by Gloria Obizu
I don’t even think my Aunt will approve if she gets to know I got myself into something like this, get what I’m saying? Carissa directed the question to Tasha specifically. I don’t know what she will think of me.
Quit thinking about your Aunt, Tasha snapped. You don’t even know where she is right now. This is your life and you got to save it. Don’t you ever think what someone else is gonna say or do about how you choose to leave your live ‘cause your faith is in your own hand Carissa and this is your chance to do better for yourself. Monica has made it her own way, this is your time.
Carissa was going to speak again when her phone began ringing. Wait a minute, she said. The Police again, she informed the others at the end of a short conversation.
And what do they want this time? Tasha asked.
They wanna come over to the house when I get home. I guess is about this Isabel stuff. I don’t even know what I’m gonna say to them this time ‘cause I’ve got no clue on her whereabouts. They might be thinking I know something I don’t know. This is the third time since she left and I don’t even know what they want any more. Anyways, let’s continue with what we are saying.
Tasha, Listen! I’ll be honest to you guys, okay? It is not just because of Aunt Monica I don’t wanna do this, okay? I’m also scared of how the whole thing is gonna affect me ‘cause I don’t know what will happen. Maybe I don’t have the courage or something, I don’t know. I don’t know how to go about stuff you know but I figure that once you’ve been into this kind of thing, I mean, prostitution, striping at night clubs and all that, it affects you in some ways. Is like the thing goes with you wherever you go like a fucking jail term, don’t you think so? You know, some sort of a record that becomes part of you. I’m not trying to condemn you guys though ‘cause I’m gonna do it if I must to survive. I’m not even saying there is nothing good in this kind of stuff is just that I’m not really sure right now.
Baby you are just saying your mind, okay? But you know what? There is a whole lot that is good in our kind of business. Cindy continued. I mean Think about the jobs and the money it puts into people’s pocket, is huge. And you know what they call it? The greatest money making machine in the world. So you see there is something good in everything.
I know! I know! Whatever it is that is good in it is for society though, not really for the girl whose skin takes the whole shit! Get what I’m saying? And guess who is gonna condemn you when something goes wrong? People! The same society you wanna help. Anyways, call it moralizing or something, right? But it is what it is! Like I said I’ll do it if I must but as a last resort. Besides I’m not even an adult yet, get what I’m saying? I’m gonna turn 18 next month so I don’t know if I’ll fit in just in case I change my mind ‘cause moralizing is good but reality is gonna knock that out so fast that it won’t know what hit it. I need money to pay my bills and survive and I need it now, Carissa said.
Now you’re talking babe! Cindy cut in again. When you can’t put food on your table and out there in the cold with nowhere to go, you will remember there is a job waiting to be done and anyone can do it. No college fees, no degree and no hassle. Just walk in now and start now and have your money in your pocket now. And babe all you’ll be getting all the way is easy money. Don’t even worry about this age shit thing ‘cause is no big deal. You are almost eighteen now, besides there is nothing that can’t be fixed. We have the means of taking care of just about anything including your kind of issue so don’t worry about it. Remember Angel? This question was directed to Rita specifically.
Sure! You mean the tall dark girl that wears low cut all the time, Rita responded.
Yeah! Yeah! I remember her, Tasha also joined. She works at the right wing of the building.
That’s the girl. She was 17 when she joined Crackon Brothel, Cindy said.
How did you get that? Tasha wanted to know.
She told me.
Really? Huh! I wonder where she went ‘cause I haven’t seen her in weeks. Tasha continued.
She went to hell, Cindy said. One of the girls talked to me about how Angel witnessed a murder that got her into some kind of shit. She went to this outside job with some guys somewhere and someone got killed and she saw it all. It turned out those were gang members and now they want to take her out so she won’t……..
Testify! The other girls chorused.
Yeah! You girls already know what I’m trying to say, Cindy continued. And you know what? The management of the Brothel got to know about it and told her to stop coming because they don’t want the trouble, understand? Right now she is on the Police protection stuff though. Is so hard to even know where they are keeping her, get what I am saying? And I wonder how she is gonna live under lock and key like that. Anyways, she once told me she started working at the Brothel when she was seventeen.
Carissa, I know the guy I’ll talk to if you really wanna come with us, Tasha said.
Yeah, Dandy does all that, Rita came in again.
I can’t say anything about that right now but I’ll think about it, take a decision and give you guys a call, okay? Before I forget, what time on Monday do we go for the apartment?
11am.
I’ll be here at 11am on the dot, Carissa said before she rushed out to go catch a bus ‘cause Tasha was already running late to her job and since both are heading different directions, she couldn’t give her a ride back home. She was conscious of the fact that the Police was to come see her that evening and she didn’t want to fail. Luckily she made it home before the Police got to her apartment sometime later.
