. The rest is history.

“The moment of marital bliss lasted for two months only; then, pooh!!! All was gone in a flash,” Lovelady said. “My husband was involved in a grizzly accident and never made it. He died on the spot. Initially there was speculation that he had taken his own life due to the pressures he had been subjected to by his family. But that is a story for another day. After the funeral I made a decision in his honor to turn the Starry Cosmos from an outfit bent on seeking revenge to a place where women who had suffered some form of injustice or other could make a decent living and move on with their lives,” she paused for effect.

“When Achieng’ told me your story earlier I knew you are one young lady on needed help to find your feet,” she looked a Gina, who was now fidgeting her hands.

“I am told you passed very well and has qualified for university entry,” it was rather a statement than a question.

“Yes mum,” is all she could say.

“Gina, education is a tool of empowerment. Always strive to better yourself if you have to making any meaning in life in this cruel universal,” Lovelady’s tone was of a concerned mother who wanted the best for her child. Then she continued, “This is what I will do; you will be scheduled to work days and attend classes in the evening.”

Gina was about to explain her lack of the necessary documentation when once again, as if reading her mind, Lovelady cut her short.

“I know you are concerned about your documentation. Remember the Cosmos; I can still pull strings since I still command a wide network in government agencies. Anything can be done with just a phone call. Leave all to me. What I want from you are your details.”

“I am concerned about my foster father tracing my whereabouts,” she said exhibiting fear in her eyes.

Lovelady’s reaction came as a surprise. She laughed loud and long at the end of which she said between spats of mirth, “You are too young to understand some of these things. Have you heard of the expression ‘buying sight unseen? It simply means somebody is paid for something or action without knowing who is paying. When the price is right nobody bothers to ask questions. Go home; tomorrow is another busy day,” she said with a gesture of dismissal.