by Eben Le Roux
Chapter 9
At the age of fifty-two, Kathy Atkinson was still a beautiful woman. She still had the same body structure she had in her twenties. Her dress code was admirable, and she always looked stunning. Her fair complexion stood out brilliantly against the contrast of her well-kept, beautiful black hair. With an almost perfect combination of beauty and intelligence, she was the dream woman for plenty of men. Even men who were twenty years younger than her had tried to seduce her, but Kathy Atkinson was, above all her beauty, a woman of faith and principle. Beyond all this, she never stopped loving her husband. Today, she was a happy woman again. She wore a smile as she moved around the house. Sean had just phoned to tell her that Peter Johnson had agreed to continue with speeches for the rest of the venues and wanted her and Michael to attend his first official appearance for Channel 91. Nonetheless, she was still worried about what Michael’s response was going to be. She loved Michael very much, and she knew he loved her too. With the angry moods he so often fell into, he had never lifted a finger against her. There were times she thought it would happen on that day and it brought fear. He loved their daughters, they all did, but for Michael, everything he did was for his family. Losing half of that family was much more of a blow to him than anyone could ever imagine. To add to his sorrows, they had a son who was hardly coming home to visit. This was only adding to the storm inside him.
Two weeks ago, Kathy became obsessed with the miracle event. She was convinced, and she had all the faith that the answer to her husband’s problem was going to come from inside that stadium. That minute, when they announced all the miracle events were cancelled, she felt as if she had lost all faith in God. That was a point in her life that she could think of nothing but letting go of her devotion to God. She was still pondering on what to do from there when the beggar appeared on the stage. It came like a message to her: he was part of the providence in her husband’s recovery. That feeling that went through her body, she will never forget. She captured a special segment from his speech but she never knew she was ever going to use it against him; ‘Who said that God is not planning for you to be the miracle in someone else’s life?’
Hearing Michael’s car coming through the gate, she walked outside to meet him with the smile still on her face. Michael seemed to be fine as he walked towards her. As she hugged and kissed him, she could smell whisky on his breath, but it did not bother her at all. Although Michael was drinking at the sports club just three blocks away, he was the type of man who would leave a drinking place sooner rather than later. He had followed this rule of conduct, even through the toughest of times since the tragedy. There was just one thing she could not understand. Michael was no longer willing to go into discussions calmly. When people did not agree with him, he made them understand that he was right, quite loudly, and aggressively so. He did it with her more than a dozen times. The last straw was when he did it with the clients in her restaurants. Michael refused to stay away from any of the restaurants, and arguments with clients became more frequent. When she realised it would not stop, she decided to sell. Ever since, she had been seeking help for him. Up to now, they had not had any positive results, yet she refused to give up. Why she thought that Peter Johnson was their answer, was as much a mystery to her as it was to Peter.
‘Darling, are we going to the service at the city hall on Friday?’ she asked when he was seated in his favourite chair.
‘So what do you say? Can I phone Peter and confirm we are coming? He really wants us to be there,’ she said as she handed him the newspaper and placed a plate with snacks in front of him.
‘Peter? Who is Peter?’ he asked with a frown.
‘You know, the preacher . . . the hobo . . . you know, the man we bought the ticket . . .’
The barking of the dog interrupted her, and then the gate’s bell sounded. Her embarrassment was truly saved by the bell, for she did not know how to describe Peter to her husband without mentioning the word ‘hobo’. She moved towards the intercom. ‘Yes?’
‘Mrs Atkinson, it’s me, Peter.’
‘Good grief, Peter. We were actually talking about you now. Just wait while I take care of the dogs first. One moment please, just one moment.’
The excitement in her voice brought a touch of jealousy into Michael. He was still seated when Kathy walked Peter and Sean into the living room and he observes the happiness on her face. He tried desperately to fight the suspicion but he could not. For a brief moment, he scanned his eyes over the photo of his twin daughters against the wall. His heartbeat was faster, and there was a slight shake in his body.
‘You two have already met, but under very different circumstances, and I still need to introduce you officially.’
‘Michael, this is Peter. Peter, this is Michael, my husband.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Peter.’ Michael was hiding his anger very well.
‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Atkinson,’ he said as they shook hands.
‘This is Sean. He will be my special assistant for the duration of the events.’
‘Pleased to meet you Sean, please have a seat,’ Kathy told them, showing them towards two seats.
‘Thank you, Mrs Atkinson,’ he said.
‘Call me Kathy. It is unfair we call you . . .’
She did not get to finish her sentence when Michael’s voice interrupted her in a most fearful way. ‘Oh, now it is Peter and Kathy and Kathy and Peter. What bullshit is this? Do you think I’m stupid, or do you . . ?’
‘No, please, Mr Atkinson, please listen to me.’ Peter tried to calm him down.
Michael was in one of those moods in which nobody is allowed to silence him. Again, his eyes drifted to the photo on the wall and Peter followed his sight. In the short time Peter looked at the picture of the two girls, he was taken away by the beauty and the resemblance of the two. There was no time to look at it long enough as Michael’s voice was now louder than it was before.
‘Mister, you listen to me. Everybody listens to me when I talk… even you, you self-made angel, coming here to perform a miracle and taking my wife away. So, now you are in charge over the miracles. Go perform your wicked miracles somewhere else. Not in my house, how dare you?’
