Cry of the Firebird

by T. M. Clark

  CHAPTER

  23

  ‘Hello, Ulwazi, lovely to see you again,’ Anaya said.

  Ulwazi smiled. ‘It is good to be on my friendship bench, and it’s good that you were here to talk with me again. How have you been since we last spoke? It has been a little while.’

  ‘Very stressful, but the children are now at my new home—thank you for pointing me to Joanna for that—with the new maid you found for me. She is wonderful, thank you. I have the morning to myself before their swimming lessons, and I can think a little bit.’

  ‘It is good to think, but sometimes it’s good to share your problems, too. After all, that is what this bench is for.’

  Anaya smiled. ‘I have bought a new house in Sandton. It is so much bigger and better. Thank you again for sending me to Joanna. She had just the right house for us.’

  Ulwazi clapped her hands together. ‘This is good news. I’m so happy that I could help.’

  Anaya chewed the inside of her lip. ‘You have been so much help already. I really don’t want to take up more of your time.’

  ‘Blah, I love helping and knowing that I have helped. You still look troubled though. What else is on your mind? You will find I am a good listener. These old ears, they have heard many, many stories before.’

  ‘Not problems like mine.’

  ‘Eish, always you younger ladies think that you are the first to experience a troubled life. You look at us and see that the colour of the person’s hair has changed, from dark to silver, from blonde to white, you look at our skin, once smooth like a baby’s bottom, now wrinkled and sun-damaged, it’s easy to forget that we oldies were young once, too. That is a fact of life. There are many things we know about that we can pass on to the younger generations. If they let us listen to what is happening to them, you never know, we might have an answer to help you. We have lived our lives already, perhaps experienced some of what you are living through now. Perhaps we can help you to avoid making the same mistakes we did, or perhaps we can look at your problems with wisdom and distance and show you a path when all you see is thick bush blocking your way. You do not know, unless you give us the opportunity and you talk with us.’

  ‘Okay, then this is what’s eating at me. I have moved away now from my sister-in-law. His twin. He didn’t want to move, but in the end, I told him it was move or me, and the kids move without him. He didn’t want that. But I’m still not sure how I’m going to get through to my husband. To make this life of ours happier and calmer. To cut her further out of our lives. I know that there’s lots that needs to change.’

  ‘Does he hurt you? Are you scared of him?’ asked Ulwazi.

  ‘Oh no. He would never, ever hurt me, or the children. I know that he loves me in his own way, and he will not raise one little finger against us.’

  ‘So, you’re happy together?’

  ‘I would not say happy. We exist together. Walking on the same path next to each other with our children in between. And his sister, always his twin sister is there.’

  Ulwazi was quiet for a moment. ‘Do you love him?’

  ‘We were an arranged marriage, but yes I do. I have always believed that he is stronger than he gives himself credit for.’

  ‘Then you should show him that. You should show him that he is a strong man, so he knows it. You should make him your priority. He should be the one right next to you, because when your children leave it will just be you and him together.’

  ‘You think he isn’t my priority? I do everything I can to make him happy.’

  ‘But he needs to know that. Remember when your children leave, and there is a big void, and you are alone at night, you will wish you had.’

  ‘There’s not much sex now,’ said Anaya. ‘There is no time.’

  Ulwazi shook her head and clicked her tongue. ‘That is a shame. We need to fix that. The way to a man’s heart is through his penis.’

  ‘I can’t get to his penis if he is sleeping on it,’ Anaya said, frustration in her voice.

  Ulwazi shook her head. ‘Last time you spoke to me, you said you wanted a better life with your husband, and you should have that. You deserve that. I am proud to tell you that in South Africa the woman—she might seem like the weaker sex, but in reality, the African woman is the stronger one in most relationships—it is the woman who controls her man, and who controls her family. It is the woman who keeps the mother-in-law in check, or in your case, look what you did moving away from under your sister-in-law’s nose. Remember, there is no way that your husband will be getting sex from his sister; that’s your privilege. Use it as a weapon. That is your biggest advantage over your man, and if you can keep your husband happy in the bedroom—even if you have to go through every page of the Kama Sutra—then that is what you do. And as you do it, you get him to talk and to trust you, and then you can help him with his problems from work. It’s called pillow talk.’

  ‘I never thought that people spoke about things like this,’ said Anaya.

  ‘Welcome to South Africa,’ said Ulwazi, ‘where women empower each other, instead of pulling each other down. Except for your sister-in-law, who seems hellbent on destroying your happiness and is not what the bench is about.’

  ‘I like that,’ Anaya said. ‘So, you think that if I can control his penis I can get him to talk about his work, and I can help him with his problems and make him less depressed? Less anxious?’

  ‘Of course,’ Ulwazi said. ‘Once you own his penis, he will give you the world—not just diamonds for your fingers.’

  CHAPTER

  24

  Reyansh walked into his bedroom after kissing each of his sleeping children on the cheek. ‘The kids seemed so tired tonight; I didn’t even get to see them awake before I got home.’