Carissa was very cooperative because just like the Police, she too was also interested in finding out what happened to her roommate. So as the Police was trying to get what information she has over her roommate disappearance, she too was seeking in their eyes same answers.
After another interview, the Police decided to search the house again and as far as Carissa could tell, it was another thorough job. At the end they took away more of Isabel’s few remaining belongings and left.
With the Police out of the way, at list for now, Carissa’s problems returned and continued to hunt her through the night. When Monday came, she with the other girls went to look up a three bed room apartment somewhere in the area of Carson City. They liked what they saw and eventually settled for it. In a week all arrangements was concluded before the girls finally moved into their new home and for the three another chapter of their young lives just opened.
Chapter Twelve
All through the month of August the news of Isabel and Wallis disappearance continued to future on everywhere you find everyday news. With the News shouting out so loud coupled with the massive response it got from the public, the Police intensified their massive hunt for both.
But every search was now being directed to the wrong people. Temba used the best stuff he could get in the market to successfully transform the looks of the twosome and did a very good job of it. The Wallis of the past had his hair long and without facial hair. Wallis of today or Barry sports low cut like every day regular guy, a mustache and contact lenses. A little eye brow work and dental manipulation completed the fellow he became today. And unlike the Wallis of the past who dressed in casuals like T shirts, jeans, trainers and stuff like that most of the time, today’s Wallis Mellows or Barry Pickles is business like in every sense of the word and of matured appearance. Good expensive shoes compliment equally expensive suits and other accessories with which he carries on these days.
It would be difficult picking out Isabel of today in a crowd also. Loretta sports long straight hair, curtsey of an emergency overnight transplant. Liposuction another emergency stuff from which she already recovered, sucked much of the fat in her system. A little nose work here and eye brow fashion there plus breast argumentation offered a perfect disguise. Finally, this Isabel is no low class babe but a rich classy Loretta.
; So, while the Police were looking for a couple with small means, Wallis and Isabel or Barry and Loretta are very rich individuals and two different persons who natural human circumstances would bring about their meeting later in life. Wallis with the help of a good friend did a thorough job. He had it all together and well planned, now every card is being played in due time.
After four days spent at the hotel in South Africa, Wallis moved to his house quietly. Isabel will leave for her own home in another two weeks, so she remained behind.
Zingy had rented a two bedroom house for Wallis in one of Johannesburg suburbs, Darrenwood ‘cause it’s the kind of place he had asked for. An area not too open but green and pretty and that’s exactly what Darrenwood offered. It would be the right place to start as nucleus of sort before shooting out. First he would settle into a very simple life, wait till Zingy clears the cars as Temba gets them in, market them and hands him the money. Then he will take a little time to decide on his line of investment and take it up from there. He plans to interact and talk to people who might have some good business ideas before jumping into anything ‘cause this is his very first time out, his very first experience in the business world and he is not ready to make mistakes and regret letter.
Like he promised, Temba got the cars across in a short time, even much faster than Wallis thought possible. Even though it was not a very thorough job by all standards yet Wallis judged him as fair considering prevailing circumstances. After all calculations of the proceeds from all the cars that came into South Africa and were sold out plus the profits, Wallis was certain he lost some money but this was nothing to him compared to the fact that he was now six million dollars and some fractions rich. The high rate at which the cars went and the profits netted was so impressive to open his eyes to huge potentials the African environment offered business wise if you know how to go about it. In his own case, he took to Temba’s advice, lowered the prices of his goods marginally and they went fast and still offered reasonable profit.
That part of business took him almost a year to conclude and now he is more settled and better disposed to understanding his new society. Particularly taken by the richness and beauty of the area, he was convinced Temba made a perfect choice. It is a place naturally endowed which is what Wallis always wanted. Trees and grass very original in their greenness, so is the entire earth that they inhabit so close to nature that you actually have the real feel of what it means to be natural. He had never stepped out of the United States before now and considering his experiences so far, he wondered why he delayed for so long before this venture into this land so green and so fresh, with offers of great potentials for the future of mankind. And there could be more places like South Africa in this region. Wallis would sit down for hours considering these things while mapping out strategy for his future exploits in a fresh start. He also has the understanding that this change of environment has done something in him, something he is still struggling to grasp its full meaning.
Isabel eventually moved into a two bedroom Condo and continued leading a separate life. She never spoke to Wallis on phone and their only means of contact remained Zing who also provided means of transportation most of the time.
It’s been over a year now since Wallis and Isabel relocated to this new land and he thought it was time to play another of his cards. So on this day, at about 4pm, a dramatic event was playing out on the grounds of Crista shopping Center one of the biggest in Jozi. A guy named Barry Pickles came for shopping and a girl named Loretta Rowland was shopping too. And all of a sudden the two strangers jammed at a sport. Barry switched on the light and Loretta responded to its effect in the full glee of on lookers. But how would those on looker even begin to imagine that what they considered the usual man meet woman thing and romance begins was Zingy coordination of affairs between the two fellows they saw flirting with each other on the floors of this big mall. But, call it what you may, that was a start for Barry and Loretta in their own story of love and marriage, captured in a land far from their home.