Kathy was scared and somewhat embarrassed, but her trust in this man was stronger than the fear of her husband. Whatever it would take, she was not going to lose her last hope in helping him. She acted quickly as she could see that Peter wanted to leave.
‘Michael . . . be quite!’ Although angry, she was also nervous as she shouted at him.
‘What? Why are you shouting at me, woman? I am not done with this angel of yours.’
Out of desperation, she moved in front of him.
‘You want to hit somebody, Michael? Then hit me.’ Peter could see how small she looked against the big figure and feared the worse. He stood from his chair, but Kathy signalled him not to. Sean looked at Peter with big, scared eyes and feared this man attacking them at any moment.
This was unknown territory for Kathy Atkinson. It would be the first time to confront her husband in that manner. She never had the courage to show him the same anger he had been showing for the last eight months. Peter Johnson was more important than the pity for her husband.
‘Now you listen to me, Mr Atkinson. Two weeks ago, this man was a hobo, a person living on the streets. Today he came to my house as a person who is trying to help me. He is trying to help me, and still he does not even know what my problem is. In fact, I am still trying to find out what your problem is. From this minute onwards, Michael Atkinson, you are going to help me in trying to help you-’
‘Are you trying . . . ?’ Michael tried to interrupt.
‘No, you shut up and listen to me. Let me finish . . .as I said, this man, a hobo yesterday, coming to my aid . . and you, a former chairman of a chain of restaurants, becoming my greatest nightmare. Now, you tell me, which one of you will be a better friend right now? If you think I am going to stand by and let you destroy all the friendships i
n my life just to worry when the next outburst is going to come, then you had better think again. So sit and let me take care of my guests.’
Michael looked at her in absolute shock. His wife had been angry before, but never had he seen so much hurt and anger during all the time he had known her. Without a word, he made a gesture with his open hand that he was fine and sank back into his chair. Peter noticed the silence and quickly took advantage of the opportunity to speak.
‘Well, Mr and Mrs Atkinson, I only came in person to invite you to my speech tomorrow night at the city hall. I know you have been informed already, but seeing that there was no response yet, I thought I should drop in and tell you how much that ticket meant to me. We shall leave now with the hope that you will come and I hope that I will not be wasting your time.’
‘You should stay for tea at least.’ Kathy protested.
‘Mrs Atkinson, no offence, but you just said something very harsh but truthful to your husband. I could truthfully see the regret in his eyes, and I think he can’t wait for you two to be alone so he can apologise.’
‘Are you . . . ? Are you . . . ?’
She could not find suitable words as she turned her head from Peter to Michael and back. Then she locked eyes with Michael and could see an embarrassing look and smile on his face. She turned back to Peter. ‘All right then . . . we shall see you tomorrow night.’ The smile was back on her face again.
As they walked towards the car, Peter could sense some discomfort in Sean. He had been quiet throughout the time they had spent inside the Atkinson house. He had also noticed how he was under the impression that the two would engage in a fight right in front of them.
With his car door opened, Sean could not hold his concern any longer. ‘Are you going to leave that poor woman alone with that bully? You could at least . . .’
‘Relax, Sean. That man is not a bully. That man is not fighting with us or with her. He is fighting with himself. Besides, they have been together for over twenty-five years, and they don’t have a violent history. Somebody or something needs to repair that man’s mind, and I hope to God it will happen soon. She is starting to give in under the pressure.’
The image of the photo was trapped on Peter’s mind and he found it hard not to think about the two faces on there. He knew for sure that if he was in Michael’s shoes, circumstances might not have been any different for him if he was to be the father of those two. He could not help feeling sorry for both of them as he got into the passenger seat.
Sean started the car and drove off. In his mind, Sean felt troubled yet happy that they had found such a man to continue the events.
As they drove away, Kathy walked closer to her husband, who was now sitting with his head facing down and his left hand covering his face.
‘Michael, are you all right?’
‘I am sorry, angel, I’m so sorry.’
He stood from his chair, folded his arms around her, and she could feel that this man still loved her as much as he did twenty-eight years ago. She also knew that he was struggling as much with his condition as she did. Her heart started to bounce faster as she thought of Peter, hoping he was really the person to help them.
‘I tell you what . . .’
He moved slightly away from her, still keeping his arms around her and, while looking into her blue eyes, he said, ‘Let’s go and get you a dress for tomorrow night.’
Her smile nearly became a laugh of delight. ‘We don’t have to, darling. I have plenty of dresses to suit the occasion, but I accept your invitation.’
When he kissed her, she hoped her trust in Peter would not be in vain.
Shannon Buoys felt troubled. Her bosses were concerned for Bruce not coming to work in the last two days. They had to cancel a meeting about discussing urgent issues of a new idea he had put on the table. She was forced to tell Tim Zimmer that there had been an argument between the two of them concerning broadcasting a show with the hobo as a speaker. Her worries had become a nightmare when she learnt that Bruce Ashton was going ahead with the hobo idea on Channel 91. As she thought of the consequences that it could bring, she knew nothing was going to stop that man making a success of it. The only way to get Bruce back was to interfere with the show before it could even start. She was willing to do anything in her power to stop it.