  ‘They had swimming today; they are always tired after that. Now there’s only you and me awake in this big, beautiful house,’ Anaya said.

  ‘Please, Anaya, not now. I’m so tired,’ Reyansh said as he took off his tie and put it on his bed.

  ‘Reyansh, you need to listen to me. I love you. I’m not leaving and going back to India, not unless you and our children are by my side. I just moved us into a bigger, better home.’

  ‘I know that,’ Reyansh said. ‘I’m glad you like the new house.’

  ‘Come and sit with me.’ She led him by his hand and sat him down on the leather couch. ‘I might be quiet and traditional, but I’m not a mouse. I listen to everything, what everyone speaks about. So, I know that there’s something at work that you’re not happy with, and I need to know what. I need to help you.’

  ‘I can’t tell you. To bring you into my darkness would take the light from your face,’ Reyansh said.

  ‘What brings me darkness is that on the day we married we promised to be together, for better or worse, and now you hide things from me. I know you’ve had some bad times, and your drug addiction goes up and down …’

  ‘You know I’m an addict?’

  She stroked his cheek and he leaned into her hand then he kissed her palm. Her skin so soft against his.

  ‘Everyone knows you’re an addict. Even your father. He simply chooses to ignore it and only see you on days when the black dog isn’t nipping at your heels, and you’re not flying high in the clouds. I knew, before my father came and asked me if I could ever love you, that you were an addict. I just chose to accept it, until now. Now we have this new home, and I want a fresh start. A new beginning,’ Anaya said, her hand holding his head close to hers.

  ‘New beginning?’

  Anaya shrugged and gestured with her hands to the room.

  He looked around as if seeing their ornate bedroom in their new house for the first time.

  She smiled. ‘We’re in a beautiful new house. A suburb away from your dominating family. Away from your manipulative sister and your mother, who you pander to all the time. We’re away from your father, and even your grandmother, who seems to believe that you’re a weak man and takes unusual pleasure in telling yo
u she thinks that. But I know different. You’re very strong. You can talk to me, and we can talk to a psychologist, and we can get your depression under control. When we do that, then the addiction will go away on its own. You’ll not need the pills.’

  ‘I wish it was so easy. What if I fail again?’

  ‘What if you succeed? Then your three children will know the beautiful man you are inside, the one who is the hero, not the failure, in this family.’

  ‘What are you suggesting?’

  ‘Tell me what is going on at work. I know that something has changed in the last two years. You have been more stressed than ever before. What changed? You cry out in your sleep. It worries me.’

  Reyansh tried to take his hand out of his wife’s, but she held fast.

  ‘I was young when I married you, only just eighteen, and you were already thirty. But now I’m thirty, and I’ve matured a lot. Now is the time to change. Trust me, Reyansh, show me you love me and show me that you trust me.’

  She let go of his hands and put her palms upwards.

  Reyansh knew that this was one of the biggest decisions he would ever make in his life. To trust his wife.

  He looked at her hands. Although they were kept soft to the touch with creams and lotions, they weren’t those of a young girl anymore. They wore the rings of a married woman, and many rings for each child that she’d gifted him. And if he looked at the other side, he would see that the diamond settings were kept pristine and clean, despite looking after three young children. Her wrists were adorned with gold.

  He’d kept his wife well over the last twelve years, and she was right. She had grown as a person. He just had been so busy at work he hadn’t noticed it. Until now.

  He placed his hands in hers and her fingers closed over his. He wished that it was as if a dam inside burst its wall, but as much as he tried, nothing would come tumbling out. He opened his mouth to talk, then closed it again.

  ‘I’m waiting,’ Anaya encouraged.

  ‘You live in a beautiful home, have a family. You have everything you want from me. Why can’t you just leave it alone?’

  ‘Because I don’t have your trust. You think I’m still the giggling schoolgirl you married. You’re blind. Blind. I live in a gilded cage of your making. Sure it’s beautiful but it’s still a prison. You shut me out of your work, and yet I have to have Mishti coming here and closing me out of my kitchen to speak with you. Secrets. Always secrets with your family.’

  ‘You’re moaning about Mishti again? We have rehashed this a million times.’

  ‘No, you have shut the door a million times. Your sister’s a Medusa. She turns men to stone. She’s eaten her husband’s soul so much that he can no longer be a man in his own house. She manipulates everyone in the family to do what she wants them to do. She plays your father and threatens to ruin his company that he set up from nothing. She forced him to retire early so she could run it. You’re the perfect husband, and you deserve to be the CEO of your company. It’s your birthright as the first male in your family to inherit it. I know that you do things at work. You sleep-talk at night. You say things like “more contamination”. “More fillers”. You said, “Mishti, this is a more creative way to make people sicker.”’

  ‘I say that? When I’m sleeping?’

  ‘Yes. And much more.’

  ‘Perhaps because I’m so worried that one day I’ll take too many of the drugs and not wake from the deep sleep. I’m an addict, and I can’t see a way out of this dark place.’

  ‘You say in your sleep that it’s because you are changing the drugs that people need to take, to make them a little bit sick. Is this true?’