Eventually Isabel returned to Wallis, cars sold and proceeds netted into his account and Wallis couldn’t help but get on with next of his plans.
One thing in his favor though is that he was quick to grasp and come to terms with the mood of his new society. By his understanding, this is a place the rich and the achievers stand out and considered gentlemen and ladies who to some extent are committed to responsible family life. And they ruled the society and detected the pace and mood of it all like in every other society except that they did it in a certain kind of way Wallis admired. So, he wanted nothing other than be counted among the rich and the respectable and was ready to do whatever it takes to get him on top that ladder.
As a start in carving for himself the personality of the status he aspires, he began to assume a kind of quit and sober disposition that compliments his now business-like appearance.
He found respectable family clubs for rich folks, joined and took to games such as Billiard, Long tennis and Polo. In time the game boards and fields brought with them friends and associates as opponents for a day’s game became pals for a glass of drink or two and sometimes more serious issues came up and got talked about.
Pena Qumbu soon stood out among pals such that in a while the long tennis courts where both struggle for supremacy shorten to form a round table. Three or more glasses on tables narrowed to two in no time at all and became a permanent feature. Talking to the guy as Wallis found out was easy like they had known each other for years. Somehow, Pena seemed to have everything Wallis was looking for as a well-established African business man with a thorough understanding of the territory. Besides he was easy to get along with and Wallis thought that was luck on his side.
The good association between the two men blossomed and the club house couldn’t contain it any longer so an invitation for expansion went out from Wallis to Pena. Wallis also chose a diner in a good restaurant since it was the opportunity he waited for to have a different kind of one on one with his friend and as it turned out, he was not disappointed. The meeting was well worth it and confirmed he was on the right track because Pena proved not only a good listener but a good problem solver too. For these reason Wallis reached out even more.
Pena received another call from Wallis while on the wheels so he couldn’t talk but as soon as he was on the clear, he got back to his pal.
What are you doing this coming Saturday? Wallis asked the moment they got talking.
I’ll be engaged somewhere. I have a business Council Meeting to attend.
What about Sunday?
I’ll definitely be at the Church till about 1pm. So I guess evening will be sound, Pena said.
Good! I and my fiancé will like to host you and your wife for the evening. How about that? Wallis asked.
Great! We will like to come. What time do you have in mind? Pena asked.
What about 6pm. Is that ok for you guys? Wallis wanted to know.
Yes! We will be there!
Pena was also willing to get real close to this new guy in the field because if there is anything he has learnt in his years of experience as a business man, is never take anyone for granted especially anyone with potential for investments.
On that Sunday, everything tailored to fit the kind of image Wallis and Isabel wanted to present to their new friends, both awaited the arrival of their guests. At 6pm or there about, Pena walked in with his wife to the warm embrace of Wallis and Isabel.
After initial formalities and the visitors settled down, Isabel offered some drinks. Everyone now relaxed sipping from their glasses and charting for a while before Isabel made the announcement dinner is ready! And a change of scene followed. It was a meal order from one of the best cooks in Jozi and the four continued chattering with their meals.
Shortly after dinner, Wallis excused the ladies and the men retreated to his Study, another bottle of wine opene
d and he began. There are things I have always wanted to talk to you about but I don’t know if you have the time now.
Come-on Wallis! I’ve got no more agenda for the day and I’m sure my wife is comfortable where she is.
Great! See, I’m new in this environment, but that is not to say I’m completely ignorant on how things play out. Still I may want to rely on someone like you who have been doing stuff in this place a long time in understanding the business atmosphere better. I seek to invest in something and I’m looking into a number of things.
What and what do you have in mind? Cut in Pena.
I need you to provide me that direction Pena. If I may ask how is your import and export business working for you? Wallis continued.
Excellent! I love it? Like I told you my business furnishes department stores at the end of the day and so far so wonderful. You see in Africa male kids, especially the unlucky ones without good financial backings start digging for gold early in their lives. I was 16 when I started my business in a very small way because where I came from a man makes himself through self-employment rather than by taking up jobs in another man’s business. Simply put, if you can do it better for yourself, why do it for someone else? I guess that has always been the concept. So you start early in the struggle for making yourself a man and becoming a man. Initially it could be very tough but you don’t give up. Sometimes it may even seem impossible but you remain resilient until the tough gets going. You never turn your back to hardship instead you face it head on and keep working on it, keep exploiting all chances until you break even. A man in the context of my community makes himself and derives respect based on his achievements.