  Reyansh stared at his wife. She was using words, spoken while he slept, against him. He might as well come clean. Well, as clean as he could. With her hatred of Mishti, if he told her it was all Mishti’s idea, he would just leave out his part in the story.

  Lying by omission wasn’t an outright lie.

  ‘You’re right. I contaminate the drugs and make people sick.’

  ‘You? You would never do anything like this on your own. You’re a kind man. This stinks of your sister’s influence. Your sister’s evil touch.’

  ‘She’s wicked—but she’s powerful, too. She can take everything away from us with the snap of her fingers, Anaya. Don’t think she won’t just because I’m her twin. She’s the CEO, not me. I might be the son, but it was Mishti that my father trusted with his precious company.’

  ‘We need to make sure that she can’t hurt us, that she’s no longer a threat. It’s time to milk the viper of her poison and leave her powerless.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I’ve been giving it considerable thought lately, and I believe that now it’s time that you begin collecting evidence of what she tells you to do. You need to go back in all your files, find every time you met, and write it all down. On paper. Never on a computer. Together we can find a way to catch her, and we’ll bring her down. As the CEO she’s responsible for the company. We’ve got to be very careful; we don’t want to destroy the company, only her. Not you, so that you can step up and take over as the CEO when she’s out of the picture. I’m sure, with enough evidence, we can find a way to stop her and get her out of both our lives forever. Because you deserve this, my husband, you do.’

  Reyansh lifted his wife’s hands to his mouth and kissed them. ‘I’m so lucky that you married me. You’ve always been so good to me.’

  ‘You better believe it. Now let’s talk about payment for helping you …’

  ‘A price?’ Reyansh frowned. ‘What type of price.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ll be willing to pay it,’ she said as she began to unbutton her top.

  * * *

  Reyansh sat in his laboratory. It felt right today. It was everything that he dreamed it would be, and more. He finally believed that perhaps all his years of university and work had been worth it.

  Mishti was going down.

  He was going to take over Ayurprabhu Pharmaceuticals.

  Why had he never thought about overthrowing Mishti before? Why hadn’t he come up with the idea? With her out of the way, he could inherit everything.

  For the first time, he felt that there was light at the end of the tunnel. He and his beautiful wife had a plan to execute together, and they were going to defeat his sister and take over. The building would be his.

  All the drugs would be his.

  He was the son—the heir.

  Ayurprabhu Pharmaceuticals should never have passed to Mishti in the first place.

  It was his inheritance.

  Despite Mishti telling everyone she’d chosen his wife for him, he’d loved Anaya from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. He’d thought she was beautiful when he’d first met her, although he’d been surprised to find that she still believed in most of the traditional customs of their culture—like it was her job to look after him and to make a happy family, and not to work. She was totally different in every way to his sister. And for that, he was eternally thankful.

  But now, he’d discovered that not only was she patient, but she could also help him to own Ayurprabhu Pharmaceuticals. He suspected that he’d underestimated the power and wisdom of his beautiful wife.

  His phone rang. Mishti.

  He walked out of his laboratory, grabbing his coat on the way. There was no way she could check if he was ignoring her calls here. He would get back to her in his own time.

  He walked past his new secretary.

  ‘Good morning,’ Vivaan said in an accent still strong enough to know that he was a child of an Indian immigrant, but there was enough South African mixed in there to know he was also a victim caught in Misthi’s spider’s web.

  ‘Morning. I’ll be on the floor,’ Reyansh said.

  ‘There are messages from Mr Collins of the external quality-auditing company. I was told that you would handle them. He said that you have an audit coming up, and could you please call him back as soon as you can.’

&
nbsp; ‘Call him and let him know that the date he suggested is acceptable. We’ll be ready for him, and email Mishti so that she knows it’s coming up and is expected to be here for the audit.’

  He turned and walked away, down the steps of the factory to the floor beneath. He had plans to implement, and he needed no witnesses. The first step would be to get rid of the marionette in the suit outside his office, whom he knew was reporting his every move directly to Mishti.

  It was time to begin unravelling the spider’s web.

  CHAPTER

  25

  Ulwazi sat in the Black Isle Shebeen on Florence Moposho Street on the very outer edge of Alexandra. The settlement was built for black people by the apartheid government, but they never anticipated that more than 70,000 people would live there, doubling the original estimated population. People were on top of each other, with little shacks surrounding the first homeowners’ concrete houses. Although some of the original residences remained, their gardens had become rented-out shacks for family members and tenants alike as everyone attempted to live together in the small area. All for the convenience of being closer to the city than Soweto.

  Ironically, it was right next to one of the most affluent suburbs of Johannesburg, Sandton, making it the ideal place for Ulwazi to run part of her business. Although she never saw clients at her home, much of her merchandise was stored under the floorboards of her room, where she’d made a shallow cellar for the weapons she sold.

  Once she had been scared of the SADF—when she’d been younger, and before the new South Africa. Now she could either pay off the cop, and they would turn the other way, or get one of her staff to kill the law-enforcement officer who wouldn’t leave her business alone.